Anyone who has set foot in Washington recently knows that the city remains a shadow of its former self, as too many federal employees continue working from home. At some agencies, employee absences have negatively affected customer service. This has gone on too long. The pandemic is over. Excuses for allowing offices to sit empty should end, too.
In his State of the Union address in March 2022, President Biden promised that “the vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person.” Ten months later, when most workers still weren’t back in offices, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) urged “decisive action by the White House.” Instead, this past April, the White House came up with new guidance that once more encouraged federal workers to return to the office — and once more set no firm targets or timelines. Unsurprisingly, little has changed.
A recent survey by the Government Accountability Office shows just how bad the situation remains. The GAO measured 24 federal agencies’ use of their headquarters during one week in each of January, February and March. Six of these agencies — the Agriculture Department, the General Services Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of Personnel Management, the Small Business Administration and the Social Security Administration — recorded an average occupancy rate of less than 10 percent. Seventeen of them averaged 25 percent or less. Across all 24 agencies, the average was only a little more than 20 percent. In other words: Federal offices are mostly empty.
Bowser helped lead the way in getting public schools reopened during the pandemic, and yet federal agencies are still dragging their heels. Some are trying to get credit for creating hybrid work arrangements while requiring employees to come in only a handful of days a month, while more and more private companies require people to be back in the office at least three days a week.