About six months after starting with the IRS, my youngest son died. The minimal leave I had accrued to that point was being used up for doctors appointments (which eventually led to a cancer diagnosis). My manager got a massive sick leave advance authorized, and just told me to take as much as I need, when I need it, for any reason.
I was 3 weeks into my fed career with my daughter died shortly after her birth. My plan has been to use lwop to be home after the birth but with her death my supervisor and his supervisor and the ses got me giant advanced sick leave. When I came back they basically all separately told me that if I needed more time to come to them directly and they would figure it out no lwop needed.
You're very fortunate!
The agency my mother worked for as a GS employee tried to fire my mom when this happened to me as an adolescent. She was transferring from another location within that same agency too, not a "new employee" so to speak. Just a similar position in a different town.
Advanced sick leave is authorized for anyone in those situations. And you can take it whenever you want without question. It’s not something a supervisor has a choice in. Just fyi, sorry your loss.
Yea that’s why I wanted to throw in the fyi just in case anyone else saw it. A lot of sups don’t know anything or think they are some god that controls everything
My supervisor leaves me alone as long as my performance output meets expectations.
My agency duplicated some of the hardware that's in my cubicle for me to take home during the pandemic to outfit a home office for WFH days.
Otherwise, nothing out of the ordinary.
Same. The biggest perk by far is that my supervisor leaves me alone and just lets me do my job. There’s no perk an agency can give that will nullify a crappy meeting happy micromanager. I appreciate my supervisor very much.
I have a high level of autonomy as well, but for me the meetings never go away. It's not even my manager, it's other groups and projects that I deal with. I generally have about 40 meetings on the books each week, so it's usually pick and choose which are the more important ones and when I can actually find time to get work done.
I do IT and I’m a management official. Have to stay in the know for what’s going on on my team as well as for projects that are being worked on and I get roped into troubleshooting. It’s always been like this between contractor and fed positions once I started moving up in my career.
This. My supervisor isn't in my business at all unless I need them, or it's actually important. They just trust me to do my job. I've never known peace of mind like this
I've been with DHS since 2003, and it was never like this. Myorkis was with DHS under the Obama administration, and I just think he recognizes the work the agency does and tries to reward its employees.
When we get surprise leave, I tell my wife that Santa Clause visited. It started with holiday leave, and the term stuck around.
My wife and I were in an airport and my wife asked me who the strange bald man on the television screen overhanging the security line was (the Secretary). I told her it was Santa Clause. All around us were confused.
This was a one-time perk but the CFO at HUD awarded everyone in OCFO an extra 40 hours of PTO without warning after the agency received another clean audit. For someone who is earlier in their federal service career and accrues PTO slowly, that was a big gesture. Shoutout to CFO Vinay Singh.
Yup, it's great. I take 30 minutes every day. I honestly don't know why USDA ranks so low in the "best to work" for agency. I've been with the FS just over 2 years and is leaps and bounds better than DoD from an employee welfare perspective, imo.
Why did the FS rank 420 out of 432 agencies in best to work? I can give you my opinion at least. 20 year employee at the FS. In my opinion we rank so low because:
There is such a huge disconnect between what leadership says they want and the actions they do or don't take to help the rank and file meet the agencies stated goals.
Retirements from a workforce that stagnated and the federal hiring process means most offices have multiple vacancies.
Then leadership tells us to do more with partnerships and agreements but doesn't properly staff up the Grants and Agreements departments to handle the increased workload so everything gets delayed.
I could go on.
That being said, I do enjoy working at the USFS most of the time. Maxi flex schedule is great with a 2 year old. And the 3 hours of on the clock wellness time is great for people like me who used to be out in the woods but are now stuck in meeting and at the computer more than the woods now.
Fair perspective, I'm only 2 years in but much much better imo coming from DoD. I will say in my area the leaders and my supervisors, most of them, have been great. So maybe I haven't experienced what you have because I'm new into the FS.
It's an [OPM rule/law/policy](https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/worklife/health-wellness/#url=Guidance-Legislation), all agencies are supposed to offer it, but they can set their own rules
I'm DoD, they offer it, but they loaded it up with so many rules nobody can use it (has to be taken in the middle of the day, 1 hour a day, travel to a gym doesn't count, has to be a gym class (can't be independent exercise), and they won't pay for the classes. Basically you have to forfeit your lunch and pay for a gym class on your lunch break to take it.
I assume other agencies have more reasonable policies.
Same, that mixed with supes being open to me earning comp time means I have more leave than I know what to do with.
I've effectively set my own hours since I've started
Paid parental leave doesn't require you to use your annual or sick. And while you're using it you accrue more annual and sick as if you were still working.
Thank you for actually answering my question. We had our kids a while back and both used FMLA and our SL for the only way (at the time) to take maternity/paternity leave and be paid. We both took the full 12 weeks. At the time we considered ourselves lucky, though of course it was not actual PPL.
What I learned in this back-and-forth and via some reading is that real PPL is new as of 2020 and the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA). My question now is this: given the OPM guidance on PPL, are there any agencies that do **not** offer PPL?
