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New Report Highlights Federal Telework Trends

A recent analysis conducted by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reveals that by May 2024, federal employees eligible for telework spent approximately 61.2% of their working hours at traditional federal work sites. This statistic reflects a broader trend in telework practices across various industries.

In recent years, frustrations have mounted among congressional Republicans who perceive the increased adoption of telework and remote work among federal employees as detrimental to agency productivity.

On the other hand, administration officials along with Democratic lawmakers maintain that the sustained use of telework and the development of hybrid work environments are essential in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. They argue that such practices ensure operational stability and enhance the federal workforce’s ability to attract talent, attributing productivity issues more to chronic agency underfunding rather than telework itself. However, extensive data to support these claims has often been lacking, primarily because the annual reports on telework from the Office of Personnel Management are released long after the data is collected.

As part of the appropriations legislation for fiscal 2024, Congress mandated the White House to compile and submit comprehensive data regarding federal agency telework practices. This included plans to minimize physical office spaces for agencies utilizing less than 60% of their office capacity.

In response, the OMB delivered a extensive report to Congress detailing both government-wide telework metrics and insights into the telework systems employed by each of the 24 Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Act agencies. The data covers telework trends across two consecutive biweekly pay periods from May 2024.

According to the report, in May 2024, the federal workforce included 2.3 million civilian employees, with 54% required to work entirely in person due to the nature of their roles. This left a telework-eligible segment of approximately 1.1 million workers. Among them, 228,000 employees, equating to 10% of the civilian workforce, engaged in full remote work.

Of the 1.1 million employees who were eligible to telework, 61.2% allocated their work hours to in-person activities, which encompasses time spent at traditional offices or in the field. Considering all categories of work, including those who cannot telework, about 79.4% of work hours were conducted in-person during this period.

OMB emphasized that the administration’s primary objective is to ensure that federal agencies prioritize operational decisions that lead to positive outcomes for the public. The report noted, “Federal agencies are transitioning toward a model where, on average, telework-eligible teams are present in the office at least half the time—complementing the roughly half of federal employees who work completely in-person.” This hybrid model aims to embrace flexibility while ensuring agencies can effectively meet their specific operational needs and maintain a competitive edge in attracting skilled labor.

Additionally, a Congressional Budget Office report highlighted that federal workers returned to traditional work locations more rapidly than their counterparts in many other sectors in 2022.

Cross-referencing its findings with data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the OMB discovered that employees nationwide who engaged in telework or remote work averaged 27.1 hours of teleworking per week, roughly 68% of a standard 40-hour work week.

The OMB also defended its gradual approach to reintegrating employees back into traditional work settings, emphasizing the intricate logistical challenges associated with managing the transition for over a million federal employees.

“Throughout 2023, we facilitated a bi-weekly working group for senior agency leaders to address common challenges during this implementation phase,” the OMB stated. The initiative encompassed a variety of critical topics including the management of commuter benefits, cafeteria reopening strategies, workspace modernization, and best practices for tracking progress in workplace policies and human resource data.

The report articulated the rationale behind a measured approach towards downsizing the federal government’s physical infrastructure in light of a shift to hybrid work, despite mounting pressure to divest from unnecessary real estate and leased properties. The OMB attributed some of the challenges in real estate optimization to legislative redirections of over $13 billion from the GSA Federal Buildings Fund over the past decade.

“It is pertinent to recognize that the average federal facility has stood for over 50 years. Such older buildings are inherently less efficient and not well-suited for modern work demands, often necessitating substantial renovations,” the report explained. “Many agencies had already identified excess office space prior to the pandemic, and they continue to encounter significant hurdles in aligning their real estate assets with current mission requirements, particularly due to insufficient funding for necessary reconfigurations and consolidations.”

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