Superior Council To Decide Telecommuting Policy For City Employees

Working from home might get easier for some city employees in Superior.  Or then again, maybe not.

An approval by the Human Resources Committee on August 16 cleared the path for advancement to the council.  According to an article in the Superior Telegram, that policy change "allows city managers to consider telecommuting as an option on a case-by-case basis when job duties can be performed remotely". The policy makes a delineation between an "ad hoc arrangement....[for] temporary telecommuting..." and "a formal arrangement that would include a set schedule for working away from the office".

The written policy outlines the steps that would lead towards an approved telecommuting role for a city employee.  Any applications to do so would need prior approval from the employees supervisor and the city's Human Resources Department - both to okay the effort and to coordinate a "suitable work schedule".

Even with eventual approval by the city council, passage of the policy doesn't mean that large numbers of city employees will end up utilizing it.  Cammi Koneczny, Human Resources Director for the City of Superior offered that "80% to 90% of employees couldn't do their job from home and....having the policy in place doesn't guarantee that employees who could work from home would be allowed to do so on a regular basis".

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Prior to advancing the policy to the council, discussion was had by the policy-makers about injuries, workers comp, liability, and such.  Koneczny responded that in the event a telecommuting city employee injured themselves at home, during company time, "[w]e would have them file a work comp. (sic) report, and they would turn that into our work comp. (sic) carrier, and they would make that determination.  ....[T]hey would do the questioning to determine how it happened, when it happened, and whether it was something that is coverable".