White House insists US agencies ‘agressively execute’ shift to in-office work
Jenny Goldsberry
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The White House is pushing for more work-in-person by September.
In an email obtained by Reuters, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients told federal agency employees, “we are returning to in-person work because it is critical to the well-being of our teams and will enable us to deliver better results for the American people.”
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“Your agencies will be implementing increases in the amount of in-person work for your team,” Zients wrote. “This is a priority of the president — and I am looking to each of you to aggressively execute this shift in September and October.”
Federal agencies employ roughly 2.25 million military personnel and 2.25 million civilian employees, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
In three weeks in January, February, and March of this year, 17 out of the 24 agency’s buildings were at 25% capacity or less, according to the Government Accountability Office. The 21.5 million square feet of usable office space costs about $2 billion per year to operate and maintain, with an additional $5 billion per year in office leasing costs.
Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration has already issued a return-to-work order of at least three days per week by Oct. 9. The U.S. Department of Transportation similarly will begin to implement a minimum of three days in office every two weeks beginning Sept. 10, with a minimum of four days per pay period beginning Dec. 3.
President Joe Biden ended the COVID-19 emergency order in April of this year. From the time the pandemic began in March 2020, half of all federal employees were required to remain in office. In February of 2022, the Government Accountability Office found that tele-work hours in some federal agencies comprised more than 80% of total work time.
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Nationally, between August and September of 2022, 72.5% of private-sector establishments reported little or no tele-work, compared to 60.1% between July and September of 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Some 16% of establishments reported some remote employees, with 2.4% hiring at least one employee to work entirely remotely. A separate 11% of establishments touted an entirely remote staff.