Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producer Raymond Rapada. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren President JOE BIDEN’s push to get federal staffers back in the office is not going well. In an August email, White House chief of staff JEFF ZIENTS called for Cabinet members to use September and October to “aggressively execute” plans to get more federal employees to return to the office in person. But six Biden appointees from different administration offices told West Wing Playbook there’s been little progress. Part of the issue, they say, is that there’s no system in place to enforce Zients’ edict, and his memo didn’t warn of any penalties for departments and agencies that fail to comply. His memo also didn’t set any goal posts for what success looks like or suggest a standard for in-person work, such as coming in three days a week. “Our political leadership wants to be responsive and do what White House folks like Jeff and others are asking, but our hands become tied when it kind of gets down into the nitty gritty of getting it done,” said one appointee who works for an agency focused on environmental and energy issues. The person also noted the unions that cover federal workers are “very entrenched and have a very strong voice” on the issue. “The White House can ask the political staff to do XYZ but the political staff has to move the machinery that is the career mission support, HR operation, and they are very much backed up by the unions,” the person said. DOREEN GREENWALD, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents 150,000 employees across a couple dozen departments and agencies, said Zients’ email had little effect on her members. She pointed to telework agreements in place that prevent the administration from forcing workers to physically be in the office. She said almost none of her members come in 100 percent of the time, but big team meetings do help attract employees to the office. Some of the Biden appointees who spoke with West Wing Playbook said it wasn’t just career staffers who have resisted going in. Even political appointees can lack motivation to return to the office if they’ll be among the few there. “It’s honestly the same dynamic you’re seeing across companies across the country,” said an appointee at an agency. Everyone is “battling the dynamic of wanting people back in the office for all the reasons why we want people back in the office, everything from team morale, cohesion to office culture, and navigating the dynamic of flexibility. The government is another example.” The issue is of particular importance to Biden, who committed in his 2022 State of the Union that “the vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person.” Zients has also stressed that significance in meetings with Cabinet secretaries and deputy secretaries. And he’s not the only one in D.C. pushing for the return: Mayor MURIEL BOWSER has warned that the lack of in-person work has come at an economic cost to the city, where downtown businesses and metro transit authorities rely heavily on federal workforces. While federal agencies may be struggling to get workers back in, most White House staffers do come into the office every workday. “The White House is in at least five days a week so it’s a different mentality there,” noted an administration official. But there could be an upside to retaining some flexibility for federal staffers. It can already be hard to recruit talent for these jobs, which usually offer lower pay than comparable private sector positions. Offering more flexibility to live in less expensive parts of the country could open up a wider network of applicants and could prevent the seasoned staffers that they do have from bolting. An OMB spokesperson declined to comment when asked for metrics reflecting progress the administration has made on implementing Zients’ order. Another administration official said that Zients will continue to beat the drum about returning to the office. The official said Zients will send a new letter in the coming days to Cabinet secretaries emphasizing it as a priority for the administration and encouraging them to do more to get workers back in person. He will also note that progress has been made and call out agencies that have improved office attendance. Just last month, Zients joined an OMB meeting with agency deputy secretaries to thank them for their efforts. The official also said Zients regularly raises the issue with Cabinet secretaries when he talks with them one-on-one. MESSAGE US — Are you A FEDERAL EMPLOYEE WHO DOES NOT WANT TO RETURN TO THE OFFICE? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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