"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.
This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law."
The push for a return to office has been a major focus of Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla founder and CEO who was appointed by Trump to head up the Department of Government Efficiency (appropriately named DOGE). Remote work obviously exploded during COVID, when a large number of employees in both the public and private sector were required to work from home. But many of those employees were never required to return to the office. An Office of Management and Budget report last year found that of 2.28 million federal workers, 46% were telework-eligible, and only 54% of those eligible to work from home chose to work fully on-site. But now, most of those government employees will have to actually return to the office. And as you can imagine, they're not taking it well. The order to return to the office is expected to result in a large number of resignations from federal employees, something Musk has said he would welcome as he works to reduce the size of government anyway. But those who plan to stay in their job and go back to the office have another idea for expressing their displeasure: Boycotting local businesses? A thread on the r/Fednews subreddit, for content related to federal employees, is urging federal employees to boycott businesses around their job sites as a show of displeasure for actually being required to go into their office. Why? Well from what I can gather, the idea is apparently to reduce any benefit to the local economy that they would get by federal employees returning to work: "For those that end up being forced back to their respective offices I would avoid patronizing the local businesses in those areas. Bring your own lunch to avoid using the eateries and grocery stores, avoid parking in pay parking (use mass transit if available), and don't buy anything at the shops or gas stations." And many in the comments are vowing not to spend their money in the local economy: "If I have to go back, I am not spending any money on the businesses within my work area. I will be bringing lunch and whatever I need from home, including the amount of water I need for the day." "This! Seriously this people! Make your lunch, peanut butter sandwiches are fine! Have a loaf of bread and a jar in your cube. Start intermittent fasting and just have your eating window be during the evening hours. Find ways to deal with being in office, save money, don’t help the local economy and MAKE AN EXIT PLAN." "Definitely will. Even when traveling through for a fun day. Don't even get gas around your center or use the vending machines." That'll show 'em. And listen, I get the frustration. Before my current job, I spent years working in an office, and then I got used to working from home during COVID. So it sucked when we had to go back to the office, but...I did it. Because I'm an adult. I also get there are arguments both for and against work from home. Are there a lot of government jobs that can probably be done from home? Sure. But then again, there are also a lot of government jobs that should be eliminated anyway. https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1882511799007772677