Telework: Private Sector Stakeholder and Expert Views
Government Accountability Office05/08/2025
Fast Facts
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, opinions on telework have been evolving. For this Q&A, we talked to a number of organizations that represent private sector employers and workers.
They collectively identified improvements in recruiting and retaining workers as the greatest benefit of telework. They also noted that maintaining workplace culture in a telework environment was the biggest challenge.
Additionally, some experts said telework opens work opportunities for certain groups of people, including:
Workers with disabilities
Caregivers and parents
Older workers
Two-career couples
This report is the second in our series on telework.
Highlights
What GAO Found
Private sector worker and employer stakeholder organizations that GAO interviewed said the most common work arrangement among the groups they represent is telework that allows workers to work 2 or 3 days each week at the employers’ site and work from home the remaining days. For employer stakeholders, deciding whether to adopt telework depends on whether the type of job is suitable for telework and how telework might affect operating costs and the ability to monitor workers’ job performance, among other things.
The greatest benefit of telework identified by employer stakeholder organizations was the improved ability to recruit and retain workers. Worker stakeholder organizations also identified recruitment and retention as a main benefit of telework. Expert researchers and worker and employer stakeholder organizations said another benefit of telework is that it increases workforce participation of: (1) workers with disabilities, (2) workers who have caregiving responsibilities, (3) older workers, and (4) two-career couples.
Conversely, the greatest challenge of telework that both employer and worker stakeholder organizations identified was building workplace culture. Specifically, they noted that teleworking can lead to a decrease in relationship building between co-workers, as well as between workers and their managers. Additionally, worker stakeholder organizations said that employers’ return-to-office requirements that reduce or eliminate telework can lead to worker turnover.
Stakeholders reported a variety of other potential benefits and challenges of telework for workers and employers (see figure).
The experts GAO spoke with also identified policies that in their view could address challenges related to telework, including challenges for those teleworking in states other than where their employer is located. For example, experts advocated for a policy to clarify, when the employer and teleworking employee are in different states, which state taxes the teleworker’s income.
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued guidance on how federal labor law applies to teleworkers. For example, in 2020 and 2023, DOL issued two Field Assistance Bulletins that explain how employers can exercise reasonable diligence in tracking teleworkers’ work time and ensure that they pay teleworkers properly.
Why GAO Did This Study
The ongoing use of telework since the COVID-19 pandemic ended has been an evolving area. GAO was asked to examine a number of issues related to telework. This report examines employer and worker stakeholder and experts’ views on telework, experts' views on public policies that could affect telework, and labor law guidance DOL provides on telework.
GAO interviewed officials from 11 organizations that represent private sector workers and employers in industries with the highest rates of telework and in specific groups that may have had significant or unique experiences with telework (e.g., older workers, workers with disabilities, and small businesses). GAO interviewed seven expert researchers and a representative from a private sector research organization. The researchers GAO selected included three whose studies were cited multiple times in GAO’s 2023 report and experts who were referred to GAO by the initial three researchers. The views of stakeholder organizations and experts were not generalizable. GAO also interviewed DOL officials and summarized DOL guidance for employers of teleworkers.
For more information, contact John Sawyer at sawyerj@gao.gov.