In its first formal guidelines on telework, the General Services Administration informs federal agencies how to manage programs for employees who telecommute at least one day a week.

“This guidance is a clear signal that we are not turning back,” said Stanley Kaczmarczyk, deputy associate administrator at GSA’s Office of Real Property and head of the governmentwide telework program. “There are no excuses for not having a robust telework program. We have a law on the books, and now we have implementing regulations.”

The Office of Personnel Management and GSA have previously provided informal guidance on telework, and many agencies have policies. Nevertheless, unanswered questions about what constitutes compliance and what equipment, funding and support are authorized have left some managers hesitant to make alternative workplace arrangements.

“By doing this, I hope to bring telework more in the mainstream for government,” Kaczmarczyk said. “With fierce competition for human capital and a retirement wave, telework provides a work style to retain older workers and recruit young workers looking for flexibility.”

According to the new guidance, telework must occur at least one day a week on a regular and recurring basis and not on an unscheduled, project-oriented or irregular basis.

Alternative workplace arrangements can include telework, hoteling, virtual offices, telework centers and hot desking. GSA defines a virtual office as a computer network that enables employees in different locations to work cooperatively. Hoteling and hot desking refer to shared, nonpermanent work spaces assigned to teleworkers on a first-come, first-served basis.

The new guidelines clarify that agencies must look first at alternative work arrangements for employees before buying or renting additional office space and document the decision. Before deciding on alternative work arrangements, for example, agency managers should consider such factors as space utilization, space flexibility to accommodate organizational changes, work life quality, individual and organizational performance, technology utilization and return on investment, and reduced facility costs.

Last year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office saved $1.5 million in rent by having 70 percent of its trademark-examining attorneys work from home. Now in a new office building, USPTO is expanding the telework program to include patent examiners to save space during the next four years, when 4,000 patent examiners will be hired, said Bridget Quinn, a USPTO spokeswoman. “Telework is a work life issue, too,” she said. “With the higher cost of housing, people are living farther out with longer commutes to work.”