VA Calls for Employees’ Full-Time Return to Offices
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has told eligible employees that they must return to work full time “at their respective duty stations (agency worksites).”
The policy change complies with President Donald Trump’s “Return to In-Person Work” memorandum, issued on Jan. 20 and calling for “heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of government” to end remote work policies “and require employees to return to work in person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.”
The VA announcement came on Feb. 3 and noted that exceptions will be made for employees with “a disability, qualifying medical condition or other compelling reason.”
VA News reported that more than 20% of VA’s 479,000 employees have been working remotely.
“This is a common-sense step toward treating all VA employees equally,” said Acting VA Secretary Todd Hunter. “Most VA clinical staff don’t have the luxury of working remotely, and we believe the performance, collaboration and productivity of the department will improve if all VA employees are held to the same standard.”
Curb Free with Cory Lee Featured in Google Workspace Super Bowl Ad
Cory Lee Woodard, seen in a screenshot from the Google Workspace commercial.
World traveler and travel publisher Cory Lee Woodard of LaFayette, Georgia, was featured in a Google Workspace commercial aired during the Feb. 9 Super Bowl.
The commercial, which aired in Georgia and the Chattanooga, Tennessee, markets, was part of Google’s “50 States, 50 Stories” project, Woodard added in a Feb. 8 email to fans.
In the commercial, Woodard, who has spinal muscular atrophy type 2 and is a power wheelchair rider, explains how Google’s Gemini AI system facilitates his travel writing and publishing. “With Gemini and Google docs, I’m able to ask what types of content would be relevant, and it’s able to give me ideas,” Woodard said. “Hopefully, I can inspire other wheelchair users to have these incredible experiences.”
Google said in a Jan. 30 announcement that its Super Bowl ads would highlight 50 small businesses using AI to support their efforts: “Each of these small businesses is driving the American economy — and for this first-of-its-kind project, we’re spotlighting their innovation, grit and hard work, as they find new and incredible ways to use AI to transform how they work and do more of what they love.”
