Anchorage leaders hope proposed parental leave and telework policies will bolster city workforce

Anchorage Chief Administrative Officer Bill Falsey astatine City Hall connected Aug. 26, 2024. (Wesley Early/Alaska Public Media)

Many Anchorage metropolis labor could soon person paid parental time off and elastic teleworking options. Municipal leaders dream nan caller policies will thief to capable a precocious number of vacancies. 

“The level of vacancies that we find ourselves pinch now is historically very retired of nan norm and high,” said Anchorage main administrative serviceman Bill Falsey. “And that’s really started to impact work delivery.”

On Tuesday, nan Anchorage Assembly will ballot connected a connection to let astir union-represented metropolis labor to person 4 weeks of paid parental time off if they person a child, aliases adopt aliases foster a child. 

Non-union metropolis workers already person nan benefit. Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson initially approved nan argumentation successful 2021, but past Mayor Dave Bronson revoked it erstwhile he took office. The Assembly brought it backmost past year during Bronson’s tenure. 

The Assembly is besides introducing a connection that would let labor to activity remotely. Falsey said erstwhile nan COVID-19 pandemic hit, almost each metropolis workers began moving from home. However, that didn’t last. 

“After Covid, we brought everybody back, dissimilar what conscionable astir everybody other did,” Falsey said. “And truthful location was a awesome desire to move nan municipality into nan post-Covid reality that group tin activity from anyplace and beryllium conscionable arsenic businesslike and conscionable arsenic effective.”

Falsey said nan metropolis is making further changes successful bid to make it a much charismatic spot for employees. For example, nan metropolis will nary longer require a GED for its People Mover autobus drivers. That section precocious announced it would person to scale backmost its operations owed to a driver shortage. 

Paul Hatcher is president of nan Anchorage Municipal Employee Association, a national that represents astir 400 metropolis workers. He said astir half his labor would suffice for telework. And he said paid parental time off has been apical of mind for galore of his colleagues.

“It’s astir a twelvemonth late,” Hatcher said. “Unfortunately, if we had it a twelvemonth ago, I cognize of 3 labor conscionable successful my benignant of activity group area that could person utilized it, that each had children.”

He said nan changes will thief bolster nan city’s workforce arsenic Anchorage faces expanding title from nan backstage assemblage and different governmental bodies, for illustration nan state. 

“I deliberation a batch of nan problems they’re having pinch hiring is not being arsenic elastic arsenic immoderate of nan backstage sector, and decidedly not nan state,” Hatcher said. “I cognize nan state’s really pilfered our numbers rather a bit.”

Both argumentation changes — if approved by nan Assembly — would hap via administrative agreements betwixt nan metropolis and nan unions that correspond nan workers successful bid to bypass nan modular statement speech process, truthful they tin spell into effect quickly. 

Hatcher said his national will statesman caller statement negotiations this January.