Trump orders federal employees to return onsite with executive order

Federal employee union urges Trump to 'rethink' approach

Trump orders federal employees to return onsite with executive order

US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order mandating federal employees to return to in-person work on a full-time basis.

The order was one of the first official acts issued by Trump after returning to the presidency.

"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," the order read.

It also required employees to "return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis."

"This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law."

'Backward action'

The American Federation of Government Employees, a federal employee union, accused Trump's transition team of exaggerating the number of federal employees and accusing them of underperforming to justify the "backward action."

Data from the White House Office of Management and Budget in August revealed that about 46% of federal workers or around 1.1 million people are eligible for remote work.

There are also about 228,000 of them who are fully remote employees, according to the data, as reported by Reuters.

"The truth is that less than half of all federal jobs are eligible for telework, and the workers who are eligible to telework still spend most of their work hours at their regular duty stations," said Everett Kelley, president of the AFGE, in a statement.

According to Kelley, providing employees with hybrid work schedules is a key tool for recruiting and retaining employees.

"Restricting the use of hybrid work arrangements will make it harder for federal agencies to compete for top talent," the AFGE president added.

Kelley also warned that there may not be enough office space to accommodate the surge of on-site workers, noting that many agencies have sold off unused office space following the success of hybrid work.

"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 programmes work better for the American people," he said.