Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) published a report last week on problems stemming from federal employees teleworking after the inaugural Senate DOGE Caucus meeting in Washington, DC.
Since the report was published, numerous headlines have appeared, latching onto some of the information from the report. One of the most commonly cited figures is that only 6% of federal employees report to work in person on a full-time basis.
Specifically, Ernst states in the report, “Just three percent of the federal workforce teleworked on a daily basis before the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, the temporary pandemic-era practice is a presumed public employee perk. Six percent report in-person on a full-time basis while nearly a third of the government workforce is entirely remote.”
But is that true?
6%?
First, it’s important to know where this figure comes from. The report cites a Federal News Network article that analyzes the results of a survey the news outlet conducted last spring on telework. The article states:
In early April, Federal News Network conducted a non-scientific survey of current federal employees to gauge their perspectives on recent return-to-office changes at their agencies. Within a week, we received 6,338 responses. Survey respondents were self-selected, and they self-reported information to verify their status as current federal employees.
Of the survey respondents, about 30% said they work entirely remotely, 6% work entirely in-person and 64% were working on a hybrid schedule — a mix of in-person work and telework. (emphasis added)
According to the article, the survey was “a non-scientific survey of current federal employees” who “were self-selected, and they self-reported information…” There were 6,338 total responses.
For comparison, according to the Office of Personnel Management, there are 2,188,329 full-time federal employees as of March 2024. 6,338 is .29% of 2,188,329.
In other words, drawing any definitive conclusions about the entire federal workforce from this survey is probably specious at best.
OMB Report on Telework
Critics of Ernst’s report are quick to point to a report on telework published by the White House Office of Management and Budget in August. According to this report, roughly half of the federal workforce is not even eligible for telework or remote work and therefore must report to work in person.
The OMB report states, “As of May 2024, approximately 50 percent of federal workers worked every day in roles that are not eligible for telework, including those who work onsite providing healthcare to our veterans, inspecting our food supply, and managing Federal natural resources. At the same time, telework-eligible personnel spent approximately 60 percent of regular, working hours in-person, at agency-assigned job sites.”
The OMB report also includes these figures:
- The federal government employed 2.28 million civilian personnel.
- Of these 2.28 million personnel, the majority – 1.2 million or 54% – worked fully on-site,
as their jobs require them to be physically present during all working hours. - The remaining 1.1 million or 46.4% of civilian personnel were telework-eligible.
- Of the total 2.28 million personnel, 228 thousand or 10% of civilian personnel were in
remote positions where there was no expectation that they worked in-person on any
regular or recurring basis. - Among all federal employees, excluding remote workers that do not have a work-site to
report to, 79.4% of regular, working hours were spent in-person. - Among the subset of federal workers that are telework-eligible, excluding remote
workers, 61.2% of regular, working hours were spent in-person.
Are these figures accurate?
A closer look at the data in the report show that they do capture a more full representation of the federal workforce, but they are probably also not a perfect count of teleworking federal employees across the entire federal government.
OMB’s figures are based on data from 24 CFO Act federal agencies taken during the spring. OMB notes that the figures are averages based on a sample of data:
The data presented represents averages from two pay periods in April/May, 2024 ending on May 4th and May 18th collected from agency time and attendance systems. Rates of in-person work are calculated by calculating the portion of the total number of regular hours (excluding leave, overtime, and other premium and non-pay hours) that are performed via telework (both situational and recurring) versus those not performed via telework.
In other words, the figures in the report are drawn only from two subsequent pay periods, but the sample size of employees is much larger than the Federal News Network survey, 2,276,760 federal employees total according to the report.
Ultimately though, the OMB figures are a more realistic picture of how many federal employees telework, so OMB’s statement that 54% of federal employees are working fully on-site is more likely to be more accurate than the 6% figure.
OMB’s figure of 10% of federal employees work fully remotely is also likely more accurate than the claim in Ernst’s report that “nearly a third of the government workforce is entirely remote.”
OPM Report on Telework
Another statement from Ernst’s report reads, “Over half of federal employees are telework-eligible, and nearly 90 percent of those are teleworking.”
