JEA is moving away from a policy that allowed some staff members to work remotely full-time.
Vickie Cavey, interim managing director and CEO of JEA, told the utility’s board June 25 that administrators were in the final stages of implementing a “return to HQ” program for JEA administrators and office staffers who work in the city-owned utility’s headquarters.
Cavey said supervisors had been directed to prepare new work assignments by July 1 toward a mid-August target to fully implement the new program.
In an interview after the meeting, JEA chief human resource officer David Emanuel said that under the “Work Where We Work Best” remote-hybrid work policy that JEA adopted during the coronavirus pandemic, about half of the headquarters workforce was allowed to work remotely.
The new policy will create a rotation in which staffers will work at least one day in the office, Emanuel said. On any given day, 75% to 80% of the headquarters staff will be working in person, he said.
JEA employs 600 to 800 people in administrative and office jobs, although not all of them work in the headquarters building at 225 N. Pearl St. The remainder of JEA’s workforce of about 2,200 people work in the field, he said.
Workers outside Jacksonville
In another change, Emanuel said JEA was aiming at eliminating the ability for administrators to work outside of Jacksonville.
“We’re still working through what that’s going to look like and when it takes effect, but I would say pretty much everybody will be rotating through the office,” he said.
JEA had received scrutiny for its pandemic-related remote-working policy, including a February 2024 report by Daily Record news partner News4Jax showing that several highly paid JEA administrators were living outside of the metro area.
Among them was Laura Dutton, JEA’s chief strategy officer, who was allowed to work from her home in Tennessee. At the time of News4Jax’s report, Dutton had recently received a 23% pay raise to increase her annual salary to $383,864.
At that same time, JEA was increasing base rates for its customers.
Dutton resigned and was released from her position days after the News4Jax report.
Stowe resignation
Six weeks later, CEO Jay Stowe resigned unexpectedly over what board Chair Joe DiSalvo described as philosophical disagreements about how to run the utility.
In addition to questions about the remote-work policy, Stowe also had recently received scrutiny over authorizing a $72,000 holiday party for employees and faced questions over whether he had lost the confidence of the board after it hired its own consultant to examine $4 billion worth of proposed capital improvements being sought by his administration.
Stowe supported JEA’s “Work Where We Work Best” hybrid work policy, which he had helped form after leading the utility through the pandemic.
In March 2021, Stowe said the pandemic proved that employees could work effectively in a hybrid format. He said the utility planned to implement a long-term policy allowing remote work either full-time or several days per week, which grew into the “Work Where We Work Best” policy. Stowe said the measure would boost JEA’s employee recruiting and retention efforts while also supporting diversity and inclusion.
Emanuel said the new policy stemmed from direction from the board that “some of our collaboration needed to improve.”
“I think the thread of this is to get better and improve all of the things we do, so I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
Could limit recruiting
Emanuel said he was concerned about the new policy’s effects on recruiting.
“Talent in Jacksonville, while plentiful, is not the only source,” he said. “When you say I can only recruit or attract to bring you here, you cut yourself access. So I’m concerned, but I think we can do it.”
JEA moved into its seven-story, $100 million headquarters on Pearl Street in the spring of 2023, six years after planning for the new building began. The building was designed to provide hybrid working flexibility for employees, with such features as reservable workstations and private meeting spaces.