At its meeting on Tuesday, August 6, the Travis County Commissioners Court heard an update on one of its most successful initiatives in recent years: the countywide telework policy. After the pandemic forced workers to work from home, Travis County won an award from the National Association of Counties for its ambitious goal of having 75 percent of its eligible employees work from home, which reduced commute-related emissions, boosted county recruiting and made workers happier overall. Aside from the employee experience, the program saves the district money. NACo found in 2023 that reduced on-site staffing meant that “the county saw a $1.3 million cost reduction between 2020 and 2021 by not having to power and cool its offices.”

Last year, the district, together with Deloitte Consulting, launched the second phase of the remote working pilot project with the aim of measuring how Remote work hurt employee satisfaction while the quality of county services remained the same. Sam Renaud, who surveyed employees using the same questions asked in that July 12 survey, told commissioners Tuesday that over the last year, “in many of our conversations with the workforce, we found agreement about a lack of trust, strained company cultures and feelings of injustice. So I was really surprised by how many employees actually responded positively to the survey (this year).”

This measure has increased the county’s recruitment numbers by 7,000 applications per year since 2019, before the program began. Commissioner Brigid Shea added, “We hear anecdotally that people’s satisfaction is extremely high because they have the opportunity to work remotely and not have to sit in traffic every day and drive to work and back home.” Cynthia McDonald, county director of transportation and natural resources, said the survey data confirmed this, with employees reporting “overwhelmingly positive” satisfaction. “So much so that we were concerned we wouldn’t be able to improve it in phase two.”

Most agree that it is a good policy – but can everyone benefit equally from it? Eligibility for the program is also a question of fairness, Shea stressed.d during the meeting. Some workers must be present in person – for example, coroners and county jail employees. “In most cases, these are people who are at the lower end of the pay scale and don’t have the benefits of being able to work from home and save the gas money,” Shea said.

Deloitte has made some recommendations to address this issue, such as staggering the start and end times of work days so employees can avoid longer commute times and bypassing some of the slower processes involved in checking in to work. The consultant also mentioned that most respondents said “they did not feel like their managers understood their daily work and wanted more open feedback” and a better work culture overall. Commissioner Shea stressed that the next phase of the project should specifically address the implementation of these equality recommendations: “I think that’s critical. It can’t be potential.”

Aside from work culture, the county’s Economic and Strategic Planning Division is studying how the program could transform the county’s physical workspaces. In 2021, staff prepared a property assessment that included recommendations that would allow the county to more efficiently integrate its telework practices into its building portfolio. ESPD Executive Director Amy McWhorter explained that this too is a question of eligibility: “Typically, space is allocated based on a position’s telework eligibility. So, high-eligibility positions will be allocated a certain amount of individual and shared space, and low-eligibility positions will likely be allocated a dedicated space when they come into the office. Other levels could be allocated a workstation or touchdown station.”

The contract for the project ends in May 2025, so the next year will be devoted to proving the sustainability of this popular policy. “This was born out of a desire to innovate as a county and get ahead of its peers in responding to the pandemic,” McDonald told commissioners. “That box has been checked – now it’s about building infrastructure to strengthen it, enable it and make sure the workforce understands what they’re doing.”

Photo made available under a Creative Commons license.

The Austin Monitor‘s work is made possible by donations from the community. While we occasionally include donors in our reporting, we are careful to separate business and editorial activities while maintaining transparency. A full list of donors can be found here and our Code of Ethics is explained here.