President Trump’s January 20, 2025 directive called for executive-branch employees to return to their duty stations full time as soon as practicable, while allowing agency-head exemptions and requiring implementation consistent with law. Officials argued that in-person work could improve collaboration, supervision and service delivery. Employee surveys and qualitative research later described disruption and strain, but the available evidence does not establish that the policy caused lower objective productivity or higher burnout rates.
What did Trump’s return-to-office directive require?
The January 20, 2025 presidential memorandum, titled “Return to In-Person Work,” instructed executive-branch department and agency heads to take necessary steps to end remote-work arrangements and require full-time in-person work at employees’ duty stations as soon as practicable. It was a presidential memorandum, not an executive order.
The memorandum allowed agency heads to make exemptions they deemed necessary and required implementation consistent with applicable law. The Office of Personnel Management’s January 22, 2025 guidance recommended an approximately 30-day target, while acknowledging exceptions and collective bargaining obligations. It therefore set a broad direction, not a claim that every employee would return on the same date or without exception.
Why did the administration argue for in-person work?
OPM’s January 2025 guidance said remote work had contributed to underused federal offices and made supervision, training and government service delivery more difficult. These were the administration’s reasons for the policy, not findings from an independent evaluation proving that a return to the office would raise overall output.
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In a January 2, 2026 article, OPM Director Scott Kupor made a broader case for in-person interaction: he said it can support discussion, decision-making, trust, onboarding and coordination. He also acknowledged that jobs differ, writing, “One size does not fit all.” Those remarks explain the administration’s position; they do not establish that office attendance improves productivity for every role.
Did return-to-office lower federal employee morale?
Some employee-response evidence points to morale concerns, but it is important to distinguish reports from measured outcomes. A Federal News Network report published in July 2026 described results from a survey of 7,463 federal employees. Respondents reported lower morale, lower productivity and greater work-life strain more than a year after the mandate.
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Those are survey responses, not a controlled comparison that can show the directive caused the reported changes. The report also cited OPM data indicating that full-time telework and remote-work hours fell by more than 75% between January and October 2025. That decline documents a shift in work arrangements; it does not by itself measure morale or establish the policy’s effect on job performance.
Are federal workers reporting burnout after the RTO mandate?
A 2026 peer-reviewed study by Geneviève Morin, Carey Doberstein and Étienne Charbonneau analyzed qualitative data from three federal workforce surveys conducted between 2024 and 2025. The authors reported that employees described disrupted routines, less perceived control over their work environment, and emotional and logistical strains.
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These findings help explain why a mandated change in work location may feel difficult, but they are qualitative accounts of reported experience. They do not provide a population-wide burnout rate or establish that the directive caused a measurable rise in burnout. The survey report’s references to work-life strain should likewise not be treated as a clinical burnout measure.
Does working in the office make federal workers more productive?
The sources point to different questions rather than a single, comparable productivity test. The administration presented collaboration, supervision, training and service delivery as reasons to favor in-person work. Employee survey respondents reported lower productivity, but those self-assessments are not objective output measures. The available evidence does not provide a controlled estimate of whether the policy raised or lowered federal productivity overall.
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Kupor reported that, at the start of the administration, about 10% of roughly 2.4 million civilian employees were fully remote and about 40% teleworked at least part time. He later reported that roughly 10% had exemptions and that in-office rates were around 90%. These figures are OPM director statements about work arrangements and attendance; they do not demonstrate efficiency or service outcomes.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How should pre-directive telework data be interpreted?
OPM’s FY2024 Telework in the Federal Government report was published in December 2025, but covers agency policies and practices from October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024. That period predates the January 2025 directive. The report can provide context about federal telework before the policy, but it cannot show what changed because of the return-to-office mandate.
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What the evidence does—and does not—show
| Evidence | What it supports | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| OPM’s January 2025 guidance | The administration’s rationale involving office use, supervision, training and service delivery. | That returning to offices independently improved productivity. |
| 2026 qualitative study of three survey waves | Reported disruption, reduced perceived control, and emotional and logistical strains. | A population-wide burnout rate or causal productivity estimate. |
| Federal News Network’s 2026 employee survey report | Respondents’ reports of lower morale and productivity, and more work-life strain. | That the mandate caused those reports or that objective output fell. |
| OPM telework figures cited in the 2026 report | A reported decline of more than 75% in full-time telework and remote-work hours from January to October 2025. | Whether the change improved efficiency, morale or service delivery. |
| OPM FY2024 telework report | Pre-directive agency policy and practice context. | Post-directive effects. |
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