The Veterans Affairs Department recently changed its stance on requiring employees who manage the Veterans Crisis Line to return to in-person work, exempting them from a previous mandate. Concerns arose among employees regarding potential stress from reassignment and logistics of returning approximately 2,000 staff members. Advocates, including a VCL supervisor, criticized the decision, labeling it detrimental to veterans due to distractions when responding to calls. VA's communication highlighted their commitment to ensuring adequate workspaces and uninterrupted services for veterans as employees transition back to offices.
These changes are not going to be benefitting our veterans. If anything, you've got distracted people answering the phones [and] just the logistics of bringing 2,000 people back to a local VA immediately is just not - it's not working out well.
You cannot just pack responders in a room like sardines because they're all talking on the phone.
VA's policy is to bring as many employees back to the office as space permits. VA will make accommodations as needed to ensure employees have enough space to work.
A department email shows that members of the senior executive service and supervisors...were required to report in-person full-time beginning on Feb. 24.
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