President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday requiring employees of the federal government to return to in-person, full-time work. The White House readout of the order states, “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.” Trump signed the order—one of several—onstage at Washington, D.C.‘s Capital One Arena. He also froze federal hiring and prevented federal officials from making new regulations. Work-from-home policies, which drastically accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, have lingered, even as the Biden administration attempted to dial them back. In December, Trump said of his planned actions, “If people don’t come back to work, come back into the office, they’re going to be dismissed.” That same month, the Social Security Administration agreed to a five-year extension of work-from-home policies.
