Less than a quarter of United States federal employees worked remotely to varying degrees in 2019, with about three percent doing so full-time. During the height of the pandemic in late-2020, the percentage of federal remote workers tripled to as much as 75 percent.
Three years later, however, even with the COVID-19 emergency long-subsided, nearly half the 2.1 million civilians employed by federal agencies are still working remotely, mostly from home.
Congressional Republicans, citing a litany of complaints from constituents about long waits for responses and poor services, say it is time for federal workers to man offices at pre-pandemic staffing levels and to assess the impacts of telework policies on agency performance….