President Joe Biden delivers his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the Capitol, March 1, 2022, in Washington, D.C.

The ongoing effort by employers to get their workers back in the office is also playing out at the federal level. Since President Biden pledged that “the vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person” in his 2022 State of the Union address, there has been pressure for federal employees to come back to the office — from Republicans in Congress to the Democratic mayor of D.C. to the president’s own chief of staff.

So far, that hasn’t really happened. That’s a good thing.

According to a July 2023 Government Accountability Office report, “17 of the 24 federal agencies used on average an estimated 25 percent or less of the capacity of their headquarters buildings.” Nearly four years since the start of the pandemic, as with most of the rest of the country, remote work has become part of the work life of federal employees. It should stay that way.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

According to a recently released annual report from the Office of Personnel Management, which manages the civil service of the federal government, 62% of federal agency leaders emphasize telework as part of their continuity of operations plans........

© San Francisco Chronicle