The incoming Trump administration will try to get federal workers back into offices and reduce telework, the nominee to lead the White House Office of Management and Budget said Wednesday.
Russell Vought, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for OMB director, said returning federal employees to in-person work is a priority for the incoming administration that will be spearheaded by the new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
“This is a major area that they’re looking at,” he said.
His comments were a response to a question from Sen. Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican and chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus, who said Washington “has remained a ghost town” in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic even as private companies have returned to in-person work.
She asked what steps Mr. Vought would take to get federal agencies to meet Congress’ goal to bring the occupancy rate of government buildings up to 60% from an average of 12%, according to a Government Accountability Office review.
Ms. Ernst cited a federal telework report her office produced that found 3% of employees eligible to telework did so before COVID, but now only 6% say they report to work in person on a full-time basis.
“Depending on the agency, between 23% and 68% of surveyed teleworking employees are boosting their salaries by receiving incorrect locality pay,” she said. “Some employees claim to be working in DC while living more than 2,000 miles from their office.”
Mr. Vought said that is an area in which the OMB can assist DOGE. He said his office would “ask the right questions, both on the management and the budget side, to get a sense for how our agencies are monitoring their own employees that might be benefiting from the D.C. pay rate when they’re not living in D.C.”
Once they have “a theory of the case,” he said, then they can figure out what can be done about it.
Ms. Ernst questioned how OMB would get employees whose telework is covered under collective bargaining agreements back into offices.
Mr. Vought said he is aware the Biden administration is “attempting to bind the Trump administration” with the collective bargaining agreements that last an extended period of time but didn’t have an immediate fix to share.
“I don’t have anything to announce, other than to agree with you that it’s a concerning phenomenon, and one that we are looking at very closely,” he said.
Ms. Ernst said she looks forward to working with Mr. Vought on the issue of returning federal employees to in-person work.
“Strong leadership from your office to correct the Biden administration’s sleep-at-the-wheel approach to federal workforce management would send a very powerful and much-needed message to the rest of the government,” she said.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.