‘We'll probably waste millions again': Feds dig out of 43 days’ worth of piled-up work

Federal employees across government returned to their offices on Thursday—for the first time in 43 days, for about 650,000 of them—with digital piles of unanswered emails, abandoned contracts and, in some cases, a physical loss of access to buildings and devices. 

The Trump administration instructed furloughed employees to quickly return to work after the president signed a spending package into law late Wednesday that ended the longest-ever shutdown. Only around 30% of the workforce was not working during the funding lapse, but as those employees returned to their offices they noted they faced a mountain of tasks to catch up from their unscheduled time off. Workers across government told Government Executive that their lost productivity—in addition to their own financial hardships—would have lasting impacts on the missions of their agencies. 

One Internal Revenue Service employee said just like the 35-day shutdown in 2019, projects that had been underway were made permanently irrelevant during the government closure. 

“Because of the shutdown, they ran out of time and never completed the project,” the employee said of the previous funding lapse. “So millions of dollars were wasted on paying contractors who produced nothing. This is happening again right now.” 

The employee noted that meant some previous spending would never be recovered. 

“The repercussions of this shutdown will be felt for years,” the IRS worker said. “We'll probably waste millions again.” 

Another IRS employee working on taxpayer audits said the agency will drop workload to meet deadlines. Auditors will have to pick and choose areas within an existing investigation that have the highest likelihood of noncompliance to follow up on, while giving up on other issues they previously planned to probe. “Very high management” has been pushing staff to finish audits more quickly, the employee said, meaning existing deadlines were unlikely to be pushed back significantly. 

In some cases, the worker added, IRS staff may require taxpayers to respond to requests for information on much tighter timelines. 

A General Service Administration employee made a similar observation: their office has reports due that are required by law and due dates are quickly approaching. 

“I doubt we’ll get an extension,” they said. 

Many employees across government were also dealing with logistical issues. In one Health and Human Services Department office, employees lost access to their certain systems and employees who were impacted by shutdown layoffs—whose reductions in force were unwound by the spending deal President Trump signed into law—were unclear if they would have physical access to their buildings. 

At IRS, employees lost access to several systems due to inactivity. Employees had to call the internal “help desk” to have access restored, but that process was slowed due to layoffs that took place on the IT team. 

Other IT issues also plagued employees upon their return. One Interior Department staffer said the furloughing of employees led to “a substantial backlog of cybersecurity and operational tasks” requiring attention. That led to a day of mixed emotions as employees returned to their offices, they said. 

“Exhaustion from the sheer volume of work that piled up, and relief that the chaos is finally over,” the employee said. “Government employees are genuinely glad to be back and and in just the first two hours have accomplished more than the entire House has since” it recessed on Sept. 19. 

Several other employees told Government Executive they were prepared to do what was necessary to tackle backlogs and were simply happy to receive normal paychecks again. After the Trump administration threatened to ignore an existing law to retroactively pay furloughed workers for their missed time, the new spending bill reaffirmed that such back pay is required. 

A Housing and Urban Development employee furloughed during the shutdown said their backlogged work would involve ensuring funding for HVAC units, rent increases for properties and general repair and maintenance for HUD-backed properties goes out. 

“[I’m] just gonna try and take it one email at a time,” the employee said.