USAID staffers disgruntled over back-to-office plans

The U.S. Agency for International Development this week presented employees with a “reentry” plan that will govern its return to in-person work. But staffers say it failed to provide them with information they sought on how often they would be required to work from the office.

Employees attended a virtual all-hands meeting Wednesday — a “​​Reentry Readiness session” — that was described to Devex as “contentious.” They expected details about what specific categories of employees would be required to work in person at the agency’s Washington office. Instead, they were presented with much of the same content they had already received via email.

“They announced no options,” a staffer who attended the one-hour meeting but was not authorized to speak to the media told Devex. “Merely ‘we’re continuing to think about it and we’ll let you know.’ They wanted the meeting to be about re-renty, not what our jobs would be. But our jobs are [very connected to] re-entry.”

An email sent to staffers Monday and seen by Devex said the agency expected to enter its “full reentry posture by March 21, 2022,” and employees this week wanted to know what that would mean for their careers and personal lives. What exactly “full reentry” will entail is unclear.

A log seen by Devex of the questions posed by staffers during the meeting shows employees frustrated by the lack of information. One question read, “When will we find out if our positions are eligible for us to request fulltime [telework] or remote work?”

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S.-based employees at USAID have been teleworking, with the exception of some critical staff members — such as those in information technology and security — who were required to be on-site. Some staffers have relocated outside the Washington area during the interim.

“For nearly two years, the agency has been saying ‘hey, we get it, we can do this work in a hybrid, remote fashion. Let’s radically transform to meet staff where they are and provide better support to our missions,’” the USAID staffer said, expressing frustration that this attitude of flexibility seems to have evaporated as the agency comes closer to returning to the office.

In reference to USAID’s “new workplace posture,” a second question read during the meeting: “I’m disappointed and confused to hear that ‘the future of work’ and ‘re-entry’ are two different things. Seems to be a false distinction. We need to hear how many days/week we … will be required to come in starting in March so we can plan our lives accordingly.”

The meeting was run by the USAID Bureau for Management’s Critical Coordination Structure organization and used BlueJeans virtual conferencing software. The chat function on the meeting was disabled, the USAID staffer told Devex, so the only questions addressed during the session were ones screened in advance by organizers.

“People would have gone off in the chat,” the staffer said. “[The organizers] didn't seem to understand or try to understand the atmospherics behind the questions, so the focus was on nuts and bolts rather than the broader strategic vision.”

When staffers asked about other details — such as when the appropriate technology for hybrid work would be in place and whether contractors would have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to work from the office — the agency was also unable to provide answers. A White House executive order requires federal employees to be vaccinated.

In a response for comment after this story was published, a USAID spokesperson told Devex “​​Employees will have significant advance notice of their opportunities for telework and remote work prior to the implementation of any new workplace posture.” The spokesperson said the agency is aligning their “reentry approach” with the rest of the federal government, and planning will be adjusted as needed based on current conditions, including the omicron variant.

In Monday’s email to staffers, USAID outlined a “phased and flexible” approach for returning to work at its domestic offices.

“We know that this issue is a source of great interest and some concern after months of remote work for many and the need to balance responsibilities between work and home,” said the email from Paloma Adams-Allen, deputy administrator for management and resources. “We are still in the process of designing a new workplace posture, referred to as the Future of Work, that facilitates connection, flexibility, safety, and inclusion, and which we will plan to begin implementing in March 2022.”

Until Monday, the agency was in the “readiness” phase, which entailed preparing domestic offices for staffers to return safely in greater numbers. This included upgrading IT systems “for an increasingly hybrid work environment,” cleaning workspaces, and verifying vaccination status.

The second phase, known as “transition,” began Monday, with staff and visitor access “no longer restricted” in offices. Staffers can use conference rooms for hybrid and in-person meetings. The third phase, “voluntary reentry,” starts Jan. 18, when employees will be able to work in the office on a voluntary basis with no capacity limits.

“In this phase, the Agency will provide training, toolkits, and other resources to staff and supervisors to facilitate the transition to an increasingly hybrid workplace in a manner that fosters teamwork and promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility,” the email said.

The fourth phase’s “future of work launch” is set to begin March 21.

The agency had conducted surveys to ask employees about their return-to-work preferences, only to seemingly reject the desire from many for a flexible work environment going forward, the USAID staffer said. The person noted that a lot of the agency’s work takes place virtually due to its global nature, including collaboration between mission staffers and those in headquarters — conditions that will remain after the pandemic is over.

“So many of us are like ‘ok, we have 3+ months to find a new job, because like hell are we going back to five times a week in the office,” the staffer said. “They want to rigidly control everything. And as a result many of us are going to leave.”

Update, Dec. 13: This story was updated with a comment from USAID after it was published.