The return-to-office question on California state workers’ minds: ‘Why now?’
Jonah Paul, like many of his peers, is loath to work in-person four days a week.
The marketing analyst for the Employment Development Department lives in Oakland. The trip to and from Sacramento to work in person is a 14-hour affair.
So since he learned Monday that Gov. Gavin Newsom was requiring state workers like him back to government offices four days a week, he’s been asking a question over and over:
“Why now?”
State employees are still grasping for answers to that question in the wake of Newsom’s surprising announcement forcing them back into offices more frequently. Previously, many workers were eligible to work from home three days a week.
The governor, in an executive order, said increasing in-person office expectations was an “operational necessity, to maximize collaboration, cohesion, efficiency, and accountability.”
Paul has his own thoughts on the question: “We can’t ignore the context in which Newsom made the decision to do this.”
Close observers agree, saying Newsom’s mandate appears to have been driven by political calculations more so than just about creating more spontaneous meetups at the water cooler.
“You can’t remove this from who he is and his future plans,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University. Newsom is widely expected to run for president in the future and McCuan said the order “allows him to project a more moderate but business-savvy view of how he governs.”
At the same time, the governor is facing a delicate challenge caused by the destructive fires in Los Angeles: He has long been willing to spar with Republican lawmakers. But taking a hostile approach with President Donald Trump now could put federal aid for the disaster at risk.
“I think the motivation for this is to fall in line with federal government moves, as Newsom wants to avoid provoking Trump,” said Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford University economics professor, who closely watches work-from-home policies.
Newsom’s office cited the arguments laid out in the executive order in response to questions about the political timing of this decision. It said Wednesday the order was originally supposed to be issued in January but was delayed due to the Los Angeles fires.
‘Political posturing’
The state has more than 220,000 full-time employees and more than half already report to work every day, according to Newsom’s office. Not all of them were affected by the recent order.
That didn’t appease unions.
“This isn’t about better service to Californians — it’s about political posturing at workers’ expense,” Anica Walls, the president of SEIU Local 1000, said after the order was announced. The organization is the largest state employee union.
Other worker groups said the order was “not aimed at improving services — it’s about optics” and that Newsom’s administration was “taking cues from Trump’s anti-worker agenda.”
The Trump administration, on Jan. 20, ordered federal agencies and departments to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements.” It has also vowed massive job cuts across an array of federal agencies.
“Why NOW, Gavin??” a user asked on a state worker Reddit page. “It didn’t need to happen at all, let alone during this horrible, stressful, hardscrabble time that your constituents and civil servants are enduring.”
‘An attempt to create some balance’
Newsom’s decision wasn’t because of pressure from Sacramento’s current and former mayors or business leaders.
Kevin McCarty, who took over the role in December, said in a statement that he had not spoken to the governor or his staff about the state’s return to work policies since he won the election.
The news was a surprise to him.
Darrell Steinberg, the city’s former mayor, said it had been a couple of years since he spoke to Newsom’s top advisers about the issue. During a 2022 event, Steinberg said he would: “shout to the rooftops, to the governor, and to other state leaders, that the state should bring all of their workers back downtown,” adding that he felt people should be getting together downtown at least a couple of days a week.
Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to his plea. But in April, his administration announced plans to require state employees to return to the office at least two days a week beginning last summer.
In the recent executive order, Newsom said “the benefit of in-person work days is undermined by the non-aligned work schedules of employees” under the two-day requirement.
Steinberg said he did not know why the governor made his decision now. He supported the move.
“I think the governor’s order is an attempt to create some balance.”
The same could be said for the wording of the executive order itself.
Newsom praised state workers for “their devotion to public service and the common good, day in and day out, through their hard work and talents” while also arguing that the new mandate was needed to address “ongoing disparities around in-person work expectations across departments.”
Scott Ford, deputy director for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, said the group did not formally lobby the administration to have workers be in the office more often, though it was encouraged by the decision.
“There’s certainly going to be an upside for downtown,” Ford said.
It is clear that many state workers aren’t feeling so positive.
This story was originally published March 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "The return-to-office question on California state workers’ minds: ‘Why now?’."
