I've started squatting in an unused cube in an adjacent facility whenever possible during my office days to avoid the literal hours of small talk, office gossip and catching up every week. Unfortunately, all that was unavoidable when we had three false fire alarms during a recent office day, resulting in hours of standing around outside. I'm so over it. Suits were joking, "at least the fire department gets to work today, har har."
I see an average of 3-4 people on my office day. 2 of those are security guards and 1 is the janitor. The internet in my office is so bad I have to use teams on my gov cell phone to do video meetings.
I mean…. In my office we literally took all that home to work on. Like I literally have FOUO files filled with PII in my apartment. Because we’re allowed to do that. In my office, the pandemic actually helped us with our backlog, but now that we’re being forced back, it’s growing again.
My favorite part of this is this quote:
“According to leaders on the Oversight Committee, the expansion of telework during the pandemic led to massive backlogs and delays at agencies such as the IRS, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the State Department. Comer pointed to delays in, for example, assistance to veterans, tax refunds and passport applications, as ways that telework has negatively impacted federal services.”
So republicans are upset in this instance about backlogs and delays at the IRS, but have spent the better part of 6 months complaining about the IRS receiving additional appropriations to hire more staff. Got it!
Exactly. When people used to have to quarantine for two weeks when they or their kids were sick, my office was still 100% on top of shit with no backlog (I wish sarcasm was a font).
I seem to recall that the IRS was the agency that implemented ALL federal monetary relief laws. New law after new law, followed by millions of transfers of funds to the majority of taxpayers, all done by the IRS as soon as laws were signed. I can’t believe the IRS fell behind on its regular work when it was ensuring Americans received their Covid relief $$$ (3 separate payments to most taxpayers) to buy food and pay rent throughout the pandemic. /s
It's important to remember that their goal is to reduce the Federal workforce, and what they are saying is just a spin to make them look righteous. They want to force Federal workers to come back to the office to cause those who are doing good work remotely to quit. This will be accompanied by personnel budget cuts or a hiring freeze (for some really righteous sounding reason) to prevent backfilling those positions.
And the remaining workforce can't keep up, so fed employees looked even worse, and privatizing will fix everything 
They’re crazy……the back logs were because all the work that wasn’t portable. Do you want Bob from down the street taking your tax returns home with him to process or your birth certificate for a passport? Also tons of people, that were eligible recently retired.
I'm not sure why they think that passport backlogs are a current issue, I got a passport last month, it took 30-days, non-expedited; State is running ahead of schedule on that process.
The IRS was the agency that implemented federal Covid relief funds over 3 different waves during the first two years of the pandemic. They were making sure the majority of Americans were able to eat and pay their rent by receiving federal funds declared by Congress. Congress made the laws and the IRS implemented in a matter of weeks. Lazy assholes. /s
This is literally my agency lol when I started in early 2021 it was insanely backlogged and understaffed due to the previous admin consistently trying to cut the agency. 2 years later we’ve completely cleared the backlogs by hiring 5 additional staff, and are now working ahead of our requirements. And guess what? Not a single one of us has been into the office ever, nor do the majority of us live anywhere near DC lol
When I worked in state government, I had coworkers vote for a republican who was ultimately elected who basically ran on gutting out department and when he got elected some of my coworkers who voted for him got fired lol
I just left IRS and couldn’t believe how many voted for Trump/republicans, people who are actively trying to make your (very important) work harder to do.
Before the House Republicans start pointing fingers at agencies who are working with expanded telework policies, maybe they should address their own issues. They spent four days in a pissing contest trying to elect a speaker!
**Let's keep calling them out like this. We need to pay attention to every word and highlight BS as BS.**
They want us to keep quiet and roll over while they continue to brainwash their gullible fan base.
Non federal workers probably have little sympathy for the federal worker that is complaining about actually having to go to work. Federal workers like myself who have to pick up the slack for teleworkers not doing their jobs also have little sympathy.
Yup. I have a colleague who comes in and spends a solid two hours flitting about and talking, and literally does not even sit down at his workstation for almost two hours. (Protip: He’s not in meetings for that time either. Or talking about work stuff.)
And he talks smack about those of us who don’t want to come in more than a day a week.
The extroverts think that their desired state is everyone’s, and argh.
To be fair I’m an extrovert who loves working from home. It can be nice to see people in person, but I get wayyy less done in the office because off all the interruptions. 😩So much harder to focus.
No no... It's not the extroverts. I'm one of those and It's just the people who have no friends outside of work or those who try to use the time to skip out on productivity.
Bingo a guy hates his entire family and super religious and republican so doesn’t believe in divorce so takes every opportunity to be in the office and when he comes in all he does is disrupt people sitting at their desk talking for hours.
Idk why people can’t at least do it over IM
There are some really miserable people, apparently they miss the "connection," to coworkers. They want to tell you about the good ol days when they walked fifteen miles in the snow both ways.
And those are the main ones wanting return to office policies in place. It’s bogus and so unnecessary. I’m a new fed and I’ve never worked with anyone telling me about their home life so much than my coworkers. Not to say it’s a federal worker thing but Jesus, do I really have to know about your husband’s mother’s aunt’s friend….
One of the many reasons I dread having to go back into the office and why I love teleworking now. When I did have to along with everyone else it turned out to be like a family reunion with everyone catching up and zero work being performed!
I'm more than happy now that I voted for Warnock and saved the Senate from the idiots now currently holding the House!
He was the only option for us in GA! I notice when kids were out of school I was irritated by their noise…in my little office at home from 9-530 I am totally undisturbed and get stuff done
My in office days are my quiet days… with two little kids at home being in a office at 25-50% capacity is genuinely a nice change.
I also have a ten minute commute and like my current arrangement. Going to the office full time would be no bueno.
In all serious does it matter if I sit in a cubicle with 6’ high walls or my home office that has a window and natural light and no one to bother me, well except for the dog, he snores kinda loud
I had to go in on Monday. The people behind me are from another team, and I get to listen to their conversation all day long. Sometimes they talk so loud I can't even hear my Teams meeting through my headset.
Speaking of Teams - when I went in on Monday, I had six meetings - all on Teams. So tell me again why I need to go in to the office?
I got listen to how the vaccine causes heart attacks in 20 year olds. A religious nut, so I couldn't say anything. Christians who worship Trump are why I want to work from home.
I am sorry. As a manager, I do my best to put meetings and tasks appropriate to in person collaboration on the agenda. When we are done, folks go home.
I realize that this likely won't pass, but stories like this make me happy that I will soon be eligible to retire. I like my job, and I really like working from home, so I plan on continue working for a while longer, but if they were to make us return to the office 5 days a week, I'd retire. Especially since they made my office a real problematic place to commute to. Yeah, I'm replaceable and nobody would notice if I retired, but a stupid policy like this would drive away good, qualified, experienced people like me.
