Utah ends program allowing state employees to telework during bad air days

SALT LAKE CITY — State employees will no longer be able to telework on designated bad air days as a bill repealing the program goes into effect in May.

The repeal was included in a bill passed this legislative session that focused on which state employees were eligible for a performance-based evaluation program.

The program was created back in 2021 after data was made available showing an increase in healthy air quality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deputy Executive Director of the Department of Government Operations Marilee Richins said they reviewed the data after four years.

“They looked at all the surge days. They eliminated any day that could have an extenuating factor. And there was no difference at all in the traffic on the road,” said Richins.

Telework’s impact on bad air examined

The decision has nothing to do with employee productivity, Richins said. The traffic flow and air quality were the only factors considered in this decision.

Richins said her department worked closely with the Utah Department of Transportation when reviewing the data.

“We asked them to look over a year period if this had made any difference. And the truth is, it made no difference.”

Related: The hazy air over Utah holds more than our ‘normal’ pollutants, and it’s sticking around

In 2020, a report by the Utah Governor’s Office of Management and Budget stated that vehicle emissions were a “significant contributing source of pollutants along the Wasatch Front and have been estimated by the Division of Air Quality to be as high as 40% of the total pollution during the winter time.”

However, the report did not break down the impact on pollutants if only a single group of people, like government workers, were teleworking. 

Contributing | Simone Seikaly