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DSS staff warn cubicles would undermine privacy and casework efficiency
Summary
DSS employees testified at the March 5 hearing that converting private offices to cubicles would hinder confidential interviews, make phone work and document access difficult, and could worsen staff retention and audit performance.
Several Department of Social Services employees described how private offices support confidentiality, file access and staff wellbeing — and said cubicles would hamper that work.
Susan Ledbetter, who previously worked in a DSS with cubicles, said interview rooms often remained occupied and staff would have to discuss sensitive matters in insufficiently private spaces. “Cubicles just simply provide no privacy,” she said, adding that much DSS work is done by phone and requires privacy for sensitive conversations. Foster-care worker Rachel Rogers described operational burdens including substantial in-office storage needs and emotional strain: “Sometimes I have shut that office door to cry for a few minutes … you can’t do that in a cubicle.”
DSS Director Kevin Brown and County project leads said the proposed conversion includes more interview rooms, conference space and key-card access, and that the State’s facility guidance does not require individual offices. County staff said they had checked layouts with other counties that recently built DSS space and that some recent facilities use primarily cubicles with shared interview rooms.
Staff and commissioners stressed the operational trade-offs: employees focused on privacy, files, case continuity and the emotional labor of child-welfare work, while county staff and designers emphasized flexibility and cost control. Commissioners asked staff to continue clarifying how the proposed layout would maintain confidentiality and meet state requirements.
