DOJ Delays Updated Office Return Policy as Employees Voice Concerns
After receiving feedback through an employee survey and stakeholder input, the Department of Justice (DOJ) delayed the release of its new guidance on increasing in-office work. DOJ was set to release the policy on August 1, 2023.
“Senior Department leadership is taking additional time to consider our recommendation and review the extensive feedback from personnel across the Department,” wrote Acting Assistant Attorney General for Administration Jolene Ann Lauria in an email to all DOJ employees. “Once any new policy is announced, we will provide substantial advance notice to the workforce before it goes into effect.”
The move comes as DOJ analyzes the results of an employee survey that was sent out in late June, asking employees for their views on the best ways to comply with the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directive to federal agencies to “substantially increase meaningful in-person work.”
The department received 8,000 responses out of the more than 115,000 employees in the department.
DOJ Employees Speak Out
On July 25, 2023, Department of Justice Gender Equality Network (DOJ GEN), which has about 1,500 members and advocates for gender equity and equality in DOJ, sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta to express concerns about the looming in-office mandates.
In the letter, DOJ GEN Acting President Colleen Phillips detailed a slew of reservations about telework reductions. Phillips wrote that DOJ GEN members took issue with the tone of the survey given that many have been efficiently teleworking for years. The letter also said that the survey was too rushed, given that employees were only given four business days to respond, including over the July 4th holiday weekend. President Phillips wrote that members expressed dismay that the survey did not ask about remote work’s impact on productivity.
“(Members) are concerned that they will not be able to be as productive at work if the Department requires more in-person days,” Phillips wrote in the letter, noting that it will place additional burdens on caregivers for both the young and old, as well as employees who have disabilities.
“Those caregiving obligations will not dissipate should the Department issue a more prescriptive policy; rather, a mandated increase in in-person office time will re-introduce logistical complications and truncate work productivity gains,” stated Phillips.
The DOJ GEN letter contains several examples of employees who have benefited from remote work, detailing how remote work has made it easier to balance work and family considerations with one employee calling remote work a “life saver” as it allowed her to take care of her ailing mother.
In addition, the letter expresses concern that some DOJ employees will end up quitting if stricter in-office requirements are reinstated, while others say that remote work entices employees who could make more money in the private sector, to stay in their positions.
The letter urges the creation of a remote work policy that “can harness the unique potential and diversity of our dedicated employees to most successfully meet the Department’s mission.”
The backdrop is a new push by President Biden to get federal employees back in offices. Axios reports that the president urged his cabinet to “aggressively execute” plans to get more federal employees in their offices this fall.
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients wrote in an email to the Cabinet, "We are returning to in-person work because it is critical to the well-being of our teams and will enable us to deliver better results for the American people.”
Last month, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that federal headquarters buildings are largely sitting empty, with 17 of 24 federal agencies reviewed using 25 percent or less of their headquarters building capacity.