DHS head orders in-person work ‘to the maximum extent’

Management

DHS head orders in-person work ‘to the maximum extent’

While DHS employees largely work in-person, the acting homeland security secretary called remote work rates at some components "unacceptable."

Justin Doubleday@jdoubledayWFED

January 22, 2025 7:23 pm

3 min read

While the Department of Homeland Security’s return-to-office order is lightning fast and light on details, it gives DHS components some flexibility to explain why employees may need to continue working remotely.

In a Jan. 20 memo, acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman ordered DHS components to “immediately” recall their employees to work “in-person.” It followed shortly on the heels of President Donald Trump’s return-to-office executive order.

“Remote work can be an important tool under the right circumstances,” Huffman wrote. “It also is subject to significant abuse. The current telework practices of this agency would surprise most Americans.”

Huffman’s memo specifically points to the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. In 2024, Huffman cites data showing 24.4% of hours worked by Coast Guard personnel were “done remotely,” while 28.9% of FEMA hours and 39.7% hours worked at CISA were done so remotely last year.

“These numbers are unacceptable,” Huffman wrote. “It is the policy of this agency for employees to work at their duty station — whether in an office or in the field — to the maximum extent.”

Huffman ordered components to report back to him within 30 days “regarding all officials who have not returned to work, the reasons for it, and the documentation supporting the reason for each official’s continuing remote work.”

Those reasons can include “lack of adequate office space, physical inability of the employee, or legal impediment.”

A spokesman for the American Federation for Government Employees, which represents staff at several DHS components, said Huffman’s directive itself does not violate any agreements with the union.

“The return to worksite directive, as written, does not violate any of collective bargaining agreements, so hybrid telework schedules detailed in CBAs remain legally binding,” the AFGE spokesman said. “Should agencies implement policies contrary to CBAs, employees should comply but we as a union will be prepared to file grievances.”

A former DHS official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said department leaders are scrambling “trying to decipher” how to comply with Huffman’s memo.

“How will they mechanically execute these things internally to comply with the directive, but also not run afoul of laws or other agreements that already may be in place?” the former official said.

The memo also raises questions about how much additional office space exists for employees who were working remotely. DHS, like other agencies, has moved to reduce office space in recent years to account for telework and remote work.

“There’s some flexibility, but not as much as I think they believe to be true for a massive shift in return to office,” the former official said.

The Office of Management and Budget’s August 2024 report to Congress on telework and real property management shows most DHS employees work in-person most of the time, including those with telework eligibility.

Out of DHS’s 224,522 employees, OMB reports that 118,781 were eligible for telework as of last May. And of those telework-eligible staff, about 15,445 DHS employees worked fully remotely.

Excluding those fully remote workers, telework-eligible employees at DHS still spent 73.5% of their working hours in-person over a four-week period last spring, OMB’s report shows. At the time, the Biden administration was pushing agencies to increase “meaningful in-person work.”

Many DHS employees are already required to work in-person due to their nature of their jobs, such as airport screeners and Border Patrol agents. But other mission support staff, such as financial managers or HR specialists, may be eligible for telework at some components.

CISA in particular has leveraged remote work as a recruiting tool to hire cyber staff across the country, even though the agency’s headquarters are in Washington, DC.

“For a CISA, you’ve got people all over the place,” the former DHS official said. “So where are they returning to? Is there room at those locations? Do they want to work in that kind of environment? Does it diminish the workforce that is fairly technical?”