Not all workers will be required to return on day one. DeWine's order and the policy changes made by DAS allow agencies to give exemptions for field workers, workers in offices that do not have enough renovated space to fit all of their employees and people living 40 miles away from their office at the time of the order's signature.

I don’t know if they have room to bring more desks in, but they’re going to have to do something,” one worker said.

Newsom's return-to-office order isn't necessarily going to turn around the Downtown Sacramento office market. For as many state office worker grimaces as Gov. Gavin Newsom's March 3 announcement of returning to office work at least four days a week might've drawn,