Plan to make workers return to their offices is misguided

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and her administration are misguided in requiring state employees to return to the office full time (“State employees resist office return,” Dec. 6).

This policy is going in the opposite direction of current trends and will result in disenfranchisement of state government’s most important asset — the employees. As the article states, some employees will probably leave and others, out of necessity, will remain in state government with low morale and little loyalty to their employer. This is a losing proposition for the employees as well as the constituents they serve.

As a former state employee and longtime manager (25-plus years at the New Mexico Department of Health, 19 as a manager), I retired from state employment in October 2020 after working at home for six months. I know how productive and engaged state employees were when working at home. I also know most agencies have been seriously understaffed and underfunded for years. I was working two management jobs in addition to COVID-19 responsibilities at the end of my tenure.

While the stress of COVID-19, especially for Health Department staff, was a huge burden, the pandemic was also a time when state employees, probably for the first time ever, were able to have a significantly improved work/life balance.

The director of state personnel says “it is critical that we ensure consistent availability of state employees to support the constituents that we serve.” This statement is disingenuous. We now have the technology to efficiently connect workers to each other and to the public they serve when working remotely. Group meetings, while sometimes challenging on virtual meeting platforms, can make it easier and less expensive for all participants in a state in which travel can be prohibitive financially and timewise.

Staggered and/or rotating office schedules can ensure workers are present when needed to serve the public directly or for those meetings when face-to-face interaction is necessary. An added and obvious benefit to remote work schedules is that with fewer workers commuting, there is the potential for less traffic congestion and improved air quality.

If the governor is truly invested in making state government a “productive and flexible workplace,” she will reconsider this policy of requiring all workers to go to the office at all times. Workplaces around the country have figured out how to allow employees to split their time between the office and working at home.

When employees report to the office, they can share workspaces as so many other businesses and other government entities have been doing for years (some programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for one). The state would save millions of dollars in rent that could be redirected to enhance programs and services and adequately compensate employees. I implore the governor and the personnel office to work with the unions to ensure the state government is a humane and productive workplace that can effectively service its constituents. We can do this; we simply need the will to make it happen.

Judith Gabriele was an employee in the Public Health Division of the New Mexico Department of Health for many years. She loved her work with state and local partners to promote community health and prevent and manage chronic disease.