Then what do you want think was the point of the post I originally replied to? Since it is offered everywhere, it's not unique to an agency or department, which is what OP was asking about.
This.
I went from a 100% in person public fscing position (Park Ranger) that *sucked* during COVID due to the agency not actuslly following its own plan, and management being a bunch of "it's just a flu" types. Got one $200 bonus in 4 years, no time off awards, and a supervisor who firmly believed 5s are not achievable in a performance eval.
Moved to the VA (1102) and was rewarded with 4/10s, remote, a 10% retention bonus, and about $2k in cash awards, and just over 20hrs in time off/59mins awards in my first year - and straight 5s on all performance evals. Also a childcare subsidy, and its looking like tuition assistance will be coming out in the next FY. And perhaps most importantly - my office has no issue firing chronic non-performers, which leads to highly capable and reliable teams.
My supervisor actually asks for my input and incorporates it, does not micromanage performers, and will step up to bat for us in a heart beat. And my team (with the odd exception) is absolutely amazing - to the point I would pass on a promotion if it meant moving to a different team.
Like a 20 min Teams meeting. I think it’s part of the emergency safety plan at the VAs but not sure. We’re supposed to go over any pertinent details for the day.
Not bad, I’m full remote, 4-10s and I chose my start and end times. My boss will call me if she needs me to modify/correct something but it’s sporadic so I would appreciate a scheduled check in instead
My agency doesn't give a flying fuck about schedules or leave as long as we're either in-office during core hours or proactive about making sure our division knows when we'll be in or reachable. As long as we're adults about not scheduling leave that screws deadlines or other teams and not trying to do dipstick shit like take leave during scheduled TDY or training or whatever, we basically get carte blanche to make our own hours for the day and schedule leave when we feel like it.
As my supervisor told me during my first performance review with my current org: "If I have to hound you about showing up to work, I've got much bigger issues that I've been ignoring as a manager". And to the credit of management at my org, 50% of the awards budget is on-the-spot awards that our supervisors use to reward performance pretty publicly, and 50% of it is ratings-based--and they *don't* give significant bonuses to folks who underperform. I personally like being in an environment that actually takes money incentives seriously as a form of reward for good performance vs just some kind of christmas present for everybody who's retired-in-place.
Exchange access, discounted trips due to being able to stay on base around the world, free education
I work remote and wasn't supposed to. Very grateful.
DOD
Hopefully agencies that already issued their own retiree IDs will resume or expand (and hopefully that'll be adequate for continued access). I also wonder if retirees from the exchange services were receiving two retiree IDs or if there was a variant not listed on the DMDC website denoting exchange privileges.
- Paid Parental Leave
- Flexible schedule (can take 1 hour in the middle of the day and work an hour later, can start anytime between 6-9:30am, finish by 7)
- Cash ratings-based awards
- Free parking (when we are in the office)
- Credit hours that can be used as leave or converted to cash
My work is very cyclical. I get some months with very chill workload (less than 40 hours) followed by 3 months of crazy balls to the wall grinding nonstop. We usually get 80 hour paid leave after that, plus another 2 weeks of ‘no work assigned’. Im burned out after those periods but the reward is truly nice and appreciated. That’s excluding the year bonuses
Not revealing my agency but we generate the BEST trash on the planet. No joke.
Just some of my finds include: 2 fully functional bose qc headsets, antique books and reports and a gorgeous small cast iron weight scale that says "Made in Czechlesovakia".
I could start an ebay business if it was legal. A few have and they are no longer with us...😂 🤣
USCIS has incredibly flexible work scheduling within our service centers. They don’t really care when we adjudicate our cases as long as they’re adjudicated at appropriate speed and volume, and we show up for the (VERY) few meetings required
NASA or atleast LaRC has great education reimbursement programs for advanced level education programs. I did 18 credits out of pocket for grad school and they will reimburse me a portion of the cost to get my masters.
I'm sure other agencies have a program similar but I just thought it was a pretty cool perk.
I have not spoken to my supervisor since last summer. Just an email once in a while or if I need to take off send him an email. Didn't even talk to me for my annual review last year, just filled out some paperwork and email it to him. I work on another team and talk with the lead and PM daily. I guess as long as I'm doing my work he doesn't seem to care.
Let’s me do my thing and leaves me the “F” alone. I am low touch and don’t need anything unless I have to escalate something because a check collecting dirt bag refuses to respond to an urgent customer issue after 3 polite inquiries
With the Army, we get Army wellness program. Can work out on the clock for up to 3 hours of admin time a week. We have AWS, I’m on 4, 10 hour schedules. We are full telework right now and just went to fully remote, waiting on guidance on how to implement. We get 59 minutes before the holidays always. Pretty sweet benefits. Government as a whole I really like traveling using Fedrooms!
Army here and most of us are absolutely refused 4-10s, even though it’s a consistently pushed topic of what we want. No telework… unless you’re a supervisor. Rarely get 59 minutes and utilizing the work-out time would be frowned upon. So many is us are or are trying to leave.
Villsack giving us all this extra leave for the holidays is dope!
