The return to the Gannett Drive office has been top of mind for many Portland employees in recent months and weeks. We’ve heard from you in emails and surveys, in phone calls and at our desks. We know employees have mixed feelings about the requirement to work in the office at least one day a week, and we wanted to update you on our work on this issue.
The Guild has had an active role on Portland’s Return to Office Committee (shoutout to our dedicated representatives in that group: Alan Connell, Ted Duguay and now Aimsel Ponti). Last week, we gathered your anonymous feedback from our most recent survey and presented it to the Return to Office Committee.
Based on the feedback, the Guild recommended that employees be required to work no more than one day in the office. We also advocated for greater flexibility for employees and individualized exceptions for those who feel unsafe or truly unproductive in the office. You can visit the Guild website to find the materials from our presentation: a collection of deidentified quotes from the survey, and a memo that outlines our priorities and our recommendations to the management. Those documents are available here:
Your words made an impact at the meeting, and your input will shape the discussion going forward. When you speak up, you make our union stronger and our workplace more democratic. Great work to all of you!
Keep an eye on your email for updates on this issue and the dates of our membership meetings in November. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to the Executive Board or the members of the Return to Office Committee to share your thoughts about this issue or anything else.