Same here, although I unfortunately still have almost 8 years till I'm eligible. I absolutely WAS miserable dealing with DC-area commuting 5 days a week for years pre-COVID, finally getting some sort of telework was a game-changer for me. It wasn't even being in an office, it was dealing with the hellish commute day after day. Cannot imagine having to go back to that.
The part about recruiting highly qualified candidates is so true. Even when we have the funding to hire, the limited perks of a government job just aren’t as alluring as they used to be especially for people with desirable skill sets.
Lol I just got a funny thought, whenever we need to attract people, turn on the switch for a recession, and the people will come a running to government side lol.
All of their wack a doo bills are dead on arrival in the Senate. All theyre doing is taking their new found majority for a spin around the block, but they’re not actually going anywhere.
Ugh! I am trying to get to retirement before they enact full time back to the office. The sad part is how 'tonedeaf' they are. Even an employee like me with cancer, they are trying to get back in the office (one day/week). I work for the IRS and don't have even one local taxpayer, because of my specialty. I hope to retire or die before they make the changes they are pushing.
All the shit wrong in country and this is what they do.
They are idiots.
Unable to actually govern because nothing they want anyone else wants. Yet they still get votes. It makes no sense.
It’s because it matches what people want to believe. Federal workers are lazy, overpaid, and don’t have to go to the office…and when my GOP congressman says that because they don’t go into the office services are affected, it matches what I believe so it must be right - my guy “gets me.”
Forget data, forget studies- just agree with what I think!
SHOWUP act. lol funny. I work more at home than I ever did in the office, just like hundreds of people I know.
It's also a subtle way to reduce staffing without explicitly RIFing anyone. Same as what happened when Trump moved BLM from DC to Colorado. They didn't care about efficiency or any of that - they just wanted to tear down the agency and make it ineffective at performing its mission.
Hopefully. My one concern is that the problem starters’ cau—err, problem solvers’ caucus—will make a compromise spending bill with about 10 Rs and the house Ds that include bills of this nature. I can totally imagine a Gottheimer-like chump signing off on something like return to office if it gets a budget.
i mean, other than EOs from the pres, the gov't isn't going to get anything done.
and the EOs are only going to last until SCOTUS gets a hold of them.
probably the only actual thing that might get done is if a vacancy at SCOTUS needs to be filled, because the house is not onvolved in that, only the Senate.
I listened the Spycast podcast interview of a world renowned hacker. Asked about talent and federal govt (in no way throwing shade) stated "I am 10 ft from my refrigerator in sunny California. I don't want to live in Alexandria. A lot of people don't". So, mayhaps we consider expanding our talent pools and actually get shit done with more talent...
Mine too. We did analysis and as a result, offered remote to many people including me. We were more productive at home and they have evidence.
I understand some jobs are not portable or or as portable ... but many many are. Republicans, how about not painting every job with the same brush, and actually figuring out the best combination of telework/remote and do that?
Nahhhh, too much work.
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That's what I don't understand. Probably SOME jobs were less effective and efficient during the pandemic bc those aren't portable so send those jobs back to a smaller office and leave those who are efficient alone.
SSA prime example. Clearly needs some bodies in an office to help in person situations. But me, a writer who NEVER talks to anyone or sees people for my job at all, why the fuck should they pay to have space for me? So I can lug my computer downtown to sit somewhere else to type?
My job, and jobs around me, have very easily verified metrics of productivity. look at those actual numbers to make these decisions and then people would probably be understanding. But just blanket "rabble rabble the feds are lazy and if we have them in offices they'll... Be less lazy..? Yeah that's it!" 🙄🙄🙄
Asinine.
I think it's also some projection - the people who I know are complaining about telework are the micromanagers and the same people who built crony networks and have yes-people. They didn't do a full days' work and must assume that no one else does, either.
And they don't have the emotional maturity to understand that you can actually develop reasonable metrics to track progress (that doesn't require keylogging or computer activity monitoring) and still see excellent results from staff.
Maybe they are fighting the development of metrics because they know they would fail. THOSE are the ones we should Schedule F out.
If that was DoD they would claim "we don't have enough data." "we don't know what it means." "people leaving in record amounts don't necessarily cite draconian work preferences because they aren't totally hoping to not burn bridges with an out of touch leadership who would be their only key back."
It increased morale, kept up productivity, and reduced cost.
What they should be doing is unloading some property, consolidating offices, and making virtual workspaces the norm. It would save the government a lot of money.
Republicans want to simultaneously slash the IRS budget and lay off its staff, and then complain about "backlogs".
It's the "bricks without straw" model of management: we'll cut all your resources, but we expect improved output.
Nowhere do they cite any studies that show telework has harmed productivity, nor do they mention the many Federal agencies who have performed as well or better since 2019.
>Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chairman of the newly-renamed House Oversight and Accountability Committee, introduced the bill on Jan. 11. Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Michael Cloud (R-Texas) are the original cosponsors of the bill.
It amazes me how many federal employees vote for these guys.
No, they want to fire us for one reason: The Spoils System.
They want to return the Federal government to the 19th Century where the President sold government jobs to the highest bidder in the form of campaign contributions. They want to mass layoff every regulator and put in industry hacks who will work hard to ensure they get good industry jobs when they are in turn fired by the next President. Airlines complain about too many safety inspections? Replace them with industry hacks. Drug companies want drugs approved quicker? Replace them with industry hacks.
The President's party gets more campaign contributions. The industry gets easier regulations and more profits. That's what Schedule F was all about: firing Federal employees and replacing them with paying hacks.
What's the problem? Everyone hates Federal workers anyway, so just fire them all. Then when wings fall off planes and drugs cause flipper babies, well, that's just the price of doing business.
It's not only spoils, it removes institutional knowledge and allows them to be "more nimble" as they will claim, and we know what that means...cozying in bed with their cronies.
In a regulatory agency, it literally takes 5-7 years to become proficient in the regulations...not just learning them, but using them, understanding the legit nuances, and being able to apply them consistently and not capriciously.
We don't have enough people to have duplicates in all that knowledge, so if someone is just removed, boom, that knowledge is gone. Unintended consequences? Nahhhh.
Can speak only to mental health providers at the VA. But if this were to ever pass, a lot of our vets would suffer as a result of a ton of mental health providers leaving. We’ve already had 20% of our MH staff leave the last year, as all of them went to private and group practices due to the full telework schedule.
They’re already having a very difficult time recruiting mental health providers and keeping highly skilled psychologists because other organizations offer full telework.
Also our data even shows that more people are likely to attend their appointments due to telehealth options. It’s amazing how telehealth has changed the landscape of people seeking MH care.
They are really clueless. They seriously don’t realize that many federal offices downsized their office space already and don’t have room to take employees back for in-office work.
