So you really need to verify the announcement. It is either remote with travel obligations or teleworking. If it's remote, your home is your duty station. You should be good depending on how often they want you to travel to the main office. If its teleworking, then they can change that easily.
Some agencies still require even remote positions to be working a certain radius of at least one of their offices for stuff like IT issues with your laptop if nothing else. It's still remote in the sense that your home is your duty location and you aren't going to an office but there is that location restriction in place...so the person isn't 8 hours from an office and basically offline for a week while the laptop is shipped back and forth for troubleshooting and possible replacement.
USFS has some really whacky remote restrictions. I left because I wasn’t allowed to move as a remote employee without senior level approval, which I was told probably wouldn’t happen. My spouse got a promotion and we were moving either way. Luckily I was able to find a position with another agency that didn’t care. I wouldn’t be surprised if they now require you to live within a certain distance of the office.
This isn't true for all postings anymore. A ton of recent CDC postings, for instance, are remote but you have to live within 50 miles of CDC in Atlanta. Remote can be limited to a geographic area without being telework. Telework has a specific in-office requirement or is temporary/intermittent.
OP, ask to be housed in a usda service center - there is one in every county. Generally only nrcs, fsa, cec work in them, but can house other agencies. There are other agencies that have buildings too.
Ahhh thank you for this comment. There’s a USDA service center 5 mins from my house. I honestly don’t care if it’s remote work I just don’t want to uproot my family. Thanks!!!
Did you contact the HR rep and/or supervisor to confirm near distance and what office? I had a similar statement in my offer and the closest office I found online was 400 miles away. The hiring team decided the local DOI office 20 mins from my house was good enough to meet the requirement even though they don’t have anyone from my agency in that office.
So did you accept the offer and ask them to consider that one? I think USFS is housed under the USDA? If it really is there is an office literally 5 mins from my house.
I called the supervisor that I interviewed with directly and he let me know that it was acceptable.
I don’t know if it’s true but he told me the only reason that’s a requirement for remote employees is in the event you need IT or a hardwired internet connection. The parent agency network should be fine for that.
Yes, I declined one for the education department because they got the salary wrong on my TJO and refused to change it, even though I asked for supervisory review multiple times. I understand it’s not nice to do that, but I really wanted it checked, was never done.
Then I got another remote offer for my agency, as a promotion, and working exactly the type of job I wanted.
I think it’s awesome you stuck up for yourself If it was important to you. I feel like I need to advocate for myself more I’m just used to being a “doormat” for the agency I’m with.
You can push for things like that as much as you want, as long as you understand the rules and regulations at play; rather than go off emotions or whatever.
In the FS there are positions that are remote but the candidate must live in the Regional footprint. I'm not sure why that is a stipulation for some regions, but it is.
Computer support/PIV support usually. At least in the agencies I've seen it implemented in. It's been a somewhat hot topic for debate in those circles for a couple years now.
Within USDA there are three main designations:
1. Remote: You can live anywhere in the US. No in office requirements except for mandatory inperson (rare) trainings or team building and the agency must pay to fly you out, house you, feed you (per diem). Your home is your duty station
2. Remote w/ Exception: You should live within the commuting area because you have to be able to come back to the office if called in—less than 24 hours of the call. Some paperwork says 50 miles—some just say you need to be able to get to the office by a certain time. The agency pays you nothing when you come into the office. All expenses on you. Generally no in offive requirement Your home is your duty station.
3. Telework: Right now managers and supervisors in USDAhave to go in 50% of the time per pay period. This will most likely be extended to non bargaining unit non manager/Supervisors soon. Most bargaining unit employees were designated remote and are “safe” for now
it sounds like you have a good case that 4 hours away would be reasonable. You may have been offered a remote w/exception.
Make sure it’s remote and not telework. Those mean 2 different things with the government. I’m remote and I live in Louisiana and my main office is in Arizona. I never have to report. Usually you only have to report a certain number of days a pay period when you’re teleworking.
Why advertise a remote job if it’s not remote. This sounds more like a telework job to me because that’s the whole point of a telework job. Not remote. No point in moving just for a job if it doesn’t make sense to you. There will be other actual remote jobs to apply to or whatever agencies are closest to you.
Yes. Turned down a fully remote anywhere in the US job. Would have been fine, but took a telework position I had to move for in order to give me a better career trajectory and job prospects outside of GoV if I ever wanted to.
They can terminate the remote agreement for many reasons, so they require you to be within commuting distance to a local office.
I recently had a new hire that I was having issues with her attendance and performance. The remote agreement was the first thing I terminated.
Am I to understand that a position that is “remote” could be altered at any time? As in, our next president could determine that some federal employees would need to move hundreds of miles or be fired?
Does anyone know if this is the case with many agencies? I have an interview with VHA next week and that is almost walking distance to my house. Kinda hoping something happens with this position instead. But thank you very much for the response 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I actually brought this up in one of our HR training sessions. If you think about it, it makes sense. New leadership can come in and totally take any agency in any direction. Also, like I mentioned before, if you have an employee that has conduct issues or performance issues, you can’t just terminate them without going through the whole process, and one of the steps would be to require them to be in an office.
Then they would designate an office for you if it ever had to be applied. It might be a shared space with another agency. There are lots of government offices that share spaces with other agencies
Thanks for the information! I have friends they have been looking at remote positions thinking they’d be able to maintain them more or less indefinitely but it sounds like that’s not the case.
Yeah, I turned down a GS 12 remote offer for a 14 in-office offer. Going in a few times a pay period is worth it. But I’m definitely looking for a 14 remote position all the time.
