We, the undersigned CDFW employees, call on CDFW leadership to respect our rights as workers and retain our current, agreed-upon telework policy that reflects equity, a commitment to combating climate change, fiscal responsibility, and operational reality.
We demand CDFW leadership live up to the department’s own core values (CA Fish and Wildlife Strategic Vision, 2011):
- Practice environmental stewardship by allowing employees to continue with current telework agreements. Current agreements conserve fish, wildlife, and plant resources and the habitats they depend on by reducing vehicle emissions, energy consumption, and urban traffic. Retain telework as a proven climate solution!
- Act with integrity and ensure no policy is implemented without a clear understanding of its costs and total impacts on the department budget.
- Put excellence first, including us! Value the morale of the current and future workforce by retaining telework and build a workplace culture that reflects California’s diverse communities.
- Stop making unilateral decisions that impact working conditions and instead engage in meaningful teamwork with state employee unions; honor our union contracts and state law.
- Lead with innovation to enhance the public’s physical health by reducing pollution caused by vehicle emissions and support employee mental health by reducing commute time, which directly enhances work: life balance.
- Comply with the Statewide Telework Policy – 0181 by allowing employees to participate in teleworking to the fullest extent possible and include the Statewide Telework Policy goals in the CDFW telework policy:
- Encourage employee participation in telework
- Reduce required state office space
- Improve employee retention and recruitment
- Reduce state environmental impacts such as traffic congestion
- Maintain or improve employee productivity and customer service
Enforcing a strict interpretation of the Executive Order will damage staff morale. For CDFW, a 4 day/week in office schedule is not operationally feasible because most offices do not have sufficient space for staff.
CDFW employees take pride in serving the people of California and expect CDFW leadership to take stewardship seriously by spending taxpayer dollars wisely to ensure the long-term success and strong morale of our department. What is good for State workers is good for everyone!