• A government watchdog found that the Defense Department has never formally evaluated telework and remote work programs against agency goals. DoD officials, however, reported “perceived” benefits and challenges. The Government Accountability Office said without formal evaluation of these programs, DoD cannot determine whether these programs help meet agency goals. While defense officials told GAO that their use of these flexibilities improved productivity, efficiency, and recruitment and retention, some officials said that telework reduced opportunities for collaboration and information sharing and decreased morale. The watchdog also found that the data on the number of teleworkers and remote workers DoD previously reported is likely inaccurate.
  (DoD never formally evaluated telework, remote work programs, watchdog finds - Government Accountability Office)
• The Defense Department is putting additional safeguards around the research it funds. The Pentagon is telling the military services and defense agencies to review fundamental research awards to ensure there is no foreign influence, intellectual property theft or any other form of exploitation that could threaten the security and economic interests of the country. A new memo from Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael establishes additional oversight requirements to protect government funded research. Along with the reviews of awards, DoD will establish a department-wide Fundamental Research Risk Review Repository to improve information collection and sharing across all components. It also will develop automated vetting and continuous monitoring capabilities to help detect and mitigate foreign influence risks.
  (DoD mandates additional oversight for research awards - Department of Defense)
• The Labor Department recovered more than a quarter billion dollars in back wages for American workers last year. That’s the most money the department’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered in a single year since 2019. Those back wages went out to nearly 177,000 employees. On average, that's more than $1,400 per employee. The department has launched new tools aimed at helping employers stay informed of their obligations.
  (Labor Department recovers more than $259M in back wages for workers in 2025 - Labor Department)
• The Air and Space Forces are "aggressively" implementing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s acquisition reforms. The services are replacing program executive offices with new organizations called portfolio acquisition executives. The Air Force has already redesignated five program executive offices as portfolio acquisition executives, including those overseeing Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) and Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3). Meanwhile, the Space Force has designated its first tranche of mission areas to be overseen by portfolio acquisition executives, including space access and space based sensing and targeting.
  (Air Force, Space Force replace program offices with portfolio acquisition executives - Space Force)
• Cohesity became the 22nd company to sign up for an enterprise software deal under GSA’s OneGov program. Under the agreement, GSA said agencies can buy Cohesity’s cybersecurity data protection and replication tools at a discount of more than 72% off the company's GSA schedule price. Agencies also have access to other Cohesity offerings, such as its FedShield tool bundle at discounted prices. The prices are good through September 2027. GSA’s contract with Cohesity is the third OneGov deal with a cybersecurity firm since December.
  (GSA adds third cyber firm since December to OneGov program - General Services Administration)
• Clearer numbers on the federal workforce are coming into view from the Office of Personnel Management. A new OPM website contains a far more detailed and modernized view on the federal workforce, compared with its predecessor, FedScope. The new platform also reaffirms the significant reshaping the federal workforce experienced over the last year. OPM’s numbers reveal a major drop in workforce size, a decline in federal union representation and far fewer telework hours.
  (OPM data overhaul reveals deeper federal workforce insights - Federal News Network)
• The Federal Bureau of Prisons is offering retention bonuses to correctional officers and other frontline positions, in an effort to address staffing challenges. The size of the pay incentive depends on the employee’s position and the staffing level at their facility. The retention bonuses will take effect in February, and will be reviewed annually, according to the agency. But federal union officials are urging a more permanent pay fix for the BOP, which has faced years of significant understaffing.
  (Update on BOP retention incentives - Federal Bureau of Prisons)
• The Social Security Administration is rolling out nationwide systems in the coming months that will impact how the agency triages its workload to employees. Someone applying for SSA benefits in California could soon be speaking to an employee in Maine. The agency is rolling out systems in March that will allow employees to tackle a nationwide inventory of cases. SSA employees say they’re used to processing claims submitted locally and that these changes could make their work much more complicated. The agency lost about 7,000 employees through voluntary incentives last year.
  (Social Security seeks nationwide system to manage caseload for smaller workforce - Federal News Network)

The post DoD data on telework and remote work likely inaccurate first appeared on Federal News Network.

