Newsom is proud of himself. After allowing most State employees to work when and if they want, he is ordering—for July 1—the employees to return to the office, four days a week. That means with negotiations, legislative agreement, State workers will only have to work four days a week and get a three-day weekend. But they will be paid as if they worked all five days. In other words, they are getting a 20% pay raise!
“Newsom’s directive, announced on Monday afternoon, adds to an accelerating movement toward in-person government work that has stretched across levels of government and party lines five years after the pandemic pushed many workers out of the office. President Donald Trump has sought to compel more federal workers back to their desks, as San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has done for his city’s employees.
“In-person work makes us all stronger — period,” Newsom said in a statement. “When we work together, collaboration improves, innovation thrives, and accountability increases.”
Per a previous order—not enforced, workers had to work two days a week—getting a five day weekend. It is obvious we have too many employees—did anyone miss those folks three days a week?
Newsom brings the back-to-office push to California
California’s Democratic governor joins other leaders, including President Donald Trump, in calling for government workers to return to their desks.
By Jeremy B. White, Politico, 3/3/25 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/03/newsom-brings-the-back-to-office-push-to-california-00209351
Gov. Gavin Newsom is ordering thousands of California state workers to return to their offices four days a week, augmenting a broader post-pandemic push.
Newsom’s directive, announced on Monday afternoon, adds to an accelerating movement toward in-person government work that has stretched across levels of government and party lines five years after the pandemic pushed many workers out of the office. President Donald Trump has sought to compel more federal workers back to their desks, as San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has done for his city’s employees.
“In-person work makes us all stronger — period,” Newsom said in a statement. “When we work together, collaboration improves, innovation thrives, and accountability increases.”
The order for state employees widens Newsom’s 2024 directive that required them to resume in-person work at least two days a week. It would affect some 95,000 workers and allow for case-by-case exemptions.
The Covid-19 pandemic upended the cadences of work for California’s hundreds of thousands of state employees, many of whom are unionized. Some labor leaders representing state workers have pushed back in the past on the governor’s efforts to bring more workers back into the office.
The Newsom administration has long taken a hands-off approach that gave individual agencies the autonomy to set their own remote work policies. But the governor has increasingly pressed for a return to the pre-pandemic status quo, with his administration lamenting the wide variation between different state entities.
Newsom’s order noted that both public entities and a growing number of private employers have summoned workers back, calling a broader return to work an “operational necessity.”
It also argued Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce could redound to California’s benefit, saying the elimination of federal jobs would “create opportunities to fill unmet needs in the State workforce.”
9dxlve
Give them 7 days off! Maybe it will improve the efficiency of the work that never gets done anyway.