Trenton, NJ – Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican candidate for New Jersey governor, has made a bold promise to overhaul the state’s workforce policies if elected. Speaking at a campaign event in Freehold on Thursday, Ciattarelli declared that on his first day as governor, he would order all state workers under Governor Phil Murphy’s administration back to the office, ending remote work arrangements that he claims have hindered government efficiency.
“That’s why you can’t get anyone on the phone,” Ciattarelli told a crowd of supporters, pointing to what he describes as a decline in responsiveness from state agencies. “Under Phil Murphy, state workers have been allowed to stay home, and it’s left New Jerseyans frustrated and underserved. Day one, that changes—I’ll bring them back to the office where they belong.”
Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman and accountant who narrowly lost to Murphy in the 2021 gubernatorial election, is making his third bid for the state’s top office. His pledge to end remote work taps into a broader narrative of restoring accountability and efficiency to state government, a key theme of his campaign as he seeks to unseat the Democratic incumbent’s legacy in the 2025 race.
The comments come amid ongoing debates about the future of remote work, a policy that gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic under Murphy’s administration.
Four years after the pandemic, Murphy has allowed tens of thousands of state workers to continue to work at home.
While many private sector employees have returned to in-person work, some state workers have continued hybrid or fully remote schedules, a move Murphy has defended as a way to modernize government operations and retain talent.
However, Ciattarelli argues that this flexibility has come at the expense of accessibility for residents trying to navigate state services.
New Jersey’s state offices now feel like ghost towns to residents looking for services. Phones are frequently not answered by a person and messages left for call backs go unanswered.