Howard County executive candidate Ken Ulman?s proposal for more flexible work schedules for county government employees is an expansion of a program already in place.
County Executive Jim Robey recommended in July that department heads work with employees to determine which jobs can accommodate flexible work policies, such as working from home.
Ulman wants to build on Robey?s guidelines and make it a comprehensive policy.
“It?s a top-down audit of county agencies to really determine in a very sophisticated way how we can implement a broad array of workplace family initiatives,” said County Council Member Ulman, D-District 4, at a news conference Tuesday at Howard Community College.
The policy would affect the county?s roughly 2,000 full- and part-time employees, county spokeswoman Victoria Goodman said.
Robey?s approach was not mandatory, but rather a first step to guide the county in implementing flexible work policies, she said.
“It was hard for us to put a standard across the county, because of the various types of work done,” she said. “One size does not fit all, so work within in your department to find a way that would make this work.”
Goodman said she didn?t know how many employees participate in the program.
If elected, Ulman said he would create a task force to examine options such as flexible schedules, telecommuting and job sharing, establish a policy and make recommendations to the private sector.
“Certain strategies will work better than others,” Ulman said, adding that the task force would evaluate which jobs might be suited to flexible work policies.
Having these options would help Howard retain employees and compete with private companies, he said.
Cynthia Calvert, deputy director of employee advocacy group Work Life Law, who would head the task force, said the group would include employers and employees to examine several different solutions.
