A Quasi-Experimental Examination of Telework Eligibility and Participation in the U.S. Federal Government

• Date: 01 December 2018
• Published date: 01 December 2018
• DOI: 10.1177/0734371X16680269
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X16680269

Review of Public Personnel Administration

2018, Vol. 38(4) 451 –471

© The Author(s) 2016

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DOI: 10.1177/0734371X16680269

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Article

A Quasi-Experimental

Examination of Telework

Eligibility and Participation in

the U.S. Federal Government

David Lee1 and Sun Young Kim2

Abstract

This article examines the causal effects of telework eligibility and participation on

employee attitudes, including perceived fairness, job satisfaction, and intention to

stay, in the U.S. federal government. Drawing on the literatures on social exchange

and organizational justice, we investigate how telework eligibility and participation

influence employee attitudes and whether different reasons for nonparticipation have

varying impacts. Our findings show that those employees who are eligible to telework

report higher levels of perceived fairness, job satisfaction, and intention to stay than

do those employees who are ineligible. On the other hand, the effects of telework

participation on employee attitudes depend upon the reasons why nonparticipants

do not telework. Specifically, when employees do not telework because of insufficient

technical or managerial support, they report significantly lower levels of perceived

fairness, job satisfaction, and intention to stay than do teleworkers. However,

nontelework due to job requirements or personal choice does not have significant,

negative effects on work attitudes.

Keywords

telework arrangements, eligibility, participation, federal government

For the past few decades, the use of telework arrangements has been increasing in

many organizations as a means of providing employees with enhanced flexibility in

regard to choosing their work locations and times (Wadsworth, Facer, & Arbon, 2010).

Although the improvement in work-life balance is one of the primary benefits

1University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA

2University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Sun Young Kim, Department of Public Administration and Policy, University of Georgia, Athens, GA

30602, USA.

Email: kimsun@uga.edu

680269ROPXXX10.1177/0734371X16680269Review of Public Personnel AdministrationLee and Kim

research-article2016

452 Review of Public Personnel Administration 38(4)

of teleworking for employees, such arrangements have several other advantages for

individuals, organizations, and society, in terms of cost savings related to office main-

tenance, transportation, energy, and environments as well as the increased continuity

of operations in emergency situations and natural disasters (Caillier, 2012; Major,

Verive, & Joice, 2008; Maruyama, Hopkinson, & James, 2009; Overmyer, 2011).

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM; 2013), telework is

defined as “a work flexibility arrangement under which an employee performs the

duties and responsibilities of such employee’s position, and other authorized activities,

from an approved work site other than the location from which the employee would

otherwise work” (pp. 17-18). It is one of the most widely used work-life programs in

the federal government; in 2015, more than one third of federal employees participated

in some form of telework (OPM, 2015).

In the United States, the Telework Enhancement Act (the Act, hereafter) was signed

into law in 2010, with the purpose of encouraging all federal agencies to expand tele-

work eligibility and provide appropriate arrangements to increase the use of telework

in the workplace. The main objective of the Act was to facilitate employees’ access to

alternative work arrangements and make telework programs widely available to a

large portion of the federal workforce. Under the Act, all eligible employees should be

able to participate in telework programs if they want to do so, but actual participation

often requires managerial and technical support from the agency because each agency

is granted the discretion to set the eligibility and participation criteria for teleworking

and is expected to remove barriers that prevent effective teleworking.

Given the widespread use of telework programs and the benefits of such work

arrangements, a great deal of research has been conducted to examine the effects of

telework on various work outcomes, including work productivity and performance,

employee retention, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction and involvement

(Bloom, Liang, Roberts, & Ying, 2015; Caillier, 2012, 2013; Gajendran & Harrison,

2007; Martin & MacDonnell, 2012). First, previous studies have provided mixed sup-

port for the impact of telework on employee productivity, suggesting that telework

arrangements have both advantages and disadvantages in terms of work performance.

Greater flexibility and convenience of working at home as well as reduced time spent

in commuting can lead teleworkers to perform their core functions more efficiently

during work hours, thereby improving individual and organizational productivity

(Bloom et al., 2015; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007; Hill, Miller, Weiner, & Colihan,

1998; Kossek, Lautsch, & Eaton, 2006). However, telework is also associated with

limited oversight of managers and increased family interruptions with work, which

may result in shirking or moral hazard of teleworkers (Dunham, Pierce, & Casteneda,

1987; Lee & Hong, 2011; Pierce & Newstrom, 1982).

Second, teleworkers are likely to exhibit more positive work attitudes than nontele-

workers because they can benefit from greater flexibility in terms of their work loca-

tions as well as a greater balance between their work and personal lives (Caillier, 2012,

2013; Martin & MacDonnell, 2012). However, the effects of teleworking on employee

attitudes may vary depending on the reasons why nonteleworkers do not participate.

Although the Act recommends that all federal agencies provide telework arrangements