Federal Telework Rates Hit Record Low Following Trump’s Return-to-Office Mandate

Telework among federal employees has dropped to its lowest level since the pandemic, marking a notable policy achievement for the Trump administration, according to new survey data.

The April Jobs Report revealed that 81.8% of federal employees reported not working remotely for pay. This figure is higher than the 79.2% of private-sector employees who said the same, as highlighted by The Washington Times.

In the private sector, 11% of workers said they worked “some hours” remotely, compared to just 8.9% of federal employees. When it came to full-time telework, 9.8% of private-sector respondents reported working “all hours” from home, while 9.7% of federal workers said the same.

The Washington Times noted the sharp decline from the previous year, stating, “Those numbers represent a marked decrease from last year under President Biden. In April 2024, 68.5% of federal workers said they did not work at home for pay, which was on par with the private sector.”

“During the same month, 19.8% of federal workers said they worked ‘some hours’ from home compared to 10.5% in the private sector. Also in April 2024, 11.5% of federal workers said they teleworked ‘all hours’ compared to 9.9% in the federal workforce,” the report continued.

Driving this shift is the Trump administration’s firm stance on getting federal employees back into physical offices. With Elon Musk appointed head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the federal workforce was given a clear directive: return to in-person work or risk losing their jobs.

“President Trump promised to make our federal government more accountable, transparent and efficient. The Trump administration is delivering on this promise by making federal employees return to the office and better serve the American people,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai in a statement to The Washington Times.

From the beginning of his term, Trump made clear that reinstating in-office work was a top priority. Speaking in January at the East Room during the signing of the “Laken Riley Act,” he stated:
“We have informed the federal workforce, which they’ve looked to do for many years, that if they’re working for the federal government, they must show up to the office on time and on schedule.”

“We don’t want them to work from home, because as everyone knows, most of the time they’re not working, they’re not very productive, and it’s unfair to the millions of people in the United States who are in fact working hard from job sites and not from their home. As federal employees, they must meet a high standard. They’re representing our government, they’re representing our country. If they don’t agree by February 6th to show up back to work in their office, they will be terminated and we will therefore be down scaling our government, which is something that the last 10 presidents have tried very hard to do, but failed,” Trump declared.

He added that many federal employees hadn’t physically returned to their workplaces for years—even prior to the COVID-19 outbreak—but continued receiving salaries.
“Most of the people we’re talking about have not been going to their federal offices in many, many years, from even before COVID, but they have nevertheless been paid. Some have worked, some haven’t worked, and most of the studies say that some have just gone through the motions,” he said.

Trump went further, suggesting that employees might have to prove they weren’t working other jobs while on the federal payroll:
“We may ask these people to prove that they didn’t have another job during their so-called employment with the United States of America, because if they did, that would be unlawful. As you understand, a lot of people are getting paychecks, but they’re actually working other jobs, so they’ll have to prove that to us, that they weren’t,” he continued.

“In any event, we’re requiring them to show up to work or be terminated. We think a very substantial number of people will not show up to work, and therefore our government will get smaller and more efficient, and that’s what we’ve been looking to do for many, many decades, frankly,” Trump concluded.