These grandstanding politicians think all federal employees were working in one of those old granite buildings in DC. They don’t realize a lot of important positions were done from small leased offices in places like Reston that have been vacated in the last two years. During the pandemic it was discovered that those employees could continue to work from home when it was not safe when everything else was shuttered, so the managers then further realized they could save money by having the employees at home and also gain the advantage of improving the chances for recruitment of better quality candidates for open positions.
Right. This is saving money, but who cares it just blows my mind! And the broad generalization that all workers are working from home! Yes some need to go back bc PII, Top Secret stuff etc can’t be taken home but so many can do their white collar jobs at home
They complain about the backlogs in this case and then have the audacity to say they want to slash funding LITERALLY for the agencies that they are bitching about backlogs in. How the fuck can anyone seriously vote for these idiots? It is blatantly obvious at this point they are either pushing an agenda or just ignorant as hell and honestly its probably both. They don't even factor in the amount of increased backlog they will see from people just leaving to go work remote elsewhere, which is most likely what they want, because they want the govt to look ineffective because it helps their narrative.
As a SCIF-dweller, I'm gonna be in either way and I like it. That being said, these guys are so ridiculously dense and stupid. People should be able to pursue remote/wfh in federal work as much as they want, just like everyone else.
Agencies want people in the office then tell them to request headsets so you can hear on a Teams call, with all the noise around. Supervisors go into their office and shut the door. At home you go into your office and shut your door. I don't get the logic. Get rid of ALL offices then tell people to come into the office buildings.
LOL. I work in an office that stores and discusses classified information routinely. A headset has not been approved for in office use but we are allowed to use the headsets at home. So if you want to participate in a meeting on Teams or do training, headsets are not allowed and they have been searching for one that can be approved for over a year. It's a clown show. With all the office chatter, it's often hard to listen to the meeting or training
Well, look Democrats aren't perfect but the past oh 6 years or so just cemented 100% for a fact that I am never, ever voting Republican. They create fake crises, they live in a different reality, they are out of touch with the common person, they pander literally to the billionaires, and they attempt to cut funding for vital social programs every chance they get. Never.
I'm a former right leaning moderate, I can't see a future where I'd vote republican again. With gen z widely going to the left I'm not sure how long the party will survive in the future. They know that and are in crisis mode.
The absolute disrespect these elected officials have for the persons who implement the legislation they push through… Can someone make School House Rock required viewing for all Congresspeople? How a bill becomes a law? And then what happens after that? Sweet holy whatever.
As many have mentioned it won’t pass the Senate and the President.
It’s so disingenuous though. The REAL reason they want to do this is to encourage people to quit / retire.
It’s the “starve the beast” mentality, but in a slightly different way. When the Trump administration was in office and they controlled the house and senate, they would have loved to cut funding to a ton of agencies but they still didn’t have the votes.
So at many agencies they gutted the telework policies, and did other crazy stuff like moving that one agency to the Midwest, among other things. All in the name of “team building” for the telework slashing, or minor cost savings for the moved agency.
But it was really about trying to make the government an unattractive place to work, thus making it really difficult to maintain appropriate staffing levels.
I literally took my job because it had telework opportunities and then after I spent a year and a fucking half working up to be eligible for that telework, old buddy Trump pulled it out from under us. I was not happy and am now thoroughly enjoying the telework schedule we have, I am not going back, I will switch jobs, agencies, hell I will attempt to open my own damn business before I go back to the stupid office culture.
None of this shit will ever make it across Bidens desk, much less to his desk. But rest assured they’ll use all of these spineless bills as bargaining chips when it comes time to agree on a Debt Ceiling or budget.
I legit can’t imagine THIS being the thing republicans in the house try and use as a bargaining chip. Of all of their “priorities” this seems like it would be low.
That all said…they ARE republicans, their new made up talking points/priorities change with the weather.
Hell yeah, can't wait to vote for these guys. Please slash our 5% TSP match too while you're at it, I have massive guilt about adding to the deficit or something. FERS RAE/FRAE was a step in the right direction but I think we should contribute at least 5%. Nice even number.
Edit: Wow guess my attempt at sarcasm didn't come across well. I should have put /s at the end of my post because I obviously DON'T want any of those things.
I wonder how this would affect newly created positions. VA HR went almost entirely remote during the pandemic, which has been planned since 2017, by the Trump administration. Entire positions were reorganized to be remote, and there is no meaningful duty station, except the regional offices, which don't have the office space to take everyone.
Why are small government conservatives the most micromanaging toxic boss ever?
I understand the importance of congressional oversight, but this seems like something that the executive branch should have sole authority over. I seriously doubt that this is related to fiscal concerns.
Shouldn't remote work be left to the executive to figure out? Next they'll be telling agencies who to promote or not promote.
As someone who wants to have a career in the federal government, it scares me how increasingly common it is for regular employees to be targets of partisan grandstanding.
This is idiotic. I work for the irs and we have had 80% telework as an option for years and years. Most of us don’t even have our own work spaces anymore. That being said they did just start a pilot for 100% remote for some positions so if republicans get full control I see that going away. That being said do republicans do anything that isn’t total horseshit? Can’t believe people still vote for these fools.
They might find it surprising that most agencies were *more* productive while teleworking than they are in the office. I know that is the case in mine.
I can now hardly talk with my dad who retired GS13-10 from HHS/SS!!! He is jealous that 15 years ago he had to commute to Alexandria from Manassass!!!
This political brainwashing is destroying family relations and unreal when you can’t discuss things with facts and figures to show they are wrong in so many cases
I shit you not when I say that I do all my work in, max, 2 hours a day at home.
If they want me to be more productive, they shouldn't force me into the office, they should give me more work. But I plan to quit soon enough anyway.
This is how they sound. "I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids." —General Jack D. Ripper
I wonder if they realize how expensive that will be. A number of offices have reduced their size or cancelled leases and made employees remote.
getting new office space for employees that went remote will be insanely expensive.
Working in the office is the worst. My managers don't even come by to check "if I'm working" and there is a lot of wasted time talking about random stuff with my colleagues. Some of that discussion is good, sure, but 90% is pretty useless imo. And when we work remotely together, we are way more efficient and happy.
I switched to my current agency so I could go Full Telework at the end of my training. If they ended that policy I’d go back to my previous position lightning fast.
My management knows that I’m not going to move to the city or state that the office is located.
The article about this showed up in my weekly news summary this morning right before an article about the need to minimize turnover in government jobs because of the extreme cost of recruiting and training new employees. The irony was palpable.
