The Obama Administration is committed to taking telework to the next level and has a strategy that will make it a more mainstream work arrangement within the Federal government and a model for other sectors, according to John Berry, Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and Aneesh Chopra, Assistant to the President and Chief Technology Officer, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President.

The two provided a joint keynote address at the September 24 Telework Exchange Town Hall Meeting in Washington D.C. Both are highly visible players in carrying out President Obama's mandate to foster a cultural and technological shift that will enable a more productive and competitive Federal workforce, while improving the quality of life for middle class Americans.

"This is an exciting time, and we're trying to lead the way on the policy front," Berry explained. "Each day, there is a new revolution that is making this more and more possible and more and more dynamic."

In May, Berry noted, OPM announced a five-step program (drawn from two bills pending in Congress) that is designed to kick agency telework programs into a higher gear. Components of this strategy are:

• Convene an advisory group of telework program managers to help formulate standards for telework policies
• Direct agencies to submit telework policies for review against those advisory-created standards
• Encourage agencies to establish the position of "Telework Managing Officer," which would ensure telework policies are applied fairly and supported by managers
• Encourage agencies to establish a transparent appeals process for employees whose requests for telework and other flexible work arrangements are denied
• Assure high-quality, broadly accessible training to ensure a successful experience and to ease cultural resistance to telework options

Telework is an option that can help workers do their job better, Berry noted. To highlight this, OPM is accentuating telework's most critical advantages to Federal agencies: increased productivity and ensuring business continuity in natural and manmade emergency situations. OPM officials, he explained, want "to show stakeholders...that, simply put, well-executed telework plans yield concrete benefits and can and should be used as part of a suite of employment flexibilities that work well with results-oriented management in government."

Telework, combined with increased collaboration and the right digital tools, clearly enables more productivity, Berry said, and the current outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus shows that the time has come for telework to be an established, accepted, and well-practiced work scenario.

"In order to enable the full benefits of telework, we need full-fledged teleworkers," he stated, defining the standard as at least one day a week. "It needs to be part of the ethos of an office. No meeting or conference call should be cancelled because someone is working from home."

Chopra, who in his previous job as Virginia's Secretary of Technology successfully defined telework as a key component in the state's results-oriented performance management strategy, now is working to position telework as an enabler of and support mechanism for President Obama's innovation agenda. The national innovation strategy is focused on increasing America's competitiveness and ensuring the country's long-term economic success.

That agenda, Chopra explained, rests on three pillars:

• Investment in a successful and dynamic national broadband strategy
• Removal of security barriers and development of applications that address unmet security needs today
• An increasing number of Americans with college degrees

With these components in place, Chopra explained, the country will be in a position to address healthcare and economic issues, spur entrepreneurship, boost worker productivity, increase distance learning initiatives, tap hidden talent in rural areas, reduce energy consumption, and build a climate change strategy.

"We must catalyze innovation towards our national priorities," Chopra stated. "It is absolutely clear that telework is a driving force to help us address energy and climate change policies. I believe telework is a wonderful way that your agencies can demonstrate leadership on these fronts."