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Goodyear updates remote-work policy: city keeps three-day in-office minimum, emphasizes supervisor accountability
Summary
Human Resources presented a remote-work update recommending continued hybrid policy with a minimum of three in-office days, annual review of telework agreements, supervisor training on hybrid management, and technology measures to maintain customer service; presenters reported about 22% of staff on scheduled telework.
Wyman Lockett, Goodyear’s Human Resources director, and Vicky Lackey, deputy HR director, briefed the council on May 5 on the city’s remote-work practices and recommended updates to the telework guideline to align with service delivery.
Lackey said the city has a long-running telework guideline (first drafted in 2001) and currently about 22% of employees participate in scheduled telework agreements. The presentation said the city requires employees to be on-site a minimum of three days per week to maintain collaboration and consistent in-person service; remote work is treated as a privilege tied to position and individual performance. “Telework is a privilege, not a right,” Lackey said.
The HR team cited national research on hybrid trends and local benchmarking. The slides noted that during the pandemic roughly 37% of the workforce worked from home, that hybrid participation was about 15% in mid‑2021 after an initial return, and that the city now has roughly 220 employees teleworking out of an approximate 1,000‑employee workforce.
Recommended next steps include updating the telework guideline to add the annual review of telework agreements during performance evaluations, publishing customer service expectations for remote staff (responsiveness, availability and visible coverage), and offering supervisor training on managing hybrid teams. HR also described technology measures that support remote service, including use of Microsoft Teams phone functionality (updated summer 2024) that allows calls to ring on city devices remotely and status indicators in Teams/Outlook to signal availability.
Council members asked how supervisors monitor teleworking employees; HR said supervisors use meetings, calendar visibility, phone and call-center metrics, and review of work product to confirm performance and availability. The presentation included guidance to preserve customer service and urged departments to maintain in‑office coverage for walk‑ins and time‑sensitive services. No policy vote was taken at the meeting.
