WASHINGTON 鈥� With telework being touted as an alternative during Metro鈥檚 maintenance plan, one Montgomery County leader says the county should be practicing what it preaches.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 just preach teleworking,鈥� Councilman Roger Berliner said Thursday during a briefing with Metro鈥檚 Chief Operating Officer Jack Requa and Montgomery County Department of Transportation Director Al Roshdieah.
鈥淲e have to demonstrate that we, too, are prepared to encourage people to telework,鈥� Berliner said.
Metro鈥檚 track work plan in Montgomery County begins Aug. 1 and continues through Nov. 1. The county is expected to feel the biggest impact in October, when service between NOMA and Fort Totten stations will be suspended.
As the county braces for the impact, county leaders are asking the public to find alternative ways to work. Federal transit leaders have been pushing for telework as an alternative. But Berliner said more needs to be done on the local level.
During the briefing, Berliner asked Roshdieh for figures showing how many county workers were聽currently teleworking and also asked what the county could聽do to encourage more teleworking 鈥� not just during Metro’s track work.
He said he detected a reluctance among managers to allow county employees to work from home.
鈥淚 think there is a traditional view among many managers that if [they] don鈥檛 see these people working, [they] can鈥檛 trust that they are working,鈥� Berliner said.
Sande Brecher, chief of the county鈥檚 commuter services section, said one of the obstacles is that many county positions 鈥� such as bus operators 鈥� aren鈥檛 well-suited for telework.
Brecher disagreed with Berliner鈥檚 assertion that managers aren鈥檛 encouraging telework and said that when the county鈥檚 department human resources reached out to department heads, there was a 鈥渁 fair amount of receptivity鈥� across the board.
鈥淭he good news is that the county government has just recently instituted a telework program initiative,鈥� said Brecher, though she was unable to say how many county employees were taking advantage of the program.聽鈥淭hat is a fairly new program.”
