Nebraska Governor Orders Return to Office for State Workers

While remote work remains popular across much of the country, Governor Jim Pillen of Nebraska has ordered all state workers to return to their offices, according to an article by Paul Hammel in the Nebraska Examiner.

“But while Pillen characterized the move as fitting a ‘common sense expectation’ that workers are most productive working together in an office, a state union official expressed fears that the move will hurt recruiting and retaining state employees at a time when many state agencies are short-staffed.” The state has over 2,500 unfilled job vacancies as of September 30, Hammel adds.

“The executive order also appears to seek an end to flexible work schedules — something that is advertised on the statejobs.nebraska.gov website as an advantage of working for the State of Nebraska.” Meanwhile, the state’s Department of Administrative Services says its remote work policy, which began before the pandemic, has saved the agency $500,000 a year by downsizing its office space needs.