Why can't the feds telework on extremely hot days?
Last year I wrote to you following the blizzards and nuclear summit to ask if OPM was using telework to mitigate congestion during extreme weather or events which cause widespread street closures. I appreciate your leadership to implement telework during these events.This summer's weather suggests that extreme heat may also create a need for expanded telework. As you know, we have experienced nearly a month of consecutive days with 90 degree or higher temperatures, including record high temperatures and unusually high nighttime temperatures. This extreme heat is not only uncomfortable, but also exacerbates ground level ozone pollution and associated respiratory diseases.
I am aware that the Department of Homeland Security encouraged employees to take a telework day during the most extreme heat, and would appreciate your consideration of making such a practice more common across agencies. Reducing traffic and associated ozone pollution in our region will become increasingly important as extreme heat becomes more common in our region. Adapting to DC's oppressive summer heat isn't a new concept. It's why Congress takes an August recess . But at some point our attitude shifted from taking summer siestas to trying to show nature who's boss. Anyone who's gotten a whiff of fellow passengers on Metro lately can tell you how well that's working out.
Of course, our climate is now even hotter than it was in DC's early days, and it's getting worse fast. Globally, June was 1.60°F hotter than the 20th-century average. And considering Congress hasn't curbed America's carbon emissions and the world has copied our inaction, we're hurtling towards the most extreme changes .
Letting feds telework on the hottest of hot days won't protect DC from global warming, but it would be an easy step to making it a bit more tolerable. I don't really see a comparison between a day on which it snows and a day in which it is extremely hot. In the former there is a multitude of safety concerns and a burden for employees when commuting and family arrangement in the snow that simply don't exist for the latter.
There are some reasons that merit the expansion of teleworking but I don't think the extremely hot days scenario is one of them.
by Fitz Depending on the individual federal agency's policy, there is nothing that would prohbit this.
Reasons For Telecommuting - News
Do you have any real concrete reasons you can't go? Or is it just that you're afraid you might like it too much?” Barry Frangipane is an author and blogger from Florida. His first book, The Venice Experiment, was published this month.
Or a million other reasons? by MJ on Aug 10, 2011 3:33 pm I have no idea what industry you guys work in, but the contractors (and company folks) that I work with (as a govt employee) telecommute a hell of a lot more than any of the people in our
"And I have heard all the excuses, with people saying, 'I can't just up and move to another country.' Well, ask yourself. Do you have any real concrete reasons you can't go? Or is it just that you're afraid you might like it too much?"
A new study shows that employees who telecommute regularly are less stressed, and have higher job satisfaction, than those who go to the office every day. But the reasons behind telecommuters' relative calm may surprise you. Turns out getting a break
Telecommuting is the mundane version of the jetpack, a long-promised, much-anticipated technological system that's never arrived. There are undoubtedly a lot of reasons that telecommuting hasn't taken off in the way some imagined,
The Real Reason Telecommuters Are Happier | BNET
A new study shows that employees who telecommute regularly are less stressed, and have higher job satisfaction, than those who go to the office every day. But the reasons behind telecommuters’ relative calm may surprise you. Turns out getting a break from our colleagues, even if you claim to like them, is a very good thing.
A lot of the research and advice about telecommuting concentrates on how to make those who work from home feel more ‘connected’ to the office. The fear-often shared by telecommuters themselves-is that those who work from home will be passed over for promotions, or miss important information, because they’re not putting in the requisite ‘face time.’ But this study suggests that getting a break from all that information, and all that politicking, is one of the things that makes life easier for telecommuters.
Avoiding pesky colleagues
Kathryn L. Fonner , at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , and Michael E. Roloff , at Northwestern University , queried approximately 200 workers about their stress levels, job satisfaction, and whether or not they believed they had achieved any sort of work-life balance. About half the respondents telecommuted at least three days a week, while the others were office-based. Here’s what they found:
Telecommuters are less aware of office politics-and that seems to be healthy. In the study, telecommuters were less likely agree with statements such as “Favoritism rather than merit determines who gets ahead here,” and “Good ideas are desired even when it means disagreeing with superiors.” Of course, it is remotely possible that companies that allow telecommuting actually have cultures that are more open, honest, and merit-based than others, but given the wide range of companies whose employees work from home, the researchers think that’s unlikely. Telecommuters are less stressed by meetings and interruptions. As much as telecommuters may encourage their office-based employees to ‘call any time,’ it appears that their colleagues are reluctant to do so. The authors didn’t say whether or not that reluctance would eventually impact telecommuters’ advancement within the organization.Reasons For Telecommuting - Bookshelf
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