An average federal employee could save up to $4,000 a year by teleworking, according to a recent analysis.
That was one finding lawmakers on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee heard during a hearing on Wednesday about how the federal government could potentially expand telework after the pandemic. While the Trump administration ordered “maximum telework” as the novel coronavirus began spreading in March, some top administration officials have been pushing to reopen offices and pull back on telework.
“The consulting firm Global Workplace Analytics determined that if all federal employees eligible for telework had telecommuted just half of the time, the federal government could reduce its need for office space by 25%,” said committee chairman Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. There are about 2.1 million federal employees nationwide––42% of which were eligible for telework in fiscal 2018, according to the most recent data––who work in some of the 9,600 buildings the federal government owns and leases.
“Taxpayers could [annually] save $1.75 billion dollars in real estate costs alone and over $11 billion in total costs. Through such telework federal employees would also save on personal expenditures such as food, commuting, gas and dry cleaning,” Barrasso said. Besides real estate, cost savings for the government would come from more productivity and continuity of operations during disasters, less absenteeism and turnover, according to the expanded telework could individual annually
