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Impact of Federal Telework on Recruitment and Customer Service: A GAO Report

The subject of federal telework is increasingly contentious, particularly in light of signals from the incoming second Trump administration, which has indicated plans to dismantle telework arrangements through its proposed Department of Government Efficiency. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), published on November 22, sheds light on how teleworking practices have influenced recruitment and customer service across four federal agencies.

This report evaluates telework policies at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Farm Service Agency (FSA), the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), with the analysis covering the period from July 2019 to December 2023. It underscores the role of telework in the agencies’ capabilities to attract and maintain talent, regardless of the extent to which telework was employed.

Conducted as part of an ongoing series on federal telework, this analysis examined each agency’s policies and practices, especially in light of their designations as High Impact Service Providers by the Office of Management and Budget, which recognizes their critical services to the public.

The report highlights significant variations in telework adoption across the agencies. For example, during a pay period in February 2024, 49% of IRS workers were identified as frequent teleworkers, whereas only 28% were working exclusively onsite. In contrast, the FSA reported that 81% of its employees were working in the office, with a mere 3% telecommuting for the entire week. These discrepancies are largely attributed to the nature of workloads and onsite requirements; while IRS staff can effectively manage customer inquiries from remote locations, FSA personnel often must be physically present to conduct assessments related to agricultural operations.

Despite this variance in telework implementation, the agencies recognized a shared challenge: the influence of telework on their recruitment, hiring, and retention strategies. According to the report, officials from the FSA noted that their limited telework options—compared to those available in the private sector and other federal agencies—impeded their ability to draw in talent. One office reported instances where potential candidates withdrew their applications upon realizing that the job required substantial in-office presence.

IRS officials indicated that telework proved vital for the agency, enabling the hiring of over 5,000 new Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) in fiscal year 2023 and significantly widening their talent pool. However, they also observed that in-person training requirements might contribute to attrition, with 30% of new CSR recruits quitting during a 12-week training period at one site.

At USCIS, the employment landscape appears more balanced, with 39% of employees working onsite, 38% remotely, and 15% teleworking five days a week as of February 2024. The agency noted that remote positions attracted three times more applicants than in-person roles between 2019 and 2023, indicating a clear preference for flexible work arrangements.

The VBA reported an impressive 66% of its workforce telecommuting five or more days during a pay period in February 2024. Officials from VBA suggested that the availability of telework likely improved employee engagement and retention, particularly as survey data indicated an increase in employee interest in maintaining better work-life balance, with telework flexibility becoming a more significant factor in their decisions to stay with the agency.

While the report documented varied performance outcomes, it also revealed that any observed changes in customer service were not necessarily linked to telework adoption but were rather influenced by external factors, such as pandemic-related disruptions and technological improvements in IRS operations.

The GAO stresses that each agency still needs to enhance its telework program, targeting full evaluations of its telework impact. Currently, the IRS, FSA, and USCIS have not completely assessed their telework frameworks, while the VBA has made partial progress in gathering data related to teleworking practices.

As these findings emerge amidst proposed efforts by the new administration to utilize telework policy changes as a mechanism for workforce reductions, the GAO has advised the IRS, FSA, and USCIS to methodically assess their telework initiatives for improvement opportunities. It also recommended that the VBA finalize its systems to capture more comprehensive telework data. Responses varied among the agencies, with some endorsing the recommendations while others, like the USDA, remained neutral.

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