A view of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters on March 16, 2017 in Washington, D.C. EPA employees are among the federal workers who have negotiated telework arrangements in their collective bargaining contracts.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America
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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America
President Trump has signed an executive action directing federal agencies to order their workers back to the office full time.
“Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary,” the executive memo states.
Having more federal employees work from the office has long been a focus of Republicans.
“Service backlogs and delays, unanswered phone calls and emails, and no-show appointments are harming the health, lives, and aspirations of Americans,” wrote Iowa Senator Joni Ernst in a report released late last year.
In that report, Ernst claimed that only 6% of federal workers work in-person full time, while one-third work fully remotely.
In fact, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, a majority of federal employees already work in their offices full-time.
In a report to Congress issued last August, OPM noted that as of May 2024, 54% of the 2.3 million civilians employed by the federal government work entirely in-person given the nature of their jobs. About 10%, or 228,000 employees, work entirely remotely.
Not counting fully-remote workers, telework-eligible federal employees spent just over 60% of their work hours in-person, according to OPM, though this varies widely across agencies.
In the final days of the Biden administration, former acting OPM director Rob Shriver defended the federal government’s telework policies, telling reporters on a press call that a one-size-fits-all approach could “dramatically impact the federal government’s ability to handle the most important challenges that we face.”
Many agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Social Security Administration, agreed to long-term telework arrangements in their collective bargaining agreements.
Many flexible work arrangements predate the pandemic, though the federal government, like many offices, greatly expanded telework during COVID.
Federal employee unions argue telework has increased productivity and efficiency and also helped the government recruit and retain top talent.
Unions have previously threatened to take the Trump administration to court over unilateral changes to their union contracts, a process that could drag out for months, if not years.
In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal last fall, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, whom Trump appointed to lead his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, suggested that requiring federal employees to return to the office five days a week “would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome.”
“If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home,” they wrote.
Ramaswamy stepped down from DOGE on Monday because he intends to run for elected office soon, according to the White House.
Trump freezes federal hiring
Trump also temporarily froze hiring at most federal agencies. He made certain exceptions, including for the military and agencies carrying out key priorities such as immigration enforcement.
He directed the Office of Management and Budget and DOGE, the new efficiency advisory group under billionaire Elon Musk, to deliver a plan within 90 days to shrink the federal workforce “through efficiency improvements and attrition.”
