After year of employee flux, local governments ending remote work

Local governments in Southern Nevada were scrambling in March 2020 to figure out how workforces would navigate a nascent pandemic: Some employees began rotating between the office and telecommuting, and others were reassigned as their job sites shut down during statewide closures.

But as the state gradually lifts public health restrictions in response to falling rates of new cases and hospitalizations, local governments are calling back employees to full-time, in-person work.

The recent changes offer one sign that normalcy is slowly returning to the public sector as the demand for its services increases.

“I certainly think it’s going in that direction,” Las Vegas City Manager Jorge Cervantes said in a recent interview. “I don’t think we’re at full normalcy (yet).”

On Monday, the city ended rotations for roughly 360 employees who had been alternating between home and the office, a move announced six weeks ago.

Cervantes said the hybrid model had been enacted to limit the number of workers exposed to each other on any given day. But it had its challenges: Employees sometimes struggled to coordinate to answer an inquiry, internet connectivity might drop, and videoconferences could be disorderly when people spoke over one another.

As the economy continues to open, there is a growing need for city services that are best executed with employees working full time in the office, he said.

Others bringing back workers

Many North Las Vegas employees have returned to working in buildings too. The city of Henderson has begun transitioning employees back into the office. Most Clark County employees returned to in-person schedules in May or during the summer, officials said, but those still fully or partly working remotely may see changes to their schedules in the future.

Nye County announced it was returning remote employees to full-time, in-person work on Monday as well.

It is worth noting that most government employees have seen their routines unchanged during the pandemic. For instance, remote work was not possible for nearly 2,000 of the roughly 2,700-person workforce in Las Vegas, including firefighters and wastewater treatment plant operators.

But beginning Monday there could be 370 to 400 workers inside Las Vegas City Hall on any given day, roughly 25 percent more than there had been, Cervantes said. Others will fully return to different city facilities.

A tiny fraction of workers who were reassigned when their job functions ceased or workplace closed because of public health restrictions — including those employed at senior centers and in youth sports — will remain in other roles until their normal jobs fully resume.

Many still not vaccinated

The decision to return employees to the physical workplace also coincides with more vaccinations being rolled out to more people. All employees in Las Vegas and Clark County were offered doses, as were most in Henderson and at least half of the workforce in North Las Vegas.

While the timing of broad access to the vaccine by government workers had been criticized by Gov. Steve Sisolak when eligibility was more narrow than it is today, it appears that a majority have yet to take advantage. Still, Cervantes did not express concern even as access to the vaccine was a factor in the city’s decision to bring back employees.

“We looked at it more as everybody has the opportunity to have it,” Cervantes said, adding that the city encourages inoculation.

Just 48 percent of the city’s workforce had received a first dose as of March 5, and only 42 percent had gotten both doses, according to city figures.

In Clark County, where officials do not track how many employees received the vaccine, any future changes to remaining remote schedules will not be based on vaccination rates but instead on workplace needs and efficiency, spokesman Dan Kulin said.

About one-third of Henderson’s full-time and part-time employees have received at least a first dose. The same can be said for no less than half of North Las Vegas’ workforce. Vaccine availability and declining coronavirus metrics have prompted officials in those two cities to bring workers back into the office.

“I would agree that there is a sense of optimism that we’re turning the corner,” city spokesman Patrick Walker said.

New normal

Officials say the pandemic has ushered in new safety protocols at government facilities, such as mandated facial coverings, social distancing and reduced occupancy in meeting rooms.

“We are going to continue to monitor as everybody comes back” to ensure compliance with public health guidelines, Cervantes said.

But even as employees return, there is also a sense that certain ways of doing government business that were adopted out of necessity will be here to stay. That includes keeping many services online, conducting inspections virtually and maintaining remote work where it is efficient.

“We do not plan to simply revert back to the old way of operating just because that’s how it was done before,” Walker said in a statement.

Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ on Twitter.