By Joseph Palmersheim

While more than 30 percent of MnDOT’s workforce continues to telework (down from a high last spring of around 50 percent), the majority of the agency’s workers have been reporting for duty in the field, lab or office throughout the COVID pandemic.

But work has not been business-as-usual for those continuing to report to their regular work locations. New protocols, on top of standard safety practices, are now in place to get the job done: One person per truck (later raised to two, with both wearing masks). Social distancing. Vehicles disinfected on the way in and the way out. Multiple crew shifts. Lunch rooms expanded into truck bays. More facility cleanings.

There are the daily health screenings.

And masks. Always masks.

The realization last year that COVID-19 was going to change things hit people at different times. For Ben Boldt, transportation operations supervisor at the Red Wing Truck Station in District 6, that realization came when Gov. Tim Walz started talking about a state Stay at Home order.

“We were concerned we were going to be a part of it,” Boldt said. “That was when it really hit for me, after being here so long, that life as we knew it was taking a different turn.”

Derrick Crews, Austin subarea supervisor in District 6, recalls preparing for ditch work last spring when a meeting with a management team spelled out the unknowns.

“It was almost like doomsday - somebody around might get this and maybe die from it,” he said. “That was a scary thing, having those meetings every week. Trying to keep the crew safe and distanced and still trying to do your job.”

“Some days, it was hard to keep morale up when the world seemed to be crumbling,” said Robert Hendel, a supervisor at the Lakeville Truck Station in Metro District. “We stopped turning the news on at noon.”
A year on, MnDOT workers are still reporting to the field, preparing for another season of summer maintenance work and construction. And while the past year’s uncertainty may have lessened, the challenges won’t be forgotten.

Todd Stevens, maintenance engineer, Metro District, said that MnDOT’s field workers aren’t strangers to risk: they stand on roads with 70 mph traffic 6 feet away, or driving a plow on icy roads in a blizzard.

“A lot of people look at this as just another risk,” Stevens said of the pandemic. “Obviously, it’s a different risk with different consequences, but one more risk they have to consider.”

Stevens has been teleworking for the past year. But with around 500 direct reports still in the field, he misses being able to connect with people face to face.

“It's important to get out into the field and talk to those workers in their place, and with that not being an option, it's been frustrating,” he said. “I'm not saying it affected our ability to get work done, but there's a relationship between management and front line, and I think that's taken a hit because of no face-to-face contact.”

Not being face-to-face can present other challenges, too. Kathy Hokkala, a transportation generalist based in the Hutchinson construction office in District 8, spent part of the last year teleworking and part in the field. When she was in the field last summer, she worked with contractors and vendors as a plant monitor for concrete and bituminous plants. But there was a twist – she had to do it through her phone, using FaceTime.

“In the bituminous plants, when they run the tests, we have to watch the whole test,” she said. “There’s a whole series of different tests that they do, and the samples are all weighed out. And when you aren’t physically there watching, they have to somehow show us that they did that. It was difficult, because they are showing you a number on a scale. When you are there, you can watch the whole thing.”

Hokkala works by herself a lot of the time in the field labs running the gradations for concrete materials. Bumping into other people using the labs during the pandemic was a bit strange, she said, and like many of her peers, she had to adjust to wiping things down all of the time.

“It's a whole different routine that you get into,” she said. “It was more of a challenge to make sure everything was done correctly. I'm glad it’s passed, and hopefully we can get to the new normal.”

Others noted the impact of having to physically distance. Boldt and Crews miss the in-person meetings.

“It’s a social thing as well as a learning experience - getting together with your peers and being able to exchange ideas,” he said. “Everything now is on the phone or a Teams meeting, and that's been a challenge. A lot of hands-on training, or what used to be, we haven't been able to do.”

“It will be good to get back to seeing to people and having meetings in person again,” Crews said. “I was sick of them before this, but now I miss them.”

This affects not only the people who work for MnDOT now, but also potential employees. Hiring during a pandemic means everything is done via phone for interviews, versus being face to face.

With the changeover to a new season, there is some optimism in the air, Boldt said. He noted that there is a hands-on class for chainsaws in May – a sign of progress.

“People are seeing the light and the optimism is starting to get up there,” he said. “Optimism that we can start getting back to our normal day-to-day operations. Everyone's looking forward to being able to work with each other and not be so socially distanced.”

