Federal Employees Believe They Need to Work During Emergencies; Most Say They Can WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 21, 2010 – Ninety-three percent of Federal employees believe it is important that they continue working during an emergency or disaster, according to a new survey by the Government Business Council, the research division of Government Executive Media Group, and CDW Government LLC (CDW-G), a leading source of Information Technology (IT) solutions to governments and education. More than half said they could function remotely for more than six days, and an additional 20 percent could accomplish critical tasks from an alternate location for one to five days. "Federal employees want to get the job done, no matter the circumstance," said Andy Lausch, vice president of federal sales for CDW-G. "Today more than ever, Federal employees rely on mobility for seamless business operations. In turn, Federal agencies can better enable employees by creating secure virtual work environments and outfitting employees with the tools they need to make remote work possible, even under challenging circumstances." The survey, underwritten by CDW-G in partnership with EMC, conducted in May 2010, captures the views of 212 randomly selected Federal defense and civilian employees on continuity of operations (COOP). The survey can be downloaded at www.govexec.com/gbc/. While the majority of Federal employees said they could continue working remotely during an emergency, 31 percent said telework eligibility requirements and lack of coordination among agency decision makers have prevented their agency from being better prepared to continue operations. Many employees also said they are concerned about the availability of technology resources during an emergency. Sixty-two percent expressed concern that communications technology such as cell phones and wired phones would not work, and approximately 50 percent said they worried that data would not be accessible remotely, and that servers or networks would be overloaded. Eighty percent of employees said data backup and recovery systems are essential in the event of a system failure, pointing to the critical need to enable real-time data center failover during a disruption. "IT contingency plans are a critical component of COOP initiatives," said Mark Colburn, EMC's vice president, Federal Division. "Agency operations today require always-on computing resources at the desktop – wherever that may be – as well as in the data center, at the agency's primary locations and at backup facilities. As agencies expand continuity of operations capabilities to most employees, they must also ensure that the back-end infrastructure can support remote access to computing resources by large contingents of workers for extended periods." In addition to technology access, training on policies and available resources is essential to COOP. Still, just 57 percent of survey respondents said they were aware that their agency has a COOP plan, and 43 percent said their agency provides COOP training. Forty percent said their agency provides IT resources in emergency situations. "The survey highlights the critical need for ongoing employee awareness campaigns and training on COOP," said Bryan Klopack, director, Government Business Council. "Policies and procedures for continuing operations – and enabling technologies – are of little use if employees are not aware of them." About CDW-G For more information about CDW-G product offerings, procurement options, service and solutions, call 1.800.808.4239, email cdwgsales@cdwg.com or visit the CDW-G Web site at CDWG.com. About Government Business Council (GBC) About Government Executive Media Group |
