After years at home, thousands of Minnesota state workers are about to return to the office

Wade Miller has worked at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for more than two decades.

He might soon be on his way out.

Miller is one of tens of thousands of state workers who, starting Monday, will be subject to new, stricter return-to-office policies meant to fill long-underused, state-owned and state-leased workspaces across Minnesota.

Like many state employees, Miller started working remotely during the early days of the 2020 global pandemic. In 2022, he took a new position as a state trail and snowmobile program consultant, a job that required him to make a 270-mile round trip once a week from his home near Brainerd to the DNR headquarters in St. Paul.

But under the new mandate, he will need to make the trip about six times a month. He petitioned to have his workplace switched to the DNR’s Brainerd office.

“If I don’t get that change, I’ll be looking for other work,” he said from a DNR cubicle last week.

Late Friday, a DNR spokeswoman said Miller’s situation had been resolved. But citing privacy concerns, she did not say how. She said workplace change petitions can be denied because of expected space constraints, but those can change as availability becomes more clear.

Across state government, employees are anticipating the return to office with dread, excitement, or perhaps something in between. Gov. Tim Walz announced the policy shift in March, requiring much of the state workforce to report to the office at least 50% of the time.

While labor unions have opposed the new policy, Walz has argued it still allows for flexibility and said he hopes it will strengthen workplace culture. The state government employs some 40,000 people, not including those employed by colleges and universities, making it the second-largest employer in Minnesota behind the Mayo Clinic.

Just a few years ago, state agencies doubled down on remote work and moved to downsize physical spaces to cut costs. A 2022 plan called for agencies to consolidate into state-owned buildings as leases expired in coming years.

The return-to-office push won’t fundamentally change the state’s implementation of that plan, said Wayne Waslaski, an assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Administration. Many employees will still work remotely half the time, reducing space needs from pre-pandemic levels.

“From a space standpoint, we’ll still be in a smaller footprint even after accommodating for the updated telework policy,” Waslaski said.

Key to that strategy is the state’s embrace of shared workstations. At the Administration Building on the State Capitol campus in St. Paul, teams will work on-site together on the same days. Cubicles are smaller than they once were — just 6 by 8 feet — and are to be cleaned and empty at the end of each day. Photos, spare ties and other personal effects must be stored in nearby locker rooms.

Even the entire senior leadership team at the Department of Administration gave up their offices in favor of shared spaces, Waslaski said.

“I kind of like the idea of being able to roam a little bit,” he said from a bare office, where the wall has pins, but no photos.

Both the Administration Building and DNR headquarters appeared mostly empty last week when the Minnesota Star Tribune toured parts of them. Waslaski and Barb Naramore, deputy commissioner at the DNR, said they looked forward to seeing more workers return.

“Long term for the vast majority of your employees, I think it’ll be good for their professional development, their career satisfaction,” Naramore said.

One new DNR employee and office regular, Casey Onadipe, said she’s excited to meet her colleagues after seeing many of them only on videoconference calls.

“I’m going to start a candy drawer,” she said. “I’m a mom, so it’s like any way I can bring comfort or joy is my goal.”

It’s unclear what the state is spending on the return-to-office program. Each agency is meeting the policy’s requirements within their current budgets, a Department of Administration spokesperson said. Several agencies declined interview requests.

At the DNR, Naramore could not estimate costs but said they likely won’t be significant.

“I’m not expecting a large bill,” she said.

Leaders of the two major state worker unions, AFSCME Council 5 and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE), heavily criticized Walz’s announcement in March, saying it blindsided them and their members.

AFSCME has not responded to interview requests, but MAPE President Megan Dayton said workers are still “incredibly frustrated.”

“People made life decisions based on telework,” Dayton said. “Now we’re being told by our agencies that we have to rearrange our lives with almost no notice for the scale of the life changes that we have to make here.”

Walz’s policy says agencies can allow employees who live more than 50 miles from their office to work remotely 100% of the time. But at least one agency — the DNR — chose to cap remote work at 70% in such cases, which is why it appears likely Miller will have to make his long commute more often.

But being in the office won’t necessarily lead to more collaboration, Dayton said. When he does make the drive, Miller said he often spends the day on videoconference calls that could just as easily be done from the Brainerd office or from home.

“My collaboration with folks isn’t as much in this building as it is all the other offices around the state,” he said.

MAPE is currently negotiating a new contract with the state and pushing language that would protect employees’ right to telework. The negotiating table is where return to office should’ve been decided, Dayton said, not behind closed doors among the governor and his staff.

“He doesn’t seem to understand why this is so impactful for our folks,” she said. “From a DFL governor, we’ve tried to reiterate that labor is one-third of that acronym. And it feels like the party has forgotten that to some extent.”

Asked about his relationship with unions on a recent Minnesota Public Radio appearance, Walz defended his decision. But he acknowledged tension between the workforce and himself.

“I won’t kid you. They’re probably not going to throw a picnic for me,” he said.