Vermont state employees who have been working remotely since the pandemic will soon have to return to their offices.
On August 7th Governor Phil Scott confirmed that come December 1, the state will require remotely working state employees to return to the office for a minimum of three days a week.
“We just think that it’s time and it won’t be back full time. We’ll still have remote work for some. But I think we’ll get the best results from bringing back people into the office so they can interact with one another,” Scott said at the time.
A month after the announcement, questions remain about why the state plans to bring workers back. Scott, a Republican, said the state may have allowed hybrid work, instituted during the pandemic, to continue too long.
“I think people need to be back together from just a mentorship, to learning. We have state employees retiring every day and the new crop of employees coming in need to learn from someone,” Scott said. “Pre-pandemic we were five days a week. I think three days a week makes sense.”
Secretary of Administration Sarah Clark said the decision to have employees return for in-person work is based on fostering the future of state government.
“It’s about what we want to look like five years from now, ten years from now, and how we want to interact with each other and also with the Vermonters that we serve,” Clark explained. “We believe that it is really critical to our workforce to come back together more frequently now.”
The Vermont State Employees’ Association is opposed to the plan. The organization says remote work helps recruit and retain employees. The union also says remote work strengthens the quality and availability of state services. Continued remote work would help ease the state’s housing crisis, because state buildings could be sold and converted into housing, according to the union. Other arguments include child care considerations, the additional greenhouse gas emissions caused by commuters, and the ability to work anywhere in the state.
Clark noted an advisory group has been formed to address employee concerns.
"We are working to prioritize based on feedback that we’ve received and continue to receive from our employees and we are working to address, to the extent that we are able, some of those concerns,” Clark said.
