Trump wants federal workers back in offices within 30 days
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President Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 20. Photo: Jim WatsonI/AFP via Getty Images
Federal agencies have until Friday to revise their telework policies with a recommended goal of all employees being back within a month after President Trump ordered full time in-office work.
Why it matters: The order, which could affect thousands of federal workers, fits into Trump's broad initiative to reshape the federal government, slash the civic workforce and target the so-called "deep state."
- Trump's Monday memo instructed the heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch to require in-person work "as soon as practicable" with "exemptions they deem necessary."
Driving the news: The Office of Personnel Management, in a memorandum dated Wednesday, recommended agencies set a target of having all workers back in the office full time within 30 days "subject to any exclusions granted by the agency and ... collective bargaining obligations."
- The memo from Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell said that agency heads should revise their telework policies to instruct employees to work full time at their "duty stations" unless excused due to a "disability, qualifying medical condition, or other compelling reason certified by the agency head and the employee's supervisor."
- For employees whose official duty stations are more than 50 miles from an existing agency office, the memo instructs agencies to "take steps to move the employee's duty station to the most appropriate agency office."
What they're saying: "I think a lot of people are scrambling right now," said Jacqueline Simon, the policy director of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents hundreds of thousands of federal employees.
- "They've built their lives around a certain schedule that's suddenly been ripped away from them," she added.
- She noted that federal employees who are covered by collective bargaining agreements have the right to negotiate over the impact and implementation of changing working conditions.
By the numbers: The majority of federal employees work in-person, according to an August 2024 Office of Management and Budget report.
- Of the the 2.28 million civilian workers employed by the federal government in May 2024, 46.4% of them were telework-eligible, while 10% served in remote positions.
Reality check: Simon also said agencies will likely have a difficult time accommodating the influx of in-person workers after shedding office space recently.
Zoom out: Trump's order will likely give the federal government a tougher time attracting and retaining talented employees, Axios' Emily Peck reported.
- The in-person mandate is one effort in a slew of attacks on the federal bureaucracy.
- The administration is also directing agencies to place DEI staff on paid leave by 5pm Wednesday ET ahead of being laid off.
Go deeper: Tracking Trump's executive orders: What he's signed so far
