by Eddie Vegger

Created on: December 29, 2009   Last Updated: December 30, 2009

Finding a telecommuting job with the federal government is not easy, but if you land one of these positions, you really do have the best of both worlds, a stable job with great benefits and the ability to work at your own pace and under your own roof.  The Obama Administration and the new Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis have challenged Federal Managers to expand the numbers of employees that are in home-based positions.  Why?  There are several reasons. 

First, the federal government is set to lose thousands of baby boomer employees in senior positions over the next 5-10 years.  In many cases, there are not trained employees waiting in the wings to take over for these departing boomer's.  So employees that can demonstrate their intrinsic value to the organization are in a position to bargain for what they want, including the opportunity to work at home. 

Second, the vast majority of federal jobs are now computer based.  With email, document imaging, web-based project tools, video conferencing and other technical developments, it is much easier to make the argument for home-based positions than it was even five years ago. 

Third, and probably most important, depending on a number of factors, including the cost of living in the area, home based positions can save the government money, and as agencies scramble for ever-diminishing federal dollars, home-based positions become more attractive.  As an example:  Sharon Thorne is a Project Manager working for a federal agency in San Francisco, California.  Her job calls for her to physically travel to two places, Sacramento and Davis, California several times a year.  The rest of her job entails managing an internal mediation program for the agency, a task which she can do from anywhere, using email, an internal website and video-conferencing.  It is pretty simple to see that if Sharon relocates to Sacramento or Davis (both towns are in fairly close proximity) the government can save money.  The government will save on travel expenses, as Sharon will be much closer to her target sites.  There will also be a savings on office expenses, as San Francisco is a very expensive city.   

Like any federal job search, the place to start is at the clearinghouse for all federal positions USA Jobs.  This website allows you to do a keyword search, so one way to find telecommuting possibilities is to search using

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