Hybrid Work Is Still Going Strong — Unless You’re a Federal Worker

Federal workers who prefer hybrid work have had a tough go of it since President Donald Trump began his second term.

While hybrid work remains the most popular work model in the country, there has been a massive swing toward in-person work among federal employees in recent months.

That’s according to new survey data from Gallup, which found that just 28% of federal workers had a hybrid work model in the second quarter of 2025, down from 61% in the final quarter of 2024.

At the same time, fully on-site (or in-person) work for federal employees shot up from 17% in the last quarter of 2024 to 46% in the most recent quarter.

Fully remote work has increased slightly among federal workers, rising from 21% to 26% over the last six months.

These shifts have been driven primarily by Trump’s return-to-office mandate.

The president signed an executive order on the first day of his second term directing agency heads to “terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis.” The order did allow for agency heads to make exemptions.

Despite the drop among federal workers, hybrid work is still going strong several years after the pandemic upended workplaces around the country.

According to Gallup, 51% of workers were in remote work environments as of May, down from a high of 55% in November 2024. But there’s also been a slight uptick in remote work during that same period, rising from 26% to 28%.

In general, the levels of remote, in-person, and hybrid work have remained stable since late 2022, with slightly more than half of all workers being in hybrid work environments since then.

Fully remote work has ranged between 26% and 28% of workers, while fully on-site work has remained stable between 19% and 22% of workers.