After President Donald Trump ordered agencies to return the federal workforce to the office full time, many federal employees said productivity would suffer from a blanket return-to-office mandate, according to research findings. a Federal News Network investigation.
Many respondents said the Trump administration should take a closer look at the massive variations in government jobs — and thus the need to vary telework policies as well. Some respondents who completed the Federal News Network’s online survey of more than 4,600 federal employees expressed concerns about the potential negative impacts of a “one size fits all” return to power mandate.
“They need to look at agencies and individual jobs,” one survey respondent wrote. “Some jobs just don’t need to be done in the office – and others absolutely should.”
Currently, more than half of the federal workforce reports working onsite due to the nature of their employment. Employees eligible for teleworking spend on average around 60% of their working time in the office. Trump’s executive action on Monday called on agencies to return their federal employees to full work in the office “as soon as possible.”
It’s unclear how or when Trump’s return-to-power directive to agencies will be implemented, but many feds interviewed in the survey had negative feelings about the potential end results of the mandate as written . When asked which factors would be most affected by a return-to-office order, nearly 71% of respondents to the Federal News Network survey said commuting, which which makes it the number one choice among those surveyed. Work-life balance came in second, with 68% saying it would deteriorate if returned to power.
About 60% of respondents said employee recruitment and retention would deteriorate if he returned to power. About 53% chose productivity, followed by the ability to manage personal needs, such as child care or elder care.
“I take care of my 82-year-old father,” one respondent wrote. “I was able to work from home for two days, which was great. For no reason, my employer changed this policy and I am now required to come back five days a week. It was a real challenge.
“Parents – especially mothers – often feel torn between a career and a family, even in 2025,” another respondent wrote. “Telecommuting and remote work opportunities can alleviate these fears by allowing people to maintain their professional positions, while still being as present as possible for their growing children.”
In an open-ended question in the survey, some respondents said they believed there were political motivations behind Trump’s return to power this week.
“This has nothing to do with productivity or results and is entirely political,” one respondent wrote. “Federal employees right now feel completely demoralized by this administration.”
“This is a punitive and baseless effort to target federal employees and reduce the size of federal agencies through resignations,” another respondent wrote.
Leaders of Trump’s Department of Government Effectiveness, a non-governmental advisory group, also said they would “welcome” layoffs of federal employees resulting from a return to power order.
A return to power and the federal footprint
More than a quarter of respondents said the quality of their physical workspace would be one of the aspects most affected by a return-to-office mandate.
“A small, crowded, noisy farm does not allow for the focus needed for high-quality, high-volume work, nor the ability to communicate appropriately with customers,” one respondent wrote. “It’s difficult for employees to get along and manage their stress. »
“Our building is at capacity and we are divided into cubes installed for one person,” adds another respondent.
Due to telework options available to eligible federal employees, some agencies have begun reducing the amount of office space they own and lease, and expect to continue to lose millions of square feet of office space in years to come.
On a separate survey question, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they would be either “extremely concerned” or “very concerned” about whether their agency has enough physical office space to accommodate to a mandate to return to the office. About 21% said they were “not really” or “not at all” concerned about having enough space.
One survey respondent who works at the Department of Veterans Affairs, for example, said his VA facility had “limited space.”
“If we were to return to the office, there would not be sufficient space for staff to provide quality care to our veterans,” the defendant wrote. “For return-to-work mandates, there should be accommodations for establishments that do not have sufficient office space. Work that can be done from home should be done, and work that requires in-person presence should be done in the office.
Highlighting federal office space concerns, some respondents also said that rather than pushing for a full return of federal employees to the office, the best solution would be to reduce the federal footprint to save costs and improve efficiency.
“If we’re wasting millions on empty offices, the most logical solution is to get rid of the offices, not spend millions more to fill them with people who work more effectively remotely,” one respondent wrote.
The positive aspects of working in person
When asked what aspects of work would be positively impacted by a federal workforce mandate, nearly 61% of respondents said “none of the above.” However, the second most important answer was “collaboration with colleagues”, with around 28% of respondents selecting this option from the list. The third most common selection among respondents was “workplace culture,” with 17% choosing this option.
Few federal employees—about 3% to 8% of respondents—said that various aspects of the job, such as productivity, ability to meet customer needs, work-life balance, and recruiting and retention, would be positively impacted in the context of a broad return to work. -office mandate.
Some respondents nevertheless highlighted the positive aspects of a return to the office for federal civil servants.
“I concentrate better on my professional tasks when I am at work,” one respondent wrote. “One area that benefits from in-person work is onboarding, training and mentoring new staff. It’s harder to build relationships and learn team culture through virtual means.
“Routine teleworking destroys work culture, the ability to supervise employees and the speed of decision-making,” another respondent wrote.
“Employees are more productive and engaged when they are in the office,” another respondent wrote.
Teleworking leads to better productivity, say many feds
Similar to the results of other surveys and data analyses, many respondents also reported that they were able to be more productive while working from home at least some of the time. Many said they believed a return-to-office mandate would lead to decreased productivity and efficiency in completing work.
“My team is more productive in a remote work environment – the results prove it,” wrote one respondent. “There is less disruption and less time spent traveling often translates into more time on the clock. The level of engagement is high and we actively use technology, such as Microsoft Teams, for collaborative meetings and discussions. Teleworking also allows for a better work-life balance, so staff can be more productive at work.
Some respondents said that a long commute would have the effect of deteriorating productivity and the number of hours worked. Thanks to telecommuting opportunities, some reported spending more work hours than they otherwise would on driving or taking public transportation.
“My entire team lives in different states, but we are a well-oiled machine that gets the job done effectively and efficiently with excellence,” one interviewee wrote. “Imposing a return to work would have a major negative impact on both employees and stakeholders. »
At the same time, many respondents expressed concerns about people leaving their jobs, particularly those who are high performers and more likely to find employment elsewhere. Some have raised the possibility of attrition of federal employees as a result of the return to power directive.
“This will cause talented government employees to leave,” one respondent wrote. “The government should find a better way to retain the best and most talented employees in order to continue to serve the public in a meaningful way. »
However, repeatedly, survey respondents said it was crucial to take into account the vast differences in the work done by federal employees. Many said a “one-size-fits-all” approach to teleworking arrangements would harm productivity. Some also pointed out that many, but not all, federal work should be done on-site anyway. But ultimately, they said it depends on the agency and the specific job.
“Public-facing federal jobs and other select positions should be performed in person,” one respondent wrote. “However, a lot of tasks can be done outside of the office. »
“Yes, some jobs have in-person clients, but many, if not most, of the telecommuting community do not fit that description. Many teams don’t sit together in the same place,” another respondent wrote. “Congress really needs to do some real research and ask staff how this will directly affect each of them.”
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