Abstract
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, federal agencies transitioned to a maximum telework posture. This new way of working required all employees, except for those that needed to be on-site to perform mission critical functions, to work remotely on a full-time basis. This change created challenges for federal agencies due to their mission, policies, and technology infrastructure (Government Accountability Office, [GAO], 2022). According to OPM (2021a) as of September 2021, 43.3% of the federal workforce was over the age of 50 while only 28.5% were between the ages of 25 and 39. Due to the need to keep continuity and ensure legitimate succession planning, it is important for federal agencies to understand how to retain millennial employees. This transcendental phenomenological study explored how fourteen millennial federal employees experienced job satisfaction while teleworking full-time during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data for this study was derived from semi-structured interviews and then analyzed. After several rounds of coding, four major themes and three sub-themes emerged. The key finding was that offering workplace flexibility increases millennial federal employees’ job satisfaction. The proposed solution is for federal agencies to consider offering robust workplace flexibilities, specifically telework, remote work, and maxiflex schedule, to eligible employees when developing future policies. A recommended path for implementing the proposed solution is provided along with suggestions for future research.