KC Star Guest Commentary: Federal Remote Work Works for America

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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are now targeting millions of federal employees who do what millions of our private-sector neighbors do: work remotely during some part of their week. 

The “DOGE Duo” are premier examples of remote workers, but I’ll avoid the “one rule for thee, another for me” angle and share some facts. 

Musk and Ramaswamy relied on facts to make fortunes in highly technical businesses, but their remote work vendetta smells like pre-cooked prejudice and ideological payback, not careful assessment. Their attack on remote work is one prong of Donald Trump’s assault on our federal workforce.  

They claim canning remote work will “make government more productive.”  They assert that returning every civilian employee to federal buildings full-time makes them more efficient and thus more vulnerable to firing.  These “innovators” are candid: this is their and Trump’s real goal.  

As EPA Regional Administrator for Region 7— the Heartland—during the Obama Administration, I know something about remote work’s history and results in the federal government. Our Region piloted EPA’s test of what then (2011-13) we called “telework.” First a cautious skeptic, I became a champion of super-charging our federal workers’ dedication using remote work technology. This experience persuaded me that remote work serves the American people well. 

I moved to Washington, DC, in 2015 to head EPA’s national operations office, where I was charged with helping 15,000-plus EPA employees–from Guam to Maine–pioneer remote work and assess its viability. Our national results were clear.  Region 7’s telework success was no unicorn. Doubters again became believers. 

I was the agency’s senior human resources officer.  Critics knew where to find me.  We faced internal issues about this new way of working, but I heard not a discouraging word from EPA’s national partners and customers about our agency’s remote work. 

First regionally and then nationally, we learned “work is what you do, not where you do it.”  As the political appointee leading EPA’s Heartland Region, much of my job was listening carefully to our partners.  I often asked state agencies, regulated businesses, elected officials, and local governments, “Are my EPA colleagues who work remotely harder to reach, harder to meet, slower to act?”  Their answer: NO!

Sure, EPA’s Heartland critics forthrightly criticized the agency’s environmental policies and actions.  But bottom line: the governmental, private-sector, and non-profit partners EPA relies on had not one negative word about remote work.

For EPA staff who worked remotely, the facts don’t just speak for themselves: they shout!  Surveys documented that remote work made colleagues happier and more productive. It saved commuting time. That it lowered office rental costs sealed the deal.  Like so many innovations in how we work, once you move forward, you don’t go back.

Skeptical?  Ask a federal worker in your neighborhood, at your church, or whose kid attends school with yours.  They’re not hard to find: 85 percent of federal employees work outside Washington, DC.  Federal agencies are metro Kansas City’s biggest single employer, and second-biggest in St. Louis.

You’ll hear from these hard-working, dedicated people, whose jobs better our lives in so many ways, what I heard at EPA: “A federal office chair and agency coffee don’t do my job.  I do, no matter where I sit.” 

Donald Trump plans radical changes to the federal workforce.  Some bad ideas deserve opposition because they will violate his constitutional obligation to “take Care the Laws be faithfully executed.”  Others, like Musk and Ramaswamy’s attack on remote work, aren’t unconstitutional, just deceptive and vindictive.