Nia Broadway put forth a strong defence of her fellow workers at the AC Dpt. of Social Services as well as their employee productivity software; NC FAST.
Lauren Monica | Anson Record
ANSON COUNTY — When it came to discussing the budget, flex or hybrid scheduling once again became a contentious issue Tuesday, with commissioners rehashing the May 20 vote to approve alternate scheduling options for a six-month trial period.
Speaking at the board’s June 3 meeting, County Manager Lenn Sossoman said, “If you will recall at our last meeting Ms. [Lula] Jackson and Mr. [Wendell] Small [Parks and Recreation], made a really good presentation that was very detailed. I have asked all our department heads, and I think most of them have complied and sent in a flex time schedule, some more lengthy than others. Some have indicated that they cannot do flex time because they are a 24/7 operation, such as the water filtration plant.”
Sossoman went on to encourage commissioners to review the data gathered at their leisure, suggesting a return to the discussion at the next board meeting on June 17.
Commissioner Joshua Ellerbe questioned, “From my understanding, I thought we already voted for it to be effective July 1. It is a trial-and-error period, so the approval has already been given, motion made, accepted, voted upon.”
Agreeing with Ellerbe, Sossoman clarified, “I guess what I should have said, is if the board wants to modify anything that was submitted, then you could do that, make it effective, and it may just take it like it is and run with it, which is okay.”
Continuing the back and forth, Ellerbe reiterated, “Well, I think again with that decision, it didn’t really leave any room for modifications. My motion was for it to be left up to each department head to create their flex schedule.”
Ellerbe went on to state he felt the board’s obligation begins with allowing the departments to work out their scheduling needs and ends with the county manager assessing the long-term results in terms of efficiency and productivity of flex or hybrid scheduling and reporting those results back to the board.
Chairman Jamie Caudle said, “Well, we do have the authority to revoke it.”
Commissioner Ellerbe then reminded the board they voted to approve flex scheduling to the tune of 4-3. He said, “So if we revoke that before allowing that [six-month trial period] to take place, then we should not have voted in the first place.”
In response to Caudle sharing he voted no because he had misgivings at the time, Ellerbe answered, “Yeah, so your vote was a no vote, but it wasn’t enough no votes for it not to go through.”
When Caudle fired back that he hoped no member of the board would vote for something not knowing what its consequences would entail, Ellerbe answered, “Well, we knew that the department heads had the opportunity to provide the scheduling for their department as a whole. That is why we call them department heads, directors, or whatever. They have that responsibility and that is what we voted on. If this does not work in that time frame that we agreed upon, then we revisit it and we do what we said.”
Weighing in on the discussion, Commissioner Lawrence Gatewood said, “I have no problem at all with the flex schedule, but I have had a lot of citizens that have contacted me since our last meeting concerned about remote working. We supply office space for our employees and citizens are saying they should use it.”
Ellerbe stated he felt it is the residents’ right to be concerned. He said, “However, we as a board made a vote.”
Gatewood pointed out that when the board voted on scheduling, they did not have all the information they currently do or the department flex time reports to consider.
At the time of the vote to approve a trial period for flex scheduling, Commissioner Gatewood asked what other neighboring counties in North Carolina are currently utilizing remote, flex, or hybrid scheduling for their county departments. Speaking during the meeting, Director of Anson County Social Services Mrs. Lula Jackson answered, “There are counties that have remote positions. Union County has remote positions, I think Iredell County has remote work positions, Moore, Lee … Mecklenburg has any type of position that you can imagine.”
However, research into the mentioned counties seem to indicate a different situation. For instance, WFAE.org reported in February 2024 that all Mecklenburg County employees will be required to return to the office for five days a week, citing that despite changes made to the county telework plan, high rates of turnover among employees continued. According to the article, this change became effective July 1, 2024.
Additionally, Union County’s scheduling plan states; “Authorization for telework is established at the discretion of a division director or designee and should be temporary in nature.”
Lee County’s scheduling plan closely aligns with that of Union County — requiring flex schedules to be approved by a direct supervisor or department director. The county also states flex time should be offered on a feasibility basis.
Commissioner Jarvis Woodburn said, “I think we gave them the leeway to go ahead and set up their schedules and then we monitor it. We asked, not us, but [that] the county manager would monitor as time goes.”
He added, “Where we are right now, based on the meeting where we approved it, it is ready to go.”
Joining the conversation, Commissioner Kyle Leary reminded the board that according to the next steps of the proposal, department heads have until June 3, 2025, to submit a final draft for approval and adoption, with an effective date of July 1, 2025, for implementation.
Ellerbe said, “I was under the understanding that the final draft would be provided to our county manager and his approval. There is no need for us to approve it now. We have approved for it to exist.”
Caudle said his misgivings largely stem from resident concerns as well as to a previous time where remote work was tried by the county, and the county ended up getting burned. To combat this worry, Commissioner Priscilla Little-Reed invited Nia Broadway to the podium to educate commissioners on the NC FAST program, a technology software designed to track the effectiveness of remote workers and assist in accountability.
Broadway is the Economic Service Administrator for the Anson County Department of Social Services.
Broadway explained, “We use a system called NC FAST. In that system, there is a transaction there where we can put in the staff’s name, the date, and it tells us everything they did in NC FAST that day. It will tell me how long they were outside of NC FAST, and how long they were in NC FAST. It was put in to help us track production of our staff.”
She said if a remote employee only works two hours in NC FAST, management will see it and will decide that individual should not be working from home, they may need to be getting themselves to the office instead.
Broadway said, “As managers, I hope we are trusted enough that I can manage people whether they are at home or in the office. We have the equipment; we have the software that we can manage people. We can measure what they are doing. It is not like we have paper folders anymore. We are in a web-based system.”
At her words, Caudle asked if the county had access to web based tracking software two years ago when the previous incident occurred.
Broadway answered, “That was totally different. That was management. That was those that was in management, like myself. If I put in for sick time or for vacation, it did not deduct from my vacation balance or my sick balance. Me personally, I put it in, I don’t track it. So, for management, not line staff, they caught where the problem was going on.”
She added the time lost was not intentional and when the error was found, employees gave back the time. Broadway said, “ I would not have signed, I would not let my staff use time that they did not have if I know it. I trusted a system.”
Caudle said, “That is my point. You are trusting NC FAST, but could it fail us?”
Broadway responded that because she uses the NC FAST program every day, she will immediately become aware of a glitch in the system. She said, “95% of the time, NC FAST is on point.”
When asked by Commissioner Gatewood what the problem with the county provided offices are, Broadway answered, “It’s not that there is a problem, I think we are trying to get a life/work balance for our staff. You know, gas is expensive. It’s to give staff some incentive. The building that we are in is not in the best shape. We have mold in some places, and we have critters running around.”
She shared that many staff members feel the mold and inhalation might be making them ill.
Broadway advocated, “We are not asking for any money. We understand there is no money, we get that. But it won’t cost a thing to send people home for two days. I think it would help with morale.”
