MARBLEHEAD – Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer III discussed a revised version of the Flexible Work Policy that the town has been deliberating at the Select Board meeting Wednesday night. 

Kezer is a member of the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s Policy Committee on Personnel and Labor Relations that covers “collective bargaining, civil service, employee benefits, and pension reform,” according to their website. 

Kezer shared what the MMA committee discussed, including what other towns across the state are doing for flexible work policies. Those discussions, Kezer said, have informed Kezer’s updated policy for the town of Marblehead.

“With all that input, I’ve created an updated and revised version,” Kezer said. “It’s not just flexible location, which is what I was putting together initially. It would involve the options of hybrid work, remote work, and temporary arrangements. So the whole idea is giving department heads a number of tools to address the workforce.”

Marblehead is currently undergoing a large amount of construction of both roadways and buildings. Many residents may have their work spaces affected during this time, so the Select Board and other committees are looking for the best solutions to allow people to still do their jobs comfortably without the interruptions of construction.

“The key ingredient here,” Kezer said. “Whatever flexible arrangements are done, are done in the interest of the town to meet all its duties and needs. We are trying to respond to the situation with the construction of Mary Alley. That’s sort of driving it along.”

The Mary A. Alley building is one of the larger reconstruction and renovation projects that will interrupt residents. The town hopes to have a sufficient flexible work design as this project continues.

 A flexible work policy also allows the town to hire more people for municipal roles who may not have the ability to follow a traditional in office design due to children or interruptions pertaining to construction.

“By adding some other flexibility options, it does allow us to expand the number of employees that may be eligible for some type of flexibility,” Kezer said. 

The flexible work policy that Kezer presented would only apply to municipal employees of the town. Once a policy is approved, it could go into effect immediately for non-union employees. However, Kezer said, union-member employees would require a separate discussion with leadership to ensure any work-environment policy updates are in alignment with the union’s.

“I’ve already given the union president a heads up that this is forthcoming and we’ll sit down and discuss.” Kezer said. 

The Select Board agreed there would be further discussion on the newly revised flexible work policies at their October meeting, where they will invite public comment on the matter and a possible vote to put the policies into effect. 

The post Marblehead board discusses flexible work policies appeared first on Itemlive.

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