Trump should take swift action to regulate federal remote ‘work,’ without relying on DOGE
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are proposing that their Department of Government Efficiency end work-from-home for federal employees, but President-elect Trump shouldn’t wait for DOGE to make this change.
Trump should inform the federal workforce to anticipate rule changes starting on Jan. 21, right after his inauguration.
Although remote work is here to stay post-COVID, with some individuals choosing to work on their own terms, the majority of America has largely returned to in-person work for various reasons.
Despite the disappearance of the COVID threat, a significant number of federal employees, around 1.1 million, are still eligible to work from home, constituting nearly half of the civilian workforce, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
Out of this population, 228,000 employees work fully remote and the remaining 900,000 work in-person for only 61.2% of their hours, with some agencies having even lower in-person work percentages.
Excluding all-remote workers, the Department of Education’s workforce is in-person for just 43.4% of its hours, making the elimination of this department potentially easier than anticipated.
It’s time to investigate how many individuals will leave once remote options are reduced, and how their absence will impact operations.
While the president-elect cannot enforce changes for another two months, he can certainly give advance notice that the era of working in pajamas whenever desired is coming to an end. Those who find this a deal-breaker should update their resume.
