Summary

King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties, the cities of Everett, Kenmore, Redmond, Seattle, Shoreline, and Tacoma, and the Port of Seattle and Port of Everett jointly announced they will all extend teleworking policies for eligible employees until January 2021 to help prevent spread of COVID-19.

Story

King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties, the cities of Everett, Kenmore, Redmond, Seattle, Shoreline, and Tacoma, and the Port of Seattle and Port of Everett are taking a united approach to slow the spread of COVID-19 and maximize physical distancing by extending teleworking for eligible employees until 2021.

Quotes

We are determined to do all that we can to slow the spread of this virus in our communities and keep our employees and residents as safe as possible. We’ve learned a lot about our ability to adapt and respond amid this pandemic, and by taking a regional approach to telework, we can continue to meet the needs of residents, maximize physical distancing for people who need to report to work in person, and further stem the spread of COVID-19.

People are counting on us to deliver services safely, and that's what we are doing in Pierce County. Critical services like housing assistance and food support are just a click or phone call away.

We know our first mission is to serve the public, and we must do it while keeping our employees safe. We have radically transformed how we work, keeping countless people from becoming sick or worse. We know that those with school-aged kids have been juggling an enormous workload these past six months. Giving them some predictability should help with planning, while also allowing us to keep county government delivering services to the public.

The City of Everett is committed to protecting the health of our employees, and of our community. With COVID-19 case counts rising, teleworking remains one of the best tools we have to keep our staff safe – and also able to provide important services to our residents. This virus doesn’t respect jurisdictional boundaries; working together as regional leaders is critical to slowing its spread in our communities.

To do our part to reduce the spread of COVID-19, we will keep City of Redmond facilities closed through the end of 2020 while continuing to provide city services to the community either from a safe social distance or online.

Right now, our city and country are facing the crises a global pandemic, job losses and economic devastation not seen since the Great Depression, and a nationwide civil rights movement to reckon with police violence and systemic racism. COVID-19 will remain in our city and country, and our actions – both as individuals and employers – are critical to slowing the spread of the virus. If we disregard public health guidance, we risk an exponential surge of the virus in our communities which could overwhelm our health care system and cause another statewide stay home order. As one of the largest employers in Seattle, our telework extension is the right thing to do to keep our City workforce – and the communities we serve – safe and healthy.

We have to do all we can to slow the spread of COVID-19. Many businesses and governments have found that remote work can be good for the organization and good for the employee. Having some people telecommute makes way for others to report to a work site more safely. I am proud to support our regional efforts to promote telecommuting.

The City of Tacoma provides essential services that the community depends on, and Tacoma’s leaders are committed to taking steps that protect the health of the employees that deliver those services and the people that we serve. Successfully containing COVID-19 requires all of us to act, and we are honored to work collaboratively alongside neighboring jurisdictions on regional approaches such as this to slow the spread.

As a critical function of our local, regional and national economy, the Port of Everett is committed to keeping freight moving and supporting our waterfront businesses, while prioritizing the health and safety of our workforce, their families and the greater community. By extending our telecommute policy and continuing to implement extensive social distancing measures to support our essential service functions, we can do our part to further slow the spread of COVID-19.

The airport and seaport are some of the largest job sites in the region. We understand how critical it is to keep those employees, our community, and passengers safe. The Port’s support of teleworking is one of the many efforts we’re making to keep our facilities safely operating and to maintain all the links in the supply chain. We're committed to partnering with employers across the region on the best strategies to keep our community healthy and our economy moving.

Relevant links

• King County COVID response
• Pierce County COVID response
• Snohomish County COVID response
• City of Everett COVID response
• City of Seattle COVID response
• City of Tacoma COVID response
• Port of Everett COVID response
• Port of Seattle COVID response

For more information, contact:

Chase Gallagher, Executive Office, 206-263-8537