Updated guidance on federal telework and remote work from the Office of Personnel Management now emphasizes as much in-person presence as possible for the federal workforce.

OPM’s latest revisions aim to better align with the Trump administration’s return-to-office orders from January 2025. The new guidance, which OPM updated in December, now says federal employees should generally be “working full-time, in-person.” And while federal telework and remote work can be “effective” tools on a case-by-case basis, OPM said those flexibilities “should be used sparingly.”

Beyond that, agencies should also have procedures for verifying that employees are working on-site, full-time, unless given an exemption, OPM said. And in the limited cases where employees are teleworking, agencies should have a process to determine whether teleworking is successful, or if it should be revoked.

“While individual agencies are in the best position to define what it means to ‘ensure that telework does not diminish employee performance or agency operations,’ determinations should be based on metrics and clear performance standards, along with the overarching principal that work should generally be performed in-person at an agency worksite,” OPM wrote in the December guidance document.

OPM’s new document also details when telework and remote work are “acceptable,” and the role of agencies in managing federal telework and remote work policies. When developing their policies, for instance, agencies should consider IT security, performance management and work schedules, among other factors, OPM explained.

Overall, the guidance should help agencies create “telework and remote work policies that are consistent across the federal government,” OPM said.

Nearly a year after President Donald Trump first ordered a full return to office for the federal workforce, around 90% of federal employees are now working on-site full-time, according to OPM Director Scott Kupor.

“The reality is we’re in a re-baselining period,” Kupor wrote in a Jan. 2 blog post. “After years of operating at levels of remote work and telework well beyond pre-pandemic norms, the government needs to reset expectations, tackle issues like excess office space, modernize our tools, and rebuild confidence that we can deliver consistently no matter where we work.”

The new on-site numbers from OPM come after Trump, on his first day in office, ordered all agencies to terminate remote work agreements, and return all federal employees to full-time on-site work, with a few exceptions. The current 90% in-the-office rate, according to Kupor, leaves about 10% of federal employees who have been exempted from on-site requirements and kept their telework or remote work agreements.

Agencies have granted limited exceptions for certain employees with disabilities, qualifying medical conditions or another “compelling reason” to telework, according to OPM. The new guidance additionally exempts military spouses and Foreign Service spouses working overseas from on-site work requirements. But agencies can still revoke federal telework agreements if they appear to diminish performance, or if an employee has repeated unexcused absences, OPM said.

“The president’s memorandum correctly recognizes individual circumstances matter and made clear that agencies should review these to make reasonable accommodations where appropriate,” Kupor wrote in his blog post. “But — and I realize many people may disagree with this — commuting time alone is not grounds for an accommodation.”

For locality pay purposes, OPM reaffirmed that employees with telework agreements are considered to be located at their agency worksite, as long as they are reporting in-person at least twice per two-week pay period. Employees on remote work agreements, who are not expected to report regularly on-site, are considered to be located at their alternative worksite.

The new document also defines when “situational telework” is appropriate, stating that it should only be authorized for a “compelling agency need,” and as long as it does not “diminish agency operations.” Regardless of the reason, OPM said situational telework is temporary and approved on a case-by-case basis — not part of a regular telework schedule.

Appropriate uses of situational telework include when federal facilities close due to inclement weather, or when an employee has a short-term illness or injury, or a religious observation, OPM explained.

In opposition to the Trump administration’s return-to-office push, some federal workforce experts have argued there are significant benefits of hybrid work — or a mix of in-person work and telework. Many say the availability of telework improves recruitment and retention, as well as agency outcomes. Federal employees themselves have also reported enhanced performance and productivity while operating in a hybrid work environment.

In contrast, Kupor said he believes the workplace suffers when employees aren’t in the office — and that communication and collaboration are “sub-par.”

“Strong connections are a feature of strong teams; those connections are much harder to build virtually,” Kupor wrote. “Proximity is especially important for new employees who may need more training, supervision, and mentoring.”

The post New federal telework guidance reaffirms Trump’s in-office orders first appeared on Federal News Network.