The Department of the Interior (DoI) has seen an increase in overall workplace satisfaction and recruitment and retention as a result of expanded telework flexibilities, a top DoI official told members of Congress on Thursday.
Mark Green, the deputy assistant secretary for human capital and diversity and the chief human capital officer at the Interior Department, said that DoI’s workforce is now performing in-person work for 65 percent of its work hours.
“Based on our experience before, during, and following the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe the hybrid workforce model that we’re operating in now is one that works for the department,” Green said today during a House Natural Resources Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing.
“In fact, for the department to remain competitive for the talent we need in the future, especially in mission support occupations, we believe it’s essential that we continue to offer workplace flexibility such as telework and remote work.”
Green said that in September 2023, DoI implemented the requirement for teleworking managers and supervisors in the National Capital Region to begin working at least 50 percent of their time in the office.
In mid-December, DoI expanded that requirement and notified all non-bargaining unit employees in the National Capital Region that they will also begin reporting to the office at least 50 percent of their time beginning Feb. 11, 2024.
Green said that these steps will ensure that over 70 percent of the employees in the National Capital Region will be working in person at greater rates. He also noted that about 55 percent of DoI’s workforce consists of customer-facing employees – who are typically not eligible for telework – who work within public lands, recreation areas, parks, and wildlife refuges.
By leveraging telework flexibilities, Green said that DoI has seen an improvement in employee satisfaction and has also seen an improvement in efforts to recruit and retain a talented workforce.
“We’ve actually increased in many areas in performance with telework, and we’re also seeing higher levels of retention of our employees and better scores on our Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey around employee engagement,” Green said.
“The tools that we have now, the technology allows for managers and employees to stay connected and work together,” he continued. “So, job satisfaction is actually even higher according to the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.”
Dawn Locke, the director of strategic issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), concurred, adding that she recently talked to Fish and Wildlife Service officials and National Park Service officials who said telework has been a huge benefit to recruitment efforts.
“Since they started offering telework, their pool of applicants opened – they had a larger geographic area to choose from and more skill sets to choose from,” Locke told members of Congress.
“With that being said, they also acknowledged that while recruitment and retention had improved, that not every position was suitable for telework because they had to be in person,” she added. “But, they said even if they offered one day a pay period to telework, when those individuals who normally have to be in person just had to do administrative stuff behind the computer, that was beneficial to them.”
