Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson reportedly acknowledged staff anxiety about returning to work at the office full-time on Friday but said the pandemic is now over.
What Happened: Ferguson told Reuters that the Covid pandemic is long over and workers need to be at their desks.
Ferguson also reportedly said that virtual working “undermined the rich and unique culture that long made the FTC one of the best places to work in the federal government.” He added that new employees would get a better grip on their work if they interacted with other employees in person instead of via a computer screen.
Currently, about 80% of the workforce at the agency works from home for most of the week.
President Trump, after swearing-in on Monday, signed an executive order ordering federal workers back to the office. Ferguson expects FTC staff to revert to full-time at the office by March 3, Reuters reported, citing an internal memo.
Why It Matters: Billionaire Elon Musk, who is currently heading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, has previously said that voluntary terminations owing to return-to-office mandates would be “welcome.”
“Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home,” Musk wrote in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal he co-authored with Vivek Ramaswamy and published in November.
The quitting of workers over the return to office mandate, however, could impact the agency and the chairman’s targets of pursuing litigation against several including Meta Platforms and Amazon.com.
Ferguson pledged to “end Big Tech’s vendetta against competition and free speech” after Trump named him as his choice for FTC Chair in December.
Read Next:
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