For Stevens, the past year has reinforced the importance of everyone at MnDOT understanding the perspective of those working in the field.

“The decisions I make directly affect people out in the field, and the level of safety they have out in the field. [We] need to understand what they are worried about,” he said.

Crews, who is looking forward to sweeping operations this spring, thinks he’ll look back on the past year as “a weird time in history for us.”

“It was really unbelievable what happened here for a year – it was a change for everyone in the whole world,” he said. “No one thought this would last a year. I thought it would be a few months, then it turned into six, and now we’re a year into it.

Hendel agreed.

“The moods in the shop are progressively getting better,” he said. “We see a light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully,” he said. “The past year was a good learning experience for everybody, and I think everyone is now aware we can adjust to drastic changes and still succeed, still get by. It threw us a few curve balls - but we still got the job done. We have good, hardworking crews.”

By Joseph Palmersheim

More than 75 MnDOT employees have redeployed to other state agencies since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Minnesota in March 2020.

Jennifer Hoffman, Erin Meier and Sandra Flore Castillo are the three longest-redeployed MnDOT employees. Each of their redeployments started last year and is still ongoing.

Hoffman, a buyer for MnDOT, redeployed to the Minnesota Department of Health on April 15, 2020, for what she was told would be a month-and-a-half assignment. Nearly a year later, she’s still redeployed and teleworks. Her latest end date, the fourth she’s received, is April 15, 2021.

“I am not sure if it will be extended again or not in April,” Hoffman said. “I was surprised that it has been extended multiple times. However, in the work that is being done at MDH and seeing the impact COVID has had on this agency, and the workload that the pandemic has created for them, I’m not surprised by the extensions.”

At MnDOT, Hoffman processes purchases, solicitations, contracts and performs other aspects of purchasing goods and services for several divisions. MDH only had two employees in purchasing at her level, so she has taken on processing solicitations there as the main buyer for several divisions. She’s also the buyer for some of the goods and services that the Gov. Tim Walz’s COVID work groups are handling, including purchases involved in the alternative care facilities. This has involved working with lease set ups, along with purchasing of equipment and PPE.

Hoffman misses the work and people at MnDOT, but said working for MDH has been “a great, most likely once-in-a-lifetime, experience.”

“I feel like I will have done my part in the fight against COVID and did what I could to assist the state and the people of Minnesota,” she said. “It has been a rewarding experience. It has also been a great learning experience. MDH and MnDOT do things quite differently and use different programs, so there has been a lot of learning involved.”

Meier, a planner with MnDOT’s Emergency Management, redeployed May 28, 2020. She said it has been nice to work with people from other state agencies – and that’s “agencies” plural, because Meier has redeployed to both MDH and the Department of Human Services.

“I help with the FEMA reimbursement process, so I’m not surprised I’m still with [MDH and DHS],” she said. “I am reassigned up to 25 percent of my time to work with both. How many hours I have at each varies from week to week. I average around five hours a week unless they have a large project they need extra help with.”

Meier’s work with the emergency reimbursement process includes technical assistance on the FEMA process, training on how reimbursement works, determining eligibility, checking projects for completeness and answering questions as they come up. MnDOT goes through the FEMA process almost every time the state has a declared disaster because the agency cleans up debris and closes roads for flooding. Other state agencies don’t do that type of thing, so they don’t have experience with FEMA, she said.

“I realize I have a very specific skillset, and I’m glad I can help out the other agencies,” Meier said.

Finally, Flores Castillo, a student worker at MnDOT, redeployed to Driver and Vehicle Services at the Arden Hills Department of Public Safety facility on June 29, 2020. She expected the duty to last for two months, but her assignment extended through the end of December 2020, and again through this May.

She works in customer service, learning about different driver licenses in her role at DVS (Flores Castillo was profiled last year in Newsline). Flores Castillo is attending the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and plans to major in geographic information science.

“I’m surprised to be still working at DVS because it was supposed to be a short-term summer position,” she said. “This past year has been a roller coaster from my work life, university life and personal life. At work, I have been working in customer service, one thing I never imaged myself of doing. But thankfully I gained an experience I will always keep with me because I've grown from a shy person to a more confident person coming out of this job.”

