Crowley and Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez in
other state government news. A political debate is
brewing at the Capitol over whether state employees
remotely or be required to return to the office. Here
and now reporter Steven Potter has details.
>> We want to get the most out of our state workforce,
and this should have been done a long time ago.
>> State Representative Amanda Nedweski is pushing
for big changes to how, or more importantly, where
state employees work. >> The Return to Work bill
simply requires state employees who worked inside
an office building for the state prior to March 1st of
2020 to come back and work in person.
from Pleasant Prairie has several reasons why she
thinks state employees should be working in state
office buildings instead of at home.
>> It's been five years since this temporary
solution to the Covid response was instituted.
to evaluate productivity outside of the office. So
it just sort of was we're all going to go home and
work remotely, and no one ever has to come back. It's
become sort of a permanent solution to what was a
temporary problem. Assembly debated and
ultimately passed Nedweski bill, with all Republicans
voting for it and all Democrats voting against it.
>> As amended. It requires most state employees to be
in the office at least 80% of the work month, roughly
four days a week, allowing for some flexibility.
>> Nedweski says she wrote the Return to Work bill to
rein in a state government remote work system that
lacks proper oversight of its employees.
>> People are very concerned about efficiency,
fiscal management or mismanagement and fraud.
And I'm you know, this is an accountability issue.
>> And she says her constituents are asking for
this bill. of your taxes. If you know,
if you're a teacher or a nurse, or maybe you're a
small business owner, the system. You want to
know you're getting the most you can out of it. And
that's that's what we're hearing from constituents
>> Representative Mike Beyer, a Democrat from
Verona, says he's hearing very different things from
his constituents. >> And I have not heard
from one single constituent, one single state worker who
thinks this bill is a good idea. We heard over and
over from from the state government, from
secretaries and managers and state government that
they don't need this bill. What they've been doing is
working. effective, which is why
it's still in place so many years after the pandemic
began. suggest that this would be
helpful to state workers, that this would be helpful
to our state government. No evidence to suggest that
this would save any money or make us more efficient.
In fact, it will cost more money and make us more
inefficient. >> To that point of cost,
if this bill becomes law, finding office space for
state employees to return to would be a challenge.
Over the last few years, many state agencies have
realized savings in rent and building maintenance by
shrinking or even eliminating their needs for
physical office space. In fact, the state is
currently emptying and getting ready to sell three
of its largest office buildings in downtown
Madison. bill at the time I
introduced it was something like 200 to $400 million to
bring employees back because they've closed
buildings without evaluating telework
performance. >> Representative Beyer
allowed many state employees to move away from
the state's larger cities, a benefit they appreciate.
>> They've moved out into the state, across the state,
out into assembly districts that aren't as close to
Madison as mine is. So that means that those workers
will have to come back, and that has a tremendous cost
to it in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
>> Both lawmakers note that cybersecurity issues for
remote working state employees is a concern that
needs to be addressed. Beyer and Nedweski also
agree that ending or limiting remote work for
state employees will have a significant effect on
hiring and retention. >> There would be a bleed
of good, talented, skilled people from state
want to see. >> Well, I expect there'd
be some turnover. >> In all. There are about
70,000 employees working for various state agencies
and the universities of Wisconsin system. Estimates
range that from 19 to 75% of those employees work
remotely or have hybrid work schedules, depending
on the agency. Representative Nedweski
mandate that all state employees can work remotely.
Again. you have to come back,
reevaluate, and if you it's determined by your business
unit or by your department that you've been working
work situation, you can reengage in a remote work
agreement. however, says offering
public employees remote or hybrid work options keeps
the state competitive in the job market.
>> I don't think that this is special treatment. I
think this is treatment that's consistent with what
the private market is doing. And and I think that
managers have been holding them accountable for being
who are working for the taxpayers as they're
expected to do. >> While the Republican
majority in the Assembly passed the bill last week,
it must still go to the Senate. And if approved by
the Republican majority there, it will go to the
desk of Democratic Governor Tony Evers, who will almost