DOD releases new guidance on ‘situational telework’

The Defense Department issued new instructions on Tuesday regarding employees’ use of “situational telework,” via a memorandum penned to senior leaders, combatant commanders, and agency and field activity directors.

This guidance comes as organizations across the federal government move to comply with the Trump administration’s far-reaching mandate to terminate all formerly-approved work arrangements that enabled certain employees to operate on-the-clock from outside of approved physical office spaces.

“[It] is imperative that we establish clear guidelines surrounding situational telework to ensure a seamless and efficient return to in-person work,” Darin Selnick, who is performing the duties of undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, wrote in the new memo.

Shortly after being inaugurated for his second term, President Donald Trump directed all agency and department chiefs to essentially stop allowing employees to telework and require their massive workforces to return to the office.

Almost immediately, the accelerated policy change sparked confusion among public servants in D.C. and across the U.S. — partially due to reports of insufficient physical facility space to house all federal employees, and the recognition that remote work and flexible options are major incentives that the government had historically spotlighted in recruitment. 

According to a recent Office of Management and Budget report to Congress, almost 62,000 of the DOD’s more than 783,000 civilian employees — or roughly 8 percent — teleworked or worked remotely in April and May of 2024.

Released on Jan. 24, DOD’s initial guidance to follow Trump’s original directive broadly called on employees who do not receive official exemptions to return to work at DOD locations on a full-time basis. 

That memo, signed by Robert Salesses, stated that “situational telework can be provided for weather-related emergencies, office closures, and other situations where telework serves a compelling agency need.”

Then, on Jan. 31, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued his own, more detailed guidance on return to in-person work policies. Hegseth announced, among other changes, that DOD would terminate existing agreements with all personnel who work remotely or telework “within 50 miles of their agency worksites” for its return-to-office campaign. Exemptions outside of those listed in the document, he wrote, would need his personal stamp of approval.

Hegseth’s memo also confirmed that additional guidance would follow.

In the latest DOD directive that was issued this week, which places a sharp focus on situational telework policies in the near term, Selnick wrote that the department’s supervisors may authorize situational telework — as defined in DOD Instruction 1035.01 — solely when doing so “serves a compelling Agency need.”

Selnick stated that situational telework options “may not be abused or used as a work around to Secretary of Defense Memorandum, ‘Initial Department of Defense Implementation Guidance, Return to In-Person Work,’ January 31, 2025.” He also emphasised that situational teleworking “should be intermittent and not authorized as a substitute for routine or recurring telework.”

DOD will continue to use DD Form 2946 to review and authorize situational telework on a case-by-case basis, according to the March 4 memo.

“DoD Components must ensure that … judicious discretion is exercised in authorizing situational telework. Additionally, all situational telework arrangements must be approved in advance by the designated authority, in accordance with the DoD Component’s guidelines, and employees must obtain explicit approval before performing work at an approved alternative worksite,” Selnick wrote. 

“Prior to authorizing situational telework, supervisors should ensure that employees have completed the required training, employee timecards are properly documented to reflect all instances of situational telework, and that any abuse or misuse of this situational telework is addressed in accordance with DoD Component policy,” he added. “It is our collective responsibility to ensure that situational telework is used judiciously and in a manner that supports the mission and goals of the Department of Defense.”

This new guidance comes against a backdrop of uncertainty inside the Pentagon, where insiders are preparing for possibly forthcoming staff reductions, and officials affiliated with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by billionaire and Trump supporter Elon Musk are probing for activities and spending that the administration deems wasteful.