OPM Guidance Helps Measure Telework, Work-Life Programs

Agencies now have new guidance that will help them agencies develop methods to capture the benefits and costs of telework or work-life programs. 

The Office of Personnel and Management on July 16 issued the “Evaluation Guide: Evidence-Based Strategies to Capture the Benefits and Costs of Work-Life Programs,” which includes strategies for evidence-based decision-making, organizational outcomes of work-life programs, and data collection methods agencies can use to decide key areas of work-life value.

The guide also provides best practices and examples from three agencies: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes for Health.

“There is significant evidence that highlights the benefits of work-life programs, however, agency guidance and information is limited,” the document states. Assessment of these programs have been “unsystematic,” and based mainly on anecdotal evidence and the desire to “do the right thing,” which affects the agency’s decision-making when it comes to investing in work-life efforts, according to the guidance.