PED orders all employees back to work in 2023
Agency issues order despite lack of office space
Employees of the state Public Education Department received notice Tuesday of a plan for employees to return the office in 2023 — part of a bigger decision by state government to rescind a telework policy across the board, which has sparked pushback from labor groups.
Noting there isn’t enough office space for the entire workforce, the plan outlined a phased-in approach and a rotating schedule starting in April. Half the employees would be in the Jerry Apodaca Education Building one week and telework the next.
“This will be in place until we have identified a second building for staff,” interim Managing Director Seana Flanagan wrote in the notice to employees.
But Public Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus nixed the plan Thursday, calling the information in Flanagan’s email inaccurate and ordering all employees back to the office on their first work day of 2023.
“There was some confusion within PED about whether agencies were responsible for crafting their own plans for returning employees to the office,” spokeswoman Kelly Pearce wrote Friday in an email.
Flanagan, who wrote Tuesday’s notice to employees, did not return messages seeking comment.
Pearce declined a request for a telephone interview and didn’t answer several questions sent by The New Mexican via email, including whether the department would have enough office space for the entire workforce at the start of the new year.
“The State Personnel Office (SPO) is continuing to work with Union leadership to negotiate the effects of the rescission of the Non-Mandatory Telework Policy on a statewide basis,” Pearce wrote.
“The State Personnel Office has requested information from agencies regarding any anticipated workspace issues. With this information, SPO and [the General Services Department] will work with individual agencies, including PED, to resolve any existing space issues,” she added.
Asked about PED’s anticipated workspace issues, Pearce wrote she “shared” The New Mexican’s question, but she didn’t follow up with a response late Friday.
Thom Cole, a spokesman for the General Services Department, which includes the Facilities Management Division, said there have been “recent preliminary discussions” with PED about issuing a request for proposals for office space.
The inter-agency discussions come on the heels of a report by the Legislative Finance Committee that found state government is underusing office space and overestimating office needs for employees.
Cole said state-owned office buildings in Santa Fe are at or near capacity.
“We would only go out to the private market if we don’t have space, and we don’t have space,” he said.
Leaders with Local 7076 of the Communications Workers of America described Steinhaus’ decision to order all employees back to the office at the start of the year as ill-advised.
“Despite paying lip service to ‘effects bargaining’ with the Unions, [the State Personnel Office] is pushing forward on the Jan. 1 return to office for all state workers in the executive branch, with absolutely no regard for reality,” Megan Green, executive vice president of Local 7076, wrote in an email.
“Bottom line, there is no childcare available in Santa Fe and there is no office space for workers to return to.”
In March, PED gave up a lease for office space for 69 employees at the U.S. Courthouse building in downtown Santa Fe.
In addition to no longer having that office space, Tuesday’s email from Flanagan states PED hired an unspecified number of people who live more than 100 miles from Santa Fe, “which means a daily commute wouldn’t be feasible.”
Beth Gudbrandsen, a former PED employee, likened the state’s plan to force all employees to return to the office in the new year to one of Cinderella’s stepsisters trying to force her foot into the glass slipper.
“We’re gonna get some broken toes along the way here,” she said.
Gudbrandsen questioned why the administration of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is rescinding the state’s telework policy, which has triggered warnings of higher vacancy rates in state government.
“We have been given no reason — no reason — why this is such a huge necessity and why she’s in such a big fat hurry to do this,” Gudbrandsen said, referring to the governor.
Asked Friday to explain why the state is rescinding its telework policy, Maddy Hayden, a spokeswoman for the governor, regurgitated a previously released statement.
“As always, the state’s goal is to balance being a productive and flexible workplace with the needs of the New Mexicans we serve, which include being accessible and available to the public,” she wrote.