OPM also said that allowing remote work should be given special consideration for newly hired employees or those coming from another agency. Image: Mark Van Scyoc/Shutterstock.com

OPM has told agencies that while telework “can be a significant benefit to employers in certain roles and under certain circumstances,” it is “not appropriate for all types of roles.”

Telework should be “implemented with care and intention,” OPM said in a memo on chcoc.gov, with special considerations required, for example, for newly hired employees or when employees’ work locations are within a reasonable distance from the agency’s work location.

With remote work, employees are not expected to report to an agency on a regular basis, unlike telework, where they do. OPM said it issued the guidance because “agency human resources and other senior leaders have requested additional guidance regarding the application of remote work policies to ensure a consistent approach to agency review of remote work arrangements across the government and to consider learnings from across the federal enterprise.”

Telecommuting represents only a small portion of off-site work, but it has drawn attention from some Republicans in Congress, who are raising questions about whether workers might receive a higher local wage than they would at their agency duty station, even though their home serves as their official duty station.

There is some evidence that this has actually happened. In June, the Commerce Department’s inspector general interviewed 31 employees from various agencies who had switched to remote work — or full-time telecommuting, which is de facto remote work — to a location with a lower local rate than their previous location. It found that seven of them had failed to update their duty stations in a timely manner and were overpaid for up to 11 months.

The memo states: “Agencies may use their authority to set remote work parameters related to radius, proximity, or surroundings to the official work location, consistent with the agency’s travel policies. However, remote work arrangements where the employee lives within a reasonable commuting distance of the agency’s official work location to which they are assigned should be a narrowly used exception, and agencies should instead consider approving telework as a flexibility offered. The presence of employees in the office often promotes work culture and facilitates training and engagement opportunities between new employees and experienced team members.”

OPM also said special attention should be given to approving remote work for newly hired employees or those coming from another agency, as working in person “often helps them build important relationships, learn how the organization works and its work culture, and achieve other business goals.”

In addition, fully or mostly remote teams should only be authorized after a “rigorous evaluation,” and the authorization of these teams “should be regularly re-evaluated and adjusted as needed,” the memo said.

It goes on to say: “Agencies should generally make consistent remote work eligibility decisions based on job function categories and mission-critical occupations, as well as broader position or team criteria, rather than on the requests and positions of individual employees.”

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