Background

Following Gov Abbott's mandate in March of 2025, TxDOT eliminated it's previous flexible telework policy which allowed divisions and districts to determine their own standards for their respective employees. After this point TxDOT administration offered very little transparency or clarity regarding the potential future of remote work at the agency. In June 2025, Abbot signed House Bill 5196, which allowed state agencies to once again determine their own telework policies, and the law went into effect Sept. 1st 2025. After this time, TxDOT officially (and seemingly permanently) declined to return to its previous flexible telework policy, with an update to the official Human Resources Manual, which now states: "TxDOT employees generally cannot telework on a regularly scheduled basis, except under rare and exceptional circumstances. In addition to demonstrating such circumstances, an employee must receive specific approval from the Executive Director."

This policy is unacceptable for the following reasons:

1. There is no business case for removing the option of telework, as the state's own research showed that telework increased productivity while improving employee quality of life, satisfaction, retention, recruitment, and job satisfaction, as well as lowering facility costs.
2. Gas prices are now skyrocketing, with no end in sight. Combined with the time employees are forced to spend commuting, this equates to a massive pay cut for TxDOT employees.
3. Most TxDOT employees joined the agency under the assumption that a flexible work schedule would be permitted. Removing this option is an insult to their hard work and dedication to public service.
4. There is no longer a top-down mandate from the governor tying the hands of the agency, this is now a TxDOT decision.
5. TxDOT is meant to lead by example in transportation. This policy puts thousands of vehicles back on the roads for no discernable benefit, leading directly to more pollution, more traffic, and more accidents: it is a ludicrously hypocritical policy decision for an organization that claims to care about these important issues.
6. TxDOT is hemorrhaging high performing employees as they seek out private sector jobs that have more respect for their time. Although the administration may be attempting to use this policy as a stealth layoff to cut the # of FTE's on the payroll through attrition, the combination of information loss with the cost of rehiring and retraining new employees, plus the productivity loss from in-office work, mean that in addition to being underhanded, deceptive, possibly illegal, and insulting, it will ultimately fail and cost TxDOT much more in the long run.
7. The loss of goodwill from employees concerning how TxDOT has handled this is already huge, and dissatisfaction has only increased as employees continue to feel as if they have no voice in the matter and that administration cares so little about their opinion that they will not even offer a justification for the policy (we are left to assume that as outlined above, there is no reasonable justification). This is poisoning the work culture of an organization that was previously known for high job satisfaction and employee engagement.