Versatile bureaucracy: a telework case study: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office uses telework as a cost-effective way to manage human capital, boost productivity, and improve the quality of employee lives

Public Manager, The, Winter, 2007 by Vickers Meadows

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Today, as federal agencies wrestle with issues of employee recruitment, retention, and cost containment, telework has emerged as a vital tool that many of them, including the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), use to address management challenges.

USPTO runs seventeen telework programs, the two largest of which are the trademark work-at-home program and the patent hoteling program. The telework program in the trademark office started as a Council for Excellence in Government (CEG) cohort project ten years ago, and today 86 percent of those eligible to telework in the trademark operation--more than 230 trademark attorneys--work four days a week from home. In the patent operation, more than 1,000 patent examiners also telework four days a week. Employees in both organizations reserve space--referred to as "hoteling"--at the Alexandria, VA, campus on the day they come into the office. Over the next several years USPTO expects to hire 1,200 new patent examiners each year, and by 2012 it expects to have some 3,000 examiners teleworking.

Federal agencies that embrace telework accrue many benefits, from better morale and employee productivity to lower absenteeism and reduced need for office space. Telework is a versatile approach to managing federal human capital costs and improving employee quality of life. In USPTO's case, it has also increased employee retention and helped meet agency quality, e-government, production, and efficiency targets for several years. The telework initiatives also help USPTO fulfill continuity-of-operations (COOP) planning requirements for federal agencies.

Lessons Learned

Top Leadership Champion

To successfully implement telework in an agency, top leadership has to be a strong champion of its value to the organization. USPTO is very fortunate that the director, Jon Dudas, is an enthusiastic supporter of telework. He often speaks about how telework and hoteling have become a critical part of USPTO's business model.

Work Measurement

Telework is easiest to implement in situations where employee work is easily measured and quantified. In USPTO, the work of trademark attorneys and patent examiners is production-driven, easily measured, and done in regular work cycles. Trademark examining attorneys systematically review trademark applications in a structured sequence of steps. Patent examiners work much the same way in their approach to reviewing patent applications. For these reasons, where the trademark attorneys and patent examiners live or the precise hours they work really don't matter. As Danette Campbell, USPTO's telework coordinator, puts it, "We think our employees can work any time and from anywhere."

Strong Business Case

For telework programs to succeed, an agency needs to articulate a strong business case for teleworking to senior executives and middle managers, most of whom are baby boomers who started their careers before the advent of computers and the Internet. For that reason, they are sometimes skeptical of the real value that telework can offer an agency and concerned about employee productivity dropping if employees aren't physically in an office near their supervisors. Building a powerful business case can overcome resistance to telework:

* Outline the cost savings or avoidances that an organization can realize. Take time to estimate the likely money that will be saved annually by letting "x" number of employees telework instead of working in physical offices at your agency's location. The savings add up quickly: for most agencies, rental costs for real estate are a major, if not the major, administrative budget item. Projecting dramatic cost reductions in this area is likely to generate interest among your agency's top leaders.

* Calculate the "soft" benefits an agency can reap. Typically, sick leave usage goes down when people telework from home. Take this into account in crafting your business case. Employees' productivity also goes up--and their stress down--when able to telework. For one thing, they aren't spending many hours a week on I-95 or the Capital Beltway commuting to and from work--which means they're able to be working more of the business day.

* Include data on employee recruitment and retention. The new generations of workers entering federal government are more technology savvy than previous generations. They're accustomed to working in casual surroundings with laptops and wireless networks. In many cases, they're looking for flexible work arrangements that will give them both autonomy and flexibility in their work schedules.

Attracting this demographic group to government and retaining it require federal agencies to create attractive employment options and family friendly work policies. Telework has become an important recruiting tool for USPTO and for a growing number of other federal agencies. It offers potential employees a reduction in commutes and other workplace stresses that, if not addressed, can hinder their effectiveness--or prompt them to leave their federal jobs for seemingly more attractive private-sector opportunities.