In a recent memo acting Air Force Secretary Gary A. Ashworth outlines steps to take when the service finds that it lacks workstations for returning workers, Air and Space Forces magazine reported.
The problem is felt most acutely in the the Washington, D.C. area, but elsewhere, as well, the memo says.
“The Department of the Air Force currently has a shortfall of workstations in the national capital region and across the Air Force and the Space Force, to include the CONUS (continental United States) and OCONUS (outside the continental United States) installations, to accommodate its entire workforce,” the acting secretary said in the memo dated Feb. 6.
Ashworth exempts part of the workforce directed to return to offices and workspaces “until additional capacity is achieved.”
But the Air Force is nevertheless directed to move “expeditiously” to return all workers to in-person work situations, the memo also emphasizes.
Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs employees were directed to end telework arrangements spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic by Feb. 7 — last Friday — with some exceptions. The requirement fell on employees living within 50 miles of their official duty station or work site.
Questions were also sent to representatives of the Air Force Research Lab and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC).
Later, Kaufman said most AFLCMC and AFRL workers returned to offices Friday.
“We are working diligently across the centers to comply with the return to in-office work order, in alignment with implementation guidance,” he said. “The number of remote work and telework employees is evolving as we work to comply with all executive orders.”
Like AFMC, those missions are also based at Wright-Patterson.
The 88th Air Base Wing is the host unit at Wright-Patterson, directing security and overseeing infrastructure and other imperatives at the big Air Force Base.
Wright-Patt has more workers, some 38,000, than any other single-site employer in the state of Ohio.
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