Idaho lawmaker says too many state employees are working remotely and he’s proposing changes in new bill

IDAHO FALLS – A proposed bill aims to put restrictions on the number of state employees working remotely.

SB 1261 establishes a telework agreement that “no more than 15%” of employees can work outside the office.

“In-office employees with job responsibilities that require direct contact with the public are not eligible for telework,” the bill’s statement of purpose says.

Employees with day-to-day responsibilities outside of the office are exempt from this policy and are not included in the bill.

But those who are working remotely are required to report to work in a space with a secure internet connection and keep track of hours on a timesheet. Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-Inkom, the bill’s sponsor, says the idea behind this is to make sure they’re available for work and not distracted by other things.

“They can’t be watching kids unless they approve it through a supervisor. Those would be on a case-by-case basis,” Guthrie tells EastIdahoNews.com.

Guthrie, who represents Power and part of Bannock County, introduced the bill in the State Affairs Committee last week and is hoping it will be up for vote on the Senate floor soon. His co-sponsors are House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, and Rep. Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to a massive uptick in employees working from home. In the last few years, it’s become common for people to conduct business over Zoom and other virtual gathering spaces. Though it’s convenient, Guthrie says bad connections and other technical problems often occur that make it difficult to communicate.

These challenges, combined with the number of people working remotely has become unmanageable, he says, and that’s what prompted him to draft this legislation.

“You try to talk to someone who’s working from home and you’ve got a dog barking in the background, you’ve got an employee you can tell is just not interested in taking the call. It’s just not an ideal situation when you’ve got a high percentage of your workforce working remotely,” Guthrie explains.

Many state agencies are putting this policy into effect even though the bill has not become law. One of those is the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

IDHW spokesman AJ McWhorter says the Division of Human Resources issued an update to its telework policy on January 19 “to provide structure” for statewide operation. It allows up to 20% of employees to work from home on a given day.

The DHW is planning to be compliant with the updated policy by March 31.

“To meet that goal, we will need to make adjustments sooner; we cannot accommodate several hundred employees suddenly arriving at our worksites on March 31,” a Jan. 25 letter from the DHW to employees says. “We also want to balance the needs of our employees while we undergo this transition.”

A woman who works remotely for the Pocatello office, who requested anonymity over concerns about potential workplace repercussions, says she’s worked from home since she took the job in 2021. There isn’t an office that handles the type of work she does, she says.

She understands the need for people to be available face-to-face for some departments, but says it isn’t necessary for her daily workload and the blanket policy of 15% has only caused “chaos” and uncertainty among the staff, many of whom don’t live in Pocatello.

“I think we’re going to lose employees because, for some people, the commute is going to (be too much for them). Financially, it won’t make sense for them to work for us anymore,” she says.

And even if everyone comes to work in the office, she says Zoom calls will still be a reality within the department because there are offices in Twin Falls, Burley, Rexburg, Blackfoot, Salmon and other parts of the state.

As the bill moves forward, she says “it would make a world of difference” if state agencies had more leeway to determine which positions are a good fit for telework and which ones aren’t.

Guthrie says managers will have that leeway, but still maintains 15% of the workforce is adequate.

Responding to the notion that this legislation will cause a large number of employees to quit, he says employee retention is a challenge every industry has been dealing with for a while.

“Go into any restaurant and there are ‘Help wanted’ signs everywhere,” Guthrie says. “To suggest that this legislation is going to cause a problem — we already have a problem (and) I challenge anyone to (prove otherwise). I think employees need to give this bill a (chance) and see how it fits and how department heads manage it.”