Biden Pushes To End Remote Work For Federal Employees: Reports

WASHINGTON, DC — President Joe Biden is pushing his Cabinet officials to "aggressively execute" plans to return more federal employees to their offices after years of working remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to multiple reports.

In an email sent by White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients to Cabinet officials on Friday, Zeints called it a "priority" for the president. The directive, first reported by Axios, urged officials to implement plans by fall.

"As we look towards the fall, and with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, your agencies will be implementing increases in the amount of in-person work for your team," Zeints wrote, according to The Washington Post.

He continued, "We are returning to in-person work because it is critical to the well-being of our teams and will enable us to deliver better results for the American people."

The missive follows an April directive from the White House budget office instructing agencies to provide more "meaningful" in-person work, the Post reported. It was the first guidance released since nearly half the country's two million federal employees began working from home in early 2020.

A report released last month by the US Government Accountability Office found that 17 of the 24 federal agency headquarters — nearly all of which are in Washington, D.C. — were using just 25 percent of their building capacity on average during three weeks in January, February, and March. Overall, building use capacity across the headquarters ranged from about 10 percent to 50 percent.

David Marroni, GAO's physical infrastructure team's acting director, told Insider the report's numbers "jump off the page."

"All 24 agencies had extra space and need to take a hard look at what space they'll need going forward and then move in that direction quickly," he said.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has also pressured the White House, urging officials to get federal employees back to offices or turn over their building space to the city or private entities "willing to revitalize it," according to Insider.

Meanwhile, Biden has voiced support for federal employees to return to offices for months, including during a March 2022 State of the Union address where he said, "the vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person," according to the Post.

Republicans in Congress also took aim at federal teleworking policy in a bill introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. If it became law, the bill would require all executive agencies to return to remote work policies practiced before the COVID-19 public health emergency, according to Blackburn's office.

"As the public health emergency officially ends in the United States, so should the pandemic-era telework policies for federal bureaucrats," Blackburn said. "It's illogical that VA employees are able to work from a bubble bath while organizations across the country have safely reopened."

The bill narrowly passed the House and is awaiting a vote in the Senate.