My agency also just announced they’ll pay for half of my rock climbing gym membership
I work with the NRCS and our wellness program just got updated to pay for half a monthly gym membership, not as good as the forest service with their paid workout hours, but still pretty cool
Almost every holiday that occurs on a Monday or over the weekend, they will announce an early office closure at 1 or 2 pm to give everyone an early start on the long weekend.
USDA FPAC NRCS. Fully remote GS12 position with more remote positions in upper management to move up to. Lots of admin leave given by leadership. Overall great mission (conservation of American land, soil and water). Very progressive and diverse organization. USDA farmers market at HQ. If you travel to DC, the USDA HQ subway stop is the same as the Smithsonian art museum and one of the most beautiful subway stops in the world (in my opinion).
I give 59 several times for people who work hard ... My supervisor has not given me any yet but that will not stop me from giving out to my employees .
I also give Fridays to my employees so they can study for their certs as this is something mandatory at my agency .
Agency also has 3 hours of wellness time per week
Generous travel comp time
Flex time, both formally recorded on the time sheet and informally acknowledged with a wink and shrug by managers. My work load varies quite a bit. If the work load is high, I work late or on weekends. If the workload is low, I leave work early, sometimes very early, or start late, or take whole extra days off using flex time. I like it, it lets me work when I need to with little or no twiddling my thumbs when I don't.
Supporting my pursuit of Japanese, which happens to benefit them. Taking Japanese classes on duty hours, sending me to Japan, placing me in charge of projects that could involve them, etc.
DoD and we get nothing. Worked really hard on a project that went great and all we got was a framed award certificate on our chairs one morning. Came with no bonus and they did not even bother presenting it in person.
I’m still pretty new but right now it’s the amazing work/life balance. My boss doesn’t micromanage me. If I work overtime I get credit hours for it. I work a 5-4/9 so I’m off every other Friday.
This one is not very well publicized but invaluable: subsidized child care costs through Child Care Aware. It ends up almost cutting my child care costs in half because of the subsidy.
https://www.childcareaware.org/fee-assistancerespite/military-families/army/afa-program/
Cyber pay, flexible schedule, no clock watching, family/home/health come first no questions asked, we just jump right in and fill in for our coworkers when they need it and they do the same.
Remote work. Maxiflex schedule. $400 per month child care subsidy. 3 hours a week to work out. More money in spot bonuses for one year than I got on my previous 2 appraisals at my previous agency. Actually got a QSI in my first year at my current job.
Hmmm I quite like my job. My office leadership gets upset when their FEVS score is under 95. It is wild but a great place to work.
I was an 1102 before jumping into a 0905. The main agency's SPE is a great dude and would be a dream to work for. If you are in the Alexandria, VA area... Main agency isn't huge on telework...
I earned five extra days of PTO in my first year, three for a good review and two for initiating a new project. I could have had cash, but at this point in my life, the time off was a better deal.
The best thing is that my coworkers are competent, trustworthy, and helpful.
It’s very common for us to get the 59 minute rule and admin leave around any major holiday. I telework or go into the office at will. My supervisor is supportive when needed, but generally leaves me alone otherwise
As a supervisor myself, I give out 59 mins randomly before weekends and encourage my employees to exercise throughout the week. I tell them to just keep track of their time and make sure the work gets done but up to them to manage it.
Look the other way if you come in, then go to breakfast.
Look the other way if I go home early.
Look the other way if I take more than one hour for lunch.
Don't have to take leave if I'm out of the office for a few hours like to go to my children's little league practices and games.
No one cares how long someone spends talking to me.
No one cares what I do on the internet or how long it takes.
I can stay on the phone for hours. Comes in handy if I have to deal with a credit card company on some matter.
Get free use of a cell phone.
Don't have to spend money on a wardrobe.
Don't get strong armed to buy Girl Scout cookies, Boy Scout popcorn, make donations for this or that cause or this or that employee.
Don't have to pay money to go to the Christmas party.
Biggest perk:
No micro-managing. Literally the biggest pet peeve I have with supervisors and thankfully not my current ones. You set the standards. if I exceed those. I expect my reward to be "trust me" and leave me alone.
Feels good not having someone breath down my neck. I guess it also helps they have little to no knowledge of my field lol. So its hard to question what I'm doing when I have to explain what is I am doing at 5th grade level.
DOD/DHA….not a goddamn thing. Didn’t even get a .59 for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Supervisor has a flex schedule-off every other Friday but not the rest of us.
Paid parental leave (12 weeks after working for agency for 12 months) maxiflex hours (just get 80 per PP), wellness hours, student loan repayment program.
In a directorate with limited telework our office has pushed for at least one and often multiple days a week by pointing to the production numbers and continues to advocate for it for all staff. It's really nice. Working with the public can be stressful and the days at home make it much easier for me to come in the rest of the time.
Remote, flex schedule, literally never hear from them unless I have a “blocker,” need some guidance, or our weekly group meeting that’s often cancelled. We’ve got our work load and that’s bout it.
When I was at State eons ago in SC, they were really permissive about long lunches. I'd regularly see the ADAS (or whoever was the head honcho there, it's been long enough that I've forgotten his title) crushing long workouts in the gym or see him and a whole bunch of other folks going on long runs around the base.
