Wisconsin is tightening remote work procedures for state employees, administration secretary says

The agency responsible for managing personnel and human resource policies for Wisconsin state employees is tightening up its remote work policies and documentation procedures, officials told state legislators during a three-hour audit hearing Tuesday.

The hearing by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee reviewed a December report by the Legislative Audit Bureau of the state Department of Administration (DOA). The report found out-of-date remote working agreements for some employees and questioned whether some employees were working in the office less than their remote-work agreements called for.

“The precise extent to which employees worked from the office was not known,” state auditor Joe Chrisman wrote in the audit’s Dec. 15 cover letter.

In addition, a review of a sample group of employees’ key card use to enter state office buildings showed fewer key card swipes than would have been expected in the time period auditors studied. “Some employees may not have worked in the office as frequently as expected, based on their agreements,” Chrisman wrote.

DOA houses the state office of personnel management. The audit made a series of recommendations, including for more detailed monitoring and documentation of remote work agreements and practices.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Kathy Blumenfeld, DOA’s secretary designee, said that the department has taken on the recommendations and was working its way through the list.

“DOA agrees with the audit bureau’s recommendations made in this report,” Blumenfeld testified — repeating the assertion for emphasis — “and work is well underway to implement those recommendations as a part of our continuous improvement process.”

Blumenfeld questioned whether the use of key card data could be accurately used to establish the frequency of in-office work, and in a response at the time the audit was published noted that one audit survey seeking to measure in-person attendance took place during a heavy vacation month in August.

Nevertheless, she said Tuesday, the department “is drawing on [the auditors’] recommendations to develop new tools and gather new data and is reviewing standard policies and procedures that have been used for decades and refreshing them to align with the current needs of our enterprise. “

“New tools” that the department is putting in place will allow state agencies to improve their tracking of remote work, Blumenfeld said, as well as help agencies keep remote work agreements up to date and assemble accurate data on which offices are classified as an employee’s “headquarters” — helping to determine when it’s appropriate to reimburse employees based at home or at outlying offices who travel to other state offices for work.

A separate audit of the Universities of Wisconsin called for greater scrutiny over the work performance of employees eligible for telework. The audit reports also looked at information technology practices as the state and the UW and recommended tighter security.

Auditors found 36 unspecified concerns that were detailed in a confidential memo to state officials because they were “too sensitive to communicate publicly,”  the audit report stated.

The start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 sparked a proliferation of remote work arrangements for state employees, many of which have continued. In addition, the DOA has embarked on a project to reconsider how the state government uses office space across Wisconsin.

The project, called Vision 2030, is aimed at reducing the state’s office footprint in light of greater flexibility for many agencies to have some employees work remotely at least part of the time for the long term.

To that end, the audit report stated, the actual amount of remote work is important to accurately document for the most efficient allocation of office space.

“It is disconcerting that the Department of Administration and UW do not have procedures in place to definitely say who is working where and when,” said the Joint Audit Committee’s co-chair, Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay), in a joint statement with co-chair Rep. Rep. Robert Wittke (R-Racine) after the hearing.

Blumenfeld said that state agencies have reported greater success in filling job openings when applicants have the opportunity to work remotely.

Rep. Francesca Hong (D-Madison), said that the department was to be commended for its responses during the pandemic to enable hybrid and remote work at a time of uncertainty about safety from COVID-19. Hong asked Blumenfeld how remote work has changed where state employees live in Wisconsin.

Data in the audit report “shows that the workforce is really beginning to expand to  all 72 counties,” thanks in part to remote work opportunities, Blumenfeld said.

The audit report also cited the reports to auditors from agencies that remote work allowed for greater efficiency and productivity.

Legislators questioned those assertions, however, because there haven’t been specific state metrics produced.

“The surveys all say from almost every agency [that] remote work is better, efficiency is better, these things are all better, but there’s no data to support it,” said Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam). 

Blumenfeld said such questions were prompting DOA to develop metrics that would address those details. In the meantime, however, she said, national studies have consistently shown that remote work has boosted productivity for many reasons.

One of those is reduced commute times, enabling employees to put more time in on behalf of the public they’re serving, she said.

“So much of what we do isn’t widgets,” Blumenfeld said. “We’re not a manufacturing company where you can measure by the widget, but if we can spend a little longer with a resident and help them solve a problem, if we can work with a farmer, if we can work with a business and help them solve their problems, my guess is we’ve got happier employees that are spending more time at work and [to the benefit of] the quality of their work.”