The National Grants Management Association reports that the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2012 (commonly referred to as the DATA Act) is speeding through Congress. This is good news for taxpayers — it mandates that Federal grantees and contractors at all levels report on how they spent the money they received from the government. But it’s going to cut services. The problem: no funding for the new reporting requirements. So Federally supported programs are going to have to take money from the services they provide in order to comply with the law.
The act,H.R. 2146,and a summary are here.
I’ve enjoyed the befient of working from home on occasion. It definitely has a positive impact on work-family balance. I tend to request this when I need to help get my kids to doctors appts, my car is in the shop, or I want to attend one of my kids’ school functions. I also appreciate avoiding the more than two hours of commuting time I have on a daily basis. It provides me with more time to spend with my family and occasionally allows me the pleasure of attending one of my kids’ functions (sports class, presentation at school, etc) that I would normally not have been able to attend. For me decreased absenteeism and increased retention are very apparent befients of working from home. My type of job also somewhat lends itself to this method of working. As a developer a lot of my daily communication revolves around email and IM. As long as I have a good connection (no problems with FIOS so far knock on wood) I am well equipped.