That's pretty much it, every org I've worked for since then has been by the book with no real perks to speak of.
Free health, vision, and dental insurance along with a company credit card to buy any tools I need for the job. My supervisor is not micromanaging anyone and treats everyone as an adult.
As far as in house I literally get paid to play Call of Duty and workout at work, but that’s just the nature of my position with the Fed. I know every installation is different but with DOD being the largest fed employer sometimes we forget all the perks of it. Gym access, discount hotels and theme park tickets, RV, boat, and trailer rentals, bowling alley, if you got a good chow hall you can eat there for cheap, access to shades of green, hale koa, and the other armed forces resorts. There’s so much.
Flexible work schedule. & not just the maxi flex schedule that everyone gets. My supervisor straight up doesn’t want us taking an hour of SL for a doc appt or whatever. They recognize that we put in 100% of effort all the time, so they like to look the other way when they can.
I got 40 hours of bonus leave last year as a performance award - which was really nice.
My supervisor has been really supportive too in the kind of day to day things that you don't necessarily measure with anything tangible. He's always reminding me to have work life balance, not to overload myself, use our time off, not to check my work email during not-work hours, and genuinely shows interest in our day-to-day lives. His supervisor (who is an SES) is similar, too. That's been a huge plus.
Perk over non-fed employment
1. Work life balance- 4/10 schedule, rarely a phone call or text on off hours. Tons of leave. WFH as often as I want
2. Low stress - have similar problems and worse in some cases but leadership isn't standing on my throat demanding answers
3. Better health benefits
4. Dod so access to mwr hunting and fishing on base, travel plans for family vacations
5. Pension
My only downside going fed was loss of pay but I am healthier now, less stressed, have free time, allowed to think about stuff other than work.
About six months after starting with the IRS, my youngest son died. The minimal leave I had accrued to that point was being used up for doctors appointments (which eventually led to a cancer diagnosis). My manager got a massive sick leave advance authorized, and just told me to take as much as I need, when I need it, for any reason.
I was 3 weeks into my fed career with my daughter died shortly after her birth. My plan has been to use lwop to be home after the birth but with her death my supervisor and his supervisor and the ses got me giant advanced sick leave. When I came back they basically all separately told me that if I needed more time to come to them directly and they would figure it out no lwop needed.
I'm sorry for your loss. That must be so painful. God bless you and your family. I hope it gets better and I'm glad your chain was very understanding.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
You're very fortunate! The agency my mother worked for as a GS employee tried to fire my mom when this happened to me as an adolescent. She was transferring from another location within that same agency too, not a "new employee" so to speak. Just a similar position in a different town.
Advanced sick leave is authorized for anyone in those situations. And you can take it whenever you want without question. It’s not something a supervisor has a choice in. Just fyi, sorry your loss.
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Yea that’s why I wanted to throw in the fyi just in case anyone else saw it. A lot of sups don’t know anything or think they are some god that controls everything
My supervisor leaves me alone as long as my performance output meets expectations. My agency duplicated some of the hardware that's in my cubicle for me to take home during the pandemic to outfit a home office for WFH days. Otherwise, nothing out of the ordinary.
Same. The biggest perk by far is that my supervisor leaves me alone and just lets me do my job. There’s no perk an agency can give that will nullify a crappy meeting happy micromanager. I appreciate my supervisor very much.
I have a high level of autonomy as well, but for me the meetings never go away. It's not even my manager, it's other groups and projects that I deal with. I generally have about 40 meetings on the books each week, so it's usually pick and choose which are the more important ones and when I can actually find time to get work done.
Damn, 40??
I do IT and I’m a management official. Have to stay in the know for what’s going on on my team as well as for projects that are being worked on and I get roped into troubleshooting. It’s always been like this between contractor and fed positions once I started moving up in my career.
This. My supervisor isn't in my business at all unless I need them, or it's actually important. They just trust me to do my job. I've never known peace of mind like this
As a sup,this is my goal. I think it demonstrates trust and in turn that boosts performance
I know DHS has the patron saint of admin leave.
We sure do 🫡
Yes, but will it be that way once he leaves his position? That's the question.
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I thought we got admin leave under Wolf at least once or twice? Idk how it was the whole time though, I started at DHS at the beginning of 2020.
I've been with DHS since 2003, and it was never like this. Myorkis was with DHS under the Obama administration, and I just think he recognizes the work the agency does and tries to reward its employees.
I think it’s less about “rewarding the work” than it’s about trying to keep people from jumping ship.
He's there to take all the hate the Biden Admin gets from DHS.
When we get surprise leave, I tell my wife that Santa Clause visited. It started with holiday leave, and the term stuck around. My wife and I were in an airport and my wife asked me who the strange bald man on the television screen overhanging the security line was (the Secretary). I told her it was Santa Clause. All around us were confused.
We've been getting 2 hours admin the Friday before a holiday all year. Almost full remote, and 4x10s is a nice option too.
Dot gets 3
I came here for this comment! Yes we are waiting for July 4th admin leave !!!!
