The Trump administration declared this week that Americans should receive the best possible service from those who care about our nation when it unveiled a return-to-office mandate.
According to federal workers like Frank Paulsen, that remark implies they aren’t devoted or diligent.
Paulsen, 50, serves as the vice president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, a federal workers’ union, Local 1641 branch. Since 2022, he has been working remotely three days a week as a nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Spokane, Washington. His primary responsibility is to handle referrals, which he can accomplish remotely, in order to connect patients with community health care partners.
Paulsen said he is a disabled veteran himself and has worked for the federal government for 22 years. Additionally, he believes that none of his coworkers are falling short.
Paulsen stated, “I don’t think I would subscribe to that belief at all.” My coworkers put a lot of effort into finishing their work.
Trump signed an executive order on Monday directing all federal agencies to return their staff to the office full-time as soon as possible and to stop allowing remote work unless absolutely required.
Administration officials issued a more comprehensive directive late Wednesday, calling for the end of all remote work agreements and stating that the fact that the majority of federal offices are essentially closed is a clear barrier to improving government efficiency.
The federal bureaucracy has long been criticized by the Republican Party. However, with the help of Elon Musk, Trump’s largest fundraiser and current semiofficial adviser, the Trump administration seems to be fulfilling its pledges to reform it.
After the order was signed, Musk posted on X, saying, “It’s unfair that most people have to come to work to build products or provide services while Federal Government employees get to stay at home.”
With almost 2 million civilian employees, the U.S. government is the largest employer in the country, while making up a very small portion of the labor population. According to figures from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), there are about 162,000 federal employees in Washington, D.C. alone, accounting for more than 40% of the city’s workforce.
However, Paulsen and the majority of government employees really work elsewhere in the nation: just 7.56 percent of federal employees are employed in Washington, D.C.
However, many employees, including Paulsen, are reacting to Trump’s RTO order with anxiety, regardless of where they are. There are pragmatic concerns: Paulsen has asked if there are enough seats at the VA-leased office where he works for all of his division’s employees. Space worries, particularly in situations where sensitive medical information is addressed, were echoed by another VA employee who asked to remain anonymous because she didn’t want her program to be targeted.
Paulsen stated that, under any circumstances, he intends to return to the office five days a week.
“We basically tell our employees not to put themselves in a position where they could be fired,” he added.
One VA staffer told NBC News that morale on one metastatic cancer research team has never been lower. Because she didn’t want her team to lose financing, she asked that her identity not be used. The employee stated that she works from home two days a week, performing data analysis and administrative duties, and that two members of her team are remote workers.
According to her, on Thursday, guidance was evolving hourly. The employee, whose contract is set to renew every three years, claimed that at one point, management advised her to begin looking for other employment, but a higher-up subsequently informed her that she qualified for the VA’s list of exemptions.
She said it’s still unclear what would happen to her remote coworkers and telework alternatives. The team, which serves veterans nationwide, was concerned about those whose treatments would be discontinued in their absence.
“Going into work knowing that you don’t know if you’re going to have a job in a few months just doesn’t feel good,” she added.
A Washington, D.C.-based employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture said he and his coworkers are preparing contingency plans. All of them have telework agreements, and some of them work from home after long commutes from the closest government office. The executive order, in his opinion, is an attempt to pressure people into resigning. He is afraid of reprisals, thus he wants to stay anonymous.
He remarked, “It feels like there’s an ax over our heads.”
According to the Trump administration, only 6% of government workers now do in-person work. But according to a report released in August by the Office of Management and Budget, around 61% of work hours for government employees who are qualified for telework—aside from those who are completely remote—are currently spent in person.
The Environmental Protection Agency had the lowest amount of in-person work hours (about 36%), while the Department of Agriculture had the most (81%) among agencies.
As the Covid-19 outbreak subsided, the Biden administration had already been monitoring the implementation of return-to-office, regularly reporting on the amount of telework being utilized by each federal department.
