A Small Group of City Workers Gain a Brief Reprieve

Jan. 15 was the return-to-office deadline for 97 city employees. They can now work from home a little longer.

BRR: It was a good week to work from home. (Michael Raines)
By Nigel Jaquiss

The gradual return of city of Portland employees to city office space hit a speed bump last week.

The return-to-work process for hybrid employees began in December 2022, when Mayor Ted Wheeler said he wanted about 2,500 employees, whose work status was classified as “hybrid,” to return to work in city offices half-time by late spring 2023.

Those workers came back May 12, 2023. But some hybrid workers—about 300—applied for and received exemptions because life circumstances, such as caregiving for relatives, made it difficult for them to come back to the office.

For 97 of those workers, the exemptions expired Jan. 15 and they would then have to come back half-time.

But as that deadline approached, some of the 97 panicked, reaching out to their supervisors and the media. They said they had been caught by surprise or simply could not make the shift because changes in their life circumstances wouldn’t allow them to come back.

Carrie Belding, a spokeswoman for the city’s Office of Management and Finance, says managers in the Bureau of Human Resources heard the concerns from some of the 97 affected workers and acknowledged that communication about the return-to-work deadline could have been clearer. So, more time. “A decision was made to extend the deadline to March 4,” Belding says.

Here’s a breakdown of the status of city workers as of late last fall:

City employee work status.



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