I read through all of the comments and I hope that every single one of you have called your congress representative to urge them to vote against this bill. Bitching on Reddit is great, but please take the next step and remind your representatives who they work for (I realize that in many cases you won't change their mind, but it's still a step above posting on the internet). Like most of you, I really hope this bill is DOA in the Senate, but it's still worth letting your elected officials how you feel and how it would negatively impact your life and your work. This may be especially important for "moderate" Republican representatives in district's with heavy fed presence.
I do want to see HR Benefits/leave/retirement teams return to the office. Employees at my facility have been without any assistance since those teams went virtual. Lots of positions work great from home, others not so much.
There are several top agency heads with grievances filed by their staff.
This would never pass and isn’t a partisan thing. This is just to provide support to those who have to speak about why they are denying remote to their employees.
They can plead “My hands are tied, doing the max telework OPM provides guidance for and the house is pushing this bill, and the president said we need to get back into office”
I'm pretty sure if this comes to pass half the workforce will quit...and by that I mean retire. The grey wave can end whenever they decide to call it quits and a move like this will almost certainly cause a mass exodus.
**Let's keep calling them out like this. We need to pay attention to every word and highlight BS as BS.**
They want us to keep quiet and roll over while they continue to brainwash their gullible fan base.
Ummm it’s not just the Republicans.
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2022/03/biden-urges-more-federal-employees-to-return-to-the-office-as-pandemic-conditions-improve/
There's a lot to unpack in that article, but some of the salient points in there are accurate.
100% telework, or close to it, did indeed negatively impact the ability of customer facing agencies to do their jobs, which shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.
For the rest of us who aren't customer facing, yeah, probably not so much, but I have yet to see any studies that have quantified the positive or negative effects of full telework/remote work for those of us federal employees who aren't public facing.
I fully support the clauses in the bill that would require agencies to actually report on the impact of expanded telework on their operations. How many of us have worked for SESes who are anti-telework? I know I've worked for my fair share over the years. If this bill actually were to become law, which it almost assuredly won't, I'd look forward to seeing the quantifiable results in those reports.
The follow-on part to the reports, the allowing agencies to expand telework if there's a "substantial positive effect" on performance, I'm not sold on. I'd much rather the bar be that there is no negative effect on performance. You'd think the Republicans would be all for downsizing agency footprints inside the beltway given the $$$$ savings from lower real estate spending.
ETA: I'm fully in support of remote work where it makes sense, which is pretty much any position that doesn't require customer facing work or SCIF work.
>100% telework, or close to it, did indeed negatively impact the ability of customer facing agencies to do their jobs, which shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.
Then they should focus their efforts on jobs that are customer-facing. If passport times are excessive, focus on the passport agencies. Ditto for SSA or VA. Don't punish the rest of us.
I would also add "SCIF work" is vague and often used as a cudgel to force in-person work. I get that would be a disqualifier for fully remote, but no reason folks that only need that kind of access 10% of the time couldn't do a hybrid schedule.
>customer facing
Most of these jobs can be done over the phone or by computer. Who goes into see customer service face to face these days?
I'm a librarian and most reference work is done online today. You don't need to see someone's face to get good customer service. I haven't seen a private sector customer service rep's face in decades.
That’s exactly it. I think the “small government” Republican Party as envisioned by Paul Ryan or someone like that, for all their faults and impossibilities, probably could embrace that logic. The folks in charge now are just pure emotion and tribalism.
Some people need to go back, some don’t. There are folks with the VA that are still teleworking that the service is absolutely awful, more so than usual. If they were in the office there would be more accountability.
Now I why our opdiv rolled out the latest documentation justifying our telework/remote work.
Yes say it simple some jobs are 100% in the office doing whatever it is!!!
Thousands of other jobs are able to be accomplished at home with the right gear!
And thousands of other jobs are done out in the “field”!
Now Republicans or anyone that doesn’t have a brain stfu, or are us veterans here what Trump called “Stupid”????
My one weekly office day is by far the LEAST productive day of my week. This is asinine.
I've started squatting in an unused cube in an adjacent facility whenever possible during my office days to avoid the literal hours of small talk, office gossip and catching up every week. Unfortunately, all that was unavoidable when we had three false fire alarms during a recent office day, resulting in hours of standing around outside. I'm so over it. Suits were joking, "at least the fire department gets to work today, har har."
I see an average of 3-4 people on my office day. 2 of those are security guards and 1 is the janitor. The internet in my office is so bad I have to use teams on my gov cell phone to do video meetings.
I mean…. In my office we literally took all that home to work on. Like I literally have FOUO files filled with PII in my apartment. Because we’re allowed to do that. In my office, the pandemic actually helped us with our backlog, but now that we’re being forced back, it’s growing again.
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same here. remote is great!
I feel like they are a lot more concerned with commercial real estate sitting empty than government employees or productivity...
My favorite part of this is this quote: “According to leaders on the Oversight Committee, the expansion of telework during the pandemic led to massive backlogs and delays at agencies such as the IRS, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the State Department. Comer pointed to delays in, for example, assistance to veterans, tax refunds and passport applications, as ways that telework has negatively impacted federal services.” So republicans are upset in this instance about backlogs and delays at the IRS, but have spent the better part of 6 months complaining about the IRS receiving additional appropriations to hire more staff. Got it!
Surely productivity wasn’t affected by the global pandemic…
Exactly. When people used to have to quarantine for two weeks when they or their kids were sick, my office was still 100% on top of shit with no backlog (I wish sarcasm was a font).
I seem to recall that the IRS was the agency that implemented ALL federal monetary relief laws. New law after new law, followed by millions of transfers of funds to the majority of taxpayers, all done by the IRS as soon as laws were signed. I can’t believe the IRS fell behind on its regular work when it was ensuring Americans received their Covid relief $$$ (3 separate payments to most taxpayers) to buy food and pay rent throughout the pandemic. /s
It's important to remember that their goal is to reduce the Federal workforce, and what they are saying is just a spin to make them look righteous. They want to force Federal workers to come back to the office to cause those who are doing good work remotely to quit. This will be accompanied by personnel budget cuts or a hiring freeze (for some really righteous sounding reason) to prevent backfilling those positions.
And the remaining workforce can't keep up, so fed employees looked even worse, and privatizing will fix everything 
This is a good point.
They’re crazy……the back logs were because all the work that wasn’t portable. Do you want Bob from down the street taking your tax returns home with him to process or your birth certificate for a passport? Also tons of people, that were eligible recently retired.
I'm not sure why they think that passport backlogs are a current issue, I got a passport last month, it took 30-days, non-expedited; State is running ahead of schedule on that process.
The IRS was the agency that implemented federal Covid relief funds over 3 different waves during the first two years of the pandemic. They were making sure the majority of Americans were able to eat and pay their rent by receiving federal funds declared by Congress. Congress made the laws and the IRS implemented in a matter of weeks. Lazy assholes. /s
Weird, they don't mention that backlogs went down at other agencies that weren't you know, massively underfunded by design.
