Trump Admin Orders Agencies to Submit Detailed Return-to-Office Plans for Federal Employees

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Jan. 14, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Federal agencies have been directed to submit detailed return-to-office implementation plans for their workforce, according to a Monday memo implementing President Donald Trump’s order for federal employees to return to in-person work.

The memorandum, issued jointly on Jan. 27 by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), lays out specific requirements for agencies to develop comprehensive strategies to ensure compliance with Trump’s Jan. 20 presidential memorandum (PM) requiring agency heads to terminate remote work arrangements, with limited exceptions.

“To facilitate the consistent implementation of this guidance across agencies, OMB and OPM direct all agencies to prepare implementation plans that describe their approach to fully complying with this PM and overcoming any constraints in achieving full compliance,” the memo reads.

The memo directs agency heads to prepare implementation plans for Trump’s order and submit them by Feb. 7. The plans should outline steps to revise telework agreements, provide timelines for the return of eligible employees to in-person work, and describe processes for addressing exceptions to the return-to-office mandate due to medical or other compelling reasons. Agencies are also directed to identify any risks or barriers—including resource constraints—that would prevent the quick return to in-person work.

The memo prioritizes the return of headquarters staff and employees located near federal offices, followed by phasing in the return of remote workers who are located over 50 miles away from a current agency office. It also calls for maximizing existing federal space before acquiring new properties, as part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to streamline government operations.

The memorandum implements Trump’s return-to-office mandate, which requires all federal agencies to order their employees back into the office on a full-time basis “as soon as practicable.”

It’s unclear what percentage of federal employees currently work from home. A recent report from Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) office claims that just 6 percent of federal workers report in person on a full-time basis, while nearly one-third are entirely remote.

By contrast, an OMB report from August 2024 found that 54 percent of all 2.28 million civilian federal employees worked every day fully on-site, in roles that are ineligible for remote work, such as managing public lands or conducting inspections. Ten percent of the total 2.8 million—or 228,000 employees—were in remote positions with no expectations for in-office work. Further, the OMB report found that 46.4 percent of the civilian federal workforce was eligible for remote work and that, among this subset, 61.2 percent of their work hours were conducted in-person, on-site.

Trump’s return-to-office requirement mirrors moves in the private sector, where companies like Amazon, AT&T, and Dell have in recent months ordered some of their employees back to in-person work.

A recent Pew survey showed that 75 percent of U.S. adults with telework-eligible jobs work from home. Nearly half of the workers in this group (46 percent) said they would likely quit if their employer ordered them back into the office full-time.