ODI Director Jeffery Marino said his office wanted to hear directly from state workers because they are experts in their fields who were able to provide concrete solutions to issues that beleaguer state government.<\/p>\n
Marino said that there is a gap between policymakers and the people actually providing government services. Often, policymakers don\u2019t take the time to design services so they are delivered efficiently.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a missing piece there of, how should we implement this policy? What\u2019s going to be the most effective way to implement this policy?\u201d Marino said in an interview.<\/p>\n
The program, known as Engaged California, stemmed from Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s executive order<\/a> that is striving to make state government more efficient. Engaged California was also used to solicit feedback from people impacted by last year\u2019s fires in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n The comments centered around three key areas: employee recruitment and retention, knowledge sharing and process improvement. They came from all ranks of state workers: about half reported working for California for a decade and roughly one in four self-identified as a manager or supervisor.<\/p>\n \u2018Too many fingers in the mix\u2019<\/p>\n To get feedback ODI launched a sort of message board where state workers could anonymously share the ideas after agreeing to the \u201ccivility pledge.\u201d The format allowed civil service employees to respond to each other and like comments that resonated with them.<\/p>\n The most-liked comment addressed communication challenges at the state.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a newer state employee, one of the biggest problems I\u2019ve noticed is the lack of proper training and clear guidance for staff, especially when it comes to understanding their roles, responsibilities, and how to grow within their careers. A lot of employees are expected to learn on the fly, but they don\u2019t always know who to go to for help or even what other units or departments are responsible for,\u201d the comment read.<\/p>\n Another high-ranked comment lamented how difficult it can be to complete simple tasks in state government.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel the largest hurdle we have to address is excess bureaucracy. In operating such a large government, it is easy to have too many fingers in the mix. It is our responsibility to analyze and identify areas we can cut down on bureaucratic surplus. For example, I find it absurd to be required to submit an 18-page document just to repair an ice maker,\u201d one anonymous state employee wrote.<\/p>\n Marino\u2019s office used artificial intelligence to analyze the thousands of comments, which identified over 2,600 ideas that could be utilized by the next cohort of the Governor\u2019s Innovation Fellows<\/a> to improve government efficiency. The fellows are a group of 21 state employees from various agencies that work on projects over a six-month period to improve government services.<\/p>\n There isn\u2019t an explicit next step ODI plans to take with the feedback, but Marino noted that all agency leaders have access to the findings from the analysis of the comments, which can inform policy changes.<\/p>\n \u2018Telework\u2019 mentioned in 6% of comments<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, telework was frequently cited as a way to make state government more efficient. Of the more than 2,400 comments, 6% included the word \u201ctelework.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of the reason Newsom directed his workforce<\/a> to return to offices four days a week was to improve collaboration and efficiency, the governor said in his March executive order.<\/p>\n But many state employees have said that their current hybrid working conditions have already made California more efficient and improved retention of current workers.<\/p>\n \u201c(Telework) also increases employee happiness, and as a long-term state worker who has been in offices with both great morale and awful morale (both prior to the availability of telework, and not related to telework at all) happy employees make for more productive employees,\u201d read one comment from a state employee.<\/p>\n Marino noted that many of the comments related to Newsom\u2019s return-to-office order were reasonable and productive.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were a lot of folks who have those sort of efficiency focused critiques of RTO that were totally fair,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Marino noted that this method of soliciting feedback from state employees was Newsom\u2019s \u201cbrainchild\u201d and he said the governor is paying attention to what people shared in the survey.<\/p>\n Whether Newsom takes those suggestions to maintain the state\u2019s telework policies remains to be seen. His return-to-office executive order, which was delayed until July, remains in effect.<\/p>\n This story was originally published February 10, 2026 at 10:00 AM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SAC_257700_HA_240722_WMelhado.JPG\")