What is the purported purpose for pushing full-time return-to-office for Federal employees?

[Beartracks]

I say "purported" because I'm sure much of the rightwing reasoning is likely BS. But I'm curious what it is.

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[Irish_Dem]

1. Some people will have to quit.

They have moved out of the area or cannot make the commute, etc.

[Beartracks]

5. So just forcing some resignations to "reduce the size of government"?

It's going to make Federal service less desirable to new workers -- I know, not a biggie for the rightwing -- due to reduced work-life balance flexibility.

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[Irish_Dem]

8. Yes. These are the goals.

Reduce the work force and make federal jobs less desirable.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I see it like a fake-out.

You're fired if you don't return to the office.

You're fired if you return to the office.

You're going to be fired no matter what.

[Gore1FL]

3. Control. nt

[tritsofme]

4. It's a stealth layoff. A good number of people will be unable or unwilling to return to office.

[Beartracks]

7. Ah. As noted in reply above: forcing some resignations to "reduce the size of government."

And in a way where DOGE can say, "Well, they CHOSE to resign..."

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[Johnny2X2X]

9. Correct

They want people to quit, because when they quit it's cheaper than if you have to fire them.

And it's a strategy you're seeing across business too. Company has a downturn and before they do layoffs, they mandate RTO knowing that a good portion of people will quit and they'll avoid severance packages and any benfits due those people.

Forced RTO after companies already agreed to WFH is begging to be regulated. Of course, the people in charge now will never do this and forcing people to return to the office plays well with their base.

WFH is amazing for me, I do a hybrid schedule. But WFH in general has made many people green with envy.

[Beartracks]

17. Ugh. The "envy" aspect.

I suspect that's part of the underlying support for return-to-work. That and the notion that remote workers must certainly just be goofing off if the boss can't literally see them working.

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[NutmegYankee]

6. To make people miserable and cause them to quit.

[Beartracks]

10. You don't mean "quit" - Surely you mean "Go get a REAL job!"

Everyone knows government workers just suck off the teat blah blah blah.....

This DOGE stuff is such a scam, and an insult the American people.

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[Johonny]

11. Because sitting needlessly in traffic is so productive

The Musk model is 80 to 120 hrs a week pay for 40, burn out by 40. Watch moron take credit for your work.

[Beartracks]

13. Reducing in-office worker load reduces on-site costs.

I guess THAT kind of efficiency isn't in the DOGE model.

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[milestogo]

12. So they could be fired in-person?

[ScratchCat]

14. This came up back during and around Covid

If people are working from home, then businesses don't need to lease as much office space. This causes large vacancies in office properties and causes them to not be profitable. Only ultra rich individuals own the type of office space which is affected by at-home work programs. Office building/park owners started kicking and screaming about this back in 2020/2021.

There are probably some other issues here with Trump/Federal workers, trying to get them to quit. But don't be fooled, the underlying "issue" is how at-home work programs have affected the demand for office properties.

[Beartracks]

15. I wondered about that, too. But many Fed workers are located in Fed-owned properties.

I guess to "salvage" leased office property income, the effort has to be levied across ALL Fed workers so it doesn't appear to be targeted in that way.

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[Basso8vb]

16. Assholery and control.