Agency leaders at the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Departments of Health and Human Services and Commerce sought to reassure Republican House lawmakers on Wednesday that they\u2019re supporting in-person work at federal offices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republicans in Congress have sought to peel back remote work after the federal workforce was sent home during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. For months, they\u2019ve pressured agencies to cut back on lingering telework, while employees and unions have resisted, arguing it has improved working conditions and serves as a recruitment and retention incentive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe President himself is telling federal employees to please get back to work, and they simply are not coming,\u201d said Pete Sessions, R-Texas, chair of the Government Operations and the Federal Workforce subcommittee.<\/a> \u201cI cannot say that I\u2019m confident the Biden administration has a handle or even control over that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In recent hearings on telework, lawmakers have tried to accelerate reentry at agencies they\u2019ve deemed reluctant to follow the White House\u2019s push for more in-person<\/a> work.<\/a> A Biden administration official told the Wall Street Journal<\/a> on Nov. 28 that return-to-office goals have not been met. So far, a few bills have been introduced in the House<\/a> and the Senate<\/a> to standardize telework policies across the 2.2 million-large workforce and devise additional oversight measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unions and employees have pushed back, saying conflating telework with lounging at home errs on bashing of bureaucrats who never stopped working, even during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n