With about a month to go before the Department of Energy planned return-to-work, about 60% of a 10,000-strong workforce at the Hanford Site in Washington state was on premises each day, site manager Brian Vance told the Hanford Advisory Board Wednesday.

While the DOE on Dec. 3 rolled out a plan to get most federal staffers back to their pre-COVID-19 workplaces by mid-February, at least two of the three stages in the strategy probably won’t radically alter the current mix of teleworking and on-site personnel, Vance told an online meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board.

DOE wants to bring back “site critical” federal employees by Jan. 18, but at Hanford, most such senior managers are already working on-site, Vance said. During the second stage, which kicks in Jan. 31, DOE said “site flexible” workers should return. At Hanford these are employees who have already been coming onsite periodically, Vance said.

Finally, “site optional” federal workers will be largely returning to pre-COVID work stations effective Feb. 14, according to the DOE plan announced by Tarak Shah, chief of staff to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.

Specifics on the plan, concerning implementation among union and salaried contractor employees, are still being hammered out, Vance said. “Telework will continue to be a part of the workplace routine,” Vance said, although he provided no details on how it might change from the current 40%.

Vance also said state and federal vaccine mandates implemented at Hanford this fall thus far have not hurt site performance. The mandates “continue to be reviewed by the courts,” Vance said. On Dec. 7, a federal judge suspended the Joe Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for federal contractors, pending conclusion of a lawsuit by contractors unaffiliated with Department of Energy nuclear programs.