By Joseph Palmersheim

Of the 75 MnDOT employees redeployed since last year in response to the state’s COVID-19 efforts, 65 are currently working at or available to help the Minnesota Department of Health with contact tracing and other activities.

One of these contact tracers is Janeen Gates, an office specialist in District 3. She’s been contact tracing since November, and her assignment runs until June.

Positive COVID-19 cases are entered into the Minnesota Electronic Surveillance System, she said. From there, contact tracers call and interview the person, asking where they were exposed to the virus, letting them know their exposure period and when they were infected.

“Most are pretty responsive to the questions,” Gates said. “Some are anxious to tell you where they have been exposed and others may not want to tell you. One gentleman told me his cellphone battery was going dead because of the long interview. We both laughed. Making the calls over and over again gets to be a bit long at times, and emotional, but it seems to help track who is being exposed to COVID-19 and from what areas.”

Gates, who started as a MnDOT temp in 2017 before moving to full-time work in May 2019, said her redeployment was “a great learning experience and opportunity to work with new and different programs, and to see a glimpse of what MDH does.”

Jeremy Glazener, another contact tracer at MDH, is on his second redeployment. The District 1 office and admin specialist first redeployed to help Driver and Vehicle Services from June 1-30, 2020. He’s been contact tracing since November.

Like Gates, he contacts people who have tested positive for COVID 19.

“You do get some people who don’t want to cooperate and answer the questions, which they are not obligated to do,” he said. “Overall, the three weeks of training and sitting in on calls before actually making them myself did help with the expectations once I started doing calls on my own.”

When he was with MnDOT, Glazener worked in the lobby in the District 1 office, helping other departments with small projects and tasks He’s been with MnDOT since July 2019. When asked how he’ll look back on the past year, he said it would be “just another experience.”

“Twenty years in the U.S. Navy helped me to learn to adapt to changes in the workplace and I feel that training helped me to make the best of this situation and put my talents to use with assisting the DVS back in June to now MDH,” he said.

With COVID-19 case numbers going down, Danielle Haats, an office specialist based in District 8, said she has mostly transitioned back to her work at MnDOT with the exception of the occasional MDH meeting and checking sites for COVID numbers. She has appreciated the chance to help, having been reassigned in late November 2020.

“I think knowing how quickly things can change and my ability to adapt will help with things that pop up in the future,” she said. “New skills are always beneficial while advancing your career, so I’m thankful to be able to add this experience to my list.”

For at least one MnDOT employee, this wasn’t the first time dealing with a viral outbreak. Danielle Burshem, a transportation materials technician in District 6, worked with the Department of Agriculture during an H1N1 outbreak in 2017.

“I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything,” she said. “I think it is so cool that all the Minnesota state agencies can call on each other in times of need. I consider myself very lucky to have been able to work with other state agencies, meet people from all over the state and learn things way outside of my normal job scope.”

Burshem said she expected to be placing a lot of calls, but wasn’t expecting so many people to be friendly and polite, she said.

“Minnesota nice, I guess I should have known,” she said. “It was hard at times because some of the cases being called would be in the hospital or not feeling well enough to talk. But there are others who had no symptoms and had all day to talk. An interview can be anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes long, depending on how active the case was during their infectious period. If they had multiple positive people in a household, we would try to interview them all in one call.”

She originally started training in December to be a case investigator with MDH, but due to a drop in the number of case interviews needed, she was eventually reassigned to the quality assurance team, where she helps audit the quality of the case interview calls.

“Our job is to listen to the recorded interviews between a case investigator and a case and make sure our CI’s have the knowledge they need to conduct a proper interview,” she said. “We also make sure they are giving cases enough information about COVID-19, Isolation, quarantining, preventing the spread, the COVID Aware app and making sure cases are able to get what they need while they are isolating.”

When it’s all said and done, she’ll be glad to be able to look back and know she was able to help.

“I’m glad I went out of my comfort zone,” Burshem said. “COVID-19 has made for a very weird, yearlong tribulation for everyone, this is definitely something I will be telling my grandkids about while I sit in a rocking chair by a fireplace!”

