INVESTIGATION REPORT Telecommuting Date: May 30, 2014
Table of Contents: Page Report Background 1 Allegation 1 Audit Procedures 1 Audit Findings 1 Conclusion 3 Appendix Distribution 5 Audit Performed By 5
Background On April 28, 2014 OIA was assigned to investigate an allegation reported through email to senior management with regards to Telecommuting. The allegation noted that employees allowed to perform their work via telecommuting arrangements are given preferential treatment over Information Technology (IT) employees who are being required to relocate to Jacksonville without telecommuting arrangements being offered. Allegation With the upcoming relocation of 148 IT jobs to Jacksonville (from Tallahassee and Tampa), the complainant claims that if some departments are allowed to currently have in-state, out of state and out of country employees as telecommuters, and other departments such as IT are not, then they are in effect receiving preferential treatment. As a result, IT employees are being discriminated against with regards to telecommuting privileges. Audit Procedures The Office of Internal Audit performed the following: Reviewed emails sent by the complainant to determine substance of the allegation. Attempted to set up in person meeting with complainant to ensure a clear understanding of the allegation; however the complainant chose not to participate in additional information gathering and clarification by not responding to meeting requests. Interviewed the complainant s supervisor in order to gain additional clarity around the complainant s allegation. Obtained and reviewed other Florida government agencies telecommuting programs to obtain an understanding of the content and strategy of state agency policies. Reviewed the DRAFT Citizens Telecommuting Policy to determine rules and requirements. Reviewed a list of Citizens employees currently telecommuting and conducted an analysis to validate job/location specific needs for these arrangements. Audit Findings Results from our audit work indicated the following: In order to get an understanding of how Florida Government Agencies are embracing telecommuting programs, OIA reviewed telecommuting polices from the Florida Department of Management Services (DMS) and the State Board of Administration (SBA). The DMS policy noted that in addition to accommodating a variety of employee needs, telecommuting can be an effective recruitment and retention strategy, as well as a useful tool for supporting the agency s Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP), improving employee productivity, and reducing office space requirements. The SBA telecommuting program was established to provide alternate work arrangements for employees with medical issues/problems and in certain other circumstances where telecommuting would effectively meet the special needs of the SBA and an employee. Florida Statutes Section 110.171 provides authorization for such state employee telecommuting programs. Citizens does not have a formal telecommuting policy in place, however Citizens has been in the process of drafting this policy. As a result of the absence of authoritative guidance some Page 1
business units have approved telecommuting arrangements. There currently are 85 employees identified as telecommuting, of which 76 of these were determined to be approved arrangements for job/location specific business needs while five do not have a direct job/location specific business need. OIA recommends that management periodically assess telecommuting position/employee business needs and establish a formalized Telecommuting policy in alignment with the direction of strategic requirements. We recommend that the following are considered when the policy provisions are developed: o Develop a telecommuting policy document and separate procedures from the current DRAFT. o Establish enterprise telecommuting policy job/location specific position justification and annual approval process included as part of the annual budgeting process. o Include clarification in the policy between telecommuting, alternative works arrangements and the occasional work from home. o Recommend all telecommuting arrangements be approved by business unit Chief and Chief Human Resources Officer. o Employees telecommuting or on alternative work arrangements for personal reasons should be reviewed and approved as noted above, and then going forward every 6 to 12 months. o The following risks should be taken into consideration and covered in the policy and procedures: - Security risks of telecommuting - Protecting the privacy and integrity of company data and networks is a high priority when employees are working outside of the office. - Trusted employees - only allow employees who have an established work ethic and history, are not on a performance improvement program, and are well respected to telecommute. Citizens should remain cognizant though, that if this is the case, due to the Americans with Disabilities Act, Citizens may have to provide this option to workers who