US Back to the Office Bill
In the US, Senators Mitt Romney and Joe Manchin have penned a bill to get federal workers back into their offices. In a statement, they explain: “According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), in 2023, 17 of 24 federal agency headquarters were operating at an average capacity of 25% less.”
Romney said: “It has been nearly a year since President Biden formally ended COVID-19 public health emergency declarations, yet most of our federal office buildings remain empty—wasting millions of taxpayer dollars every day. Americans deserve to have a federal workforce that is both present and productive.”
Both senators claim that now is a time for rolling back the clock. “This common-sense legislation that brings our society closer to pre-pandemic normalcy,” they write.
Meanwhile, in the private sector, Dell, Tesla and Amazon have all instigated strict mandates for the return to office. While some employees have pushed back, with morale at Dell, for example, taking a hit, CEOs are determined to corral staff back into their offices even threatening their jobs if they don’t fall into line.