White House urges federal agencies to increase in-person work

President Biden’s top aide on Friday wrote to Cabinet officials urging them to increase the amount of in-person work federal employees are doing at each agency.

White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, in a letter obtained by Axios, told agency leaders that an increase of in-person work was a “priority” for the president.

“As we look towards the fall, and with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, your agencies will be implementing increases in the amount of in-person work for your team,” Zients wrote. “This is a priority of the President — and I am looking to each of you to aggressively execute this shift in September and October.”

He also wrote that a return to in-person work “is critical to the well-being of our teams and will enable us to deliver better results for the American people.”

Zients noted that the White House has been working in-person for the past two years, “which has allowed us to work more nimbly and effectively as a team and with the aim of serving you and your agencies better.”

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The COVID-19 public health emergency lapsed in May, and the Biden administration has pushed returning to the office since earlier this year after the pandemic forced much of the federal workforce to work remotely.

The Office of Management and Budget in April issued a memo urging federal workers to return to the office full-time, while encouraging remote work where it has been most efficient.

In his State of the Union address in 2022, Biden pledged to bring workers back to the office.

“It’s time for America to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again with people,” he said.