As part of several executive orders signed on his first day as the 47th president, Donald Trump has issued a call for federal workers to return to in-office work full time and created a hiring freeze for federal jobs.
“Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary,” the executive order stated.
Unions representing federal workers have already spoken out against this order, including the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 800,000 workers in the federal government and the government of DC.
“Rather than undoing decades of progress in workplace policies that have benefited both employees and their employers, I encourage the Trump administration to rethink its approach and focus on what it can do to make government programs work better for the American people,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley.
Kelley noted that hybrid work serves as a tool for recruiting and retaining workers, and that several agencies have begun to consolidate unused office space, “meaning there may no longer be enough office space to accommodate an influx of on-site workers.”
Currently, about 54 percent of federal workers work fully in-person, according to AFGE.
It is not yet clear how this will impact the Northern Virginia area, where a significant portion of federal workers reside.
Another executive order mandated a hiring freeze for federal jobs. The notice said that all federal civilian positions that were vacant as of noon on January 20 may not be filled, and no new positions will be created.
Within 90 days, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the director of OPM and the administrator of the United States DOGE Service (USDS), will create a plan to “reduce the size of the federal government’s workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition.” The mandate will expire once that plan is issued for all agencies except the IRS. It will remain in effect for the IRS until the Secretary of the Treasury “determines that it is in the national interest to lift the freeze.”
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
