Starting in March, the Washington, D.C., government will begin limiting the number of days that employees can work remotely to only one day per week.
Many employees in the district already work full time in person, but in some sectors, there has been flexibility in remote working.
“It’s about the services that we provide to our residents, and we are a local government, and we need to be there to do that,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
“To enhance our engagement with the community, foster a more collaborative work environment, and support the local economy, the District Government will be shifting from 2 routine telework days per week to 1 day per week … Our presence in the District is more than just a physical requirement – it’s about being a visible, active part of the community,” the Washington government said on Monday in a letter to employees.
Washington Director of Human Resources Charles Hall said they would make exceptions for medical reasons.
Local residents complained about the new policy.
“She’s giving criminals more targets. Recall this deep state hack,” Cheryl Riley, a former Montgomery County Council candidate said.
“Mayor Bowser shouldn’t be complaining about federal government employees remote working when her own employees do the same! She should bring her people back five days a week,” one social media user said.
“All so they can spend money on lunch and parking meters,” another person said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“I firmly believe that this has less to do with the job & more to do with economics. Gov’t wants employees to pay for public transit, pay for breakfast/lunch at a local eatery, pay for pre-pandemic stuff so they can tax it again, plus new delivery tax, service tax, bag tax,” Esther Wells, President of the Montgomery County Taxpayers League said.
“The workers will quit if this is implemented. With the crime in DC, cost of parking and transportation, cost of food, its NOT worth it anymore to commute to a job. DC government services will suffer greatly because of this policy because workers will quit,” another social media user said.
“The criminal carjackers will have a larger pool of cars to choose from,” another X user said.
The city has been going through a post-pandemic makeover, with developers transforming old, empty workplaces into apartment complexes. The ridership of the metro system has struggled, and last month, Metro General Manager Randy Clarke warned of dramatic service and job cuts because of their $750 million budget gap. The metro head also warned of stations potentially closing early and heavy cuts to the number of trains running in the transit system.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) recently called for federal agencies to examine their teleworking employees and to determine if they wished to have employees remain teleworking and not pay for office space that is being unused.
In one survey last year, it found only 5% of pre-pandemic workforce employees swiped into federal building offices. In a survey by the Office of Personnel Management, they found that 46% of employees worked on site while 36% remained remote.
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Restaurants in the city have been increasingly shutting down over a lack of foot traffic due to remote working and the rise of crime in the city.
To add to the city’s woes, Monumental Sports and Entertainment, owner of two of the district’s beloved sports teams Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards, announced in December that it will potentially relocate to Alexandria, Virginia, which would drive more entertainment and business away from Washington.