Calpers CEO Says Half of Employees to Keep Working Remotely

(Bloomberg) -- The head of the biggest public pension in the U.S. expects to keep half its employees working remotely even after the coronavirus pandemic subsides, citing a high level of productivity and an opportunity to cut costs.

Marcie Frost, the chief executive officer of the Sacramento-based California Public Employees’ Retirement System, said in a podcast posted Tuesday that the agency may also change how it interacts with its 2 million members. Some customer service functions at its eight regional offices could be replaced by teleconferences or web-based applications for face-to-face meetings, she said.

“This pandemic has shown us our productivity numbers are actually higher,” Frost said on the show “Free Money,” which is co-hosted by Ashby Monk, executive director of Stanford University’s Global Projects Center. “It is likely that we will have half of our workforce working remotely from this point on.”

Frost said there have been no disruptions at Calpers, which manages a pension fund of almost $400 billion, and the investment office has been working at “100% productivity” since it began to operate remotely earlier this year. She said the agency, which has almost 2,900 employees, may still seek to provide its management with additional training for overseeing a remote workforce.

With California’s governor suggesting that about three-quarters of state employees who are working remotely keep doing so for the foreseeable future, Frost is adhering to the recommendations of state public health officials, a Calpers spokeswoman said by email. About 85% of Calpers employees have been working remotely since March, she said, adding that the regional offices will reopen when it is safe.

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