The Heads of departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government were directed to terminate remote work arrangements in January of last year. This directive required employees to return to work in person on a full-time basis. Department and agency heads were authorized to make exemptions where necessary.
WHY CHANGE?
According to Scott Kupor, Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, “Communication and collaboration are sub-par when nobody is in the office.” He further states, “It takes time and engaged human interaction to foster trust. Strong connections are a feature of strong teams; those connections are much harder to build virtually.”
There were approximately 2.4 million civilian employees working in the Executive branch in January of 2025. About 10% were fully remote, while another 40% were teleworking at least part-time. The teleworkers were expected to be in the office two days every two-week pay period.
It’s been reported that many teleworkers showed up on the last two days of the pay period and the subsequent first two days of the new pay period to satisfy this requirement. As a result, on any given workday, half of the federal workforce – about 1.2 million employees – would be out of the office!
As reported by The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released January 15, 2025, “the federal government is spending approximately $7 billion annually on leased office space, even as about half of its employees continue to work from home regularly, more than four years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
According to the Government Accountability Office, 17 of 24 federal agency headquarters buildings in D.C. operated at 25 percent or less capacity as of March 2024, and six headquarters buildings average just 9 percent capacity!
EXCEPTIONS
Agencies are making reasonable accommodations based on individual circumstances where appropriate. Accommodations were made for employees who have disabilities or primary caregiving responsibilities that make commuting difficult.
Examples include military spouses, for “fed-to-fed” families (where one partner has been assigned a specific location and the spouse/partner therefore can’t move), and for exceptional roles that cannot otherwise be filled in-office. Commuting time alone is not grounds for an accommodation.
There are many positions designated as remote or telework, such as IT/Cybersecurity, program/project management, program analysts, certain administrative positions, specialized roles like contract specialists and field engineers, policy analysts, and technical writers.
Many project managers and field engineers work independently, moving from project to project, and are typically on Temporary Duty (TDY) status with full per diem for living expenses. If you are only interested in remote or telework positions in government, you can search the USAJOBS data for those opportunities.
ONE YEAR LATER
Today, roughly 10% of employees have been granted remote and telework exemptions. According to the OPM Director, “The government is now seeing in-office rates around 90%; that’s a massive difference from the roughly 30% that we were seeing just nine months ago.”
A number of headquarters offices have reassigned personnel to locations outside of the DC Metropolitan area. FBI Director Kash Patel relocated about 1,500 headquarters staff from the unsafe J. Edgar Hoover Building in D.C. to field offices nationwide to increase field presence and improve resources.
The FBI is also moving core functions to the Ronald Reagan Building in D.C. while seeking a new, permanent headquarters. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is shifting to five regional hubs (Raleigh, Kansas City, Indy, etc.) and the National Science Foundation’s new Alexandria HQ. Many headquarters’ buildings require major repairs or staff relocations.
After years of operating at excessive levels of remote work and telework, the government is resetting expectations, tackling issues like excess office space, modernizing its tools, and rebuilding confidence that the government can deliver consistently, no matter where they work.
Even though they are resetting expectations, there are still many remote and telework opportunities available, given that 10% of the workforce currently holds these positions. That equates to over 200,000 government positions nationwide.
