WASHINGTON, D. C. (Thursday, March 8, 2018) ––Workers at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, and in other centers and outposts across the country, are “bristling with rage” over changes to the Department’s telework policy. In addition to complicating the daily work lives of agency employees, the change, which was formally announced on January 4, would also have a big impact on Washington area commuters, warns AAA Mid-Atlantic. The departmental change in the “commute option of choice” by thousands of federal workers could increase congestion on area roadways, transportation planners worry, and increase the competition for seats aboard Metrorail, Metrobus, and on commuter rail lines and buses throughout the region. The Washington metro area is the workplace of “377,000 federal employees.”

Earlier this decade, Congress passed the “Telework Enhancement Act of 2010.” It transformed commuting patterns and habits in the national capital area. The ratio of federal employees eligible to telework reached 44 percent in 2015, before dropping to 42 percent of the federal workforce in 2016. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., at 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., the Agriculture Department boasts 100,000 employees nationally and globally. Of that tally, 58,635 USDA employees are eligible for teleworking. Yet, only 32,336 federal workers at the USDA teleworked in Fiscal Year 2016, according to a report by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The USDA has “4,500 locations across the country and abroad.” The policy shift means USDA employees must now work in their offices “four days a week.”

The USDA was already routinely missing its agency-wide telework participation goals, despite developing annual action plans, federal studies show. The Agriculture Department’s telework policy shift could worsen gridlock in the Washington metro area, which already suffers from the worst traffic congestion in the entire nation, some area commuters and transportation planners fear. The change comes as technology is making it easier for workers to telecommute and telework, and it could have a ripple effect across the federal government, if other agencies follow suit, some observers worry. Another big concern: congestion delays.

 “More workers in the traffic mix and out and about on Metro platforms on Mondays and Fridays could trigger ‘Tipping Points’ as free-flow traffic breaks down on Washington metro area roadways during peak commuting times,” said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs. “It could exacerbate traffic volumes on area roadways, which already exceeds the ‘capacity’ of the roadway, and impact trips on transit. Each of us wastes an average of 82 hours per year stuck in congestion.”

Reportedly, the USDA has 9,418 federal workers in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Even so, 5,249 area USDA personnel teleworked in the last pay period. Some were working remotely four days per week. The department’s directive could add 41,991 more trips per week, or 2,183,584 extra trips annually, on various transportation modes to work in the metro area. After an employee backlash, the USDA delayed the dénouement for 30 days to allow its workforce to adapt to the new telework policy, according to Federal News Radio. The revised policy was slated to start as of the February 19, 2018 pay period. The changes were initially outlined in a video message to Department of Agriculture employees by USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue. But it could have an outsize impact on the daily commutes of thousands of suburban residents too.

The USDA is made up of 29 agencies and offices.  Just 20 percent of all federal government personnel across the nation work in the Washington, D.C. area. However, Virginia boasts 178,000 federal employees, and Maryland has 147,000 federal workers. Supporters of the teleworking option say it “reduces traffic and increases the productivity of employees.” USDA workers say “Guess who once said that?” Teleworking has shifted the commuting paradigm on traffic-ridden freeways and gridlock-riddled roads in the Washington Metro Area, notes AAA Mid-Atlantic. So has situational teleworking. It is the biggest game-changer in the daily grind. Commuter Connections has chronicled the surge and impact of teleworking on the daily commute in the Washington metro area. It says “Gains in teleworking have spanned all sectors. The federal government, non-profits, and private firms have all seen big gains since the 2013 survey. The federal government continues to see the highest rates, though, with 45 percent of employees doing it at least occasionally.”

Owing  to the growing popularity of teleworking, plus the increasing availability of telecommuting options in the Washington metro area, the share of area workers driving to work alone dropped from 70.3 percent in 2010 to 61 percent in 2016, according to 2016 State of the Commute Survey by Commuter Connections. What is more, across the United States, “3.9 million employees, or 2.9 percent of the total U.S. workforce, work from home at least half of the time, up from 1.8 million in 2005.” That is a “115 percent increase since 2005,” according to the 2017 State of Telecommuting in the U.S. Employee Workforce report. The report found, “In more than half of the top U.S. metro area, telecommuting exceeds public transportation as the commute option of choice. It has grown far faster than any other commute mode.”

Like a bolt out of the blue, the change in the long-standing telework policy at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) took 97,289 USDA employees by surprise, causing them to worry about spending more time, money and energy commuting to their job sites, including to HQ downtown and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. They were already miffed by a hiring freeze. Ironically, in the past the “USDA set a particularly high goal for participation” in the telework option, according to a Fiscal Year 2016 report to Congress on the “Status of Telework in the Federal Government” by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM). “Many sub-agencies at USDA continue to struggle with management resistance to allow greater participation,” the OPM found. Since then, the USDA announced: “Employees approved to participate in telework are limited to teleworking no more than two days a pay period.”

With fewer employees teleworking in the national capital area, the increased congestion on area roadways will “eat up time and fuel; reduce worker productivity; exacerbate road and vehicle wear-and-tear; and increase driver stress, aggression, and certain kinds of vehicle accidents.” From work day to work day, seven in ten workers in the inner suburbs in the Washington metro area drive to work alone, the Commuter Connections survey says. Eight out of ten commuters, 80 percent, in the outer suburbs drive alone to work. It compares to only 44 percent in the regional core. More workers are teleworking, up from 6 percent in 2010 to 10 percent last year. Commuter Connections is under the aegis of the Transportation Planning Board (TPB).

The federal workforce comprises 35 percent of morning peak period commuters on Metro. Commuter Connections has hailed the “rise of telework” in the Washington Metro area. “More and more workers in the region are teleworking,” according to Commuter Connections. “In the latest survey, 32 percent of commuters reported working remotely or from home ‘at least occasionally.’ That’s up from 27 percent in 2013. In all, that amounts to a gain of about 200,000 teleworkers. Another 500,000 or so say they could or would if given the opportunity, which would bring the regional share of people who telework regularly to 50 percent.”

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