Kaine: Telework OK for more

Richmond Times Dispatch
Published: July 17, 2008

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s office is phoning it in.

Kaine said yesterday that he is expanding the state’s existing telework policy to include the roughly 120 employees who work directly for the Governor’s Office and Cabinet.

“Rising fuel prices, the escalating cost of commuting to work, worsening traffic congestion and reduced air quality compel a change in the business culture of state agencies,“ Kaine said in a statement released by his press office and distributed by e-mail—not at an energy-consuming news conference.

The governor himself was phoning it in. The announcement came while he was in England on a marketing mission with officials from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. He heads to Ireland today to meet with government officials and returns to Virginia on Saturday.

Nearly 23,000 of the state’s 95,000 employees are eligible to telework, and roughly 5,000 already do so, according to the governor’s office. An additional 24,000 state employees are eligible to work alternative schedules, such as a four-day, 40-hour work week; some 14,000 employees take advantage of the option.

Though it’s not a cure for Virginia’s transportation woes, the latest initiative seeks to increase state participation in conservation and savings, as public and private employees alike cope with gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon.

“Telework reduces energy consumption, both in the amount of gasoline used for daily commuting and in office-building energy costs,“ Kaine said in the statement.

The idea is nothing new. In September 2006, Kaine signed an executive order establishing the Office of Telework Promotion and Broadband Assistance. The state Department of Taxation is among the agencies with the highest level of participation, with nearly 600 employees in the telework program.

Even before yesterday’s announcement, roughly 50 employees in Kaine’s office were using telework in their jobs.

State employees participating in telework programs are required to sign an agreement with their supervisor outlining their duties and responsibilities when working outside the office.

“It’s a good thing all around,“ said Kaine press secretary Gordon Hickey, citing studies showing increased worker productivity and energy savings.

“You have to trust people to do their job, and there’s a work product that is produced that has to be checked,“ he said. “It’s not like you’re sitting at home in a hammock.“