do not meet the long-term/high-performing criteria if they are disabled and request accommodation. - Telecommuting & unsafe working conditions - the procedures need to provide steps to create safe telecommuting work conditions. Further consideration should be given to the impact of this policy to Citizens Workers Compensation Insurance and the need to inspect safety of approved telecommuting locations. OIA has reviewed the corporate wide list of employees with current alternative work arrangements and the supporting reasoning for such arrangements. From the review, it was noted that: o 76 employees are telecommuting due to job/location specific needs inherent to the position. o 9 employees have telecommuting arrangements that are not a result of a job/location specific business need. - 4 employees are temporary and will be departing the company at a specific end point or when project work is complete. - 5 employees were granted alternative work arrangements based on employee need, and arguably, with the need to retain some specific skills and knowledge. These Page 2
telecommuting arrangements were made a few years ago. We recommend that these current and future arrangements be reassessed and approved by management, once the new policy is implemented, and then going forward every 6 to 12 months. o All employees are working within the United States with 79 living in Florida and six 6 living out of state. Breakdown of Telecommuting arrangements by department: Department Position Types Number of Employees 220 - CLM-Daily Ops Claims Adjuster thru Asst Director 33 221 - CLM-Sinkhole Claims Claims Adjuster thru Claims Manager 17 233 - CLM-Special Investigations SIU Investigator-I thru Manager 11 820 - UW-Commercial Lines Field Underwriters thru Asst Director 9 235 - CLM-Quality Assurance QA Rep thru Manager 7 330 - CAS-Agent Services Data Analyst - Assoc 1 333 - CAS-Quality Assurance QA Rep II - CAS 1 447 - SO-Enterprise Portfolio Mgmt Business Analyst - Assoc 1 610 - FS-Finance Mgr - Treas/Invest 1 620 - FS-Actuarial Mgr - CAT Model & Data Reporting 1 670 - FS-Budget Office Budget Analyst - Sr 1 767 - IT-Core Systems Developer - Sr (CORE) 1 768 - IT-Corp Syst & App Dev Serv Database Administrator - Sr (CORE) 1 Total 85 Conclusion Citizens has not formalized a telecommuting strategy with supporting policies and procedures to provide consistent enterprise authoritative guidance. As a result, business units have been reviewing and approving telecommuting based mostly on job/location specific business needs and in a limited number of cases on some individual employee needs. OIA recommends that telecommuting consideration be based on an assessment of the job/location specific business need specifying telecommuting positions in certain geographical locations with formal approval by the business unit Chief and Chief Human Resources Officer. Once the new policy is implemented, to ensure consistent application of the new standards, all existing and any other future telecommuting or alternative work arrangements should go through the approval process and then be reviewed with some consistent regularity (e.g. every six to twelve months). There is no evidence of discrimination as defined under the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which is based on a person's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. The investigation noted five employees that do not have a direct job/location specific business need for having telecommuting arrangements, which may be perceived as preferential treatment; however there is not any purposeful or deliberate intent for preferential treatment given to current employees under telecommuting arrangements. The accommodations were made due to employee personal needs and arguably with the need of some specific business skills and knowledge. These telecommuting arrangements were made a few years ago and should be reassessed by management. Page 3
In addition, all telecommuting employees are working within the United States with 79 living in Florida and six (6) living out of state. Page 4
Appendix 1 Distribution Addressees Charles Johnson, Chief Human Resources Officer Copies Tom Lynch, Citizens Audit Committee Chairman Freddie Schinz, Citizens Audit Committee Member Juan Cocuy, Citizens Audit Committee Member Barry Gilway, President/CEO/Executive Director Deborah Kearney, Ethics and Compliance Officer Dan Sumner, General Counsel Christine Ashburn, Director of Legislative and External Affairs Lori Andrade-Dillingham, Director HR Business Partner Management Bruce Meeks, Inspector General Following Audit Committee Distribution The Honorable Rick Scott, Governor The Honorable Jeff Atwater, Chief Financial Officer The Honorable Pam Bondi, Attorney General The Honorable Adam Putnam, Commissioner of Agriculture The Honorable Don Gaetz, President of the Senate The Honorable Will Weatherford, Speaker of the House of Representatives Investigation Performed By Audit Director John Fox Under the Direction of Joe Martins Chief of Internal Audit Page 5