D.C. Government Employees Push Back Against Upcoming Telework Policy Changes

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) issued a mayoral order during the earlier part of January that, among other things, reduces weekly pre-approved telework for D.C. government employees from two days to one day. 

The order, effective March 10, also places the onus on District agency managers to keep in-office staffing levels to at least 50%, while freeing District agencies from having to provide routine or situational telework. 

For one D.C. government employee, the upcoming changes place further pressure on them and their colleagues who for the past four years have juggled the demands of work with the changes to home life brought on by the pandemic.   

“The government’s taking telework back thinking it will bring more money back to the economy when it won’t,” said the employee who requested anonymity in light of a grievance they filed with management. “People lost their jobs and haven’t recovered. A lot of family dynamics have changed.” 

Early on in the pandemic, the employee was obligated to process between 15 and 20 documents submitted by D.C. residents and facilitate inspections — all from their home located in the D.C. metropolitan area. 

The employee did so while taking care of a relative who’s battling a terminal illness. For four years, their daily routine included spending at least 30 minutes of their lunch break administering medicine through an IV. 

That arrangement ended last fall when, as the employee recalled to The Informer, a manager rated their quality of work, and that of other employees, as “Marginal (Level 2)” and called them back into the office full time. They have since taken on a workload that requires their use of artificial intelligence and, sometimes, more than eight hours. 

After finishing their tour of duty, the employee commutes to their second job, the compensation for which covers their daily Metro commute, and parking when needed, along with the costs for the nurse who takes care of their relative. 

Earlier this month, after an emergency prevented the nurse from reporting to work, the employee returned home in the middle of their morning commute and called out of work. Days later, after a snowstorm, they received permission to telework that day when the nurse couldn’t make it to work. 

The employee lamented that, despite the level of commitment to their work, they had to go to extreme measures before their manager allowed them to work from home.  

“I spend 40% of my time covering and documenting myself, my work, what I do, and even when I help my counterparts and my inspector,”  the employee said. “That takes time. We’re doing triplicate work and higher grades of work than what we’re paid for. If an analyst is helping with our work, and it’s too lengthy, they dump it on us. It’s a debacle.” 

Local Union Questions Reasoning, Intentions of Telework Policy Change

By last fall, President Joe Biden (D) started ushering the call for federal employees to return to the office. Months prior, House Republicans successfully passed the SHOW Up Act, which requires executive agencies to submit a report to Congress about the effects of expanded telework during the pandemic and their plans for its future use. 

By November, 70% of the federal workforce was teleworking, according to data compiled by the Office of Personnel Management. During that month, a debate raged within the House’s subcommittee on government operations and federal workforce about whether telework lowered employee output within the federal agencies.

A similar debate has been unfolding within D.C. government 

A District of Columbia Department of Human Resources spokesperson told The Informer that, in October, nearly 5,000 out of 33,600 District government employees teleworked. 

Employees who were authorized to do so under the mayor’s order were not required to disclose their reason, the spokesperson said. They however said that the use of telework is based on “a myriad of factors,” including operational obligations and the needs of the communities being served. 

For months, Bowser, in her crusade to revitalize Downtown D.C., supported President Joe Biden’s calls for federal government employees to return to work. After issuing the work order on Jan. 8, she was on record saying that the change in telework policy is intended to enhance community engagement, foster a collaborative work environment and further support the local economy. 

Some people, like Dr. Kofi Onumah, continue to question whether the reduction in telework would in fact boost the local economy. Or even if that’s the responsibility of District government employees. 

Onumah serves as first vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2725, which includes employees of the Department of Buildings, D.C. Housing Authority, D.C. Health, Department of Energy and Environment, Rental Housing Commission,  Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, Office of the State Superintendent of Education, and Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). 

Earlier this month, AFGE leadership circulated a statement requesting that Bowser listen to employees’ concerns about rising crime and cost of living that’s sparking anxiety about the telework policy change. Onumah, a pharmacist inspector at D.C. Health, recently followed up with a demand that the D.C. government provide empirical evidence that telework reduction produces economic benefits. 

In speaking to The Informer, Onumah said that telework would reduce employee productivity and efficiency and increase pollution from the additional cars on the roads. It would also cause an influx in District government resources being used when thousands of employees converge on office buildings throughout the city, he added. 

Onumah said that the increase in greenhouse gasses, as a result of more employees reporting to the office,  counters the District’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions. 

As it relates to his personal experiences, Onumah said that telework allowed him to freely collaborate with colleagues on several projects from the comfort of his home. Those projects included a remote pharmacy audit program and the COVID vaccine rollout, the latter of which involved the launch of clinics at co-op communities and grocery stores during the pandemic. 

As young people across the District struggled to transition back to in-person instruction, Onumah also noted that he was able to see his children much earlier during after-school hours while working from home. 

The telework policy change, Onumah said, would preclude him from spending essential time with his family, especially with D.C. Health’s move from North Capitol Street to its new building on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Anacostia in Southeast. He went on to reiterate his concern that the Bowser administration doesn’t fully appreciate various elements of the post-COVID landscape, including crime, children’s socioemotional needs and tight budgets, that require workplace flexibility.   

“It’s my duty to protect my members and advocate on their behalf when management puts them in danger,” Onumah said as he questioned what else the D.C. government has on the chopping block. “What other benefits are at risk — like health or dental benefits — because a large portion [of the employee population] perhaps didn’t use them? It’s problematic and concerning.” 

A D.C. Government Employee to Soon Make a Choice 

In the aftermath of a gas leak that caused an explosion on Marion Barry Avenue in Southeast earlier this month, many D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development (DCHD) employees, like one who spoke to The Informer on the condition of anonymity, verbally petitioned to telework, at least for a day, out of regard for their safety and mental well-being. 

Those efforts, the employee said, proved unsuccessful due to what they described as DHCD Director Colleen Green’s insistence that their agency continue to lead the pack as an example of D.C. government’s telework policy changes.

The employee said such a mindset at DHCD, and across the D.C. government, leaves the D.C. government at a competitive disadvantage to other entities, like the federal government and private sector, where employees have relatively more flexibility with telework. 

Last fall, when DHCD announced its reduction of telework days from two to one per week, employees stood up against the policy change with arguments that centered on wellbeing and increased use of building utilities. While the anonymous employee acknowledged that management, in response, postponed the change to December, they said the change was made without much engagement or further interest in employees’ feelings. 

For nearly two months, the anonymous employee has spent every work day on a three-hour commute that takes them back and forth along at least two modes of transportation between the Maryland suburbs to Anacostia. 

They said that dilemma, in tandem with a disdain for working a cubicle, has inspired thoughts about leaving the D.C. government. 

“Historically, the D.C. government has had people who stayed in it for their entire career, but you have a new wave of career professionals who don’t stay at jobs forever,” the employee said. “When folks come in with skills, degrees, and experience under their belt and they’re in environments that don’t seem supportive and flexible, they start looking for other opportunities.”