President Joe Biden is increasing efforts to bring federal employees back to the office after over a year of teleworking due to the pandemic.
Remote work has made the once-booming downtown Washington, D.C., empty, as federal office buildings remain largely vacant.
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In an email obtained by Axios on Friday, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients told Cabinet members to “aggressively execute this shift.”
“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,” the email reads. “This is a priority of the President — and I am looking to each of you to aggressively execute this shift in September and October.”
The Federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency status ended on May 11, and Biden, along with Washington leadership, has pushed to fill the empty office space downtown.
A report released by the Government Accountability Office last month explored how buildings occupied by the federal government are being used. Around two dozen federal agencies occupied 39-49% of their headquarters, and the overall utilization rates across the agency’s headquarters varied from about 10% to 50%.
The White House has been pleading with federal workers to return to their in-person office duties, promising as far back as March 2022 to decrease telework. Biden said during the State of the Union that “the vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person.”
Biden has renewed those calls multiple times, with the administration saying in April there will be a substantial increase in office workers while detailing new guidance for employees.
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“The guidance we are releasing today directs agencies to refresh their Work Environment plans and policies—with the general expectation that agency headquarters will continue to substantially increase in-person presence in the office,” Jason Miller, the deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said in a statement.
The latest calls from the executive office may be the most aggressive yet, but Zients said remote work would not be eliminated entirely as they balance “the in-person time we need to build a strong culture, trust, and interpersonal connections.”
