All-employee call, April 14 [VIDEO]
WASHINGTON, DC—On April 14, 2022, more than 8,000 employees gathered together for an open conversation with Chief Moore and additional executive leadership team members on the journey to a hybrid work environment. Together, we wrestled with how to intentionally live out the physical, social and psychological safety we all should expect and deserve as we move through our phased approach.
While more than 1,000 questions were submitted during the live event, your top questions and concerns related to future testing program guidance, telework determination, how to best work with your supervisor in this process, maintaining service to our communities, the timeline for additional phases and more (see below). Your rich diversity of perspectives, ideas and questions will help all of us navigate the unknowns before us in ways that are caring, respectful, inclusive, trustworthy and responsive.
Q: How will employees be kept safe given not everyone is vaccinated?
A: Safety remains a top priority as we return to the workplace. To ensure a consistent approach, USDA is finalizing testing program guidance. We will share this guidance as soon as it is available.
Q: Why is there a phased approach?
A: It is important to remember how we arrived here. We employed maximum telework to protect individual and community health and safety in response to a public health crisis.
Now we are intentionally moving the agency into a hybrid work environment based on the lessons learned during the pandemic. We will identify the trade-offs and address their effects, including the impacts on our employees’ development and well-being; the communities we serve; our mission delivery; and all associated costs. By taking a deliberate, criteria-based approach, we can create a sustainable work environment that best serves our employees and the public.
Phase II, which is expected to begin in the late fall 2022, will follow a criteria-based approach to reassess if any changes are necessary to employee remote/telework designations, especially related to Washington Office, Albuquerque Service Center, as well as regions and stations staff.
Q: Who determined if my position was suitable for remote/telework during Phase I of our new hybrid work environment?
A: The Executive Leadership Team, in consultation with the National Leadership Council, made the decision to intentionally transition to a hybrid organization. Leadership evaluated positions across the Forest Service, and considered the lessons learned during the pandemic, to determine suitability for remote work or telework. During this first phase, and while additional assessment is being conducted, we have determined that in most situations, telework best achieves the balance of our commitment to the public, our coworkers and ourselves.
Q: Can a supervisor authorize less than eight days of telework in a pay period?
A: Yes, based on work requirements to meet mission delivery, supervisors may authorize less than eight days of telework per pay period. However, our leaders’ intent is for supervisors to be as flexible as possible and fully embrace telework to the maximum extent possible. For individuals on core telework, this would include the opportunity to telework up to eight days per pay period.
You can find additional resources in the following places:
Pandemic and Re-entry Resources page [internal]
We invite you to continue the conversation in our Leadership Corner Forum or submit questions directly to the employee feedback inbox.