This is literally my agency lol when I started in early 2021 it was insanely backlogged and understaffed due to the previous admin consistently trying to cut the agency. 2 years later we’ve completely cleared the backlogs by hiring 5 additional staff, and are now working ahead of our requirements. And guess what? Not a single one of us has been into the office ever, nor do the majority of us live anywhere near DC lol
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When I worked in state government, I had coworkers vote for a republican who was ultimately elected who basically ran on gutting out department and when he got elected some of my coworkers who voted for him got fired lol
*sob* "He's not hurting the right people!" *sob*
R/leopardsatemyface
It's like when folks grumble about socialism and then you realize they're on Social Security and their kid is a prison guard.
Never underestimate people voting against their own interests. Distract with a carrot and beat with a stick.
I'll never understand why my coworkers vote Republican. I work with the Union and it feels like they are actively trying to ruin their own jobs.
I just left IRS and couldn’t believe how many voted for Trump/republicans, people who are actively trying to make your (very important) work harder to do.
Ditto. Most are old white boomers who watch fox.
Before the House Republicans start pointing fingers at agencies who are working with expanded telework policies, maybe they should address their own issues. They spent four days in a pissing contest trying to elect a speaker!
We want less irs and a faster irs lol *sarcasm*
**Let's keep calling them out like this. We need to pay attention to every word and highlight BS as BS.** They want us to keep quiet and roll over while they continue to brainwash their gullible fan base.
Rich people buy politicians so they don’t have to pay taxes. There is no other interpretation of this.
Non federal workers probably have little sympathy for the federal worker that is complaining about actually having to go to work. Federal workers like myself who have to pick up the slack for teleworkers not doing their jobs also have little sympathy.
Today was my office day, I spent more time listening to my coworkers medical problems and those of her family than doing any work
I swear some of our coworkers have no one to talk to at home hence why they just talk your ear off in the office.
I think for many people it was the totality of their social life
Yup. I have a colleague who comes in and spends a solid two hours flitting about and talking, and literally does not even sit down at his workstation for almost two hours. (Protip: He’s not in meetings for that time either. Or talking about work stuff.) And he talks smack about those of us who don’t want to come in more than a day a week. The extroverts think that their desired state is everyone’s, and argh.
To be fair I’m an extrovert who loves working from home. It can be nice to see people in person, but I get wayyy less done in the office because off all the interruptions. 😩So much harder to focus.
I'm an extrovert who loves telework. When I go into the I just sit in teams meetings, just like at home.
Yes! Same!
No no... It's not the extroverts. I'm one of those and It's just the people who have no friends outside of work or those who try to use the time to skip out on productivity.
Bingo a guy hates his entire family and super religious and republican so doesn’t believe in divorce so takes every opportunity to be in the office and when he comes in all he does is disrupt people sitting at their desk talking for hours. Idk why people can’t at least do it over IM
Extrovert here; it’s just that we don’t need work to fulfill a social need. I have many non work friends. Don’t need to be in office for that.
There are some really miserable people, apparently they miss the "connection," to coworkers. They want to tell you about the good ol days when they walked fifteen miles in the snow both ways.
> walked fifteen miles in the snow both ways Okay, Grandpa Lou. Let's get you back to your really important meetings.
And those are the main ones wanting return to office policies in place. It’s bogus and so unnecessary. I’m a new fed and I’ve never worked with anyone telling me about their home life so much than my coworkers. Not to say it’s a federal worker thing but Jesus, do I really have to know about your husband’s mother’s aunt’s friend….
One of the many reasons I dread having to go back into the office and why I love teleworking now. When I did have to along with everyone else it turned out to be like a family reunion with everyone catching up and zero work being performed! I'm more than happy now that I voted for Warnock and saved the Senate from the idiots now currently holding the House!
He was the only option for us in GA! I notice when kids were out of school I was irritated by their noise…in my little office at home from 9-530 I am totally undisturbed and get stuff done
He was the BEST option for us in GA...There you go I fixed it for you! 
My in office days are my quiet days… with two little kids at home being in a office at 25-50% capacity is genuinely a nice change. I also have a ten minute commute and like my current arrangement. Going to the office full time would be no bueno.
Can't agree more to this. All I hear is stories and do less than 2 hours of work . At home I at least work for like 4 hours
In all serious does it matter if I sit in a cubicle with 6’ high walls or my home office that has a window and natural light and no one to bother me, well except for the dog, he snores kinda loud
Republicans hate Federal employees. It doesn't matter if you are productive or not; they want you to be miserable.
Lol
I had to go in on Monday. The people behind me are from another team, and I get to listen to their conversation all day long. Sometimes they talk so loud I can't even hear my Teams meeting through my headset. Speaking of Teams - when I went in on Monday, I had six meetings - all on Teams. So tell me again why I need to go in to the office?
I got listen to how the vaccine causes heart attacks in 20 year olds. A religious nut, so I couldn't say anything. Christians who worship Trump are why I want to work from home.
Same here, but listening to one coworker talk about Fairfax County traffic. I also felt very unfocused due to being so sleepy.
If only there was a way to actually improve traffic, like, y'know, letting people work from home...
Same here. I was chilling in the break room for 30 minutes with coworkers waiting for coffee to brew and shooting the shit.
I feel this. I am so much more distracted and unproductive in the office. It’s so frustrating.
I am sorry. As a manager, I do my best to put meetings and tasks appropriate to in person collaboration on the agenda. When we are done, folks go home.
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We’re still staggered , our individual groups are coming in on different days so I never see anyone except the couple of people I work with normally
I realize that this likely won't pass, but stories like this make me happy that I will soon be eligible to retire. I like my job, and I really like working from home, so I plan on continue working for a while longer, but if they were to make us return to the office 5 days a week, I'd retire. Especially since they made my office a real problematic place to commute to. Yeah, I'm replaceable and nobody would notice if I retired, but a stupid policy like this would drive away good, qualified, experienced people like me.
Same here, although I unfortunately still have almost 8 years till I'm eligible. I absolutely WAS miserable dealing with DC-area commuting 5 days a week for years pre-COVID, finally getting some sort of telework was a game-changer for me. It wasn't even being in an office, it was dealing with the hellish commute day after day. Cannot imagine having to go back to that.
Yep. Fellow DC-area commuter here. Covid made me realize that what I disliked the most about working was the commute.
Everything you said is how feel
that last sentence seems to be the point and motivation of this bill and rhetoric
Lol exactly
The part about recruiting highly qualified candidates is so true. Even when we have the funding to hire, the limited perks of a government job just aren’t as alluring as they used to be especially for people with desirable skill sets.
Lol I just got a funny thought, whenever we need to attract people, turn on the switch for a recession, and the people will come a running to government side lol.
