Michael Bloomberg, former New York City Mayor and CEO of Bloomberg LP, criticized the Biden administration for failing to follow through on their pledge to return federal workers to their offices.

He says Washington is becoming a “ghost town.”

In a scathing op-ed for the Washington Post, Bloomberg declared that the pandemic was over and that the excuses for allowing federal offices to remain empty should end.

He referred to President Biden’s promise in his March 2022 State of the Union address that the “vast majority” of federal workers would work in person again.

However, despite the end of the COVID health emergency and the vaccination requirements being lifted, many federal agency headquarters still have occupancy averaging less than 10%. Bloomberg pointed out that this has negatively affected customer service in some agencies and that taxpayers should not be paying for empty office spaces and maintenance costs.

Bloomberg emphasized that working remotely, especially for young professionals, hinders their professional development and career growth. He urged the federal government to lead by example and for President Biden to give “hard deadlines” on when he expects federal agency staffers to return to the office full-time.

Bloomberg’s company already requires its staffers to work from their offices at least three times per week, with plans to increase the mandate to four days in the fall.