White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, frustrated by large numbers of government workers refusing to come to the office, is begging and badgering Cabinet secretaries to break employees' stubborn work-from-home habits.

Why it matters: Only about half of Cabinet agencies have hit White House goals for returning to offices by January, Axios' Hans Nichols reports.

By the numbers: With over 2.2 million employees, the federal government is the country's largest employer.

• In D.C., the reluctance of some 200,000 federal workers to return to the office has devastated downtown businesses.
• Metro ridership in the D.C. area, where federal employees account for one in three downtown jobs, is at 57% of pre-pandemic levels.

Following up on a Cabinet-wide memo this summer, Zients has been calling agency heads this week to press them on their progress.

• He's holding up the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — the first two to hit the benchmarks of workers spending five of every 10 workdays in the office — as examples that federal workers can be convinced to return.

Zients hosted lunches last week for two groups of Cabinet secretaries where he stressed the importance of in-person work, among other issues.

• He also made in-person visits to the Homeland Security and Energy departments to meet with senior leaders and rank-and-file workers to explain how crucial they are to the president's goals.

Between the lines: Zients, who led an effort in 2011 by then-President Obama to reorganize the federal government, has long pressed for more government efficiency.

• He says that he also wants to ensure that the institutional knowledge is passed down to the next generation of leaders and adds that requires in-person interaction.

What we're watching: House Republicans are demanding better data on how many federal workers are actually showing up to the office.

Go deeper

Spotify dropped its annual Wrapped campaign this week, which you likely know unless you live under a rock or, yikes, use Apple Music.

Why it matters: Like clockwork, these recaps are flooding social media, celebrating users' most-played artists and songs of the year — along with a flurry of Wrapped-inspired memes.

But instead of seeing your great aunt's showtunes-heavy playlist, we wondered: what did an in-the-know music stan listen to this year in D.C.?

NPR sent us Ashley Pointer's Wrapped playlist — she's a Tiny Desk assistant producer who runs NPR Music's social.

• It's filled with lots of Drake, Gunna, and Kaytraminé.

Pointer's top songs:

• "Rebuke," Kaytraminé
• "back to the moon," Gunna
• "WHITE CROCS," Jordan Ward with Ryan Trey
• "Comfortable," Lil Wayne with Babyface
• "When You're Lonely," LÉA THE LEOX

Full playlist. Happy listening!

Latkes, brisket, sufganiyot doughnuts — chefs around D.C. are offering specials for Hanukkah, which starts Dec. 7.

Dine in or takeout, we have festive options.

🥬 Sababa: Cleveland Park's chic Middle Eastern restaurant is one of the few to offer a dine-in holiday menu, with à la carte specials like brisket with braised cabbage, raspberry liqueur sufganiyot, and daily latke preparations. Available Dec. 7-14

🍅 Silver and Sons BBQ: Chef Jarrad Silver's Hanukkah catering menu blends barbecue and Mediterranean flavors. Order centerpieces like smoked Creekstone brisket with tomato stew, plus latkes, sufganiyot, and a variety of dips, snacks, and treats. Rockville pickup Dec. 7-8 and Dec. 13

🍞 Bread Furst: Mark Furstenberg's bakery in Van Ness prepares a holiday menu with traditional latkes, babka, challah, and more. Available Dec. 7-14

More options

🇺🇸 Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney submitted paperwork to run for Virginia governor earlier this week. While he hasn't officially announced, it's expected he will by the end of 2023. So far, the only other Democratic candidate for the 2025 race is Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.). (Washington Post)

🚨 A new bill is expected to be introduced today in the D.C. Council that would move some 911 call responsibilities to the fire department and away from the Office of Unified Communications (OUC). The OUC is under scrutiny for reports of slow response times and issues locating callers. In some instances, these errors were connected to cases where people or animals died. (DCist)

💡 Using seemingly dubious methodology, a U.K. website has claimed that D.C. is the brightest city as seen from space — and our friends at Washingtonian have some, um, thoughts.

📅 Upcoming events around the city.

Christmas Wreath Workshop at FSC Workshop on Sunday:

• Get into the holiday spirit while sipping on some wine and crafting a gorgeous Christmas wreath. In-house designers will guide you in your custom creation. Multiple dates available. $55 per person.

Hosting an event? Email [email protected].

It's time for runners to start thinking about cherry blossoms again.

The lottery for runners interested in the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile run in April — one day, yes, peak bloom will return — opens today.

🏁 How it works: The lottery begins at 10am and lasts until 11:59pm on Dec. 15 for the 10-miler on Sunday, April 7. It starts on the Washington Monument grounds and weaves through cherry blossom sights.

• Or you can enter to compete in the "Double Blossom," which gets you into both the 10-mile run and the 5K on April 6. (There is no lottery if you want to run just the 5K, which goes from Pennsylvania Avenue to the National Mall and back.)
• Lottery results will be posted on www.cherryblossom.org and emailed to registrants by Dec. 19.

🧠 Be smart: Families and friends hoping to run together can enter the lottery as an individual or part of a "Temporary Lottery Group" of up to 10 people.

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