State workers expected to converge on Waterbury on Thursday

October 22, 2025 | By Lisa Scagliotti 

The debate swirling around whether state employees shift to a work schedule requiring more days spent in their offices will be the focus at the State Office Complex in Waterbury on Thursday. 

The new Waterbury State Office Complex office building was constructed after Tropical Storm Irene and opened in 2015. File photo by Lisa Scagliotti

The Vermont State Employees Association, the labor union representing more than 6,000 state workers, has called for all of its members who are assigned to offices in Waterbury to physically report to the Waterbury State Office Complex on Thursday for an “In-Office Day of Action.”

Gov. Phil Scott’s administration this summer told state employees to expect a new policy regarding remote work. In late August, Administration Secretary Sarah Clark wrote to all state workers that the state’s hybrid work standard would require working in person for at least three days a week starting Dec. 1. 

Many state employees moved to remote working arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and have remained in that mode since. Likewise, new hires over the past several years have also opted for working from home as a regular part of their routine. 

Administration officials point to summer floods in 2023 and 2024 that impacted state offices in Montpelier and elsewhere as contributing to the delay in changing hybrid work expectations back to more in-person office time. 

Over the past several years, workers say that the flexible arrangement has greatly reduced time and costs of commuting. It also has made it possible for individuals who reside in other states to work for the state of Vermont. VTDigger reported in September that 552 state employees reside outside of Vermont. While most are located in the Northeast, state data show employees in 31 U.S. states and one Canadian province, according to the report. 

The administration has cited reasons for the new work standard that include improving communication among staffers and with the public, better collaboration and team-building, and more full use of office spaces. “This move is about more connection, collaboration, and visibility for each other and the people we serve,” Gov. Scott said in a Sept. 8 video message to state employees. 

Scott said the decision to call workers back to offices three days a week was not made lightly. “It’s not hard to see that something has been lost when we only see each other on the screen,” Scott said. “One of the things I’m most proud of as governor is the silos we’ve broken down between agencies and departments. But we’ve lost some of that camaraderie and collaboration because we don’t see each other in person, where we can hear about what others are working on.”

The employees’ union opposes the governor’s directive, noting that a worker’s location is less important than whether their work is getting done. 

VSEA Executive Director Steve Howard said another concern is that the move may result in a “soft layoff” where state workers will resign rather than change their routines. Staffing departures would likely affect the delivery of state services, he said. “There already are about 900 vacant positions in state government,” Howard noted.

Howard said surveys of state workers show wide support for hybrid work arrangements. Making a shift to three days in person in just a few weeks will mean big disruptions for employees’ families and increases in commuting – both of which will likely impact the workers’ productivity, he said. 

“This is creating chaos at the worst time for no apparent reason,” Howard said.  

Thursday’s action 

In social media messages, the VSEA has called on state employees whose offices are at the Waterbury complex to work in person on Thursday. The action is intended to demonstrate that there is insufficient workspace for all of the employees to be at the offices simultaneously. The union notes that space for Department of Health employees is particularly tight. To show that, a Health Department staff meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. in person.

“The in-office day is meant to show how disruptive it is for all WSOC staff to be in person at the Waterbury State Office Complex, and for all of Vermont Department of Health to be at the 10 a.m. staff meeting. The spaces will be loud, crowded and under-furnished because we simply do not fit,” the employee association states in its social media messages. “Our buildings are not going to be able to hold all of us state employees. This is a harmful ‘solution’ in search of a problem.”

The Waterbury State Office Complex has seen a rollercoaster of occupancy for more than a decade. In August 2011, flooding from Tropical Storm Irene caused devastating damage to many of the state buildings there, forcing the state to relocate employees to other office sites around the region. Ultimately, state officials decided to retain the office hub and invested in demolishing more than 20 structures on site and then constructing a modern, $125 million multi-story office building. 

In 2015, state employees returned to Waterbury, occupying the new space and offices in older buildings that had been refurbished and maintained. The pandemic in 2020, however, promoted a second mass exodus with restrictions on people gathering in person. Since then, remote work has become part of the state office culture, with many employees maintaining hybrid or work-from-home schedules. 

In January 2024, the state decided to sell a large office building in Burlington that housed Agency of Human Services offices. To redistribute the staff from that location, 380 Health Department employees were assigned to the Waterbury complex. 

At the time, officials at the Department of Buildings and General Services acknowledged that the Health Department employees would put the Waterbury complex well over its capacity. A spokesperson told Waterbury Roundabout that the new Waterbury office building could accommodate up to 800 workers full-time and that the addition of the Health Department staff would bring that total close to 1,200. The arrangement would be adequate, officials said then, because not all of the employees would be present at the same time. 

Organizers for Thursday’s work day in Waterbury acknowledge the crunch. “For everyone to have a place to work, the Department of Health needs more than 250 additional desks. If left unchanged, this mandate will likely result in gaps in essential service,” their message to members states. 

They also share tips as they encourage as many state employees as possible to head to Waterbury: “Wear green, if you are able. Pack your lunch, coffee and snacks and get gas before you head to Waterbury.”

Employees are also urged to document their experience, such as taking screenshots of messages if they attempt to reserve a workspace and find none available. Organizers also suggest snapping pictures of the overall scene. 

“Capture what full in-person presence looks like: crowded, loud office space, full parking lots, and traffic,” the union’s messaging notes, adding that Health Department workers are encouraged to bring their lunches to gather at 12:30 in the main atrium at the complex for a group photo. 

As for timing, the union's messaging notes a workday start at 7:45 a.m. and ending at 4:30 p.m. Howard said he would expect the arrival window would likely be between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., with most leaving by 4:30 p.m.

Given these activities, local residents are likely to experience an increase in traffic on Thursday morning and afternoon. Recent heavy traffic volumes due to foliage season have resulted in long delays, particularly during afternoon commuting times. Work on the Stowe Street bridge construction has created an additional bottleneck with periods of alternating one-way traffic movement over the bridge, which is adjacent to Vermont Route 100. That project is very close to completion.

Vermont Agency of Transportation spokesperson Amy Tatko said Thursday’s bridge project work will be weather-dependent. A small painting crew plans to mark crosswalks and stop bars, while some small paving work will be done at driveway aprons in the project area. 

“Both operations are small but will require flaggers on Stowe Street, but nothing on VT100, so we anticipate limited impacts to traffic,” she said. 

The Lincoln Street state Park & Ride lot reopened for public use on Monday. Commuter buses will still use their temporary stops, including the lot at the State Office Complex near the intersection of Park Row and Randall Street, until Oct. 27.

Lt. Thomas Howard at the Vermont State Police barracks in Berlin said no additional personnel were planned for Waterbury for Thursday. Waterbury typically has one state trooper on duty on weekdays under a contract with the state police.