Republican bill would mandate in-person work for many Wisconsin state employees

Lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday on a Republican proposal that would mandate full-time, in-person work for many state employees.

Bill sponsor Amanda Nedweski, a Republican state representative from Pleasant Prairie, says remote work raises cyber-security concerns and could hurt productivity.

“Simply asking employees to return to the work routine they enjoyed prior to the pandemic is not only fair — it is representative of what the public is demanding,” Nedweski said. “Remote work for state employees was intended to be a temporary response to the COVID pandemic — not a permanent work arrangement.”

Even if the proposal clears Wisconsin’s GOP-controlled Legislature, it would likely be stopped in its tracks by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who’s promised to veto in-person work mandates for state workers.

Evers has credited flexible work arrangements with helping the state attract top talent from all across Wisconsin — not just Madison and Milwaukee.

The legislation includes an exception for telehealth services and for work that was already done off-site before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. If the bill becomes law, the new requirements would take effect on July 1.

Nedweski said the legislation would require five days of in-person work for affected employees. And state Sen. Cory Tomczyk, the proposal’s lead sponsor in the Senate, says he believes full-time in-person work would lead to “optimal” job performance.

“Nothing, and I mean nothing, can replace the face-to-face experience when coaching or developing or creating something with humans,” Tomczyk said.

The Mosinee Republican says he believes the current system lacks accountability.

“By being in the office, managers and company leadership are able to ensure that their employees are being productive,” he said. “Unfortunately, government doesn’t have to produce anything, and bureaucrats spread out across the state aren’t accountable to anyone.”

But Democratic state Sen. Tim Carpenter of Milwaukee said he’s worried the mandate would worsen a labor shortage.

“The state has had a problem keeping qualified scientists [and] individuals that specialize in an area,” he said. “The private sector grabs these people and gives them more money than state employees.”

Another Democrat, Sen. Chris Larson of Milwaukee, accused Republicans of trying to implement a one-size-fits-all change without sufficient data.

“It’s like pulling the fire alarm to pull everyone out of the building just to do an attendance check,” Larson said.

Larson called the legislation “wildly inflexible.”

Nedweski says she’s open to revising to the bill to clarify that exceptions could be permitted for workers with remote work agreements, as set by Wisconsin Department of Administration policy.

Lawmakers introduced the proposal late last week, and a detailed fiscal analysis has not yet been published.

The rise of remote work has allowed the state to start selling off some office space — a shift that’s projected to save $7.4 million in occupancy costs each year, according to Wisconsin’s Department of Administration. The Evers administration also projects the consolidation of office space will eventually allow the state to save over half a billion dollars by avoiding the costs to maintain old buildings.

Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback says the process of consolidating office space has already begun at more than a dozen state agencies.

“Perhaps most importantly as it relates to this bill, it would not be possible to return to in-office-only work arrangements without developing and entering into more private lease arrangements and/or re-opening buildings that are slated for closure and sale,” Cudaback wrote in an email. “Doing so at this point would neither be pragmatic nor fiscally prudent as it would require effectively reversing course on space consolidations and taxpayer savings.”

A recent review from Wisconsin’s nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau found that, as of Jan. 1, 2023, most state agencies allowed some level of remote work.

At least 26 of Wisconsin’s 39 executive branch agencies and 13 of the 14 Universities of Wisconsin institutions had policies in place allowing staff to telework up to five days a week, the audit found.