White House urges US agencies to increase in-person work aggressively.
White House Urges Federal Agencies to Shift to In-Person Work
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House is calling for federal agencies to embrace a more in-person work environment starting next month. They believe this shift is crucial in order to effectively deliver government services.
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, in an email on Friday, emphasized the importance of returning to in-person work for the well-being of their teams and to achieve better results for the American people.
Zients stated, “your agencies will be implementing increases in the amount of in-person work for your team. This is a priority of the president — and I am looking to each of you to aggressively execute this shift in September and October.”
His email was first reported on Friday by Axios and confirmed on Saturday by Reuters.
In April, the White House Office of Management and Budget directed federal agencies to revise their workforce plans, aiming to substantially increase in-person work by government employees at headquarters offices, according to a memo first reported by Reuters.
President Biden ended the three-year COVID-19 emergency in April. While many of the 2 million civilian federal employees began working remotely in March 2020, about half were required to remain in-person throughout the pandemic.
A review conducted by the Government Accountability Office in July revealed that 17 out of 24 federal agencies used an estimated 25% or less of their headquarters’ capacity during selected weeks in early 2023.
The Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Department announced last month that they expect teleworking government employees to increase their in-person work.
The FAA plans for employees to increase their in-office presence to at least three days per week by October 9, according to an email first reported by Reuters.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg expressed the need for more in-person interaction among employees to ensure the long-term success of the department.
USDOT expects teleworking employees to report in person a minimum of three days every two weeks starting September 10 and a minimum of four days per pay period starting December 3.
Some Republican lawmakers have been pushing for federal agencies to require more government workers to return to offices. In February, the House passed legislation to mandate federal agencies to reinstate pre-pandemic telework policies from 2019.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio)
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