Is the “Department of Government Efficiency” looking to end remote work? This is what you need to know

()— Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are determined to force US federal employees to return to the office in the hope that some will choose to resign instead.

That effort will hit some agencies — and workers — much harder than others. The time federal employees spend working remotely varies by department, according to a report August from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Only a small portion of employees work fully remotely.

Musk and Ramaswamy, whom US President-elect Donald Trump appointed to lead the new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE, for its acronym in English), they made clear in a op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday that they think requiring in-person work will save the U.S. money, which is one of the nongovernmental entity’s core missions.

“Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary resignations that we welcome. “If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home,” they wrote.

Flexible work arrangements existed before the Covid-19 pandemic, although they varied by agency. During the pandemic, many departments allowed more employees to work remotely (although about half of federal employees continued to work fully in-person).

When the public health emergency ended in early 2023, OMB directed agencies to “substantially increase meaningful in-person work in federal offices, particularly headquarters and equivalents,” with the goal of work-eligible employees remote were in the office at least half the time, he said in his report. But flexible work policies could be used “as an important tool in recruiting and retaining talent,” according to the report.

About 2.3 million people work for the federal government, according to the OMB report, which analyzed 24 agencies that employ about 98% of the federal civilian workforce.

Just over half, or 1.2 million, work entirely in person as their jobs require them to be physically present. The remaining 1.1 million are eligible for remote work.

About 228,000 employees, or 10% of the total, are in fully remote positions and are not expected to work in person on a regular basis.

Overall, federal employees who are eligible for remote work spend just over 61% of their regular work hours in person, the OMB found. (This excludes workers who are completely remote.)

However, that figure varies greatly depending on each agency.

At the Department of Agriculture, 81% of the approximately 83,000 work hours of employees eligible for remote work are spent in person — the highest among agencies. Similarly, in the departments of State, Interior, and Homeland Security, the figure is about three-quarters or more.

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But at the other end of the spectrum, Treasury Department employees who are eligible to work remotely spend less than 36% of their time working in person. Their colleagues in the General Services Administration and in the departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development also log less than 40% of their hours in person.

The Treasury Department, which has a total of just under 90,000 employees eligible for remote work, told the OMB in January that it implemented a plan that resulted in “steady increases” in the share of hours worked in person, according to the report. . Additionally, the Treasury Department was planning to modify its policy to require employees who work remotely to spend at least half of their time in person.

However, the department also noted that it has already seen a “significant increase” in Equal Employment Opportunity complaints and reasonable accommodation requests since implementing its plan.

Additionally, at Treasury and across the federal government, remote work policies can be part of unionized workers’ collective bargaining agreements, making it difficult for agencies to change the rules.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest federal workers union with more than 800,000 members in nearly all agencies of the federal government and the District of Columbia, said its position is that Changes to working conditions that could affect contracts must be negotiated through the normal collective bargaining process.

About half of its members have never worked remotely due to the nature of their jobs, including health care workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Border Patrol agents, correctional officers, food inspectors and Administration officials. of Transportation Safety. Remote work language in other members’ contracts varies and depends on the position.

“The implication that federal employees generally are not working in person is simply not supported by data and reality,” AFGE national president Everett Kelley said in a statement.

Looking at all federal employees, nearly 80% of the hours they work are in person, the OMB report found.

Additionally, about the same share of federal and private sector employees will be working remotely as normal in 2022, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate. About 22% of federal employees did so, compared to 25% of private sector workers.

Forcing all federal workers to return to the office may not save as much money, Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, told . Total compensation for federal civilian personnel amounts to approximately $305 billion annually, a little more than 4% of the federal budget. So even cutting a sizable portion of the workforce would only cause a small impact on spending.

Although he feels some agencies are overstaffed, he noted that the federal government has the same number of employees as it did 50 years ago, when it had far fewer programs and duties.

“I don’t think you can just eliminate a quarter or half of federal employees on a one-off basis without shutting down the government,” he said.

Additionally, a blanket ban on working from home is a measure with limited perspective, he said, noting that different agencies have different needs. It could also lead talented federal employees to seek jobs in the private sector.

“A one-size-fits-all federal government makes little more sense than a one-size-fits-all economy policy,” Riedl said.