House Advances Bill Demanding Federal Workers Return to Undermanned Offices

'SHOW UP Act' requires agencies revert to 2019 telework staffing levels within 30 days and analyze efficacy of remote workers

About half the nation’s 2.1 million civilian federal employees are working “routinely” or “situationally” in remote capacities, more than double the number of teleworkers before pandemic, which House Republicans say has fostered long waits and inadequate services at federal agencies across the country, such as at this Social Security Administration office in downtown Los Angeles. FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

Less than a quarter of United States federal employees worked remotely to varying degrees in 2019, with about three percent doing so full-time. During the height of the pandemic in late 2020, the percentage of federal remote workers tripled to as much as 75 percent.

Three years later, however, even with the COVID-19 emergency long-subsided, nearly half the 2.1 million civilians employed by federal agencies are still working remotely, mostly from home.