CalEPA made a bad decision in forcing 5,000 employees back into the office twice a week | Opinion
Four years ago, telework rescued California’s state government from COVID and launched an era of innovation rivaled only by the introduction of desktop computers and the internet. Now, the California Environmental Protection Agency wants to force its 5,000 employees back into the office for at least two full days per week.
It’s a bad idea.
According to CalEPA Secretary Yana Garcia’s Jan. 12 agency-wide email, the in-office mandate will start next spring and foster “collaboration,” strengthen “teams” and enhance “communication.”
Opinion
As president of Professional Engineers in California Government (PECG), I am confident that the vast majority of the 14,000 state engineers, architects, geologists and related professionals we represent emphatically disagree.
CalEPA’s plan retreats to an outdated, inefficient, butts-in-office-chairs model that will hurt morale and productivity, suppress recruitment and retention, harm the environment and increase operational costs while the state confronts a budget deficit. PECG members and all state employees pivoted long ago. Virtual tools like Teams, Zoom and Slack enhance remote collaboration and are more cost-effective for taxpayers than noisy office buildings crowded with cubicles and conversations about everything but work.
That’s why Gov. Gavin Newsom directed 75% of state employees to work remotely. His administration also wisely signaled that distance work would be a preferred and permanent feature of state jobs — not merely a crisis-driven fad.
What started as a rescue project has become routine. The latest state data shows that over 100,000 state employees have jobs suitable for telework. Over the last four years, their work has been performed productively at rates equal to or exceeding pre-pandemic levels, as the CalEPA secretary’s email acknowledges.
CalEPA hasn’t explained how its plan makes operational sense or how its mission will benefit when work-from-home opportunities give way to an arbitrary days-in-the-office decree and not what is best for Californians, departments or employees.
This definitely runs afoul of the state’s policy to allow telework “to the fullest extent possible.” We would prefer not to engage in a needless and costly test of that rule.
However, even if CalEPA is on a solid legal footing, simply because the law allows a particular policy does not mean the policy is wise. Studies show that teleworking is more productive. Teamwork and morale improve because employees believe management trusts them to get work done. They tend to be more relaxed, cheerful and content due to an improved work-life balance. They take less sick time. Accessibility and inclusion can improve for those who have disabilities.
Telework is the new normal. A recent U.S. Office of Personnel Management report found that federal telework flexibility is now “an alluring non-monetary incentive for attracting talent” and “a useful tool for retaining high-performing employees.” Shouldn’t the State of California compete for those same workers?
There’s also a grim irony to California’s environmental protection agency advocating to weaken an environmentally sound policy. State estimates show teleworking state employees have saved 41.7 million gallons of gas, avoided 371,000 metric tons of fossil-fuel emissions, commuted 25.7 million fewer hours and cut their travel to work some 1.02 billion miles.
In telework’s first year, the state estimated savings on relinquished commercial property leases would reach $85 million annually. Forcing employees into the office will reduce those savings even as departments cut expenses to help close a $38 billion state budget deficit.
PECG urges decision-makers at CalEPA and elsewhere to continue providing telework to as many employees as possible as much as possible. Hold to the innovative, cooperative spirit that made the program successful.
Resist returning to a stale model that poorly serves taxpayers, department missions and employees. We all deserve better.
Brad Shelton is the president of Professional Engineers in California Government, a union representing 14,000 state-employed engineers and related professionals responsible for designing and inspecting California’s infrastructure, improving air and water quality and developing clean energy and green technology.