Mayor Orders Increased Office Presence for D.C. Government Workers

Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has long called on President Joe Biden to get federal employees based in the nation’s capital back into the office.

In January 2023, for instance, Bowser pushed the president to “either end work-from home telework policies for federal government employees or turn over vacant government buildings in the nation’s capital for housing in a new push to move 100,000 new residents into the city,” ABC News reported at the time.

As ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson noted, the federal government accounts for one-third of properties owned or leased in Washington, D.C., and the city is utilizing tax breaks to encourage the conversion of vacant office buildings as a way to address D.C.’s lack of housing. Bowser has actively sought the administration’s help in this effort.

“We need decisive action by the White House to either get most federal workers back to the office, most of the time,” Bowser said, “or to realign their vast property holdings for use by the local government, by nonprofits, by businesses and by any user willing to revitalize it.”

Earlier this month, Bowser took some decisive action of her own. Having long advocated for a shift to more in-office work for D.C.-area federal employees, Bowser recently informed office-based employees working for district government that they would be shifting from two routine telework days per week to one. The policy takes effect on March 10, and applies to all offices that fall under the mayor’s authority, such as infrastructure and government, education and public safety, for instance.

The change was included in a recently updated guidance document issued by Bowser’s office, defining routine telework as “a pre-approved, written arrangement in which an employee may perform officially assigned duties at the employee’s home address on a regular basis.”

Per the update, pre-approved routine telework now provides district government professional employees with no more than one day of telework per week. These workers are permitted to combine routine telework with flexible work schedules, which allow employees to alter the start and end times of their workday, provided the hours worked encompass the agency’s core hours and their schedule is approved in writing by their supervisor or manager.

Still, the guidance noted that district agencies are not required to offer routine telework. Still, agencies opting to offer routine telework must offer it on an equal basis to all similarly situated workers in an administration, office or unit, according to Mayor Bowser’s office. Employees are not entitled to any specific, desired routine telework schedules, and their immediate supervisors must determine whether an employee’s position is appropriate for telework and then grant or deny approval for routine telework.

For example, government employees in more customer service-oriented roles who often interact with the public or clients may not be an ideal fit for telework, according to the guidance, which stressed the idea that routine telework “is a privilege and not an employee right.” The mayor’s office also mandated that managers ensure at least 50% of their staff reports to the office on every day of the week in which it is operating.

“Therefore, agencies should spread out routine telework schedules,” the guidance read, “and avoid scenarios where an excessive number of employees are teleworking on the same day.”