The committee chair, Charles Zenner, ….
The committee chair, Charles Zenner, brought up a concern with holding remote workers accountable for their work, and making sure what is required of them is getting done. Peggy Kellnhofer, supervisor for economic support at Human Services, spoke on the subject of accountability, saying that their workers are being monitored at all times.
“I can see when [economic support workers] are on a phone call. I can see when they are processing documents. I can listen to their calls. I can jump on at any point and see what they are doing at all times,” said Kellnhofer. She then further explained how her remote workers spend all day answering phone calls so being able to be at home without unnecessary background noise is benefit to their productivity. Kellnhofer also explained that two out of her five workers actually want to work in person and ensured that there will always be staff at the office. She expressed a fear that if the remote work policy is taken away, she’d lose those three workers who would rather work from home.
The director of Human Services, Liza Daleiden, spoke on behalf of the rest of the agency. “What we learned through our remote work through COVID was that it is very efficient for many of our workers and that if they are home, they have less disruptions. They can make sure that their consumers’ needs are being met,” said Daleiden. “I have yet to have a consumer file a complaint about any services not being provided because of remote work.”
She then told the committee about a recent survey that was conducted in the state. The survey showed that out of the 63 counties that responded, 35 counties are going to have a permanent remote option and 15 counties are working on creating a policy to use in the future. Daleiden explained that remote work allows for more recruitment of workers that live outside the county. “We do not have the professional staff that we need with the credentials within Taylor County. They’re just not here,” said Daleiden.
Mildbrand countered saying that he believes that the workers do not lend themselves well enough by working at home and that the policy, which was supposed to be limited, has expanded too far.
Michael Bub, the chair of the IT Committee, spoke his approval for a remote work policy, but had some concerns with the one that is currently in place. The current policy requires that remote employees must provide any child care needed during their scheduled hours. Bub stated that he thinks that employees with children should verify with their supervisors that they are provided child care via a written statement. He also brought up the requirement that says that employees must have a specific type of surge protector to help protect countyowned equipment. To his point, the policy excludes a verification process for that as well, along with the other requirements.
Bub also explained that many employees who have filled out the paperwork to work from home are not working from home each and every day. They filed the paperwork in order to have the option of remote work, but don’t necessarily use it all the time. “I think we need to fine-tune our policy. We need to get a way to verify what’s going on. Maybe we need to have the managers or directors keep a log somehow of how many people are actually really working from home versus how many people filled out paperwork to work from home,” said Bub.
While Lewis stood by his previous statement that he thinks people should be working in person, he stated that there will be some cases where remote work will be allowed, therefore there will be some sort of policy in place no matter what. Along with that, he agreed that there needs to be a better policy than the one they have currently.
Many people throughout the meeting pointed out that remote work has been becoming more popular as more people realize that some jobs can be done from home. Committee member Rollie Thums stated that he agreed that remote work options are only going to increase within work fields so it is to the county’s advantage to keep a policy available, but agreed that some changes should be made.
A motion to rescind the current policy, making all remote workers who live in the county return to working in person starting June 8 was made by Lewis, seconded by Mildbrand. The motion included the creation of a new, more comprehensive remote work policy. With a 2 to 3 vote, the motion did not pass.
Bub made the suggestion to the committee to set a deadline to give the committee motivation to get the new, improved policy done. If they fail to approve a new remote work policy by the deadline, the current policy will be rescinded. After some discussion, a deadline of July 15 was agreed upon. Thums then made a motion to revise the current policy by July 15, or else the policy will be rescinded, seconded by Lewis.
Before the vote, committee member, Tim Hansen, shared his opinion that the remote work policy should be in place no matter what and that rescinding it would be a mistake. “We can’t go and eliminate this because we feel that everyone needs to be here in this brick and mortar building. That’s not how it works in this day and age and it’s not how it’s going to work in the future,” said Hansen. “We should take full advantage of [remote work] because for some people, that is a perk. It may actually get someone to come to work for Taylor County.”
The motion was carried and the committee then discussed who will be changing the policy, as it was questioned a number of times throughout the meeting. Zenner stated that he’d like input from other people outside of the Personnel Committee. The committee came up with a group of people that includes Melissa Lind, the director of the IT department, Marie Koerner, the Human Resource Manager, Daleiden, Zenner, and a member of the IT Committee.
In other business, the committee approved the job descriptions for Chief Deputy Register of Deed and Operations Manager, as well as the hiring for the Clerk of Court Deputy position which is expected to be part-time.
