Page 117 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

96 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

telework a central part of their operations plans. Employees can now
learn more about telework possibilities through a new Web site, www.
telework.gov, and a Telework Talk blog with—you guessed it—the
first postings coming from Berry himself.
He views telework as part of a larger work–life strategy for federal
employees. He has said that advantages include employees being able
to spend more time with their families and there being thousands
of fewer commuters on the road. A tool to fulfill President Obama’s
charge to “make government cool again,” teleworking is likely to at-
tract, motivate, and retain people to public service, Berry feels.
He had started the day of our interview with a presentation at
the Federal Manager’s Association Convention, where he had stressed
that telework is a priority. As he told them:

Now, you all know, in this day and age, it’s not just snow that can close
us down. A dirty bomb could go off in Lafayette Park at 10 o’clock this
morning. God forbid. But if it does, probably about 15 federal office
buildings are going to be (un)inhabitable for months, if not years.
Well, we can’t just say “we’re not going to do that anymore.” We’re the
government of the United States, by God, and we have a responsibility
to keep our operations up and running. And so it’s incumbent on us as
managers to solve whatever the stumbling blocks or the speed bumps on
this are, so we can make this work.

Most people wouldn’t think “federal government” when asked to
picture aggressive, cutting-edge management practices, yet—under
John Berry’s leadership—that is just the direction it is heading.
“When you look at the federal government of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries,” he told us, “it was essentially a paper-processing,
regulatory, regulation-driven operation, primarily blue-collar, lower-
salaried employment place. That is no longer the case. It is not only the
largest employer, it is probably the most complicated employer in the
country, with challenges that range from financial regulatory systems
that avoid the second Great Depression or third Great Depression—