Workers say long commutes, inadequate facilities characterize first day of RTO

Wednesday morning marked the first day of the governor’s return-to-office order.

State workers have been able to work primarily from home since the COVID-19 pandemic, but over the past two years Gov. Gavin Newsom has worked to incrementally increase how much time his employees spend in office.

In 2024, he called workers back to offices two days a week. The following year he said the number of in-office days would increase to four, but state workers and their unions successfully delayed that requirement by one year. Unions again tried to resist Newsom’s four-day requirement this year, but those efforts were unsuccessful as of Wednesday.

Over 108,000 state workers are subject to the governor’s return-to-office order, but it’s not clear exactly how many employees were actually back in government buildings Wednesday. Some workers were granted exemptions, and a handful of departments were delaying implementation of the governor’s mandate.

Parking, commuting woes

Workers returning to office Wednesday said the lack of parking and long commute times disrupted their morning. Raymond Sanchez, a staff services analyst at the California Department of Water Resources, said difficulty finding parking added stress to his workday.

“I had to park a couple blocks away,” Sanchez said. “I was in a rush to get to work, and I’m obviously gonna have to move my car every couple hours to try to avoid getting a ticket.”

State employees have said that commuting more frequently under the return-to-office order has also come with added expenses.

“Seven dollars a gallon, putting us back on the street to drive in, to pay for parking — we just don’t have the money to do it,” said Jose Regalado, an associate governmental program analyst at the California Department of Insurance. “The state has already shown they’ve saved money with remote work.”

State agencies also have seen financial strain as a result of the return-to-office order, according to employees. Jafar Wahidi, a contracted security guard at the May Lee State Office Complex, said he had never seen so many children checked into the complex’s daycare.

Some departments have had to move buildings or expand their property to new real estate to accommodate more in-person workers, posing an additional cost to the state.

Lindsey Van Duyn, a sustainability and security manager for the Department of Consumer Affairs, said her unit is responsible for leasing properties for the department. According to Van Duyn, the return-to-office order necessitated the department’s expansion to new properties, causing a financial loss.

“From a financial standpoint, knowing that we can all do our jobs remotely and keep real estate costs in a deficit seems like it would be a win,” Van Duyn said. “But unfortunately...[we] now have to...procure more properties and have financials going out to make space for staff that could do [their jobs] from the comforts of their own homes.”

Other workers echoed Van Duyn’s sentiment, saying that most of the time their work does not necessitate their physical presence in the office. Michael Aicega, an employee at the Department of Water Resources, said the return to office came as a “big slap to the face.”

“There are definitely times when...you get more quality work done when you’re face to face in meetings,” Aicega said. “But most of the time, we’re coming into work, which is wasting gas money and time and costing us sleep, and logging in and Teams-ing into meetings. The same thing that we do at home.”

Welcoming collaboration

While some employees’ tasks are easily transferable to teleworking, others say they appreciate the return-to-office mandate because it facilitates collaboration with coworkers.

“I am happy coming back into the office,” said Rene Hamlin, an associate governmental program analyst for California State Parks. “I think it brings collaboration. I’m in the partnerships division, so a lot of what we do needs communication with our fellow employees and sometimes (Microsoft) Teams just doesn’t do it.”

Hamlin said that for her, transitioning to in-office work has not been very disruptive thus far.

“Our unit was affected a little bit, just shuffling people around to make space for other people and make the teams more cohesive,” she said.

Cody Hess, an associate government program analyst for the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, said these differences in departments’ needs for in-person meetings make a sweeping return-to-office order unnecessary.

“I’m against RTO because I don’t believe in these blanket mandates,” Hess said. “Especially when the governor used to wholeheartedly back telework...I don’t agree with them trying to walk back on their prior commitments.”

Because the mandate went into effect halfway through the week, which will be a short one for many state workers who elect to take off Friday to celebrate the Fourth of July, the full impact of the governor’s mandate won’t be felt until the following week.

This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 11:45 AM.