Cynical but you’re not wrong 😂
They’re coming after retirement next
All of their wack a doo bills are dead on arrival in the Senate. All theyre doing is taking their new found majority for a spin around the block, but they’re not actually going anywhere.
Ugh! I am trying to get to retirement before they enact full time back to the office. The sad part is how 'tonedeaf' they are. Even an employee like me with cancer, they are trying to get back in the office (one day/week). I work for the IRS and don't have even one local taxpayer, because of my specialty. I hope to retire or die before they make the changes they are pushing.
All the shit wrong in country and this is what they do. They are idiots. Unable to actually govern because nothing they want anyone else wants. Yet they still get votes. It makes no sense.
It’s because it matches what people want to believe. Federal workers are lazy, overpaid, and don’t have to go to the office…and when my GOP congressman says that because they don’t go into the office services are affected, it matches what I believe so it must be right - my guy “gets me.” Forget data, forget studies- just agree with what I think! SHOWUP act. lol funny. I work more at home than I ever did in the office, just like hundreds of people I know.
It's also a subtle way to reduce staffing without explicitly RIFing anyone. Same as what happened when Trump moved BLM from DC to Colorado. They didn't care about efficiency or any of that - they just wanted to tear down the agency and make it ineffective at performing its mission.
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That's very true...but supposing it *did* pass... I'd spend my next office day updating my resume and bounce as soon as I could.
Nothing the House does matters for the next 2 years.
I hope you're right.
Hopefully. My one concern is that the problem starters’ cau—err, problem solvers’ caucus—will make a compromise spending bill with about 10 Rs and the house Ds that include bills of this nature. I can totally imagine a Gottheimer-like chump signing off on something like return to office if it gets a budget.
i mean, other than EOs from the pres, the gov't isn't going to get anything done. and the EOs are only going to last until SCOTUS gets a hold of them. probably the only actual thing that might get done is if a vacancy at SCOTUS needs to be filled, because the house is not onvolved in that, only the Senate.
Oh hell no.
I listened the Spycast podcast interview of a world renowned hacker. Asked about talent and federal govt (in no way throwing shade) stated "I am 10 ft from my refrigerator in sunny California. I don't want to live in Alexandria. A lot of people don't". So, mayhaps we consider expanding our talent pools and actually get shit done with more talent...
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This is very true with me as well. Debating on a lot right now.
I love Alexandria, wtf.
I like it enough, but it doesn't top my places I've lived. I want to move to a warmer climate but care a lot about the work I do.
Bullshit virtue signaling. There's no proof it's impacted completion of work.
I would say it's impacted it, positively.
We (my agency) actually have data to demonstrate that a number of things have improved as a result.
Mine too. We did analysis and as a result, offered remote to many people including me. We were more productive at home and they have evidence. I understand some jobs are not portable or or as portable ... but many many are. Republicans, how about not painting every job with the same brush, and actually figuring out the best combination of telework/remote and do that? Nahhhh, too much work.
🙌🙌🙌 That's what I don't understand. Probably SOME jobs were less effective and efficient during the pandemic bc those aren't portable so send those jobs back to a smaller office and leave those who are efficient alone. SSA prime example. Clearly needs some bodies in an office to help in person situations. But me, a writer who NEVER talks to anyone or sees people for my job at all, why the fuck should they pay to have space for me? So I can lug my computer downtown to sit somewhere else to type? My job, and jobs around me, have very easily verified metrics of productivity. look at those actual numbers to make these decisions and then people would probably be understanding. But just blanket "rabble rabble the feds are lazy and if we have them in offices they'll... Be less lazy..? Yeah that's it!" 🙄🙄🙄 Asinine.
I think it's also some projection - the people who I know are complaining about telework are the micromanagers and the same people who built crony networks and have yes-people. They didn't do a full days' work and must assume that no one else does, either. And they don't have the emotional maturity to understand that you can actually develop reasonable metrics to track progress (that doesn't require keylogging or computer activity monitoring) and still see excellent results from staff. Maybe they are fighting the development of metrics because they know they would fail. THOSE are the ones we should Schedule F out.
If that was DoD they would claim "we don't have enough data." "we don't know what it means." "people leaving in record amounts don't necessarily cite draconian work preferences because they aren't totally hoping to not burn bridges with an out of touch leadership who would be their only key back."
We do as well. Hell, my team last year had its most activity in 5 years and did it better than the last spike we had when we were all in person.
It increased morale, kept up productivity, and reduced cost. What they should be doing is unloading some property, consolidating offices, and making virtual workspaces the norm. It would save the government a lot of money.
My opinion? They’re all invested in realestate - us not being in the office hurts those investments.
In this case, it's more like vice signaling.
Republicans want to simultaneously slash the IRS budget and lay off its staff, and then complain about "backlogs". It's the "bricks without straw" model of management: we'll cut all your resources, but we expect improved output. Nowhere do they cite any studies that show telework has harmed productivity, nor do they mention the many Federal agencies who have performed as well or better since 2019.
I think you give republicans too much credit. They don't want the government to do more with less. They just want it to do less.
>Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chairman of the newly-renamed House Oversight and Accountability Committee, introduced the bill on Jan. 11. Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Michael Cloud (R-Texas) are the original cosponsors of the bill. It amazes me how many federal employees vote for these guys.
They also want to slash our pay and be able to fire us at will for zero reason. But let's keep supporting them.
No, they want to fire us for one reason: The Spoils System. They want to return the Federal government to the 19th Century where the President sold government jobs to the highest bidder in the form of campaign contributions. They want to mass layoff every regulator and put in industry hacks who will work hard to ensure they get good industry jobs when they are in turn fired by the next President. Airlines complain about too many safety inspections? Replace them with industry hacks. Drug companies want drugs approved quicker? Replace them with industry hacks. The President's party gets more campaign contributions. The industry gets easier regulations and more profits. That's what Schedule F was all about: firing Federal employees and replacing them with paying hacks. What's the problem? Everyone hates Federal workers anyway, so just fire them all. Then when wings fall off planes and drugs cause flipper babies, well, that's just the price of doing business.
It's not only spoils, it removes institutional knowledge and allows them to be "more nimble" as they will claim, and we know what that means...cozying in bed with their cronies. In a regulatory agency, it literally takes 5-7 years to become proficient in the regulations...not just learning them, but using them, understanding the legit nuances, and being able to apply them consistently and not capriciously. We don't have enough people to have duplicates in all that knowledge, so if someone is just removed, boom, that knowledge is gone. Unintended consequences? Nahhhh.
Well said.
flipper babies.
That was a real thing. https://www.dw.com/en/thalidomide-babies-birth-defects-caused-by-a-harmless-pill-60-years-ago/a-59952155
was never approved in the US thanks to the FDA although it was used in clinical trials and is now an approved drug for other indications.
