OPM offers fully customizable telework training sessions for agencies, managers, and employees. Available training includes:

• Writing Effective Performance Plans
• How to Manage in a Virtual Team - Managers
• Establishing Telework for Success - Employees
• Teamwork and Communication in the Virtual Environment

The trainings are designed to help managers and employees develop the skills to communicate performance expectations, manage the telework process, handle self-regulation, and successfully collaborate in a mobile environment.

These trainings are designed specifically for managers interested in acquiring tips, tools, and tactics for effective performance management of remote staff. Employees interested in telework can learn more about telework-eligible positions within their agency, employer expectations, how to develop strong telework agreements and performance plans, and supervisor-employee collaboration. Available trainings are outlined below.

Writing Effective Performance Plans

OPM can provide hands on training for writing measurable, results-oriented performance appraisal standards, or goals. The course material includes best practices in writing results-oriented standards and provides information on OPM policies and regulations. The course will also include how to create a performance appraisal standard and a performance plan that meets OPM's Performance Appraisal Assessment Tool (PAAT) requirements.

How to Manage a Virtual Team (Managers) Training

This course will emphasize collaboration in creating results-oriented standards with measures and indicators of success, agreement on core hours and communication response time, best practices for facilitating employee self-regulation, tips for ensuring effective communication, and when to terminate a telework agreement. To reinforce the training content, the instructor engages managers in a discussion of various telework scenarios that may arise when managing a virtual team.

Establishing Telework for Success (Employees) Training

OPM can provide training on how to perform successfully as a teleworker or a member of a virtual team. The training focuses on creating a strong telework agreement and performance plan. Topics of discussion include emphasizing collaboration in creating results-oriented standards with measures and indicators of success, agreeing on core hours and communication response time, and formalizing team norms. Aligning supervisors’ and employees’ expectations on these topics is crucial in creating and maintaining a successful virtual environment. Employees will understand their responsibility as a teleworker and how they can successfully work remotely on a team.

Teamwork and Communication in the Virtual Environment Training

This workshop covers collaboration and communication across virtual teams. The training is made up of teambuilding and communication exercises and discussions of best practices to facilitate collaboration when teams are separated either by telework or across states. Participants will learn tools and techniques for teamwork and collaborating virtually.