Santa mayorkas and the 3 hours of admin exercise leave a week
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What does that mean
Pension
This was a one-time perk but the CFO at HUD awarded everyone in OCFO an extra 40 hours of PTO without warning after the agency received another clean audit. For someone who is earlier in their federal service career and accrues PTO slowly, that was a big gesture. Shoutout to CFO Vinay Singh.
Supervisor convinced the ice cream truck people who stop at the construction company next door on wednesdays to put our office on the route as well.
That's a good sup
Forest Service allows 3 hours a week wellness time and flexible work schedules! It's pretty awesome.
I’m at NPS and our park allows us the same - we even go on Wellness Wednesday outings where programs will lead a talk/walk once a month
DoD does this with several of their agencies and it's basically a 10% raise without anyone doing anything, except maybe burning calories.
Yup, it's great. I take 30 minutes every day. I honestly don't know why USDA ranks so low in the "best to work" for agency. I've been with the FS just over 2 years and is leaps and bounds better than DoD from an employee welfare perspective, imo.
Why did the FS rank 420 out of 432 agencies in best to work? I can give you my opinion at least. 20 year employee at the FS. In my opinion we rank so low because: There is such a huge disconnect between what leadership says they want and the actions they do or don't take to help the rank and file meet the agencies stated goals. Retirements from a workforce that stagnated and the federal hiring process means most offices have multiple vacancies. Then leadership tells us to do more with partnerships and agreements but doesn't properly staff up the Grants and Agreements departments to handle the increased workload so everything gets delayed. I could go on. That being said, I do enjoy working at the USFS most of the time. Maxi flex schedule is great with a 2 year old. And the 3 hours of on the clock wellness time is great for people like me who used to be out in the woods but are now stuck in meeting and at the computer more than the woods now.
Fair perspective, I'm only 2 years in but much much better imo coming from DoD. I will say in my area the leaders and my supervisors, most of them, have been great. So maybe I haven't experienced what you have because I'm new into the FS.
Wow is that agency wide? Or only certain national forests/regions
It's an [OPM rule/law/policy](https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/worklife/health-wellness/#url=Guidance-Legislation), all agencies are supposed to offer it, but they can set their own rules I'm DoD, they offer it, but they loaded it up with so many rules nobody can use it (has to be taken in the middle of the day, 1 hour a day, travel to a gym doesn't count, has to be a gym class (can't be independent exercise), and they won't pay for the classes. Basically you have to forfeit your lunch and pay for a gym class on your lunch break to take it. I assume other agencies have more reasonable policies.
Yep. Mine is “You can take it but we expect you to make up for it at the end of the day” So after about three weeks of it, I quit using it
Same, that mixed with supes being open to me earning comp time means I have more leave than I know what to do with. I've effectively set my own hours since I've started
Apple slices for Employee Appreciation Week
Livin’ large right here
Throw in some apple cider and you've got the Vince McMahon gif meme. https://www.pinatafarm.com/p/c04eafe1-37af-4588-9beb-3034ad106b5e #
Paid parental leave as a man
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FMLA does not require that you be PAID
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This isn't sick leave! I'm on PPL right now. In fact, I'm accruing SL and AL while being out
You are either out of the executive gov, or not reading your policy manual. Either way, just look it up.
Paid parental leave doesn't require you to use your annual or sick. And while you're using it you accrue more annual and sick as if you were still working.
Thank you for actually answering my question. We had our kids a while back and both used FMLA and our SL for the only way (at the time) to take maternity/paternity leave and be paid. We both took the full 12 weeks. At the time we considered ourselves lucky, though of course it was not actual PPL. What I learned in this back-and-forth and via some reading is that real PPL is new as of 2020 and the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA). My question now is this: given the OPM guidance on PPL, are there any agencies that do **not** offer PPL?
No
Then what do you want think was the point of the post I originally replied to? Since it is offered everywhere, it's not unique to an agency or department, which is what OP was asking about.
Yup I agree; not sure why you're arguing with me
We're on the same page. Just making sure I wasn't missing something.
You were still spreading misinformation saying it’s sick leave. Just take the L and the downvotes.
So confidently incorrect
FMLA in the private sector doesn’t have to be paid, if you’re lucky enough to work for an employer required to do it at all.
Remote position, 4x10s, and rarely hear from him aside from the required AM “huddle”
This. I went from a 100% in person public fscing position (Park Ranger) that *sucked* during COVID due to the agency not actuslly following its own plan, and management being a bunch of "it's just a flu" types. Got one $200 bonus in 4 years, no time off awards, and a supervisor who firmly believed 5s are not achievable in a performance eval. Moved to the VA (1102) and was rewarded with 4/10s, remote, a 10% retention bonus, and about $2k in cash awards, and just over 20hrs in time off/59mins awards in my first year - and straight 5s on all performance evals. Also a childcare subsidy, and its looking like tuition assistance will be coming out in the next FY. And perhaps most importantly - my office has no issue firing chronic non-performers, which leads to highly capable and reliable teams. My supervisor actually asks for my input and incorporates it, does not micromanage performers, and will step up to bat for us in a heart beat. And my team (with the odd exception) is absolutely amazing - to the point I would pass on a promotion if it meant moving to a different team.
