Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Win McNamee
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, News
Niamh Shackleton
Federal workers' return to the office isn't going very smoothly, according to a number of employees.
After becoming president again, Donald Trump wasted no time in ordering all government employees to return to the office full-time and ended all remote working arrangements - something that became the norm during and after the pandemic.
A statement issued on the White House website on the day of Trump's inauguration read: "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."
March 10 marked the return-to-office deadline.
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And such order was recently implemented for many departments, but employees have allegedly been met with questionable working conditions.
Speaking to NPR, one federal employee said that they were one of the lucky few to have been given a desk.
"At least I have a desk. Many of my team members have been in classrooms and auditoriums or had to move desks multiple times. Some were assigned to secure areas that they can't access," the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) worker said.
Elsewhere, some people have said that they've returned to their respective offices - which have been semi-vacant for some time - to be met with cockroach and rat infestations, blocked toilets, and overflowing trash cans, USA Today reports.
One Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) staffer claimed their office isn't big enough for all the employees.
Speaking to NPR, they shared: "There are all the small indignities of being in a facility never equipped for this many people: toilet paper and paper towels running out immediately, very long lines at the cafeteria, loud noise, people working in hallways."
Some people have speculated that the unwelcoming return to the office was part of Trump's plan as he and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk, continue to cut back on the number of federal employees.
Trump himself has implied that this is his intention.
"We think a very substantial number of people will not show up to work, and therefore our government will get smaller and more efficient," he previously said, as per The New York Times.
Ahead of the office return, many employees were fired. By late February, it's thought that 30,000 people had been laid off.
An FAA spokesperson told UNILAD: "In compliance with the Presidential Memorandum (PM) Return to In-Person Work, the FAA is committed to safely and efficiently bringing our employees back to in-person work to better uphold our core safety mission. We are working with employees to ensure they have the workspace needed as we go through this period of adjustment."
UNILAD has contacted the federal agencies mentioned for comment.