Recent research shows the Agriculture Department, General Services Administration and Patent and Trademark Office leading the way in implementing improved telework policies under the Telework Improvements Act, among at least 10 departments responding to a survey conducted in September 2011, but only recently made public. At PTO, 40 percent of all work hours completed are done sounder a telework arrangement.

The results come from a Congressional Research Service survey requested by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.). Among the survey questions were inquires on the definition of telework, telework eligibility requirements and real estate savings resulting from telework, although the congressmen noted "agencies reported difficulty in quantifying energy and real estate cost savings."

The largest barrier to telework may be eligibility. At the Veterans Affairs Department, 87.5 percent of employees are ineligible for telework and the department does not track how many employees telework, according to a Dec. 22, 2011 memo (.pdf) to Office and Personnel Management Director John Berry from the congressmen.

Connolly and Sarbanes singled out the Veterans Affairs Department for its low telework rates. (A copy of VA's survey response was not included in the files provided to FierceGovernmentIT.)

"The department failed to provide any detailed information to justify an extraordinarily high rate of telework ineligibility," wrote the congressmen. While many VA employees are required to work on site to provide veteran care, "it seems unlikely that 87.5 [percent] of employees work on-site for all their work hours," they said.

At the departments of Education and Health and Human Services, a high percentage of employees are eligible but telework rates do not show many employees are participating. The memo describes telework rates at the despartments of Homeland Security and Treasury as "abysmally low." Fifty-three percent of positions at Treasury are ineligible for telework and only 1 percent of work hours are completed via telework. At DHS, 70 percent of positions are ineligible for telework and only 0.016 percent of employees teleworked each pay period.

The departments of Transportation, Justice and Housing and Urban Development refused to participate in the survey, according to the memo.

For more:
- download the memo from Connolly and Sarbanes (.pdf)
- download the Commerce Department survey results (.pdf)
- download the Homeland Security Department survey results (.doc)
- download the Education Department survey results (.doc)
- download the Energy Department survey results (.doc)
- download the Interior Department survey results (.doc)
- download the Labor Department survey results (.doc)
- download Health and Human Services Department survey results (.pdf)
- download the Treasury Department survey results (.doc)
- download the Agriculture Department survey results (.pdf)

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