Federal Managers Association

In the News

• The Biden Administration Tells Agencies to Scale Back Telework - April 14, 2023

• Federal employee unions and career agency HR leaders reportedly were left out of the development of a new Office of Management and Budget memo that instructs agencies to “substantially increase meaningful in-person work at federal offices.”

  Erich Wagner, Government Executive

  The Biden administration on Thursday announced new measures to scale back telework at federal agencies, coinciding with the end of the COVID-19 national emergency and the one-year anniversary of agencies implementing their office reentry plans. The announcement appeared to catch some federal employee groups and agency HR officials off guard.

  Although telework and remote work were a significant part of agencies’ continuity of operations during the pandemic, with some agencies reporting enhanced productivity and high employee engagement scores in the federal government’s annual survey of federal worker morale, the workplace flexibilities have increasingly been in the crosshairs of Republican lawmakers, who blame poor customer service at agencies like the Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service on the practice. Democrats and employee groups instead point to chronic underfunding and understaffing of these agencies as the root of performance issues.

  To read the full article, click here.

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