State employees face a tight deadline on Friday for getting permission to work from their homes under a new telework policy that Gov. Glenn Youngkin has imposed, but some say their supervisors have shown little flexibility in carrying it out.
Two employees in separate divisions of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services say their supervisors have certified that they can perform their jobs remotely, but higher-level managers informed them that the agency will not approve more than one day of telework a week without “a business reason to do so” or accommodation for a disability under federal law.
An email message shared with the Richmond Times-Dispatch said employees at the agency initially were to apply for permission to telework by Thursday — a day ahead of the deadline that Youngkin announced two weeks ago — and warned, “If you miss the deadline we will expect you to be working five days a week after July 4th.”
The employees were stunned by the response, which they said disregarded the earlier evaluation of the suitability of their jobs for working remotely as state government emerges from the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
“They want us in the office — that’s it,” one employee said.
The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services had set an internal deadline for applications a day earlier than the governor’s office but decided on Thursday afternoon to extend it until close of business on Friday.
Spokesperson Meghan McGuire said the department set the initial deadline on Thursday to allow for multiple levels of review by supervisors, divisional directors and Commissioner Nelson Smith before sending requests for more than one day of telework a week to the administration for high-level review.
The decision to extend the deadline “provides more time to work with employees on additional details,” McGuire said.
Youngkin’s policy allows state agency heads to approve no more than one telework day a week, effective July 5. An employee would need approval by the applicable Cabinet secretary to telework two days a week and the governor’s chief of staff, Jeff Goettman, for more than two days a week.
“We’ve let employees know they may apply for 1-5 days of telework under the new policy,” McGuire said for the department. “Supervisors review requests to determine if work can be done remotely and if medical conditions or other factors should be considered. “
The Virginia Governmental Employees Association, representing state workers, said Thursday that it is working with the Youngkin administration to help carry out the policy, but acknowledged that its application will vary among executive branch agencies covered by it.
“That’s where the rubber meets the road — how will the policy be implemented,” said Dylan Bishop, lobbyist for the association, known as VGEA.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the association said it “was surprised” to be notified of the governor’s policy for the first time by an email announcement on May 5.
The VGEA said it has “begun productive dialogue about the policy, its implementation, and its potential implications with the appropriate officials within the Youngkin administration, including Secretary of Administration Lyn McDermid.”
The implications include the state’s ability to recruit and retain skilled employees for jobs that often earn significantly less than similar positions in private industry. The disparity has driven efforts by the General Assembly and Youngkin’s predecessor, Gov. Ralph Northam, to boost pay for state workers by up to 5% a year in the new two-year budget that remains in negotiation between the House of Delegates and Senate.
In addition to improving pay, the state has relied on providing additional benefits, including the ability to work remotely under a policy first established in law more than 20 years ago and revised to require state agencies to promote the practice and expand its use.
The pandemic forced most state government offices to close temporarily and required many state employees to work remotely, although the option didn’t apply to thousands of workers in essential jobs, such as correctional officers, hospital nurses and other direct-care staff, and highway crews.
“As the voice for Virginia’s state employees, the VGEA advocates for flexible work options, including the expansion of remote and telework opportunities, to assist with the commonwealth’s longstanding recruitment and retention challenges,” the association said.
“To that end, we are excited about the prospect of learning more about how the administration plans to implement the new telework policy and, moreover, working in collaboration with the Youngkin administration on future initiatives affecting our dedicated public servants,” it added.
Youngkin spokesperson Macaulay Porter said that telework applications received by Friday will be reviewed by June 3 to allow time for employees to prepare for the new schedule to take effect on July 5.
Telework agreements, under both the previous and new policies, are based on “job eligibility, agency functions and service levels, and employee requests,” said Macaulay Porter, a spokesperson for Gov. Glenn Youngkin. “Telework agreements are processed to the appropriate level of approval through the agency head.”
The new policy will void any existing telework agreements, but the Department of Human Resource Management doesn’t know how many there are since the pandemic began. Previously, only about 25% of state jobs were eligible for telework, and of those, about 19% were being carried out under telework agreements.
But the practice is not new. One 20-year state veteran has been performing the same job remotely for more than 15 years, dividing time between an office in the Richmond area and home, more than an hour’s drive away.
“It’s essentially a condition of my employment,” said the worker, who is now looking for a job outside of state government.
The employee, who works for a large executive branch agency, said implementation of the policy has ignored the ability to perform the jobs as effectively from home as in the office, if not more so.
“It feels like we’re being punished for doing our job and doing it well,” the employee said.