Auditor: California could save $225 million a year by letting state employees work remote

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM APPEARS to have arbitrarily ordered workers back to the office without using specific rationale such as data on worker productivity, according to a newly released report from the California state auditor’s office.

The audit, which state legislators requested in May 2024 after the governor first ordered workers back to the office two days per week after they had been sent to work remotely during the COVID-19 lockdown, found that Newsom’s office failed to gather important information about departments’ office space needs and costs and did not use any data about state workers’ productivity to justify its in-office mandate.