Summary: Federal employees are participating in a nationwide voluntary experiment to determine the effects of alternative work schedules (AWS) and to determine whether, and in what situations, the Federal Government can successfully use them. The experiment was authorized by the Federal Employees Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules Act, which requires the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to assess the positive and negative effects of alternative work schedules. Congress authorized the use of alternative work schedules with the intent that OPM carefully design, control, and evaluate an experimental program.
OPM has not carried out the congressional mandate. For fiscal year 1980, Congress funded less than one-half of the OPM budget request for the work schedules project. Because OPM did not receive the funding requested and did not internally reallocate the additional funds necessary, it eliminated some tasks and reduced the scope of others. Because OPM has not carried out these tasks, it lacks the degree of control needed to carefully manage and evaluate the experiment.