By Judy Jacobs, Office of Organizational Planning and Management

More than 1,300 employees from all MnDOT divisions responded to the Mission, Values and Strategic Priorities Survey in February to provide input about shaping the agency’s future. Of the respondents, more than 50 percent had worked at MnDOT for 10 years or fewer.

Here are some highlights from the survey results:

Mission

• Employees were generally split between the three mission statements proposed, suggesting staff focus on key words for a final draft.
• “Safe,” “equitable,” “sustainable” and “quality of life” were the most liked key words/phrases across the mission statement options.
• Regardless of options or key words, employees emphasized that the mission statement should be short, concise and written in plain language.

Values

• Safety continues to be one of the most important values of employees, with 63 percent of respondents choosing safety as one of two most important agency values.
• Eighty percent of respondents agreed that the proposed value statements were clear, inclusive, engaging and describe how they work at MnDOT now or how they want to work in the future.

Priorities

• When asked what three areas MnDOT should focus on in the next four years, 30 percent of respondents chose “employee development and succession planning.” Nearly 30 percent chose “efficiency and process improvement,” while 26 percent chose “recruitment and retention.”

Next steps

MnDOT’s goal is to launch the refreshed mission statement, values and the FY22-25 Strategic Plan on July 1, 2021, to start the new biennium. More information on this and more opportunities to connect will be shared in the next few months.

The Microsoft Teams at MnDOT User Satisfaction Survey is still open. Here are some initial results:

• 77 percent of respondents have attended Teams trainings beyond the required MnDOT training
• 85 percent of responders are “highly comfortable” or “comfortable” using Teams one-on-one or group chat
• 88 percent said they are “highly comfortable” or “comfortable” using Teams for online meetings
• 83 percent stated they had adequate resources moving from Skype to Teams

Screen Sharing Guidance

There are many more options with screen sharing in Teams compared to Skype. Learn more about screensharing options in the new Presenting in a Teams Meeting guidance document posted on the MnDOT Teams Website.

Upcoming MNIT Trainings

MNIT offers many recorded and live training opportunities for all Microsoft products including Teams. Check out the Learning Pathways calendar for a full list of trainings. Upcoming trainings include:

• Teams Owner Best Practices – March 19 from 10-11:00 a.m.
• App Integration in Teams with a focus on Planner – March 24 from 9-10 a.m.
• Getting Started with Teams – March 30 from 10-11 a.m.

A full list of recorded MNIT trainings is offered MNIT Experience IT Streams page. Keep in mind that MnDOT’s retention policy may make an individual’s Teams experience slightly different than these trainings.

Teams Meeting Lobby Options

Meeting organizers decide who gets into meetings directly and who has to wait in the lobby. Find out how to set lobby settings.

This article was written by Evan Iacoboni, MnDOT Technology Investment Management; Matthew Baszner, MNIT; Nkauj Her, MnDOT Technology Investment Management; Bobby Underhill, MNIT; Jen Parshley, Commissioner’s Office; and Susan Ogbemudia, MNIT.

By Stephen Terhaar, Facility Operations director, Central Office

Visible signs of progress are being made five months into the second phase of a project making security upgrades to MnDOT’s Central Office.

This project, in the works since late 2016, was first described in Newsline in November 2020. Since work started in October, crews have:

• Combined Information and Security desks on the first floor
• Incorporated security upgrades to the Permits and Credentials lobby on first floor
• Added a new vending area in the cafeteria, and relocated the ground floor vending machines
• Cut a new tunnel entering the basement of the CO building
• Made progress towards installing a public-access elevator

The following work is up next:

• Installing a ground floor single-occupant, gender-neutral restrooms built in the existing ground floor vending space
• Incorporating accessibility improvements, including to the public-access elevator and in conference room G15
• Building out the ground floor Capitol Security station
• Continuing to re-route basement tunnel to help keep unauthorized individuals with tunnel access in public areas of the building only
• Relocating the building’s fire command room (where the fire panels and other life-safety systems reside)

Work is expected to be finished in July. A project page with more information is available on iHUB.

By Margaret Anderson Kelliher

“A lot has changed in a very short time.”

Who could have guessed, when I wrote those words in the March 18, 2020 edition of Newsline, all that was to pass during the following year? That some of us would have headed home on Friday, March 13, 2020, not to return to the office for more than year? That some of us would not see all of our peers again in person for a long time? Or that many of our MnDOT colleagues – whether continuing to report to their work sites or accepting a redeployment – would be on the front lines in a time of dramatic change and uncertainty?