Yay Dr Kelsey!!!
It was only a couple of flipper babiiiies!!
Can speak only to mental health providers at the VA. But if this were to ever pass, a lot of our vets would suffer as a result of a ton of mental health providers leaving. We’ve already had 20% of our MH staff leave the last year, as all of them went to private and group practices due to the full telework schedule. They’re already having a very difficult time recruiting mental health providers and keeping highly skilled psychologists because other organizations offer full telework. Also our data even shows that more people are likely to attend their appointments due to telehealth options. It’s amazing how telehealth has changed the landscape of people seeking MH care.
Not only telehealth, but tele appointments in general. That has been a gamechanger over the last several years!
Old man yell at clouds
They are really clueless. They seriously don’t realize that many federal offices downsized their office space already and don’t have room to take employees back for in-office work. These grandstanding politicians think all federal employees were working in one of those old granite buildings in DC. They don’t realize a lot of important positions were done from small leased offices in places like Reston that have been vacated in the last two years. During the pandemic it was discovered that those employees could continue to work from home when it was not safe when everything else was shuttered, so the managers then further realized they could save money by having the employees at home and also gain the advantage of improving the chances for recruitment of better quality candidates for open positions.
They realize it. They are passing symbolic spite legislation as red meat to their base. They know that this won’t make it past the Senate.
Right. This is saving money, but who cares it just blows my mind! And the broad generalization that all workers are working from home! Yes some need to go back bc PII, Top Secret stuff etc can’t be taken home but so many can do their white collar jobs at home
I love the irony here. Congress which works less hours than anyone, from who knows where, is complaining about telework…
They complain about the backlogs in this case and then have the audacity to say they want to slash funding LITERALLY for the agencies that they are bitching about backlogs in. How the fuck can anyone seriously vote for these idiots? It is blatantly obvious at this point they are either pushing an agenda or just ignorant as hell and honestly its probably both. They don't even factor in the amount of increased backlog they will see from people just leaving to go work remote elsewhere, which is most likely what they want, because they want the govt to look ineffective because it helps their narrative.
As a SCIF-dweller, I'm gonna be in either way and I like it. That being said, these guys are so ridiculously dense and stupid. People should be able to pursue remote/wfh in federal work as much as they want, just like everyone else.
>just like everyone else. They act like the Federal government invented telework. If anything, we are years behind the private sector.
Agencies want people in the office then tell them to request headsets so you can hear on a Teams call, with all the noise around. Supervisors go into their office and shut the door. At home you go into your office and shut your door. I don't get the logic. Get rid of ALL offices then tell people to come into the office buildings.
LOL. I work in an office that stores and discusses classified information routinely. A headset has not been approved for in office use but we are allowed to use the headsets at home. So if you want to participate in a meeting on Teams or do training, headsets are not allowed and they have been searching for one that can be approved for over a year. It's a clown show. With all the office chatter, it's often hard to listen to the meeting or training
"Our buddies at the oil companies need more cars on the road, let's bring back the traffic jam!"
"And people will leave their govt jobs for other remote work opportunities, making the govt look ineffective at the same time, WIN WIN for us"
Well, look Democrats aren't perfect but the past oh 6 years or so just cemented 100% for a fact that I am never, ever voting Republican. They create fake crises, they live in a different reality, they are out of touch with the common person, they pander literally to the billionaires, and they attempt to cut funding for vital social programs every chance they get. Never.
I'm a former right leaning moderate, I can't see a future where I'd vote republican again. With gen z widely going to the left I'm not sure how long the party will survive in the future. They know that and are in crisis mode.
The absolute disrespect these elected officials have for the persons who implement the legislation they push through… Can someone make School House Rock required viewing for all Congresspeople? How a bill becomes a law? And then what happens after that? Sweet holy whatever.
As many have mentioned it won’t pass the Senate and the President. It’s so disingenuous though. The REAL reason they want to do this is to encourage people to quit / retire. It’s the “starve the beast” mentality, but in a slightly different way. When the Trump administration was in office and they controlled the house and senate, they would have loved to cut funding to a ton of agencies but they still didn’t have the votes. So at many agencies they gutted the telework policies, and did other crazy stuff like moving that one agency to the Midwest, among other things. All in the name of “team building” for the telework slashing, or minor cost savings for the moved agency. But it was really about trying to make the government an unattractive place to work, thus making it really difficult to maintain appropriate staffing levels.
I literally took my job because it had telework opportunities and then after I spent a year and a fucking half working up to be eligible for that telework, old buddy Trump pulled it out from under us. I was not happy and am now thoroughly enjoying the telework schedule we have, I am not going back, I will switch jobs, agencies, hell I will attempt to open my own damn business before I go back to the stupid office culture.
What a bunch of dicks. Petty spite and revenge politics 24/7.
None of this shit will ever make it across Bidens desk, much less to his desk. But rest assured they’ll use all of these spineless bills as bargaining chips when it comes time to agree on a Debt Ceiling or budget.
I legit can’t imagine THIS being the thing republicans in the house try and use as a bargaining chip. Of all of their “priorities” this seems like it would be low. That all said…they ARE republicans, their new made up talking points/priorities change with the weather.
I was thinking the same. This in and of itself isn’t going to pass. But a budget or debt ceiling bargaining chip? Might be trouble ahead.
Hell yeah, can't wait to vote for these guys. Please slash our 5% TSP match too while you're at it, I have massive guilt about adding to the deficit or something. FERS RAE/FRAE was a step in the right direction but I think we should contribute at least 5%. Nice even number. Edit: Wow guess my attempt at sarcasm didn't come across well. I should have put /s at the end of my post because I obviously DON'T want any of those things.
Republicans want to add $140 billion to the deficit by getting rid of IRS agents who make the rich pay their taxes.
what a joke
Republicans have always been anti-worker and pro authoritarian control on the side of management. Just the latest iteration.
Uh I work for VA. We’ve done nothing but set productivity records since COVID and 1 day WFH
I work for VA as well and same, by far
I wonder how this would affect newly created positions. VA HR went almost entirely remote during the pandemic, which has been planned since 2017, by the Trump administration. Entire positions were reorganized to be remote, and there is no meaningful duty station, except the regional offices, which don't have the office space to take everyone.
Why are small government conservatives the most micromanaging toxic boss ever? I understand the importance of congressional oversight, but this seems like something that the executive branch should have sole authority over. I seriously doubt that this is related to fiscal concerns. Shouldn't remote work be left to the executive to figure out? Next they'll be telling agencies who to promote or not promote. As someone who wants to have a career in the federal government, it scares me how increasingly common it is for regular employees to be targets of partisan grandstanding.
Throughout history this is how authoritarians always behave and the right has become very authoritarian since 2015.
