Gov. Mike Kehoe’s administration is calling remote workers back to the office despite concerns that some employees may not have a dedicated workspace in state offices.
Texas County has many state jobs, including a regional office complex that houses employees with the Missouri Department of Social Services in Houston.
More than four years after allowing thousands of state employees to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the governor’s Office of Administration has begun the process of unwinding the practice
In a memo issued recently, supervisors and managers in agencies must return Feb. 25, with all remaining remote workers returning on March 24.
Officials say there may be exceptions, such as workers who were allowed to work from home before the pandemic.
In the memo, the agency said, “This decision was made to enhance customer service through face-to-face interactions and improve collaboration among team members. As we consistently work towards achieving innovation and efficiency, we are confident that reintroducing in-person interactions will leverage our success and provide mutual benefits for both individual team members and the agency.”
At the same time, the memo noted, “We acknowledge that this initiative may pose challenges, but we are committed to offering the necessary support to ensure a smooth and successful transition.”
Among the concerns outlined by OA Commissioner Ken Zellers are the availability of office space, parking, computers and other equipment.
A task force is studying the potential hurdles and the governor’s office is expected to weigh in soon.
“The governor’s team is continuing to review this policy and looks to make announcements on this in the coming weeks,” Kehoe spokeswoman Gabby Picard said in an email Friday.
Agency directors have told state lawmakers during budget hearings this month that there are ongoing concerns about keeping low-paid state employees from departing for the private sector if they can’t work remotely.
As the pandemic unfolded, an estimated one-third of the state’s 50,000 employee workforce worked from home to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
Although prisons and mental health facilities remained fully staffed during the pandemic, large state office buildings where paperwork is processed and rules are meted out were emptied out.
While many employees returned, others were allowed to continue the remote arrangement amid a shortage of workers.
In the memo, Zellers said a review is underway of all existing alternative location or hybrid work arrangements, signaling there could be exceptions to the return policy.
“These reviews will include individuals working in call centers, those who were in approved remote positions prior to the pandemic, and employees hired into distributed roles located far from a physical office and whose roles do not necessitate in-office presence,” the memo says.
The push by Kehoe mirrors other governors who have ordered government employees to return.
I worked from home before COVID on a pilot program. Very successful and still ongoing. Lack of MGMT is the issue. If a staff member isn’t working you yank them in the office period.
Wonder how many workers, who are eligible, will retire now?
I’ll be one of them. Btw, nice way to find this out – through the news instead of through an internal memo. Yes, I will definitely be retiring this year.
All this tells me is how out of touch this man is if he thinks face to face is a better way to collaborate. The future isn’t gonna turn back around to the stone age! As an elected official you should be bragging that you are helping the already under paid and over worked state employees save money by not paying for gas and office wear, but instead will lose even more state workers with the archaic train of thought.
The state has already spent the money to adapt to remote capabilities, he could take advantage of lowering the budget by getting rid of real-estate which in turn eliminates upkeep, utilities for the buildings no longer needed. Doing this just throws away the tax money for the technology in place. If this is a question of employees abusing the privilege, then don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Reprimand the abusers, not all.
all workers need to be on office including call centers if for nothing else if client needs an answer to a question the operator has a supervisor right there.Also workers provided with computers at home need to return them and they be redustributed elsewhere.computers provided like normal. ALL GOVERNMENT WORKERS IN MISSOURI NEED TO RETURN TO WORK IN OFFICE with no apologies or excuses. downtown state offices in most big cities employees ride the bus or buy monthly parking passes these sound like excuses not exceptions already.
This doesnt apply to everyone Beth. Not everyone sees the public and can do their jobs just as well or better than in the office!
This doesnt apply to all state workers. Some of us do not see the public. We have support jobs and do not need to be in the office for anything. This is the work life balance I have needed for so long and finally got it after many years in the field doing ridiculously stressful work. Working from home has felt like a reward that they are now willing to recklessly take away.
Some of us are hybrid workers, and only earned a hybrid schedule as part of the call center initiative put in place by our last governor. Our office always has coverage to see the public, so there is no reason to disturb what is already in place. However, since having to take calls as part of the call center was a way to earn a hybrid schedule, if they take away that hybrid schedule, I guess the workers will have no need to continue working call center every day? Our whole system is modeled with us keeping the citizens call times down, so the whole system will collapse. No incentive to continue working for the pay that the state provides, so I feel like workers will be seeking more pay and remote positions elsewhere. Retention was supposed to be this governor’s goal, and the raise that is proposed, will not be enough alone.
Remote/hybrid work was one of the biggest perks of working for the state. Not all of our positions need to be in office and to take that away from those of us who are not needed in office and were hired being told we would work form home after training (which was no small freight and a year long).
The one constant variable that we All know from working for the state is that the only thing that doesn’t change is that there will be change. Literally every day there is something new we need to learn or retain.
Regardless, I believe this change is going to hurt retention, it’s going to put us in an even bigger understaffed situation than we are already in.
Budget will be used for equipment, buildings and maintenance etc that isn’t needed when we are working remote. Instead use that money elsewhere. Use it for better training programs, hiring events, better retention ideas, and ways to improve the morale of the staff we already have. There are constantly rewards/parties etc in Jeff city for state employees how about letting other counties do the same or help us boost morale with better training and more benefits or rewards for those of us who do our jobs and then some compared to the workers whom don’t and end up making more work for the rest of us but don’t face consequences.
Ask the workers who work for you for their ideas on the best way for retention and I guarantee we can give you plenty of ideas!
I also agree with previous comments of this was the worst way to find out… we get memos all the time, would have been nice to hear about it vs being blindsided in a news article.
What I hear in all of these excuses is a me, me, me attitude. The tax payers owe you nothing. As a MO state retiree who worked part time, I have experienced both work environments and I am here to tell you, productivity is greatly impacted by remote workers. When you need a quick answer, you may wait days to get the information you an actually need, through a series of emails. Zoom calls are a joke. People don’t pay attention and are easily distracted, not to mention the barking dogs in the background. “Hold on a minute while I let my dog out.” Seriously, this is a better option—for whom is it better? If you don’t like it, go work in the private sector. High time, I applaud Governor Kehoe for having the balks to do it.
The state workers who I know are not just slacking off at home doing a half- ass job. There are several monitoring systems in place to make sure they are doing their job. Most of them had to set up an office space in their home, buy monitors, have routers that could handle vpn, etc.. with zero reimbursement. The laptops are the same ones they use in the office (some do have to go into the office one day a week). It is ascenine to think they would “do a better job” in office. Taxpayers will be footing the bill for office buildings, more equipment, all the overhead costs and so on. It isn’t necessary.
The turnover rate will only increase if you take away the remote work.
Personally, I am more productive from home. The State has invested so much money and time arranging the remote/hybrid jobs to be more efficient and has integrated remote workers into call centers, also. With all of the inclimate weather; we were able to provide our State the services they needed because we were equipped to work from home.