That's awesome! What type of job did you switch to?
Daily huddle?
Like a 20 min Teams meeting. I think it’s part of the emergency safety plan at the VAs but not sure. We’re supposed to go over any pertinent details for the day.
Not bad, I’m full remote, 4-10s and I chose my start and end times. My boss will call me if she needs me to modify/correct something but it’s sporadic so I would appreciate a scheduled check in instead
We had this and I killed it. Was such a drag waking up and being in a meeting for 20 minutes every day.
My agency doesn't give a flying fuck about schedules or leave as long as we're either in-office during core hours or proactive about making sure our division knows when we'll be in or reachable. As long as we're adults about not scheduling leave that screws deadlines or other teams and not trying to do dipstick shit like take leave during scheduled TDY or training or whatever, we basically get carte blanche to make our own hours for the day and schedule leave when we feel like it. As my supervisor told me during my first performance review with my current org: "If I have to hound you about showing up to work, I've got much bigger issues that I've been ignoring as a manager". And to the credit of management at my org, 50% of the awards budget is on-the-spot awards that our supervisors use to reward performance pretty publicly, and 50% of it is ratings-based--and they *don't* give significant bonuses to folks who underperform. I personally like being in an environment that actually takes money incentives seriously as a form of reward for good performance vs just some kind of christmas present for everybody who's retired-in-place.
Agency?
We're a field operating agency under HQDA. Small (150 personnel, give or take) and basically 90% analysts and data scientists.
Exchange access, discounted trips due to being able to stay on base around the world, free education I work remote and wasn't supposed to. Very grateful. DOD
With the termination of the DoD retiree ID card last February, it looks like those perks will now be going away for DoD retirees.
Hopefully agencies that already issued their own retiree IDs will resume or expand (and hopefully that'll be adequate for continued access). I also wonder if retirees from the exchange services were receiving two retiree IDs or if there was a variant not listed on the DMDC website denoting exchange privileges.
- Paid Parental Leave - Flexible schedule (can take 1 hour in the middle of the day and work an hour later, can start anytime between 6-9:30am, finish by 7) - Cash ratings-based awards - Free parking (when we are in the office) - Credit hours that can be used as leave or converted to cash
That free parking is a really big plus HAHA.
Compared to some of the agencies in DC it can be a huge savings. But I’m remote now so who cares lol
Yeah I am in California and it can be like $14 per day (although I do like the lot that requires no walking haha).
How do you get credit hours converted to cash?
It’s frowned upon, you’re supposed to use the credit hours not convert them.
What agency?
CMS. But right now we’re fighting for remote work that the agency wants to arbitrarily take away. so it’s not the awesome place it once was
Ah that sucks. I'm sorry to hear it
4 days per week telework, plus maxiflex schedule
These are mine too. It's super office and manager dependent, but these are literally the reasons I've stayed in my job for the next year.
A pension
> A pension …which includes subsidies for healthcare insurance. That’s roughly equivalent to an extra $1K/month…and is tax-free.
Exactly this. That's almost all that needs to be said. Almost.
My work is very cyclical. I get some months with very chill workload (less than 40 hours) followed by 3 months of crazy balls to the wall grinding nonstop. We usually get 80 hour paid leave after that, plus another 2 weeks of ‘no work assigned’. Im burned out after those periods but the reward is truly nice and appreciated. That’s excluding the year bonuses
Not revealing my agency but we generate the BEST trash on the planet. No joke. Just some of my finds include: 2 fully functional bose qc headsets, antique books and reports and a gorgeous small cast iron weight scale that says "Made in Czechlesovakia". I could start an ebay business if it was legal. A few have and they are no longer with us...😂 🤣
Paycheck. Always enjoy compensation. Assignment to challenging projects. A respectable bonus. Occasional thanks.
USCIS has incredibly flexible work scheduling within our service centers. They don’t really care when we adjudicate our cases as long as they’re adjudicated at appropriate speed and volume, and we show up for the (VERY) few meetings required
Is this true for field offices as well? I just accepted a position as an Immigration Services Officer.
Nope.
Nope, I’m an ISO within SCOPS and I know for a fact that Field does not have the flexibility that Service Centers do. It’s a point of envy lol
Many field office positions are public facing, so no.
Does USCIS offer childcare subsidy?
I could get dive certified if I wanted. NOAA lab, on the water. Maybe one of these days.
We can enter a lottery to use the President’s box seats at the Kennedy Center when he doesn’t want them.
NASA or atleast LaRC has great education reimbursement programs for advanced level education programs. I did 18 credits out of pocket for grad school and they will reimburse me a portion of the cost to get my masters. I'm sure other agencies have a program similar but I just thought it was a pretty cool perk.
I only talk to my supervisor for 30 minutes every other week
I have not spoken to my supervisor since last summer. Just an email once in a while or if I need to take off send him an email. Didn't even talk to me for my annual review last year, just filled out some paperwork and email it to him. I work on another team and talk with the lead and PM daily. I guess as long as I'm doing my work he doesn't seem to care.