This appears to be accurate, at least for the time period to which it refers. This was taken from an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) report to Congress on telework published in December 2023. It is based on FY 2022 data and is accurate as of that date.
According to the OPM report, 46% of all federal employees in FY 2022 were teleworking and 87% of telework eligible federal employees were teleworking. The table below is taken from the OPM report.
Telework Participation FY 2012-2022
| Year | Percent of all employees | Percent of eligible employees |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 14% | 29% |
| 2013 | 17% | 39% |
| 2014 | 18% | 42% |
| 2015 | 20% | 46% |
| 2016 | 22% | 51% |
| 2017 | 21% | 49% |
| 2018 | 22% | 51% |
| 2019 | 22% | 56% |
| 2020 | 45% | 90% |
| 2021 | 47% | 94% |
| 2022 | 46% | 87% |
OPM said in the report that the data came from reports from both agencies and federal employees. On the employee side, data were from the 2022 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. For agency reported data, the report states:
…the primary data source for this report is OPM’s 2022 Telework Data Call (Data Call) which was an online survey administered by OPM from January 10 to February 10 2023 to an individual point of contact in each Executive branch agency regarding fiscal year 2022 data. The survey collected quantitative and qualitative data on telework eligibility participation frequency goal setting and achievement cost savings agency management efforts to promote telework and best practices for fiscal year 2022. OPM distributed the survey to 91 agencies and 85 agencies responded…
This table is taken from the OPM report showing the total numbers of federal employees and reporting agencies analyzed:
Telework Eligibility Participation and Frequency FY 2022
| Category | Number of Employees | Number of Responding Agencies |
|---|---|---|
| Total number of employees | 2,357,915 | 84 |
| Employees deemed eligible to telework | 1,080,800 | 81 |
Other Findings from Ernst’s Telework Report
Does this mean that Ernst’s report should be completely discredited? Not at all. While critics would be right to question some of the figures, it does cite some well documented problems that her investigations on telework uncovered.
I covered some of these in another article, but these are a couple of examples:
- A USAID employee lived in Florida for the duration of her employment, but used an address at an office supply store in Virginia to collect Washington, DC locality pay. Her supervisor helped cover it up.
- An employee at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) set up a mailbox at a UPS box facility to collect higher locality pay while teleworking (over $100,000 in total). He ultimately pleaded guilty and was convicted and sentenced to 36 months of probation, a $5,000 fine, $123,641.32 in restitution, and a $25 special assessment.
Some agencies also are unable to accurately track telework related data which has led to problems. The Architect of the Capitol for instance was overpaying 68% of its teleworking employees according to an Inspector General report, and $100,000 was incorrectly paid out before the error was caught.
Ernst’s report also noted that increased telework has caused use of office space to drop sharply while the federal government keeps paying for the buildings. A 2023 GAO report found that 17 of 24 federal agencies that it sampled were using 25% or less of their headquarters’ buildings capacity in a three-week sample period.
Ernst says that the government should sell off unused office space and cancel or allow leases to expire. She also proposed coworking arrangements to consolidate and share office space with other agencies.
Among other recommendations, she urged Congress to pass these bills:
- The Telework Transparency Act would create requirements for using telework such as requiring agencies to post policies online and establish automated systems to track the use of telework.
- The Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies (USE IT) Act creates incentives for federal employees to return to in-office work by requiring GSA and OMB to implement a standard methodology for measuring occupancy and utilization of public buildings and directs the disposal of unused space.
- The SHOW UP Act would require the federal government’s telework policy be returned to the pre-COVID telework policy that was last in place on December 31, 2019 and forbid expanding the telework policy, practices or levels until a plan is submitted to Congress about the effects of telework on federal agencies and productivity.
- The REMOTE Act would measure the impact of teleworking policies on productivity by requiring agencies to compare employees’ work product done in-person and while teleworking.
- The Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act (FASTA) Reform Act would extend the Public Buildings Reform Board’s mission identifying unused properties for the government to sell.
