Wisconsin state offices have yet to bounce back from the pandemic. In fact, they’re still mostly empty.

Over half the employees at the Department of Workforce Development work from home full-time. At the Department of Administration, it’s more than 40%. Statewide estimates suggest that around 24,000 out of 29,000 state employees either work remotely full-time or split time between home and the office.

Here’s the problem: no one in state government seems to know exactly who’s working where, how often, or whether this setup makes any sense anymore.

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“There has been no productivity analysis, no data,” says State Rep. Amanda Nedweski (R–Pleasant Prairie), who is pushing legislation that would require state workers to return to the office unless remote work is specifically approved and tracked.

Nedweski isn’t calling for a ban on remote work. What she wants is structure — and proof that it’s effective. Right now, neither exists.

“What was an emergency situation just became permanent, with no framework in place for telework,” she told the Badger Institute. “From the agencies we’ve talked to, they can’t tell where an employee is on any given day.”

The Evers administration doesn’t seem interested in changing that. The governor has already promised to veto Nedweski’s bill — and any version of the state budget that includes a return-to-office mandate. In December, Evers defended telework, saying it helps attract talent from outside urban centers. “Not all the good workers are in the Madison and Milwaukee area,” he said.

But the data Nedweski and others have managed to collect tells a different story — one of widespread remote work with little documentation and even less oversight.

At the Department of Workforce Development, 88.2% of employees work remotely at least part of the time. At the Department of Administration, that figure is nearly 80%. Other agencies either didn’t provide remote work data or claimed they had none.

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Even state policies require remote work agreements and regular monitoring, but according to a 2023 Legislative Audit Bureau report, most agencies haven’t been following the rules. In some offices, auditors found almost no workstations being used. At others, employee badge data showed workers entering state buildings fewer than two days per week — and in some cases, less than once a week.

Despite those findings, Nedweski says little has been done. “Nobody had numbers to give us,” she said. “The agencies don’t even know.”

The audit also flagged cybersecurity issues and the state’s failure to assess whether remote work makes sense going forward — especially as the Department of Administration moves ahead with a plan to reduce more than 600,000 square feet of state office space.

Governors in other states, including Democrats, are starting to reverse course. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is mandating four in-office days starting July 1. Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Walz recently ordered all state workers to spend at least half their workweek in the office. Even Indiana and Ohio, under Republican leadership, have taken steps to end or limit remote work for public employees.

“In-person work makes us all stronger — period,” Newsom said in a statement.

Nedweski, who has a background in tech and business consulting, says it’s time for Wisconsin to get serious about accountability and efficient government.

“I want to say again that I do not oppose telework and believe that under some circumstances it has its place,” she said. “But we have no idea what is working and what isn’t. This bill gives us a starting place.”