Losing an assigned desk is a workspace decision, not a pay or appointment action. What can affect your pay is a consolidation that moves your official duty station into a different locality area — so that is the question to ask, not which floor you end up on.
I The 60 percent rule
The Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act set a threshold with teeth. Where a building's utilization rate falls below 60 percent for two consecutive years, GSA is to reduce the space available to the tenant agencies — by consolidating with another agency, by selling or otherwise disposing of the excess, or by adjusting square footage requirements for replacement space.
It also works the other way round: GSA is required to direct capital investments toward buildings that meet or will meet the threshold. An underused building therefore loses space and loses maintenance funding, which is a fairly brisk way to make a portfolio decision.
The Act required OMB to submit a plan to Congress by January 2026 to consolidate agency headquarters buildings in the National Capital Region so that each is at least 60 percent utilised. GSA has said it will focus on co-locating agencies with similar missions in shared facilities. GSA and OPM are themselves consolidating — GSA returning to its renovated headquarters with OPM in December 2028, followed by accelerated disposal of OPM's former building.
II How you are measured
The 23 largest agencies measured utilization of their leased and owned buildings between 12 January and 6 March 2026. The results, published at the end of March, were the first government-wide snapshot of federal space utilization.
9,766 spaces fell below the 60 percent threshold. The GSA Administrator and the chair of the House subcommittee overseeing GSA wrote jointly that no agency hits the benchmark.
| How agencies measured it |
|---|
| Analysing badge scans to enter the building |
| Occupancy sensors |
| Aggregated and anonymised mobile location data |
Your presence in the building is the data. That is worth knowing not because it should change your behaviour but because it explains why attendance expectations became specific and countable in a way they were not before — and why the return-to-office conversation and the real estate conversation are the same conversation.
GSA stated that the data was compiled from partner agencies and third-party sources, that it cannot opine on its accuracy or completeness, and that some of it could be incomplete, outdated or contain inaccuracies. If a decision about your building is justified by reference to a utilization figure, that figure is not beyond question.
III What hoteling actually is
Desks are unassigned and reserved when needed rather than allocated permanently. Because one desk serves several people across a week, an agency houses more staff in less space.
That is the entire reason it is spreading. It is the only model that lets an agency simultaneously require more in-person attendance and occupy less floor space — and GSA has long described smart occupancy, telework and hoteling as the means of meeting utilization goals.
| Assigned desks | Hoteling | |
|---|---|---|
| Desks needed | One per person | Sized to peak attendance |
| Your space | Permanent | Reserved per visit |
| Storage | At your desk | Locker, or none |
| Utilization | Low when people telework | Higher by design |
IV Desk Ratio & Utilization Estimator
How many desks a hoteling model needs, and where the utilization rate lands against the 60 percent threshold.
How Much Space Does This Office Need?
Illustrative. Agencies apply their own peak-demand buffers and space standards.
V What you can and cannot expect
No statute gives a federal employee a right to a particular desk. Workspace assignment is a management decision about how agency space is used, not a condition of employment attaching to you personally — so an agency can generally move you to unassigned seating.
Two things do carry weight:
- Reasonable accommodation. If a specific workspace configuration is part of an accommodation — assistive equipment, a quiet location, proximity to a facility — that runs on its own framework with real force. See reasonable accommodation.
- Bargaining. Where employees are represented, the impact and implementation of a shift to unassigned seating may be negotiable depending on the agreement and the scope of the change. See union representation.
How reservations work and how far ahead you can book. Whether any space is held for people who must be on site daily. What storage exists. Whether there are enough enclosed spaces for calls involving sensitive information — which for a great deal of federal work is not a comfort question but a handling requirement. Ask before the move, when answers are still being designed.
VI When consolidation touches your pay
Moving buildings is usually a commute change and nothing more. It becomes a pay change only if it changes your official duty station into a different locality area.
| Scenario | Pay effect |
|---|---|
| New building, same locality area | None |
| New building, different locality area | Locality rate changes with the duty station |
| Losing your assigned desk | None |
| Falling below two in-person reports per pay period | Duty station should follow your actual worksite |
So the question to ask about a consolidation is not which building or which floor — it is what duty station will be recorded on your SF-50 afterwards. Model the consequences in the transfer pay impact calculator, and see RTO and pay impact for the locality mechanics.
