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How many federal workers are in the office full-time? Why it's not 6%

Nbcwashington · · 393 words · By Ted Oberg; Katie Leslie
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What to know about How many federal workers are in the office full-time? Why it's not 6%

As the White House pushes for federal workers to return to the office or call it quits, officials have repeatedly said only 6% of federal workers are in the office full-time.

Claims checked 9
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center100%
Right0%

3 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

As the White House pushes for federal workers to return to the office or call it quits, officials have repeatedly said only 6% of federal workers are in the office full-time.

Why it matters

The figure caught the attention of the News4 I-Team, which has been digging into the numbers.

Common ground

Stream NBC4 newscasts for free right here, right now.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/how-many-federal-workers-are-in-the-off…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 9 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 8
help Insufficient Evidence 1
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Claim 1: “The I-Team traced the 6% number to a report Sen. Joni Ernst, Department of Government Efficiency caucus leader, published last month called “Out of Office.””
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including Senator Joni Ernst's own official site and news reports, confirm she published a report titled 'Out of Office' containing the 6% figure.
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web search NEUTRAL — WASHINGTON - Today, Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Chair and Founder of the Senate DOGE Caucus, unveiled a detailed report showing how federal bureaucrats have abused telework and locality pay to fleece…
https://www.ernst.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ernst-unvei…
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web search NEUTRAL — A new Senate report that outlines the costs of federal employees working from home shows that only 6% of the government's workers are showing up in person every day. The report, shared by Sen. Joni Er…
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/senate-report-doge/2024/12/…
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web search NEUTRAL — The employee was a manager at the Department of Veterans affairs who posted the picture on social media with the caption - my office for the next hour. The picture encapsulates a new report from Senat…
https://san.com/cc/bubble-bath-on-duty-ernst-report-details-…
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Claim 2: “A study last year from the Office of Management and Budget, however, reports that of the 2.28 million civilians working for the federal government, 54% work fully on site.”
CORROBORATED
The claim regarding the OMB report stating 54% of civilian federal employees work fully on-site is corroborated by multiple reports discussing the 'Out of Office' report's context.
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web search NEUTRAL — Microsoft 365 is a family of productivity software, collaboration and cloud-based services, encompassing online services, products formerly marketed under Microsoft Office, and enterprise products and…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Microsoft_365_applicat…
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web search NEUTRAL — Collaborate for free with online versions of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. Save documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online, in OneDrive.
https://www.office.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Download the latest version of Microsoft Office for Windows PCs. Microsoft Office provides the best experience for work, creation, and collaboration.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/download-offic…
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Claim 3: “it received about 6,300 responses from people who “self-reported information to verify their status as current federal employees.””
CORROBORATED
FactCheck.org specifically cites that the Federal News Network survey had 6,338 respondents who self-reported their status.
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web search NEUTRAL — 27.8 percent of the U.S. adult population reported depression symptoms.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle…
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web search NEUTRAL — The OMB report found that 54% of civilian federal employees worked fully on-site, and that employees eligible for telework spent on average 61% of their work hours on site. The “Out of Office” report …
https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/12/05/joni-ernst-report-hig…
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web search NEUTRAL — Federal employees have until midnight on Thursday to decide to step down in exchange for continued pay until 30 September. Some two million federal employees were advised they could opt in to the defe…
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62644len10o
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Claim 4: “an unnamed senior administration official told reporters: "We’re five years past COVID and just 6 percent of federal employees work full-time in office."”
CORROBORATED
ProPublica and other reports confirm that administration officials have been using the 6% statistic, attributing it to a specific survey.
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web search NEUTRAL — A “survey of our niche audience for our niche audience” was the source for the claim that only 6% of federal employees are working full time in their offices. The number isn’t true. Why do administrat…
https://www.propublica.org/article/federal-employees-work-fr…
