Ohio governor orders state employees back to in-office work 5 days a week starting in March

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has ordered state employees back to their offices full-time starting next month.

In an executive order issued Tuesday, DeWine required all permanent employees of state agencies, boards and commissions to resume five-day, in-office work weeks no later than March 17. He said the move will allow the state to best serve the public and to make best use of its remaining office space. Both are in the best interests of Ohio citizens, he wrote.

The return date set by DeWine falls almost five years to the day after the state declared an emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 9, 2020, and allowed certain employees to work remotely.

Many of those workers either returned to their offices full-time or on a hybrid basis starting in June 2021, when the emergency was lifted.

Tuesday’s order requires virtually all employees to now return. It allows agencies to grant exceptions in cases where some or all of their real estate portfolios have been eliminated. Lease terminations and space reallocations that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic saved Ohio taxpayers millions of dollars, the order says.

According to the document, a majority of Ohio’s state employees actually never worked remotely, due to the nature of their work at state hospitals, prisons, law enforcement agencies or in other jobs requiring a physical presence.

DeWine’s mandate comes as some major Columbus employers, including American Electric Power and JPMorganChase, also have required a return to five-day work weeks in March. Republican President Donald Trump also is requiring federal workers to return full-time to offices, an order that’s as part of an unprecedented series of steps aimed at shrinking the federal government.