Trump’s executive order requiring in-person work begins at 5 p.m. on Jan. 24.
President Donald Trump’s memorandum requiring federal employees to return to in-person takes effect at the close of business on Friday.
The president followed through on his campaign pledge to reverse his predecessor’s decision to permit government employees to remain in a hybrid work arrangement through 2029.
Hours after taking office, Trump signed the memorandum ordering agencies to initiate the transition to fully in-person work by 5 p.m. on Jan. 24. Employees will have 30 days to comply with the return-to-office (RTO) mandate.
“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,” the memorandum stated.
The newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been tasked with exploring measures to slash government spending and enhance the efficiency of federal operations. A component of this initiative was eliminating remote work and requiring government staff to return to the office.
Billionaire Elon Musk and Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who exited DOGE, co-authored a November opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal and called remote work a privilege.
“Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the COVID-era privilege of staying home,” the pair wrote.
Treasury nominee Scott Bessent embraced the return-to-office mandate during his Jan. 16 confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. He told senators that it is also a matter of national security.
“I, as Treasury Secretary, have confirmed plans to be in the office every day that I’m in Washington, D.C., and I expect all the other employees to do that too,” the billionaire Wall Street veteran testified.
The Treasury Department told Congress last month that Chinese hackers had breached a remote support application used by the federal agency to access computers remotely.
By Andrew Moran