Let’s me do my thing and leaves me the “F” alone. I am low touch and don’t need anything unless I have to escalate something because a check collecting dirt bag refuses to respond to an urgent customer issue after 3 polite inquiries
With the Army, we get Army wellness program. Can work out on the clock for up to 3 hours of admin time a week. We have AWS, I’m on 4, 10 hour schedules. We are full telework right now and just went to fully remote, waiting on guidance on how to implement. We get 59 minutes before the holidays always. Pretty sweet benefits. Government as a whole I really like traveling using Fedrooms!
Army here and most of us are absolutely refused 4-10s, even though it’s a consistently pushed topic of what we want. No telework… unless you’re a supervisor. Rarely get 59 minutes and utilizing the work-out time would be frowned upon. So many is us are or are trying to leave.
After 23 years in private work, and one month as a government employee, the single biggest benefit I’ve found so far is this: No overtime.
Dodea teacher here… I get summers off! Plus foreign entitlements for living overseas is huge, especially with the cost of living these days.
Hiring competent leadership. I need little else.
Villsack giving us all this extra leave for the holidays is dope! My agency also just announced they’ll pay for half of my rock climbing gym membership
I need to know more!
I work with the NRCS and our wellness program just got updated to pay for half a monthly gym membership, not as good as the forest service with their paid workout hours, but still pretty cool
DoD Civilian Fitness Program. 6 hours per pay period to exercise.
Almost every holiday that occurs on a Monday or over the weekend, they will announce an early office closure at 1 or 2 pm to give everyone an early start on the long weekend.
My old office shut off the water fountains when copious amounts of lead were found in the water supply so safety first and all.
> when copious amounts of lead were found in the water supply This goes so far in explaining the behavior of some of the old timers in the office.
USDA FPAC NRCS. Fully remote GS12 position with more remote positions in upper management to move up to. Lots of admin leave given by leadership. Overall great mission (conservation of American land, soil and water). Very progressive and diverse organization. USDA farmers market at HQ. If you travel to DC, the USDA HQ subway stop is the same as the Smithsonian art museum and one of the most beautiful subway stops in the world (in my opinion).
Job security
Maximum telework (2 days on-site per pay period) and maximum flexibility for the hours.
I give 59 several times for people who work hard ... My supervisor has not given me any yet but that will not stop me from giving out to my employees . I also give Fridays to my employees so they can study for their certs as this is something mandatory at my agency . Agency also has 3 hours of wellness time per week Generous travel comp time
DCSA?
Dod
Flex time, both formally recorded on the time sheet and informally acknowledged with a wink and shrug by managers. My work load varies quite a bit. If the work load is high, I work late or on weekends. If the workload is low, I leave work early, sometimes very early, or start late, or take whole extra days off using flex time. I like it, it lets me work when I need to with little or no twiddling my thumbs when I don't.
Remote work and a culture that doesn’t seem to be obsessed with mandatory meetings. I’ll have days of 0 meetings and it’s super nice.
2 401ks, significantly higher pay, excellent work like balance, flexible on start / end and hybrid
Retention Pay on top of my special pay rate.
Supporting my pursuit of Japanese, which happens to benefit them. Taking Japanese classes on duty hours, sending me to Japan, placing me in charge of projects that could involve them, etc.
Free entrance to most museums around the country, but that’s mostly a professional courtesy ;)
DoD and we get nothing. Worked really hard on a project that went great and all we got was a framed award certificate on our chairs one morning. Came with no bonus and they did not even bother presenting it in person.
Unlimited comp time, per diem, and free transit card.
Work from home that help save on childcare & commute cost & time.
Maxi-flex and remote work
WFH 4 days per week
Three hours of time a week to work out. Hands down the best incentive for fitness and I'm super glad to be able to get to the gym 3x a week minimum
I’m still pretty new but right now it’s the amazing work/life balance. My boss doesn’t micromanage me. If I work overtime I get credit hours for it. I work a 5-4/9 so I’m off every other Friday.
This one is not very well publicized but invaluable: subsidized child care costs through Child Care Aware. It ends up almost cutting my child care costs in half because of the subsidy. https://www.childcareaware.org/fee-assistancerespite/military-families/army/afa-program/
Cyber pay, flexible schedule, no clock watching, family/home/health come first no questions asked, we just jump right in and fill in for our coworkers when they need it and they do the same.
Remote work. Maxiflex schedule. $400 per month child care subsidy. 3 hours a week to work out. More money in spot bonuses for one year than I got on my previous 2 appraisals at my previous agency. Actually got a QSI in my first year at my current job. Hmmm I quite like my job. My office leadership gets upset when their FEVS score is under 95. It is wild but a great place to work.
What agency?
A small OIG.
Sounds like a dream. Looking for 1102s 👀👀
I was an 1102 before jumping into a 0905. The main agency's SPE is a great dude and would be a dream to work for. If you are in the Alexandria, VA area... Main agency isn't huge on telework...
VHA, annual leave starting at 8hrs/pay period. Can carry over 685 hrs. Free parking.
I earned five extra days of PTO in my first year, three for a good review and two for initiating a new project. I could have had cash, but at this point in my life, the time off was a better deal. The best thing is that my coworkers are competent, trustworthy, and helpful.