It’s been a year of big changes and little ones, too: Plexiglas in lobbies, office plants with no one to water them, place markers in elevators, limits on sharing vehicles, and so many virtual meetings.

Through it all, we’ve adapted. We kept our 2020 construction program on track and on budget, completing more than 200 road and bridge projects last year statewide. We’ve kept the roads clear when it snows. When Minnesota needs us, we are there.

Where we are as employees can vary. Many of us have continued to work in the field, navigating the changing safety practices that come with working with members of the public during a pandemic. We understand that public engagement and collaboration has been more difficult during the past year. A third of MnDOT’s workforce has been working from home, and we recognize the isolation is very real. All of our employees, working from field or home, have stepped up when their colleagues have had to step away. For all of these things, we are grateful.

Much has changed in a year. COVID-19 is still a very real threat that has sadly taken the lives of more than 6,000 Minnesotans and 500,000 of our fellow Americans – but with vaccines now available and increasing every day, we see the light at the end of a long tunnel and have much to look forward to. If you haven’t yet already, sign up at VaccineConnector.mn.gov to be notified as soon as you are eligible to get vaccinated. 

But, let’s remember how we got through the past year: by working together. I am grateful to each of you for rising to the challenge and adapting to new work conditions over the past year. Thanks to your professionalism and commitment, we have continued to serve the people of Minnesota.

“Remember, we are one MnDOT family,” I wrote a year ago. “I am so honored by the opportunity to work with you all, and grateful for the many ways I’ve seen our family pull together recently to help each other get through this challenging time.”

I’m still honored, so proud of the work you do each day, and still grateful. Thank you for all you do, and be well.

March 8 was International Women's Day. This day, as defined by internationalwomensday.com, celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

We asked MnDOT employees to reflect on what the day means to them. Here’s what some of them said:

Anjali Sakharkar, Space and Security Program manager, Planning, Programming and Asset Management Unit
I feel highly honored and thankful to have wonderful women at MnDOT who have supported me, guided me and were always there when I needed them. On my very first SWAT professional development day, I realized, ‘What a wealth of leading and yet sensitive personalities we have here at MnDOT!’ The discussion with panel members and women around the table made a deep impression on me – one I will cherish forever. Finding time to let them know, how wonderfully they have shaped one another, is the one thing International Women’s Day is all about. My mom told me at very young age that ‘Working thought our differences is the true strength.’

Tracy Olson, programs administrator, Office of Equity
“One of the most influential women in my life has been my grandma Hazel. She was a humble and passionate woman who took great pride in taking care of her children. She didn’t get paid to do this work, but she did it like no other! She kept her house spotless and always had a smile on her face.

She didn’t have the opportunity to work outside of the home and I often wonder what that would have looked like if she had the same opportunities as I do now. As I go about my work at MnDOT, I try to bring that energy and passion to a job I do get paid to do.”

Kristin White, Executive Director, Connected & Automated Vehicles Office
While I proudly lead one of the nation’s leading tech startups and incubators within state government, I’m too often reminded that I’m a woman. If you take one piece away from this story, hear this: every time you interrupt a woman, explain something to her assuming she doesn’t know, or repeat her idea as your own, you take away her humanity. Her power. Her strength. Women are worthy. Look at us. Respect us. Because we are the future. We hold power. We are inherently worthy of your time and attention merely by existing. Don’t be our adversary, be our ally. Champion this work. Share our story. And lift us up.

Resources:

• Equality Can’t Wait – equalitycantwait.com
• Evoke – evoke.org
• MobilityXX- mobilityxx.org
• Women in the Workplace Report(MCKinsey & Co./LeanIn.org)
• Men Get More Actionable Feedback Than Women(Harvard Business Review)
• Fortune, ‘COVID-19 has driven millions of women from the workforce’
• McKinsey & Co./LeanIn.org 2020 Women in the Workplace Report
• Women’s History Month - womenshistorymonth.gov/about/
• International Women’s Day - internationalwomensday.com/Resources
• Maya Angelou, ‘Phenomenal Woman’ poem