Read this before you sign with IPHI - Covid-19 Contact Tracer Institute for Public Health Innovation Employee Review

Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback. Standing up a 400+ person COVID-19 emergency response workforce in a few short months certainly came with some challenges, and there were bumps along the way. We also recognize that some staff had hoped it would be a remote job, but the Fairfax County Health Department (FCHD) determined that an onsite workforce was critical to success. Regarding holidays, because it’s an emergency response and we have the goal of reaching every case and contact within 24 hours, a sizeable portion of the workforce does need to work most holidays unlike some of IPHI’s other employees working on other projects, however there is additional holiday pay for those days worked. It sounds like there may have been some miscommunication or misunderstanding about workplace safety, as IPHI and FCHD take that very seriously, and we work closely together on that. IPHI and FCHD have a comprehensive set of COVID-19 safety policies and protocols in place and provide training, supplies, ongoing workplace monitoring, and free testing and wellness support when needed. Regarding tenure, over the six months to date, we have had transitions with less than 20% of the workforce, which is about what we might expect for temporary positions of this nature, as many staff left when they found permanent employment or as their situations changed (such as returning to school) in the context of the pandemic. In the last several months, we have also made quite a few promotions from within, which is terrific. We recognize that being part of the initial months of launching this major pandemic emergency response required extra flexibility and patience. We are doing everything we can to ensure that employees are supported, safe and successful in their roles. We sincerely regret that you had a negative experience during those early months, and we certainly welcome additional feedback and comments at Feedback@institutephi.org. Thank you again.