Most people are able to apply online but only about a third of those who call reach a live person. The number of call center employees has dropped by nearly 40 percent over the past two years.
If 25 percent to 30 percent of fully paid working days remain at home, that could have implications from how to use buildings to employee diversity in the office, from commuting considerations to who gets promoted.
The relative success of remote work has proved that in many cases government staff are just as, if not more, productive when they work away from the office. More agile structures like holacracy might be ones to model.
The Department of General Services will relinquish approximately 767,000 square feet of office space as many state departments continue with remote work. The state expects to save about $22.5 million annually.
The Department of Job and Family Services hired five companies to contract call center workers to better handle the mass of pandemic-related unemployment claims. Some call center workers were initially paid $59 an hour.
A newly enacted California law requires employers with 26 or more workers to pay overtime wages to farmworkers. But many worry that the law will put a financial strain on already struggling farmers, forcing them to cut labor costs.
The average remote workers shifted two of their working hours outside of the traditional 9-to-6 weekday schedule and worked more hours than pre-pandemic.
The bipartisan Working Families Caucus will bolster the finances of lower-income households through legislation addressing issues such as paid sick and family leave, tax credits and an increased minimum wage.
From paid sick leave to corporate discrimination, lawmakers are enacting policies to balance businesses’ economic revitalization with ensuring worker safety as the coronavirus continues to spread across the state.
To address the persistent worker shortage, some lawmakers have suggested job training programs, increased affordable housing and child-care access and cutting taxes, but it is unknown which, if any, will be the final solution.
With K-12 bus routes and parent pickup lines getting longer due to a shortage of bus drivers, schools are turning to apps to manage dismissal and transit-related issues, and to provide parents with important updates.
Barring unknowable virus mutation scenarios, state and local fiscal managers have the opportunity to navigate trends and crosscurrents already underway to make better decisions. One factor figures into almost everything: inflation.
Confusion and misinformation have made it difficult to gauge the impact of the omicron variant on the economy and work. Data that tracks unemployment rates since the start of the pandemic provides a rough guide.
This year taught us to humbly expect the unexpected, from hundreds of billions in federal “helicopter money” to $35,000 bonuses to lure back retired transit workers. And how is your public pension fund doing on something called ESG?
Governments will be in healthier posture in December 2022 if they seriously address the cybersecurity staffing gap, keep an eye on their security supply chains and begin moving to a zero-trust framework.
After the successful shift to remote work for many government agencies in 2021, the public sector has begun to weigh the benefits of hybrid work environments and reassess hiring practices.
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