The US government supervisor has found a “violent abuse” with homework policies by federal workers, according to a new report published on Friday.
The General Inspector of the Personnel Management Office (OPM), who runs the federal workforce, found “failures and weak internal supervision” as the main cause of the problem. The report focuses on procedures that allow employees to work remotely, not whether they perform their job effectively.
The report took samples of data on badges, schedule and work agreements for dozens of federal officials in 2024, during the administration of President Joe Biden, following a request in 2023 by Republican senator Johnny Ernst of Iowa, who is involved in telepers policies.
“Within the previous administration, OPM’s work and remote work policies were incorrectly managed and the supervision does not exist in practice,” says OPM acting director Chuck Ezel in a statement.
“This era of telecommunications abuse is over,” Ezel said. “In the leadership of President Trump, OPM has restored personal operations to ensure that federal employees are working for taxpayers.”
Theodore Roosevelt building in Washington, Colombia County, Staff Management Office (Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved)
On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump signed an enforcement order directing federal agencies and separated to “take all the necessary steps to terminate the remote work arrangements” and require employees to return to the office full -time.
Federal officials were obliged to return on March 3; Therefore, the findings and recommendations of the OPM report, which aims to develop written procedures detailed internal controls on remote work, are now considered closed, according to the summary summary.
OPM is the Chief Human Resources Agency and the head of staff policy for 2.8 million federal government officials.
President Trump claims that many federal workers have taken a second job while they are still paid by the federal government or do not fulfill their obligations when they work remotely.
There was a dramatic increase in home work during the Covid-19 pandemic in the first Trump administration.
Based on a small sample of tables, the report finds that 58.1 percent of the sample employees have failed to meet the minimum requirements for office work in 2024.
According to the OPM General Inspector, three in ten (29.7%) bodily work agreements have expired, 21 percent of those who have sampled have had discrepancies in their documents and 15 percent did not have approved agreements.
The report did not investigate why this was the case, but it suggests that the possible causes include “weak or missing controls for management”, “negligence or negligence” and “deliberate fraud or abuse”.
According to the order signed by President Trump, imposing a return to the office, the limited exceptions are resolved as determined by the heads of the departments.
In the same way, new internal control reviews and compliance for employees who continue to connect to calves have been identified.
When workers were summoned back to their offices five days a week in March, many were greeted with less than the desired conditions, from narrow work spaces to dirty baths.
In addition to returning to the office, the Trump administration also strives to reduce costs by reducing space and staff.
Numerous federal staff at various agencies and departments told news publications at the time that they were working with elbow to elbow, as employees consolidated themselves in smaller work spaces.
Cleaning crews are reported to be struggling to keep up with the search for tidy spaces, resulting in dirty bathrooms without paper towels.
Some employees were asked to bring their own toilet paper or help by returning to their home, said Federal Employee USA TodayS