2025 Guide to Telework & Remote Work in the Federal Government

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued this guide to telework and remote work, as part of implementing President Trump's January 2025 Presidential Memorandum titled "Return to In-Person Work." The guide sets full-time in-person work as the baseline expectation for federal workers and lays out policies relevant to the use of telework (i.e., occasional work from home or another location) or remote work (i.e., full-time work from a non-office location). Agencies are generally not permitted to approve routine telework (telework that follows a regular schedule) absent a formal exemption, and agencies are instructed to approve situational telework (i.e., working from home during inclement weather or during a short-term illness) sparingly. The guide states that agencies have discretion to approve remote or telework arrangements, as well as exemptions to the general in-person work requirement, but must do so consistent with OPM guidance and the presidential memorandum. It also provides that "[a]gencies should establish policies and procedures to monitor and verify that employees are working full-time, in-person at the assigned agency worksite or an approved alternative worksite under a qualifying exemption." The cover memo accompanying the guide stated that OPM is required to issue telework guidance under 5 U.S.C. 6504(b)(1), and that the guide satisfied that obligation.