Despite being 12 percentage points less than in fiscal year 2022, 75% of telework-eligible employees have engaged in telework in fiscal year 2023, according to a December OPM poll.
According to the research, a hybrid configuration had produced favorable outcomes.
According to the survey, agencies that use telework as part of their hybrid work environments report significant cost savings, improved organizational efficiency and employee performance, and major improvements in recruitment and retention.
Citing anecdotal and physical evidence, a GOP-sponsored House Oversight Committee report this week accused the Biden administration of inflating in-office attendance while simultaneously accusing it of adopting a submissive stance toward federal union groups that demanded more generous telework arrangements.
The Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on government effectiveness, said in a statement that the return-to-office order was an example of overreach, even as it commended Trump’s intention to increase the accountability and performance of the federal workers.
“The actions announced in Trump’s workforce-related executive orders put that goal further out of reach, even though any move toward making the government more responsive to the public should be welcomed,” the statement stated.
Partnership CEO Max Stier told reporters during a news conference this week that telework is essential to luring in more skilled workers, who already often earn more in the private sector.
Stier cautioned in a subsequent statement about the order’s profound effects on the personal life of career federal servants.
The impacted employees are regular individuals who must provide for themselves and their families, and the hasty and hurried approach used here will traumatize not just them but also their coworkers who continue to serve the public, according to Stier.
Government employees’ favorite social media sites have also been more active, with many asking how agencies were supposed to comply since many have been cutting back on office space.
As long as workers continued to satisfy performance standards, 2010 law included telework for government employees as a means of lowering office costs and fostering resilience in emergency situations, even before the pandemic brought about widespread work-from-home regulations.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the government was considering selling off a large portion of its interests in commercial real estate. The report could not be independently verified by NBC News.
The new approach has drawn criticism from unions that represent federal employees, who claim it will reduce the government’s efficacy and make it more difficult for agencies to hire outstanding personnel.
In a statement, American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley said, “I urge the Trump administration to reconsider its strategy and concentrate on what it can do to make government programs work better for the American people, rather than reversing decades of advancements in workplace policies that have benefited both employees and their employers.”
In compliance with the 2010 law, the AFGE’s contracts with significant government agencies, such as the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency, set up protocols for remote and telework. According to the union, the order doesn’t seem to contradict any collective bargaining agreements, and the way the policy is applied will determine whether or not it files a case.
“We will take appropriate action to uphold our rights if they violate our contracts,” the AFGE said in a statement.
Paulsen’s union, the NFFE, also claimed that the executive directives would disrupt essential services and saw the end of remote work as an effort to pressure workers into quitting.
NFFE national president Randy Erwin told NBC News, “I am concerned about this administration breaking those contracts with regard to telework.”
The mandate would be advantageous for local businesses in downtown Washington, D.C.
Just roughly half of the office space inside the DowntownDC Business Improvement District’s limits is occupied, according to Gerren Price, president of the district, which includes an area east of the White House. According to Price, the federal government owns and runs 27% of that office space.
According to Price, local establishments that once served a nine-to-five clientele have closed, including coffee shops and dry cleaners.
Leona Agouridis, the president of the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District, which encompasses an area between the White House and Dupont Circle a mile to the north, said the neighborhood hasn t felt as busy as it did before the pandemic.
According to Agouridis, this will significantly restore the vibrancy that we have lost during the previous five years.
At the Tune Inn, a restaurant and bar that has served D.C. s Capitol Hill neighborhood since 1947, general manager Stephanie Hulbert is bringing back a federal worker lunch discount, which the establishment had done away with after the pandemic because no one used it. Although she is aware that this decision will alter the lives of many government employees, she still hopes that they can support one another.
“When these workers do return, I sincerely hope they come and help the small businesses in D.C. that need it,” Hulbert stated. Hopefully, we’ll be able to raise morale to the necessary level.