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By Dana Ferguson, Clay Masters and Peter Cox, Minnesota Public Radio News

In about two months, Minnesota state government employees who haven’t been regularly heading to a jobsite or an office will have to rearrange their plans.

The change to what had been a flexible telework arrangement was ordered this week by Gov. Tim Walz, who wants tens of thousands of executive branch employees back in person at least half of the time. It starts June 1.

It’s a departure from the remote arrangements that took root during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Walz said the return to more in-person work will improve collaboration and communication and follows similar shifts in the private sector.

“This approach balances the flexibility of telework with the workplace advantages of being in office,” Walz said in a news release Tuesday. “Having more state employees in the office means that collaboration can happen more quickly and state agencies can build strong organizational cultures more easily.”

The news prompted blowback from the main labor unions that represent state employees. They said they weren’t included in conversations about calling workers back to the office more of the time. St. Paul officials and business leaders said the move could help boost the city.

Before the policy takes effect next month, here’s what we know about the directive and how it will roll out.

What is the new policy?

The policy requires state employees that live less than 75 miles from their principal office location to work in the office 50 percent of the time each month. Guidance from Minnesota Management and Budget says that workers would have to work a full day from the location for the time to be counted toward their 50 percent target. Reimbursement for parking will be up to agency heads to decide and employees are unlikely to receive reimbursement for mileage.

Other on-site work not at an employee’s principal office location would also be applied toward the 50 percent mark. Some workers can apply for reasonable accommodations to continue working remotely.

What are state employees saying about the change?

The two labor unions that represent state workers — Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 5 — said they were not consulted about the change and called the move one of “blatant disrespect.”

“The administration’s decision to impose sweeping workplace policy changes without engaging our union and labor partners first is not just unacceptable — it’s an act of blatant disrespect,” AFSCME Council 5 Executive Director Bart Andersen said in a news release. “Our union members must have and deserve a seat at the table every step of the way.”

Andersen and Megan Dayton, president of MAPE, called on the governor to bring the unions into conversations about the proposed change. Combined, the unions represent almost 40,000 state employees.

Dayton said the policy was concerning as the union enters into negotiations for its next contracts.

“Let’s call this what it really is: This is a unilateral move by a bad boss without consultation or consideration of the very staff he claims to care deeply about investing in,” she said. “I never thought the same public worker attacks and micromanaging mannerisms of our federal administration would be mirrored in Minnesota.”

Litigation is possible.

What could the change mean for St. Paul?

Walz said the return to in-person work policy could bring more foot traffic to the capital city. And it comes at a time when some downtown businesses say they’re struggling.

The governor said that about 60 percent of state employees work in-person at their principal work locations and did so throughout the pandemic. But bringing in thousands of additional workers each day could bring much needed business and vitality downtown, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said.

“The governor and I have been in conversation about that for quite a bit. I appreciate his recognition of how important state employees are to our community, to our city, to the fabric of our community, just in their presence, in addition to the work that they do,” Carter told MPR News on Tuesday. “So that’ll have an enormous impact on our community, on our downtown, on the restaurants and, you know, other other businesses downtown that look forward to catering to state employees.”

State Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, on social media said the move was “too little too late.”

“State employees should have come back to work earlier if Gov. Tim Walz was concerned about good stewardship & collaboration,” she said.  “Having state workers work from home for 5 years has decimated St. Paul & been unfair to taxpayers who go to their jobs everyday.”

How will it be enforced?

State departments and agencies will have to create plans for getting workers back to their principal office locations at least 50 percent of the time if they’re not already doing so and communicate those to workers. Supervisors will also have to provide telework schedules and acknowledgement forms to agency human resource and payroll departments.

Is there enough space for workers?

The state has many buildings around the state, especially in St. Paul, that it owns. But it also leases space. Some of those leases have been coming up for renewal or have lapsed as the physical footprint of government gets recalibrated.

Additionally, there are key offices that have been repurposed since the pandemic. Case in point: The Centennial Office Building just down the hill from the Capitol is now home to House lawmakers and their staff as the State Office Building undergoes reconstruction. The same goes for the Veterans Services Building, which temporarily houses part of the Secretary of State’s Office during the renovation of the SOB. That’s a lot of square footage that will be unavailable to the executive branch.

As of November 2022, the state had more than 6 million square feet of usable space around Minnesota, some of which is storage related.

A message with questions about employee space considerations left with the Department of Administration, which is the property manager for much of state government, wasn’t immediately returned.