Managerial Reluctance vis-a-vis Telework

Good Morning,

I am a Contracting Officer at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs National Acquisition Center (NAC), in Hines, IL. (Hines is about 13 miles or ~1 to 1 1/2 hours in commuter traffic, west of Chicago, IL).

We were allowed to commence telework a year ago.

Our director seems to be uncomfortable with the telework ethos. He is an “old school” manager who appears to need personnel in the office to feel in control of the NAC’s mission.

Are there any metrics available to indicate telework productivity?

Thank you for your time,

Freddie Beaulieux

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Terrence (Terry) Hill

There are a number of studies like the Stanford study (below). However, sounds like your manager is not going to be convinced unless the studies relate to the work of contracting officers who work in VA. I’m not aware of any such studies. However, I recommend that you use your own productivity measures to convince your manager that this works for you. Measure and report on your productivity while teleworking to make your own business case. Nothing else will convince your manager.

http://www.stanford.edu/~nbloom/WFH.pdf