Columbus – In an abundance of caution regarding COVID-19, Auditor of State Keith Faber announced today that effective Tuesday, March 17, the office will utilize the work from home option for most of its 800 employees.

“We are still open for business- we have the capability and the long history of allowing our staff to work from home, so we determined it was appropriate to increase our social distancing across our workplace,” said Auditor Faber.  “We have nearly 800 employees across the state; this is about their health and safety, their families, their communities and doing what we can to help slow the spread of this pandemic across our state.”

Many of the AOS audit staff already utilize the remote work location capabilities, and almost all other staff have the ability to complete their duties from home. Interactions with the office should not change, but we ask for patience when it comes to calls to the office that may need transferred to another personnel. Email communication is encouraged during this time.

Responding to the needs identified by Secretary of State for election day, the AOS updated its poll worker policy to provide staff the opportunity to work the polls with paid leave.

“As Ohioans, part of our civic responsibility is ensuring on election day that all Ohioans can participate in a fair and efficient manner,” said Auditor Faber.  “To help relieve high-risk election workers on election day, we are encouraging our team to assist at the polls.”

The Auditor of State is still open for business and working to meet our obligations, while utilizing technology and having staff work remotely to increase our social distancing efforts.  Executive staff will stay engaged with public health officials to evaluate and modify our operations as needed during the declaration of emergency.     

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The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio is responsible for auditing more than 6,000 state and local government agencies. Under the direction of Auditor Keith Faber, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies, and promotes transparency in government.