According to Chris Moreland, public information officer for the Office of Administration, state agencies have been working with OA to develop alternative work and remote work standards for all departments.
Departments are working on structures and guidelines for providing training, mentors, performance measures and on boarding for staff that will work remotely.
“Departments are developing plans that identify positions eligible for alternative work and how they will meet those standards. Those plans will be reviewed with the governor’s office prior to implementation.”Chris Moreland, public information officer for the Office of Administration
According to Kelli Jones, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, some agencies have submitted their distributive work plans which are under review with Gov. Mike Parson.
Distributive work is when employees work outside a department’s office setting. Part time and full time remote work are also a part of distributive work.
Many state employees started working remotely from the beginning of the pandemic. The state employees were asked to return to work in-person on May 17.
Parson on Thursday expressed that he hopes to have distributive work plans implemented.
The main concerns about remote work for the governor was determining workload and success for remote employees.
According to Jennifer Battson Warren, deputy director of business for the Department of Conservation, the state agency as of Wednesday hadn’t yet finalized a distributed work plan.
“Distributive work and working from remote locations has happened for the Department of Conservation since its inception. Our conservation agents, many of our field staff, our fishers, biologists, foresters, all of those folks are working in a distributive fashion because their work is in the field.”Jennifer Battson Warren, deputy director of business for the Department of Conservation
Warren said the department’s policies on remote work will have guidelines for attendance and work hours.
“Everyone has performance objectives to manage their annual work. So regardless of where a person is working, we’ve got the attendance and work hours policy in place, we’ve teleworking agreements that folks have to sign if they’re in kind of full-time remote or even part-time remote status and then the annual performance objectives that help us manage their individual performance to ensure the jobs are getting done. We’re working along with all the other state agencies to make sure that we’ve got those baseline expectations covered.”Jennifer Battson Warren, deputy director of business for the Department of Conservation
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