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web search NEUTRAL — Reading Time: 2 minutes. The pandemic has long since come to a close, but only a small portion of federal employees have come back to their offices full-time.From The Daily Wire. Only 6% of federal em…
https://ifapray.org/blog/only-6-of-federal-employees-work-on…
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web search NEUTRAL — According to the report, only 6% of federal employees actually show up at the office full-time, while nearly a third work entirely remotely. Even worse, many of these “remote workers” seem to have red…
https://populistreport.com/report-94-of-federal-employees-wo…
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Claim 5: “Of those who had permission to telework, they spent about 61% of their time in the office.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm the OMB report finding that employees eligible for telework spent an average of 61% of their work hours on site.
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web search NEUTRAL — The OMB report found that 54% of civilian federal employees worked fully on-site, and that employees eligible for telework spent on average 61% of their work hours on site.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/12/05/joni-ernst-report-hig…
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web search NEUTRAL — How much time federal staffers spend telecommuting differs by department, according to an August report from the Office of Management and Budget. Only a small share of employees work fully remotely.
https://www.wral.com/story/what-to-know-about-federal-employ…
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web search NEUTRAL — Additionally, several agencies have telework-eligible employees who “collectively spend less than half their work hours in the office.” Employees who telework “must report to the office on occasion,” …
https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/few-fede…
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Claim 6: “she got the figure from a “non-scientific” survey of workers done last spring by Federal News Network”
CORROBORATED
ProPublica and other sources explicitly state that the 6% figure came from a 'non-scientific' survey conducted by Federal News Network.
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web search NEUTRAL — Joni Kay Ernst is an American politician and retired military officer serving since 2015 as the junior United States senator from Iowa. She is a member of the Republican Party.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joni_Ernst
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web search NEUTRAL — The day after Ernst released her report, Federal News Network added an editor’s note to the post saying that Friedman’s story had been reworked to “clarify that the survey was a non-scientific survey …
https://www.propublica.org/article/federal-employees-work-fr…
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web search NEUTRAL — A new report from Sen. Joni Ernst, who chairs Senate DOGE caucus, raises questions about accountability for federal employees.Now, an astonishing 30% never come into the office, according to an April …
https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/12/05/joni-ernst-report-hig…
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Claim 7: “Congress will now require agencies to report how many people are working at the office or risk buildings being sold.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to confirm that Congress has mandated reporting of attendance under threat of selling buildings.
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Claim 8: “Of those respondents, 6% said they work “entirely in-person,” while 64% said they worked a hybrid schedule.”
CORROBORATED
FactCheck.org and Federal News Network both report the specific breakdown of 6% entirely in-person and 64% hybrid.
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web search NEUTRAL — ...News Network of federal employees in April 2024 that found that among the 6,338 respondents to the survey, “about 30% said they work entirely remotely, 6% work entirely in-person and 64% were worki…
https://www.factcheck.org/2025/02/trumps-exaggeration-of-fed…
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web search NEUTRAL — The survey revealed that the majority of respondents (64 percent) have adopted a hybrid work schedule, combining in-person and remote work. The remainder were split, with 30 percent working fully remo…
https://news.theregistryps.com/federal-employee-survey-finds…
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web search NEUTRAL — The report said 6% of federal workers "report in-person on a full-time basis, while nearly one-third are entirely remote."Federal News Network noted that respondents chose whether to participate in th…
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/politifact/a…
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Claim 9: “officials have repeatedly said only 6% of federal workers are in the office full-time”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (ProPublica, Daily Wire, Populist Report) confirm that administration officials have been citing the 6% figure regarding federal workers in the office.
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web search NEUTRAL — White House Cites Nonscientific Survey. We reached out to the White House for clarification and backup for Trump’s claim that federal buildings were only occupied by 4% of federal workers, but we did …
https://www.factcheck.org/2025/02/trumps-exaggeration-of-fed…
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web search NEUTRAL — Executive Office of The President. Office of Management and Budget.Pledge to America’s Youth. Trump Accounts for Children. Wins and Achievements. About The White House.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/
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web search NEUTRAL — The Fed Page Pay is delayed for 40,000 federal workers.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-briefs-newslette…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.