Headline Roundup • March 24th, 2025
In-Person Work Resumes at Federal Offices Amid Trump Mandate
Summary from the AllSides News Team
What are federal workers doing about President Donald Trump's return-to-work mandate?
Key Details: Trump's Return to In-Person Work mandate on January 20 has raised a debate on the downside and the merits of return-to-work orders. Federal workers, according to a recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll (Lean Left bias), are divided on the issue. Roughly 37% say they can do their work remotely, and about 20% to 25% are looking for other employment. Of those who say they can work remotely, 85% oppose the mandate.
Key Quote: From the Presidential action: "Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, 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, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary."
Downside of In-Person Work: A number of federal offices are ill-equipped to handle the number of employees coming back to the office, putting a strain on office space and technology, as well as D.C. traffic and parking at the offices.
Merits of In-Person Work: According to CNBC (Center bias), the push to return to work can result in better use of expensive real estate, and result in more productivity and teamwork.
For Context: Several lawsuits challenge the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the federal workforce, resulting in confusion over whether thousands of federal workers will be able to keep their jobs.
Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Federal workers are sharply divided over President Donald Trump’s return-to-office mandate, and more than a quarter of those who say they were previously able to do their jobs from home are actively looking for another job, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll.
Across the federal workforce, 49 percent of employees support and 50 percent oppose a five-day in-office requirement. But among federal employees who say their duties can be performed from home, 85 percent are in opposition, according to the poll. Meanwhile, 70 percent of workers who say they can’t work...
CNBC
The Covid-19 pandemic ushered in a new way of working remotely, but even companies that initially championed the model are changing their tune.
In recent months, staffers across corporate America, from Amazon to Dell to Walmart, as well as federal government workers, have been told that their days of working remotely are over — at least, with that employer. Instead, select employees have been called back into offices five days a week, a reversal of conversations in 2020 that touted remote and hybrid options as the future of work.
But those who’ve come...
Washington, D.C., has seen a surge in commuters returning to the office, but the federal government’s push for in-person work has also exposed widening gaps left since the workforce went remote during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Return to work was a key priority for President Donald Trump‘s administration and the local officials in Washington, but as workers returned to the office, there have been many complications — one being the state of the offices they returned to.
IRS employees told the Washington Post that their offices were ill-prepared for the number of people reporting for work and that the internal...
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