VII The playbook
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Told your building is being consolidated | Ask what duty station will be on your SF-50 afterwards, in writing. |
| Moving to unassigned seating | Ask how reservations work and what storage exists, before the move. |
| You handle sensitive information | Raise enclosed space as a handling requirement, not a preference. |
| You have an accommodation | Raise it early. That framework has force where desk preference does not. |
| Represented by a union | Impact and implementation may be negotiable. Ask your representative. |
| Utilization figure cited at you | GSA itself says the data may be incomplete or inaccurate. |
| Same locality area | No pay change. It is a commute change. |
| Different locality area | Your locality rate moves with the duty station. Model it. |
| Still teleworking part of the week | Two in-person reports per pay period keeps the office duty station. |
| Planning around it | The Act is statute, not policy. Expect this to continue for years. |
If your workspace is changing
- Establish whether the new building sits in the same locality pay area.
- Get the resulting official duty station confirmed in writing.
- Check your SF-50 after the move to confirm what was actually recorded.
- Ask how desk reservations work and how far ahead you can book.
- Ask what storage is provided.
- Confirm there are enough enclosed spaces for sensitive calls.
- If you hold an accommodation, raise it before the layout is finalised.
- If represented, ask your union what has been bargained.
- Count your in-person reports per pay period against the locality threshold.
- Keep the written instructions about where and when you are expected.
Frequently asked questions
Under the Utilizing Space Efficiently and Improving Technologies Act, if a building's utilization rate falls below 60 percent for two consecutive years, GSA is to reduce the amount of space available to the tenant agencies — by consolidating with another agency, by selling or otherwise disposing of the excess space, or by adjusting square footage requirements for replacement space. GSA is also required to direct capital investments toward buildings that meet or will meet the threshold, which means underused buildings lose both space and maintenance funding.
Agencies used several methods for the first government-wide measurement, including analysing badge scans to enter a building, sensors that track occupancy, and aggregated and anonymised mobile location data. Your presence in the building is therefore the data, whether or not anyone told you that. This is worth knowing not because it changes what you should do but because it explains why attendance expectations have become specific in a way they were not before.
The 23 largest agencies measured utilization of their leased and owned buildings between 12 January and 6 March 2026, and the data released at the end of March showed 9,766 government spaces falling below the 60 percent threshold. The GSA Administrator and the chair of the House subcommittee overseeing GSA wrote in a joint opinion piece that no agency hits the 60 percent benchmark. GSA cautioned that the data was compiled from partner agencies and third-party sources and that it could not opine on its accuracy or completeness.
A workspace model in which desks are unassigned and reserved when needed rather than allocated permanently to individuals. Because a given desk serves several people across a week, an agency can house more staff in less space — which is precisely why hoteling is the mechanism agencies use to reconcile a return-to-office expectation with a shrinking real estate footprint. Smart occupancy, telework and hoteling strategies have long been described by GSA as the means of meeting utilization goals.
Generally yes. Workspace assignment is a management decision about how agency space is used rather than a condition of employment that attaches to you personally, and no statute gives a federal employee a right to a particular desk. Where employees are represented, the impact and implementation of a move to unassigned seating may be a matter for bargaining depending on the agreement and the scope of the change. If you have a reasonable accommodation that depends on a specific workspace configuration, that is a separate framework with real force.
It depends on where you end up. If your agency moves to a different building within the same locality pay area, your pay is unaffected — locality attaches to the official duty station, and both buildings sit in the same area. If the consolidation moves your official duty station into a different locality area, your locality rate changes with it. The question to ask is not which building you will be in but what duty station will be recorded on your SF-50 afterwards.
Not directly, but the two interact. Whether the agency worksite remains your official duty station for locality pay purposes turns on reporting in person at least twice per biweekly pay period, and that test is about attendance rather than about whether you have an assigned desk. What hoteling changes is the practical experience of attending — reserving space, storing belongings, and finding somewhere suitable for calls — rather than the legal position on your duty station.
The direction of travel is well established in statute rather than resting on any single policy. The Act required OMB to submit a plan to Congress by January 2026 for consolidating agency headquarters buildings in the National Capital Region so that each is at least 60 percent utilised, and GSA has said it will focus on co-locating agencies with similar missions in shared facilities. GSA manages a portfolio of roughly 360 million rentable square feet, so implementation is measured in years rather than months.