COLUMBIA, S.C. — Governor Henry McMaster recently announced he wants all state employees that are working remotely to return to the office as soon as possible, and for thousands of those workers, that means this coming Monday.
All state agencies are required to have employees back full time by Monday, March 15, unless they’ve requested for more time to transition. Employees can also request to stay remote for child care or health reasons.
"Our plan, which we turned in on Wednesday of this week, is to return all employees March 15, except we have two employees due to schooling, that will not be physically returning, they will be remote working," said Nanette Edwards, executive director of South Carolina’s Office of Regulatory Staff.
She said her office will still be following safety measures, even though McMaster has lifted mask requirements in state buildings.
Edwards said, "we are socially distancing, we still do wear the masks." She added that they're constantly wiping down frequently touched areas and have capacity limits in their bathroom and break room.
According to the S.C. Department of Administration, South Carolina has nearly 74,000 state employees and 33% are still working from home.
The department was tasked with approving every agency’s re-entry plan. They told News19 that 17 have either returned all staff to the workplace full-time or plan to do so by Monday.
All other agencies submitted plans requesting additional time to transition employees back to the workplace.
Edwards said about 60% of her employees are already in the office, and many say they’ll feel safer once they have the vaccine.
"There are some employees that are nervous about taking the vaccination and then interestingly, I have other employees that, you know, they’re looking, they’re hunting for the opportunity to get the vaccine," said Edwards.
State employees are eligible for the coronavirus vaccine under Phase 1B.