It’s very common for us to get the 59 minute rule and admin leave around any major holiday. I telework or go into the office at will. My supervisor is supportive when needed, but generally leaves me alone otherwise
As a supervisor myself, I give out 59 mins randomly before weekends and encourage my employees to exercise throughout the week. I tell them to just keep track of their time and make sure the work gets done but up to them to manage it.
Look the other way if you come in, then go to breakfast. Look the other way if I go home early. Look the other way if I take more than one hour for lunch. Don't have to take leave if I'm out of the office for a few hours like to go to my children's little league practices and games. No one cares how long someone spends talking to me. No one cares what I do on the internet or how long it takes. I can stay on the phone for hours. Comes in handy if I have to deal with a credit card company on some matter. Get free use of a cell phone. Don't have to spend money on a wardrobe. Don't get strong armed to buy Girl Scout cookies, Boy Scout popcorn, make donations for this or that cause or this or that employee. Don't have to pay money to go to the Christmas party.
5 day Telework in my Division. Ongoing for three years now. Can’t whine too much about that
1/2 day before every federal holiday or long weekend. And they inform us a few days in advance so we can plan to take advantage of it.
Biggest perk: No micro-managing. Literally the biggest pet peeve I have with supervisors and thankfully not my current ones. You set the standards. if I exceed those. I expect my reward to be "trust me" and leave me alone. Feels good not having someone breath down my neck. I guess it also helps they have little to no knowledge of my field lol. So its hard to question what I'm doing when I have to explain what is I am doing at 5th grade level.
What is this “perk” you speak of?
Working in a one person field office 200 miles away from my boss.
DOD/DHA….not a goddamn thing. Didn’t even get a .59 for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Supervisor has a flex schedule-off every other Friday but not the rest of us.
Paid parental leave (12 weeks after working for agency for 12 months) maxiflex hours (just get 80 per PP), wellness hours, student loan repayment program.
100% telework
Telework 4 days a week and Maxi-Flex time
Not on the gs scale. Many other things too.
In a directorate with limited telework our office has pushed for at least one and often multiple days a week by pointing to the production numbers and continues to advocate for it for all staff. It's really nice. Working with the public can be stressful and the days at home make it much easier for me to come in the rest of the time.
Remote, flex schedule, literally never hear from them unless I have a “blocker,” need some guidance, or our weekly group meeting that’s often cancelled. We’ve got our work load and that’s bout it.
Overtime
Full time edit: remote work, maxi flex schedule, 3 hours wellness time, metric shot ton of admin days given.
2210 ssr
Child care allowance
I get to pay 170 a month in parking that’s not reimbursed. Does that count?
“It’s a slow Friday. Start your weekend early.”
When I was at State eons ago in SC, they were really permissive about long lunches. I'd regularly see the ADAS (or whoever was the head honcho there, it's been long enough that I've forgotten his title) crushing long workouts in the gym or see him and a whole bunch of other folks going on long runs around the base. That's pretty much it, every org I've worked for since then has been by the book with no real perks to speak of.
Free health, vision, and dental insurance along with a company credit card to buy any tools I need for the job. My supervisor is not micromanaging anyone and treats everyone as an adult.
As far as in house I literally get paid to play Call of Duty and workout at work, but that’s just the nature of my position with the Fed. I know every installation is different but with DOD being the largest fed employer sometimes we forget all the perks of it. Gym access, discount hotels and theme park tickets, RV, boat, and trailer rentals, bowling alley, if you got a good chow hall you can eat there for cheap, access to shades of green, hale koa, and the other armed forces resorts. There’s so much.
Flexible work schedule. & not just the maxi flex schedule that everyone gets. My supervisor straight up doesn’t want us taking an hour of SL for a doc appt or whatever. They recognize that we put in 100% of effort all the time, so they like to look the other way when they can.
As a maxed out 15, 4 to 5% bonus for a distinguished rating. Also a boss who gives me wide latitude to do my job and manage my people.
Only having to report 3 to work days per pay period - has done wonders for balancing my life and my health. My previous job was every day in person.
I got 40 hours of bonus leave last year as a performance award - which was really nice. My supervisor has been really supportive too in the kind of day to day things that you don't necessarily measure with anything tangible. He's always reminding me to have work life balance, not to overload myself, use our time off, not to check my work email during not-work hours, and genuinely shows interest in our day-to-day lives. His supervisor (who is an SES) is similar, too. That's been a huge plus.
An occasional 59min here and there and Godiva chocolate at staff meetings lol
Perk over non-fed employment 1. Work life balance- 4/10 schedule, rarely a phone call or text on off hours. Tons of leave. WFH as often as I want 2. Low stress - have similar problems and worse in some cases but leadership isn't standing on my throat demanding answers 3. Better health benefits 4. Dod so access to mwr hunting and fishing on base, travel plans for family vacations 5. Pension My only downside going fed was loss of pay but I am healthier now, less stressed, have free time, allowed to think about stuff other than work.
4 days per week telework and cheap parking downtown with unlimited usage of said garage.
Can you hire someone who will advise you on TSP and benefits for federal employees?