Explore
Settings

Settings

×

Reading Mode

Adjust the reading mode to suit your reading needs.

Font Size

Fix the font size to suit your reading preferences

Language

Select the language of your choice. NewsX reports are available in 11 global languages.
we-woman
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
  • HOME»
  • World»
  • Trump Orders Federal Workers Back To Office, Weakens Civil Service Job Protections

Trump Orders Federal Workers Back To Office, Weakens Civil Service Job Protections

President Trump has ordered federal employees to return to the office full-time and gutted civil service protections in a move to remake the federal bureaucracy. Critics say it's part of a broader effort to shrink the size of government, raising concerns about the quality of the workforce.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Trump Orders Federal Workers Back To Office, Weakens Civil Service Job Protections

Trump Orders Federal Workers Back To Office, Weakens Civil Service Job Protections


President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders that are likely to significantly change the makeup of the U.S. federal workforce. The actions require federal employees to return to their offices full-time and eliminate some civil service protections, a step toward the start of his larger effort to transform the federal bureaucracy.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

The first of the two orders mandates that all federal employees report to their offices five days a week, thus ending the widespread practice of remote work that has developed during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. That change will affect a large percentage of the white-collar government workforce but is part of an even broader effort to overhaul the structure and management of the federal agencies.

The second would devastate the protections for mid-level civil servants, allowing the president potentially to replace decades-long, neutral federal employees with loyalists to his political agenda. Trump allies have made plain that the aim is to replace career bureaucrats with staffers more aligned with his policies and ideology.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

Return To Office Mandate

The White House put out a short statement stating that Trump’s orders were enacted, declaring that agency officials have a responsibility to take all necessary steps to ensure that their employees return to work in person. The statement evoked an exception but added the sting of accountability to the president. “Any power government officials have is delegated by the President, and they must be accountable to the President,” the statement read.

This order effectively reinstates an administrative action from the first term of President Trump, which was reversed upon Biden’s inauguration. The move to try to force a return to the office–along with other measures such as a hiring freeze–and represent another effort by Trump to reduce the size of the federal workforce and the bureaucracy that he and many of his party see as bloated.

The Role Of The Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Beyond the return-to-office mandate, the Trump administration’s plan goes even further. Along with the hiring freeze, the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory body that would oversee the streamlining of the federal government by eliminating programs and agencies deemed inefficient, was created. The effect is going to be significant on the federal employee as well as the structure of the government agency.

According to DOGE chair Elon Musk, this may result in a “wave of voluntary terminations” because some employees of the government could be too frustrated to go back to their offices and may quit their jobs instead of dealing with new mandates.

Controversy Surrounding Return-To-Office Order

Even as the return-to-office mandate pushes federal employees toward greater in-person collaboration and accountability, critics point to adverse effects on employees. A huge number of federal workers are unionized, and most of the bargaining agreements covering workers have provisions for working remotely or on a hybrid model.

Russell Vought, the nominee of Trump for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has stated that the agreements that have been done under the Biden administration should be reviewed. He also expressed concern over the general acceptance of remote work in federal agencies, signaling an intention to reevaluate those arrangements.

Given that there is increasingly a demand in industries for more flexible work, the move is particularly contentious to end remote work. According to Stanford Economics professor Nicholas Bloom, the new policies could disproportionately disadvantage higher-educated federal workers, considering that remote work tends to dominate among this cohort.

ALSO READ | Marco Rubio Becomes 72nd US Secretary Of State Under Trump Administration


Advertisement · Scroll to continue

mail logo

Subscribe to receive the day's headlines from NewsX straight in your inbox