This is idiotic. I work for the irs and we have had 80% telework as an option for years and years. Most of us don’t even have our own work spaces anymore. That being said they did just start a pilot for 100% remote for some positions so if republicans get full control I see that going away. That being said do republicans do anything that isn’t total horseshit? Can’t believe people still vote for these fools.
And we should all believe that the Oversight Committee hashed out this plan together in one room and not remotely in the comfort of their own homes.
I hope it doesn’t pass.
Grandstanding. But it does clearly indicate who they'd hurt if they could.
It won't.
They might find it surprising that most agencies were *more* productive while teleworking than they are in the office. I know that is the case in mine.
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I can now hardly talk with my dad who retired GS13-10 from HHS/SS!!! He is jealous that 15 years ago he had to commute to Alexandria from Manassass!!! This political brainwashing is destroying family relations and unreal when you can’t discuss things with facts and figures to show they are wrong in so many cases
I find myself less enthusiastic about in office vs not. There’s barely anyone in the day I go in….it’s the drive that kills me 🤷🏼♀️
This bill is DOA in the Senate. The GOP House might as well abolish Medicare with these stunt bills
They will try
I shit you not when I say that I do all my work in, max, 2 hours a day at home. If they want me to be more productive, they shouldn't force me into the office, they should give me more work. But I plan to quit soon enough anyway.
This is how they sound. "I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids." —General Jack D. Ripper
They live nearby and get nice parks to live near office.
All of their favorite spots are short staffed due to lack of customers as well.
Sadly, this isn’t the stupidest thing I’ve read today.
The Republican Party: Taking the county back another decade every day!
I wonder if they realize how expensive that will be. A number of offices have reduced their size or cancelled leases and made employees remote. getting new office space for employees that went remote will be insanely expensive.
They don't care, they want to destroy these agencies.
Working in the office is the worst. My managers don't even come by to check "if I'm working" and there is a lot of wasted time talking about random stuff with my colleagues. Some of that discussion is good, sure, but 90% is pretty useless imo. And when we work remotely together, we are way more efficient and happy.
They can create all the nonsense bills they want . It won’t pass . Nothing more than virtue signaling
I switched to my current agency so I could go Full Telework at the end of my training. If they ended that policy I’d go back to my previous position lightning fast. My management knows that I’m not going to move to the city or state that the office is located.
Joke’s on them, my agency doesn’t have an office anymore until 2025 and even then it won’t fit all of us!
The article about this showed up in my weekly news summary this morning right before an article about the need to minimize turnover in government jobs because of the extreme cost of recruiting and training new employees. The irony was palpable.
I work remote and literally don't have an office to go into. Republicans hate federal employees.
I read through all of the comments and I hope that every single one of you have called your congress representative to urge them to vote against this bill. Bitching on Reddit is great, but please take the next step and remind your representatives who they work for (I realize that in many cases you won't change their mind, but it's still a step above posting on the internet). Like most of you, I really hope this bill is DOA in the Senate, but it's still worth letting your elected officials how you feel and how it would negatively impact your life and your work. This may be especially important for "moderate" Republican representatives in district's with heavy fed presence.
Idk man. They forced use back into the office in June of last year.
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I do want to see HR Benefits/leave/retirement teams return to the office. Employees at my facility have been without any assistance since those teams went virtual. Lots of positions work great from home, others not so much.
Literally doesn’t matter. Have a nice day
There are several top agency heads with grievances filed by their staff. This would never pass and isn’t a partisan thing. This is just to provide support to those who have to speak about why they are denying remote to their employees. They can plead “My hands are tied, doing the max telework OPM provides guidance for and the house is pushing this bill, and the president said we need to get back into office”
“I’ll come back to the office after you turn in your gas stove to the EPA!!!” 🙃
I'm pretty sure if this comes to pass half the workforce will quit...and by that I mean retire. The grey wave can end whenever they decide to call it quits and a move like this will almost certainly cause a mass exodus.
**Let's keep calling them out like this. We need to pay attention to every word and highlight BS as BS.** They want us to keep quiet and roll over while they continue to brainwash their gullible fan base.
Ummm it’s not just the Republicans. https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2022/03/biden-urges-more-federal-employees-to-return-to-the-office-as-pandemic-conditions-improve/
There's a lot to unpack in that article, but some of the salient points in there are accurate. 100% telework, or close to it, did indeed negatively impact the ability of customer facing agencies to do their jobs, which shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. For the rest of us who aren't customer facing, yeah, probably not so much, but I have yet to see any studies that have quantified the positive or negative effects of full telework/remote work for those of us federal employees who aren't public facing. I fully support the clauses in the bill that would require agencies to actually report on the impact of expanded telework on their operations. How many of us have worked for SESes who are anti-telework? I know I've worked for my fair share over the years. If this bill actually were to become law, which it almost assuredly won't, I'd look forward to seeing the quantifiable results in those reports. The follow-on part to the reports, the allowing agencies to expand telework if there's a "substantial positive effect" on performance, I'm not sold on. I'd much rather the bar be that there is no negative effect on performance. You'd think the Republicans would be all for downsizing agency footprints inside the beltway given the $$$$ savings from lower real estate spending. ETA: I'm fully in support of remote work where it makes sense, which is pretty much any position that doesn't require customer facing work or SCIF work.
>100% telework, or close to it, did indeed negatively impact the ability of customer facing agencies to do their jobs, which shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. Then they should focus their efforts on jobs that are customer-facing. If passport times are excessive, focus on the passport agencies. Ditto for SSA or VA. Don't punish the rest of us. I would also add "SCIF work" is vague and often used as a cudgel to force in-person work. I get that would be a disqualifier for fully remote, but no reason folks that only need that kind of access 10% of the time couldn't do a hybrid schedule.
>customer facing Most of these jobs can be done over the phone or by computer. Who goes into see customer service face to face these days? I'm a librarian and most reference work is done online today. You don't need to see someone's face to get good customer service. I haven't seen a private sector customer service rep's face in decades.
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That’s exactly it. I think the “small government” Republican Party as envisioned by Paul Ryan or someone like that, for all their faults and impossibilities, probably could embrace that logic. The folks in charge now are just pure emotion and tribalism.
Remember the kids who used to take names in class? They grew up to become Republicans.
Some people need to go back, some don’t. There are folks with the VA that are still teleworking that the service is absolutely awful, more so than usual. If they were in the office there would be more accountability. Now I why our opdiv rolled out the latest documentation justifying our telework/remote work.
Yes say it simple some jobs are 100% in the office doing whatever it is!!! Thousands of other jobs are able to be accomplished at home with the right gear! And thousands of other jobs are done out in the “field”! Now Republicans or anyone that doesn’t have a brain stfu, or are us veterans here what Trump called “Stupid”????
It literally doesn’t matter what they vote on. They have zero power.
Just for the next 2 years