In late 2024, 61% of federal workers spent at least part of their workweek working from home. Then Donald Trump took office and mandated a return to work.
According to Gallup, “the number of federal employees working in a flexible hybrid work model plummeted from 61% in late 2024 to 28% in the latest data from Q2 of this year.”
Now, 46% of federal government workers are fully on-site. That’s more than double that national average of 21%.
Trump’s return to office (RTO) order served a dual purpose. The administration believed that by forcing most federal employees to return to an office, a significant number of them would either refuse to return or retire. This has proved to be the case.
While it’s difficult to track federal worker departures, “more than 148,000 civil servants have involuntarily or voluntarily separated from the government workforce as of July 21,” the Partnership for Public Service claims.
Also, many were abusing the hybrid work policy, which affected productivity as well.
After Trump’s RTO in January, it was predicted that federal workers would desert the country. A Pew survey found that 46% of federal workers said they would leave if remote work was forbidden.Instead, the number is closer to 6%.
“The days of Biden’s bureaucrats phoning it in from bubble baths and the beach are over,” said Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican who had been leading the return-to-work fight. “My oversight revealed barely one-tenth of telework-eligible federal employees were showing up to work on a full-time basis. Today, nearly half are. President Trump is getting Washington back to work and serving the American people.”
Workers were pushed to stay home during the lockdown portion of the COVID-19 pandemic, as Uncle Sam sought to set an example. Those workers grew accustomed to online meetings and not having to shower, gas up the car and endure commutes.
That led to some notable abuses, such as the Veterans Affairs employee who posted a photo to social media of a bubble bath, bragging that he was about to join a virtual meeting.
As the pandemic eased, workers fought to keep their new schedules.
Mr. Biden and his management team began haranguing agencies to try to get them back in-person, but Gallup’s data show they were decidedly unsuccessful.
Gallup notes that the biggest problem with remote work is trust. Can your boss trust that you are really putting forth the same effort you would if you were in the office?
Gallup research shows that four simple practices can increase employee trust by nearly 30 percentage points. Employees are more likely to feel more trust when they strongly agree with any of the following:
- I receive timely and consistent communication about what’s happening on my team, regardless of whether I’m working from home/remotely or on-site.
- My team has a strong sense of community, regardless of whether we are working from home/remote or on-site.
- My manager holds me accountable for meeting performance expectations when I work from home/remotely.
- When working from home/remotely, I receive the same opportunities for feedback and development compared to when I work on-site.
Working from home can destroy the esprit that’s built during daily contact with co-workers. This is especially important today with the emphasis on team building. It’s just not the same if you’re creating a marketing campaign and the input you’re getting at a meeting is seen remotely.
At any rate, chalk up another Trump policy that defied the experts and is working better than expected.
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