California state employees are spending more than 90% of their days working remotely in at least 37 departments, according to Department of General Services data.

The department, tasked with overseeing telework under state law, recently updated and expanded work-from-home data it posts to an online dashboard.

The newly uploaded figures are from August. The dataset covers 105 of 144 departments, representing about 135,000 employees out of about 190,000, according to the site.

All departments are required to provide telework data, but 39 haven’t, according to the dashboard. The Department of General Services has asked departments to provide missing data, spokeswoman Jennifer Iida said in an email.

California state departments are free to set their own telework policies. While some department directors allow full-time telework, others require employees come to the office for one day or more each week, even if their work can be performed remotely, often citing work culture and collaboration as reasons to call in staff.

While the Department of General Services dataset remains incomplete, it provides the most detailed picture yet of department-by-department telework practices. It also quantifies broader benefits of remote work, including commute miles saved and emissions reductions.

California telework data

Many state jobs can’t be performed remotely, especially in prisons, hospitals and other public safety departments. Most agencies have at least a few jobs that can only be done in-person.

The data dashboard identifies how many employees from each department are eligible for telework, and slices the data in various ways.

It doesn’t specify how many telework days per week each department allows, but it provides the share of each department’s telework-eligible days that were performed remotely.

For example, the data show that 749 out of 753 employees at the Department of Managed Health Care were eligible for remote work in August. Of all the workdays in the month that could have been performed remotely, 99.8% were in fact performed remotely, placing the department near the top of the list in embracing remote work.

The percentages can be viewed as rough analogues for the number of telework days per week: An 80% telework rate translates to four telework days per week, 60% to three days, etc.

Since some employees who are eligible for telework choose to spend some days in the office, many of the departments with the highest percentages of telework days likely allow full-time telework. Or at least they did in August. Some departments’ policies have changed since then.

The Sacramento Bee sorted the data to identify the departments with the highest percentages of remote workdays, listed below. The figures exclude departments with fewer than 20 employees.

Some of the state’s most prominent agencies have yet to submit data, including the Employment Development Department, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the California State Lottery, the State Controller’s Office and the State Treasurer’s Office.

Which departments encourage remote work?

Employees at only five departments — all relatively small — avoided working in their offices for the entire month of August.

They were the Office of Digital Innovation, the California African-American Museum, the office of the California Secretary for Environmental Protection, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

The departments with percentages above 90% are listed below, from 99% to 90%.

Department of Managed Health Care

Department of Community Services and Development

Financial Information System for California

Office of Systems Integration

Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment

Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission

Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety

Department of Child Support Services

Department of Aging

Public Utilities Commission

California Health Benefit Exchange

California Earthquake Authority

Department of Financial Protection and Innovation

State Personnel Board

State Coastal Conservancy

California Department of Tax and Fee Administration

California Department of Technology

Office of the Inspector General

Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery

Department of Fair Employment and Housing

Department of Developmental Services

Those between 90% and 80% are below:

Fair Political Practices Commission

Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency

Student Aid Commission, California

Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz)

California Gambling Control Commission

Department of Toxic Substances Control

California Transportation Commission

State Lands Commission

Sierra Nevada Conservancy

Secretary for Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency

Department of Pesticide Regulation

Wildlife Conservation Board

Department of Human Resources

Department of Conservation

State Water Resources Control Board

High-Speed Rail Authority

Secretary for Transportation Agency

And from 80% to 60%:

Department of Housing and Community Development

Department of Cannabis Control

California Victim Compensation Board

California Coastal Commission

Secretary for Government Operations Agency

Board of Forestry and Fire Protection

Central Valley Flood Protection Board

Board of State and Community Corrections

State Council on Developmental Disabilities

California Horse Racing Board

Department of Fish and Wildlife

Commission on Teacher Credentialing

Department of Justice

State Public Defender

Department of Transportation

Department of Social Services

Public Employment Relations Board

California Conservation Corps

California Correctional Health Care Services

California State Library

State Air Resources Board

Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Exposition Park

Department of Food and Agriculture

State Board of Equalization

Department of Real Estate

California Tahoe Conservancy

State Department of Health Care Services

Department of Public Health

Department of State Hospitals

Department of Health Care Access and Information

Department of Finance

Agricultural Labor Relations Board

This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 5:30 AM.