Where Work-Life Benefits Meet the Administration of Justice: DOJ Reentry Plans
This week’s FEDtalk show spotlights the Department of Justice’s post-pandemic reentry plans. As DOJ strives to reach a “new normal,” groups representing Department attorneys discuss how telework availability is impacting employee morale, recruitment, and retention.
Joining from the DOJ Gender Equality Network (DOJ GEN) is President Stacey Young and Vice President Melanie Krebs-Pilotti. Young and Krebs-Pilotti are also co-founders of the organization. Also joining the program from the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys (NAAUSA) is Vice President Adam Hanna. All three guests are current DOJ attorneys, although they join entirely in their capacities as association representatives.
Both DOJ GEN and NAAUSA discuss how telework was of interest to members long before the pandemic; however, the pandemic accelerated the legal communities push for enhanced workplace flexibility. As the general legal community embraces telework, the organizations urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to follow suit to posture the DOJ to recruit and retain premier talent.
As maximum telework rolls back, an internal DOJ GEN survey found “policies are all over the place – some are very generous, some are not generous.” DOJ GEN President Young continued to explain that similarly situated employees across Department offices and components appear to have “starkly different” telework options.
A recent NAAUSA survey found that an estimated 42 percent of U.S. Attorney Offices (USAOs) are currently offering less than two days of telework per week – with exact offerings ranging from 2 percent of offices offering no telework and 13 percent offering only one day a week. Thirteen percent of USAOs are only allowing telework on an ad hoc basis.
According to a NAAUSA survey conducted last year, an overwhelming majority of Assistant U.S. Attorneys (AUSAs) reported working productively and successfully while in a maximum telework posture. As a result, many USAOs recent return to limited telework as maximum telework lifts has created feeling of frustration and a sense that offices are moving “back in time,” according to NAAUSA Vice President Hanna.
Both Hanna and Young expressed concern that the disparate treatment of employees creates unnecessary internal competition, where employees have an incentive to leave their offices in search of a more flexible policy.
As the private sector embraces telework, the Department risks losing burgeoning legal talent to private sector firms offering additional flexibility.
According to Hanna, NAAUSA is advocating for the Department to establish a uniform, baseline telework policy of at least two days of telework per week. DOJ GEN has similarly advocated for a baseline Department-wide policy but also aims to empower members to advocate for improved policies within their office by increasing transparency and awareness around what other offices are doing.
“In addition to our advocacy with the leadership and the Department, we have also really tried to provide the data to our membership. We have worked hard to get groups of employees together… so we [can] to let them know what the best policies offered in other components are,” DOJ GEN Vice President Melanie Krebs-Pilotti explained, “We want to make that data transparent and available so that employees in different offices can advocate for themselves.”
You can stream the show online anytime via the Federal News Network app and listen to the FEDtalk on all major podcasting platforms. FEDtalk is a live talk show produced by Shaw Bransford & Roth P.C., a federal employment law firm. Bringing you the insider’s perspective from leaders in the federal community since 1993.
