By Cliff Montgomery – June 20th, 2025
“GAO recommends that [the Office of Personnel Management] issue guidance for agencies to assess benefits and costs when offering remote work,” according to the June 17th release of a very interesting Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
In January, Trump – almost certainly following Elon Musk’s disastrous rule of X on this point – insisted that nearly all government employees return to their federal offices. It’s an odd thing to demand, since remote work saves office space, costs much less than ordinary office activity and routinely empowers workers to engage in higher levels of productivity.
After bringing them back to the office, he and Musk laid off so many federal workers that agencies now find themselves struggling to maintain even a basic level of essential services. Musk did the same thing with X (formerly Twitter) – and nearly wrecked the company. To this day, X is actually worth about $12 billion less than when he bought it in 2022, if one bothers to read the small print on X’s so-called ‘comeback’.
Perhaps tellingly, the billionaires also stopped all studies of federal remote work – and of its clear benefits. It’s almost as if they were afraid to discover that the workers didn’t need the billionaire masters nearly as much as the masters assumed …
The GAO took Trump to task for his baseless assumptions, and effectively declared that his administration should study the benefits of remote work for the good of the government – and for American taxpayers. The Trump Administration said it “partially concurred with the recommendation.”
Below, the Spark quotes the introductory “Highlights” page from the GAO report. Readers may access the full study here.
Why GAO Did This Study
“While federal agencies offered limited opportunities for remote work before 2020, its use increased in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to help agencies maintain the continuity of their operations. In 2021, agencies were encouraged to leverage remote work, when appropriate, to support employee recruitment and retention and reduce real estate costs.
“[But] In 2025, the President directed agencies to end remote work, with certain exceptions. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 includes a provision for GAO to report on the use of remote work by federal agencies.
“GAO reviewed (1) the number and location of remote workers at CFO Act agencies, as of June 2024; (2) the extent to which agencies analyzed the effects of offering remote work on their ability to recruit and retain employees; and (3) the extent to which remote work affected office space use and spending at selected agencies.
“GAO surveyed CFO Act agencies to collect the number and location of their remote workers, and information on remote work’s effects on their recruitment and retention. GAO also reviewed documents and interviewed officials from four selected agencies— the Departments of Agriculture, Education, and Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration.
What GAO Found
“Remote work is an arrangement where an employee works from an approved alternate location (e.g., their home), but is not expected to report to an agency work site on a regular or recurring basis. In June 2024 there were 207,710 remote workers across the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies, which comprised 9 percent of the total civilian workforce at these agencies.
“Remote workers were in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and 84 percent of counties Most agencies reported analyzing how remote work affected their ability to recruit and retain staff and found offering it likely had positive effects.
“For example, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) found that for similar positions, remote job announcements received 366 applications on average, compared to 51 for non-remote.
“GAO also found that agencies with a higher percentage of remote job announcements were more likely to meet hiring goals for mission-critical jobs..
“In January 2025, the President directed executive agencies to require that all employees, including remote workers, work from an agency location full time. Subsequent guidance allows remote work in some circumstances, such as for military and Foreign Service spouses, those with qualifying medical conditions, and other ‘compelling reasons.’
“However, OPM canceled its August 2024 guidance that agencies assess remote work’s effects on their mission, recruitment, and retention, making it less likely agencies will understand its effects on outcomes and operations.
“Selected agencies took actions to reduce their office space holdings as telework and remote work led to fewer employees reporting to an office location from 2020 through 2024.
“In March 2025, officials at three of those agencies told GAO they paused further actions as they reassessed the amount of office space needed given return-to-office requirements, ongoing agency reorganization and workforce reduction efforts, and other current administration priorities.
What GAO Recommends
“GAO recommends that OPM issue guidance for agencies to assess benefits and costs when offering remote work, including its effects on agency outcomes, recruitment and retention, and operational costs. OPM partially concurred with the recommendation and described planned actions to implement it.”
