The Washington Post has ordered employees to return to the office five days a week, according to a memo from Publisher Will Lewis. Managers will have to return beginning February 3, 2025, and all other employees will be expected in the office beginning June 2.
“I want that great office energy for us every day,” Lewis writes. “I am reliably informed that is how it used to be here before Covid, and it’s important we get this back.”
The Post sent employees home on March 10, 2020, as the magnitude of the Covid pandemic became clear. Employees have been required to be in office at least three days per week since spring of 2022.
There is a carve-out: If you’re out reporting, that counts as being in-office, as does making a sales call for the ad folks. “The change is that there is a presumption that between those key work or personal appointments, you will be office based,” Lewis writes, “the same arrangements as you have had with the three day a week rule, but now for five days.”
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In response, the Washington Post Guild, the union that represents many employees at the publication, sent an email to members with the subject line “RTO (Return to Organizing).” In the note, the union’s leaders say “Guild leadership sees this for what it is: a change that stands to further disrupt our work than to improve our productivity or collaboration.” The long time frame before Guild members are required to report five days a week, they say, “means we have time to organize a response.”
Here’s Lewis’s memo:
Hello,
Thank you all very much for your hard work and dedication in this significant week for America and the world.
We produced wonderful journalism for our customers and the office was a vibrant place to be. I want that great office energy for us every day. I am reliably informed that is how it used to be here before Covid, and it’s important we get this back.
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You know how much we all must do to improve our company, and I do not believe we can do that successfully via zoom. We are really good when we are working together in person.
It is in this spirit that we will be returning to the office five days a week in the coming months.
By February 3, 2025, we want all managers to return to the office (that’s all people managers at all levels companywide). All other colleagues will be required to return to the office five days a week by June 2, 2025. These return-to-office plans also apply to those remote colleagues within commuting distance of either our DC or New York offices.
All other remote working arrangements, either continuing or new, will require departmental approval, and will be based on business needs, the nature of the role and related factors.
We know for some people this shift from three to five days in the office will be welcomed and a straightforward transition. For others, we know it will be an adjustment – you may need to adapt routines and rediscover old ways of managing work-life balance. This is why we are giving more than six months for many of our colleagues to work it through.
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When we say return to the office, there is a lot that won’t change. If you are a reporter out on a story, a salesperson out selling, or a colleague going to a medical appointment – carry on as normal. The change is that there is a presumption that between those key work or personal appointments, you will be office based – the same arrangements as you have had with the three day a week rule, but now for five days.
You will likely have questions and will hear more from your own department heads soon. In the meantime, please direct any specific questions to wayne.connell@washpost.com or our HR team.
William
And here’s the Guild’s note:
Hi all-
Like many of you, we are distressed to learn that after four years of successful flexible work arrangements, The Post plans to institute an inflexible and outdated work-from-the-office policy that does not reflect the reality of our jobs or lives. Guild leadership sees this for what it is: a change that stands to further disrupt our work than to improve our productivity or collaboration.
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Here’s the good news: The contract you all voted to approve in December includes a side letter for ample notice and management is readily conceding Guild-covered employees do not have to make any changes until June 2nd at the earliest. That means we have time to organize a response.
Disclosure: Washingtonian’s editorial staff, like the Post Guild, is represented by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild.
Senior editor
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
Here’s an easy way to find yourself on the naughty list … a man in Seattle is in police custody after stealing a patrol car from a Washington State Patrol lieutenant … and only TMZ has video of the suspect shoving the cop to the ground and taking off in her car.
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We obtained footage showing a man casually crossing a busy Interstate-5 in Seattle when a WSP patrol car shows up … the guy stops in his tracks, paces around, then goes up to the driver side door and yanks the cop out of the car. He pushes her to the freeway pavement, then gets behind the wheel and speeds off.
That’s where our wild video ends, but the story doesn’t end there … because an intense police pursuit ensued … and it ended with WSP officers pinning the car and taking the guy into custody.
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Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson tells TMZ … the female lieutenant from the video was not injured and she will not be reprimanded for the incident.
This all started just before noon on Christmas Day … and we’re told the guy is now getting grilled by detectives. Sounds like he’s having a not-so-merry Christmas.
By Jake Goldstein-Street (Washington State Standard)
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Dec. 25, 2025 4:55 p.m.
A road is covered by floodwaters after heavy rains led to historic flooding in the region Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Burlington, Wash.
Lindsey Wasson / AP
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared a public health emergency Wednesday over this month’s flooding in Washington state.
The action from Kennedy, the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is focused on helping meet the needs of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. As part of that, his agency is providing access to HHS emPOWER, which gives data on the number of Medicare enrollees reliant on medical equipment dependent on electricity and other health care services that could make them especially vulnerable to a disaster.
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The announcement could be a good sign for the state’s chances of getting a major disaster declaration from President Donald Trump to potentially open up tens of millions of dollars to deal with the flooding’s aftermath.
Gov. Bob Ferguson plans to ask for such a declaration in the coming weeks.
The flooding from heavy rain and overflowing rivers forced thousands of evacuations, breached multiple levees and damaged numerous highways. It still didn’t quite reach the levels some forecasts predicted. One person has been reported dead.
Kennedy’s order follows an emergency declaration from Trump that unlocked federal resources to respond to the storm.
John Knox, of the department’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, said in a statement that, “HHS stands ready to assist state and local response efforts in the state of Washington due to the potential health care impacts from severe storms.”
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Health and Human Services has also waived penalties for violating federal health privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, for hospitals.
“With today’s declaration and waiver, HHS is helping ensure that residents in the storm’s path have continuous access to the care they need during and after this storm,” Knox said. “ASPR’s highly trained personnel are prepared to support state and local actions to save lives and protect the delivery of health care services.”
The federal Disaster Distress Helpline is also available for crisis counseling. The multilingual hotline, open 24 hours a day, can be reached via call or text at 1-800-985-5990.
The declaration is retroactive to Dec. 9.
A windstorm forecast to arrive in western Washington on Wednesday could exacerbate problems, as saturated soil from the recent rain could make trees and powerline poles especially susceptible to falling over. But the wind is now not expected to be as intense as predicted earlier this week.
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Meanwhile, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown filed a lawsuit with other states against Kennedy on Tuesday for his threats against gender-affirming care providers.
Brown called Kennedy’s move “as cruel and unnecessary as it is illegal, but consistent with an administration that puts politics above health.” It’s Washington’s 49th lawsuit against the federal government since Trump retook office in January.
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity.
This republished story is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit opb.org/partnerships.
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Federal immigration agents shot at a moving vehicle on Wednesday morning during an enforcement and removal action in Glen Burnie, Maryland, striking one person and injuring another, officials said.
A spokesperson for the Anne Arundel County Police Department said neither person had life-threatening injuries, and both were taken to the hospital.
Anne Arundel police responded to a report of a shooting involving federal agents at about 10:50 a.m. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were the only officials involved in the shooting, police said.
Preliminarily, police said the agents approached a white van, but the vehicle attempted to run them over. The agents fired at the van, which accelerated until coming to a stop in a wooded area, police said.
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When asked for comment, Department of Homeland Security officials said both civilians involved in the altercation with ICE are in the U.S. illegally. They did not indicate whether either of the men had been arrested.
“Continued efforts to encourage illegal aliens and violent agitators to actively resist ICE will only lead to more violent incidents,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Anne Arundel police said they will investigate the shooting, while the FBI investigates the alleged assault on the agents and ICE conducts an internal investigation.
