It will surprise absolutely no one that President Trump’s first day in office included an return-to-office mandate.
Addressed to the “heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government,” the notice insists on a full-time return to office and says employees must make it so “as soon as practicable.”
Trump has been open in his feelings towards remote working. In a recent news conference, he stated bluntly: “If people don’t come back to work… they’re going to be dismissed.” While employees working for the likes of Dell and Amazon have pushed back against strict RTO mandates, the White House looks increasingly unlikely to negotiate.
No Explanation
The statement published by The White House is short and snappy. While CEOs of the big tech companies have tried to make their RTO mandates easier to swallow with assertions about team building and collaboration, there has been no such mercy from Trump’s team.
It states that employees must “…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.” It does add that “the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.”
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The mandate will hit hard, because currently more than half of some departments work remotely. On top of that, the Department of Education and General Services Administration will be among those where the changes will be felt most.
More To Come?
It’s fair to suggest that more mandates will no doubt follow with Trump calling remote working policies “terrible” and “ridiculous.”
His two DOGE chiefs — Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — are also outspoken advocates of having everyone in the office full time. Musk has enforced strict policies at his own ventures and voiced his plan to do the same in Government.
In a Wall Street Journal op ed, the duo wrote: “If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the COVID-era privilege of staying home.”
Musk has also stated that the RTO mandate is a way of slimming down the federal workforce – with a wave of “voluntary terminations.” He said that workers who can’t make being in the office five days a week work for them should quit and move on.
He isn’t alone in taking such a brutal stance. It is a charge that was laid squarely at Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy – though he denied it.
Thorn in His Side
Around 42,000 workers may have a reprieve, as they fall under an agreement signed between President Biden and the Social Security Administration and the American Federation of Government Employees union in early December.
Under the terms of the deal, these employees will have to right to hybrid working until 2029. It sparked an immediate backlash from Republican senators, including Senator James Comer on X.
Trump has suggested that he will seek out a court order to reverse the impact of the deal, leaving thousands of employees facing uncertainty as they become pawns in a battle between the outgoing and incoming administrations and their opposing views on hybrid working.
