The majority of the U.S. Federal Government might be shut down because of the snow, but the Obama White House has plowed on.
“Thanks to modern technology [work] has not been an issue,” Jen Psaki, a White House spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail to The Hill.
Even though a number of staffers haven't been able to physically get there, they've been able to work remotely, according to Psaki.
Remote access could help the federal government, which has been closed since Monday. The shutdown is estimated to cost $100 million a day in lost productivity and opportunity costs, according to the Office of Personnel Management.
But relatively few federal workers have tele-working agreements, the Hill notes.
A 2009 report by OPM said 102,900 federal staffers were tele-working, out of a total of 1.96 million employees. That’s an increase from past years, but it still represents a small portion — a fraction over 5 percent — of the federal workforce.
The 2009 OPM report said almost half of all agencies had not integrated tele-work into their contingency plans for occasions when circumstances make it hard to continue operations, as has been the case this snowbound week. The report said management resistance was one of the biggest barriers to modernization and change.
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Meanwhile, there have been some high-profile examples of telework, GovernmentExecutive reported.
Martha Johnson was sworn in as administrator of the General Services Administration by telephone on Tuesday with her husband as a witness, and [OPM Director John] Berry said in a radio interview that he was teleworking so he didn't "jeopardize my aging bones with broken wrists or broken knees."
That would've been good advice for at least one White House official who decided to brave the elements. On Monday, Political Director Patrick Gaspard slipped on the snow and ice; he is currently recovering from a dislocated jaw and a concussion.
