White House

How many federal workers are in the office full-time? Why it's not 6%

A study last year from the Office of Management and Budget reports that of the 2.28 million civilians working for the federal government, 54% work fully on site. Of those who had permission to telework, they spent about 61% of their time in the office

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As the White House pushes for federal workers to return to the office or call it quits, officials have repeatedly said only 6% of federal workers are in the office full-time.

The figure caught the attention of the News4 I-Team, which has been digging into the numbers.

As the Trump administration rolled out their return-to-work plan, an unnamed senior administration official told reporters: "We’re five years past COVID and just 6 percent of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable."

The I-Team traced the 6% number to a report Sen. Joni Ernst, Department of Government Efficiency caucus leader, published last month called “Out of Office.” Tucked in the footnotes, the I-Team found she got the figure from a “non-scientific” survey of workers done last spring by Federal News Network.

According to the outlet, it received about 6,300 responses from people who “self-reported information to verify their status as current federal employees.” Of those respondents, 6% said they work “entirely in-person,” while 64% said they worked a hybrid schedule.

Exact data on how many federal employees go to the office is hard to find.

A study last year from the Office of Management and Budget, however, reports that of the 2.28 million civilians working for the federal government, 54% work fully on site.

Of those who had permission to telework, they spent about 61% of their time in the office.

Experts in federal real estate tell the I-Team federal agencies have been slow to get reliable data on return-to-office numbers too.

That will change in coming months and years as Congress will now require agencies to report how many people are working at the office or risk buildings being sold.

“If you’re not using taxpayer dollars wisely and you have all this space that you’re paying for and it’s not being used, it’s time to do something different,” Norm Dong said.

The I-Team reached out to the White House and Ernst’s office for clarification but did not hear back.

Even if everyone comes back to work and no one takes the resignation offer, some experts tell the I-Team the government will still own too much office space in certain areas. On Thursday, the I-Team will show how much you’re paying for empty and unworkable space and which buildings could be headed for sale.

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