Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday said he will require state employees to report to the office on at least 50% of their scheduled workdays starting June 1.

The move will help boost productivity, the governor said, and support the economic vitality of office districts like downtown St. Paul, whose businesses and public spaces will benefit from extra foot traffic.

“This approach balances the flexibility of telework with the workplace advantages of being in office,” Walz said in a statement. “Having more state employees in the office means that collaboration can happen more quickly and state agencies can build strong organizational cultures more easily.”

Around 60% of state employees currently work in-person and did so through the pandemic, according to the Walz administration. About 50,000 people work for Minnesota’s state government, according to the state Department of Management and Budget.

The remote work rule change will have an exemption for workers living more than 75 miles away from their main work site.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said he had been discussing the change with the governor for weeks. In August, Carter announced St. Paul would require city employees to return to work in person three days a week starting April 1.

Union response

State public employee unions protested the change, saying it took them by “total surprise” and that they had no involvement in discussions.

Megan Dayton, president of MAPE, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, said the change will disproportionately affect the more than 18,000 state workers her union represents.

“We’ve got people that have for the last five years been able to do their jobs very effectively — I would argue — more effectively from home,” Dayton said, noting members feel the decision is driven by pressure from property owners.

“They’re making these decisions on the backs of public servants,” she said.

MAPE is set to start bargaining its contract with the state on April 15, and the union plans to fight the order.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 5, which represents about 18,000 state employees, demanded “full transparency and meaningful dialog” with the governor.

“The Administration’s decision to impose sweeping workplace policy changes without engaging our union and labor partners first is not just unacceptable — it’s an act of blatant disrespect,” union executive director Bart Andersen said in a statement.

Struggling district

Downtown St. Paul is home to the offices of many government agencies and lies just south of the Minnesota Capitol. Like many central business districts, it has struggled recently with high office vacancies following the rise of remote work during the pandemic.

A November report from the Greater St. Paul Building Owners and Managers Association found that 40% of downtown’s competitive office market has been listed for sale, and nearly a third of the competitive, non-owner-occupied office space in and around downtown is empty.

The post-pandemic shift in work styles has hurt business, owners say. Downtown is set to lose its only grocery store, a Lunds & Byerlys store that opened at 115 E. 10th St. in 2014. Its final day of business is Wednesday.

The St. Paul Area Chamber welcomed Walz’s change to state worker policy, which it says will help downtown turn the tide against commercial building vacancies and disappearing businesses.

“This is a shot in the arm that downtown St. Paul needs and looks forward to,” said John Perlich, the group’s vice president of government relations.