Dive Brief: - Tens of thousands of California state government workers are heading back to the office this week as a mandate from Gov. Gavin Newsom requiring agencies to make four in-office days the default takes effect. - The policy could expose the inadequacy of the state’s office space to accommodate workers, say consultants and others who’ve analyzed workers’ changing views over what constitutes a productive work environment. “Employees need space to focus, space to collaborate, and space to connect but most offices manage one, maybe two,” says Adam Morgan, co-founder of furniture and design company Bureau. - The state’s mandate has drawn pushback from local unions and other groups that say the requirement will hurt recruitment and retention while increasing costs. Dive Insight: Newsom’s return-to-office order took effect July 1. It requires California state agencies that still offer hybrid arrangements to make four in-office days the default, increasing from the two-day office schedules that many employees in the state have been operating on, according to reports. The state employs more than 224,000 full-time workers, according to a release by the governor’s office. The mandate will impact approximately 109,000 of those workers, the Sacramento Bee reported. When he issued his executive order last year, Newsom said workers spending more time in the office will help improve accountability, collaboration and innovation, but that claim has never been fully supported, according to a 2025 California State Auditor report. The report found that the governor’s office had not gathered key data on job performance, service delivery, office needs or costs. The report says California could save as much as $225 million annually if employees worked in the office only two days a week by allowing the state to shrink its office footprint by 30%. State policy requiring dedicated workstates for employees who are