Agency Chief Makes the Case for Teleworking

Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry sees great advantages to having federal workers stay home. That wouldn't mean taking the day off, however. Berry is an advocate of teleworking and is asking federal managers and employees to help sell the idea to skeptical managers and lawmakers. Berry was making his pitch Thursday, the same day that Washington area commuters experienced 20-mile backups on Northern Virginia highways and road closures in downtown Washington because of a suspicious package in the District. The director considers teleworking as one of several alternative work scenarios he hopes the entire government can continue to adopt. "The 1950s model of chaining people to their desks for eight hours is a 19th-century model, and I want to get rid of it," Berry said. "But our semantics could kill us, because if Congress and the public think that teleworking is a day off, then we're dead."