Remote Work at a Crossroads: GAO Urges OPM to Reassess Guidance Amid Federal Return-to-Office Mandates
Remote Work at a Crossroads: GAO Urges OPM to Reassess Guidance Amid Federal Return-to-Office Mandates
As of June 2024, remote work comprised nine percent of the civilian workforce across the 24 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies, amounting to 207,710 federal employees spread across every U.S. state, the District of Columbia, and 84 percent of U.S. counties. The U.S. Government Accountability Office’s June 2025 report (GAO-25-107363) offers a comprehensive examination of federal remote work trends, recruitment and retention benefits, and implications for federal office space needs. The report comes at a pivotal time, as the federal government reverses course on remote work flexibilities that had been encouraged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
GAO’s findings underscore that remote work has played a substantial role in enhancing recruitment and retention efforts, particularly for mission-critical occupations such as information technology, human resources, and contracting. For instance, remote job postings attracted, on average, over seven times more applicants than non-remote postings—366 versus 51—according to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Agencies with a higher share of remote job postings were also more likely to meet their hiring goals in these critical areas.
Four departments—Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services (HHS), and the General Services Administration (GSA)—were studied more closely. Officials at these agencies reported that remote work broadened their talent pools and improved employee retention, especially in highly competitive fields like cybersecurity and acquisition. The Department of Veterans Affairs, for example, found that employees who worked remotely showed the highest increase in their intent to stay compared to in-person or teleworking counterparts. Similarly, the Department of Transportation reported that components with the highest concentration of remote workers had the lowest attrition rates.
However, the report notes a substantial policy shift. In January 2025, President Trump issued a memorandum directing agencies to terminate most remote work arrangements, requiring all federal employees to return to in-person work full-time, with limited exemptions for medical or military spousal situations. OPM and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) were instructed to support implementation, and previous OPM guidance encouraging agencies to analyze remote work’s impact on mission and operations was rescinded.
This abrupt change has led agencies to pause or reverse initiatives that were reducing office space in response to long-term decreases in in-person attendance. From 2020 through 2024, agencies like Education and GSA had successfully downsized their office footprints, citing millions in rent savings and increased space efficiency. For example, HHS had saved $56 million by consolidating facilities and was planning further reductions before the return-to-office directive was issued.
The GAO expresses concern that canceling data-driven guidance could impair agencies’ ability to understand the full effects of remote work—particularly since many will continue to have remote workers under allowed exemptions. As such, GAO recommends that OPM reissue formal guidance to help agencies evaluate the costs and benefits of remote work arrangements, especially how such arrangements impact recruitment, retention, productivity, and real estate decisions. OPM partially concurred and indicated plans to revise its Guide to Telework and Remote Work to incorporate this type of analysis.
Ultimately, this GAO report reflects the growing tension between data-supported workplace flexibility and top-down policy reversals that may undermine ongoing workforce planning. Even as agencies comply with new mandates, the GAO underscores the need for evidence-based policy development that aligns staffing, performance, and space usage with the evolving nature of work.
Disclaimer: This blog post summarizes GAO Report GAO-25-107363 and is not guaranteed to be accurate. It does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult the official GAO publication for authoritative information.