Making sure you have access to employees post-pandemic is the goal of an amended policy being formed in Kewaunee County. The Kewaunee County Executive Committee approved on Monday the ability for department heads to grant remote work privileges on a case-by-case basis until a new policy can be established. Teleworking has been a major topic at each of the last three Kewaunee County Executive Committee meetings.  On August 8th, Kewaunee County Administrator Scott Feldt explained that remote work could assist the county in multiple ways with worker productivity, staff retention, and staff time efficiency. He added that the county monitors remote workers and is working on metrics to validate that their tasks are complete.

On August 23rd, a citizen expressed his concern about county employees potentially abusing the option, saying he does not believe workers and supervisors can effectively do their jobs while telecommuting. Employees were allowed to work at home while the state was under stay-at-home orders and for those following quarantine guidelines. After the committee decided to limit remote work to just Human Services employees, it did open the option to department heads to determine if they wanted to provide an opportunity for their employees. The IT, administration, and corporation counsel requested that their departments be allowed to have options for working from home. While Executive Committee Member Tom Romdenne suggested that they go back to the pre-COVID policy of everyone working from the office, Feldt and Kewaunee County Board Chairperson Daniel Olson both said it is more complicated than that.

Door County established a policy in June allowing employees to work a maximum of three days a week from home. They are set to revisit the topic at the end of the year. Most Wisconsin counties kept some kind of remote work policy even after the worst of the pandemic was behind them. The Kewaunee County Executive Committee will try to nail down a final policy at its upcoming meetings.