How Trump's return-to-office push affects Georgia's federal workers
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Georgia and metro Atlanta could face outsized effects from President Trump's mandate for federal employees to return to full-time, in-person work.
The big picture: Trump's executive orders freezing federal hiring and ending remote work aim to shrink the federal workforce — which includes hundreds of thousands in Georgia — and target what the administration calls "rogue bureaucrats and career politicians."
Why it matters: Metro Atlanta is home to IRS workers (the tax agency has four taxpayer assistance centers in the area), Environmental Protection Agency employees, Centers for Disease Control officials, air traffic controllers, Social Security employees, postal workers, federal judges and other court staff, Kristal reported.
- Downtown Atlanta, where thousands of those jobs are located, is in the midst of a multibillion-dollar development boom that would welcome an influx of customers.
The latest: According to an OPM memo published Wednesday, agency heads have until 5pm Friday to revise their policies to state that all eligible employees are required to work full-time at their "respective duty stations."
- Exceptions include workers who had been excused due to "disability, qualifying medical condition, or other compelling reason certified by the agency head and the employee's supervisor."
What they're saying: "Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome," Elon Musk, head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, co-wrote in a November op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.
By the numbers: The latest U.S. Census data shows roughly 211,000 federal employees, including military personnel, worked in Georgia as of 2023.
- About 16.2% of them worked remotely, exceeding the national rate of 12.7%. That's the sixth-highest percentage in the country.
The intrigue: Thousands of workers at the Sam Nunn Federal Center and Richard B. Russell Federal Building would mean a solid customer base for new South Downtown businesses like Spiller Park Coffee and food and retail planned for Centennial Yards.
State of play: Trump has directed department and agency heads to phase out remote work arrangements "as soon as practicable."
- He also issued an executive order that effectively reinstates Schedule F, a controversial policy that strips employment protections from certain federal civil servants, making it easier to fire those deemed disloyal to the administration.
Go deeper: Trump's return-to-office push will likely lead to talent exodus