The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has been on maximum telework mode since March 15, an OPM spokesperson told MeriTalk, adding “on any given day approximately 90 percent of the workforce is teleworking.”
Along with establishing its own remote work plan, OPM has been working with agencies to provide guidance for their own workforces, and with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on workforce impacts and to provide the latest information on COVID-19.
Among several rounds of guidance to Federal agencies since the coronavirus pandemic ramp-up, OPM issued guidance on Feb. 7 establishing a working group of key agencies to determine subsequent human resource guidance.
“OPM will continue to coordinate with the CDC and the agency working group to identify Federal workforce impacts, direct agencies to the latest information on [COVID-19], and provide agencies with any necessary guidance on HR flexibilities and authorities,” former OPM Director Dale Cabaniss wrote in the February memo.
OPM’s latest guidance to agencies issued earlier this week said OPM and the Office of Management and Budget are preparing scenarios to return Federal employees to their offices over time and depending on progress in tamping down the coronavirus.
