Federal Flight Risk From RTO Mandates

More and more federal agencies are announcing RTOs, such as the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) mandating that its approximately 400,000 employees return to the office for at least half of their workweek. These announcements are part of a larger political drama that raises important questions about talent retention in federal employment. The Biden administration at first defended remote work for federal employees as boosting retention. Yet Republicans in Congress pushed hard to end WFH benefits, and so did the Democratic Mayor of Washington DC. Given this bipartisan pressure, the Biden administration flip-flopped its position, with the White House Chief of…...