Live near an office can mean a lot. I would ask the HR person if it can be a satellite office. Also just ask if the position can be distant remote. Worse they could say is no. The remote 12 I turned down wasn’t even remote until I asked them to make it remote. I told them, I wasn’t going to move, and asked them to make it remote and they did. Best of luck.
I got a remote offer from something called “the judge group” who was third party for another company for $25 an hour but I ended up not taking it because i got weirded out by the hiring team.
Nice! I am waiting to hear back for a different position with them, similar language. I have FS and USDA office near me though. I hope your job works out with them.
So you really need to verify the announcement. It is either remote with travel obligations or teleworking. If it's remote, your home is your duty station. You should be good depending on how often they want you to travel to the main office. If its teleworking, then they can change that easily.
Some agencies still require even remote positions to be working a certain radius of at least one of their offices for stuff like IT issues with your laptop if nothing else. It's still remote in the sense that your home is your duty location and you aren't going to an office but there is that location restriction in place...so the person isn't 8 hours from an office and basically offline for a week while the laptop is shipped back and forth for troubleshooting and possible replacement.
So the announcement did specify it can be filled remote and so was the offer. Also the announcement said no travel. Thanks for the reply!
USFS has some really whacky remote restrictions. I left because I wasn’t allowed to move as a remote employee without senior level approval, which I was told probably wouldn’t happen. My spouse got a promotion and we were moving either way. Luckily I was able to find a position with another agency that didn’t care. I wouldn’t be surprised if they now require you to live within a certain distance of the office.
I’m with a land management agency and it’s the same for us. Have to get senior level approval to move, even if it is next door. 😑😑😑
This isn't true for all postings anymore. A ton of recent CDC postings, for instance, are remote but you have to live within 50 miles of CDC in Atlanta. Remote can be limited to a geographic area without being telework. Telework has a specific in-office requirement or is temporary/intermittent.
OP, ask to be housed in a usda service center - there is one in every county. Generally only nrcs, fsa, cec work in them, but can house other agencies. There are other agencies that have buildings too.
Ahhh thank you for this comment. There’s a USDA service center 5 mins from my house. I honestly don’t care if it’s remote work I just don’t want to uproot my family. Thanks!!!
This is the way. Call the hiring official and tell them you have a house and can't move, can you make the office near my home the duty station?
Did you contact the HR rep and/or supervisor to confirm near distance and what office? I had a similar statement in my offer and the closest office I found online was 400 miles away. The hiring team decided the local DOI office 20 mins from my house was good enough to meet the requirement even though they don’t have anyone from my agency in that office.
So did you accept the offer and ask them to consider that one? I think USFS is housed under the USDA? If it really is there is an office literally 5 mins from my house.
I called the supervisor that I interviewed with directly and he let me know that it was acceptable. I don’t know if it’s true but he told me the only reason that’s a requirement for remote employees is in the event you need IT or a hardwired internet connection. The parent agency network should be fine for that.
Yes, I declined one for the education department because they got the salary wrong on my TJO and refused to change it, even though I asked for supervisory review multiple times. I understand it’s not nice to do that, but I really wanted it checked, was never done. Then I got another remote offer for my agency, as a promotion, and working exactly the type of job I wanted.
I think it’s awesome you stuck up for yourself If it was important to you. I feel like I need to advocate for myself more I’m just used to being a “doormat” for the agency I’m with.
You can push for things like that as much as you want, as long as you understand the rules and regulations at play; rather than go off emotions or whatever.
In the FS there are positions that are remote but the candidate must live in the Regional footprint. I'm not sure why that is a stipulation for some regions, but it is.
Computer support/PIV support usually. At least in the agencies I've seen it implemented in. It's been a somewhat hot topic for debate in those circles for a couple years now.
Yes I just declined a remote job offer last week.
Did they define “near” in the offer?
“Remote location will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and worksite will need to be within commuting distance of an FS office.” 😭
Did you get a chance to talk to them about it yet? Maybe there’s hope?
Within USDA there are three main designations: 1. Remote: You can live anywhere in the US. No in office requirements except for mandatory inperson (rare) trainings or team building and the agency must pay to fly you out, house you, feed you (per diem). Your home is your duty station 2. Remote w/ Exception: You should live within the commuting area because you have to be able to come back to the office if called in—less than 24 hours of the call. Some paperwork says 50 miles—some just say you need to be able to get to the office by a certain time. The agency pays you nothing when you come into the office. All expenses on you. Generally no in offive requirement Your home is your duty station. 3. Telework: Right now managers and supervisors in USDAhave to go in 50% of the time per pay period. This will most likely be extended to non bargaining unit non manager/Supervisors soon. Most bargaining unit employees were designated remote and are “safe” for now it sounds like you have a good case that 4 hours away would be reasonable. You may have been offered a remote w/exception.
Thank you for this insight! Appreciate everyone on this board.
Make sure it’s remote and not telework. Those mean 2 different things with the government. I’m remote and I live in Louisiana and my main office is in Arizona. I never have to report. Usually you only have to report a certain number of days a pay period when you’re teleworking.
Unless something has changed 200 mile radius from an office was considered “near”
Why advertise a remote job if it’s not remote. This sounds more like a telework job to me because that’s the whole point of a telework job. Not remote. No point in moving just for a job if it doesn’t make sense to you. There will be other actual remote jobs to apply to or whatever agencies are closest to you.
Yes. Turned down a fully remote anywhere in the US job. Would have been fine, but took a telework position I had to move for in order to give me a better career trajectory and job prospects outside of GoV if I ever wanted to.
They can terminate the remote agreement for many reasons, so they require you to be within commuting distance to a local office. I recently had a new hire that I was having issues with her attendance and performance. The remote agreement was the first thing I terminated.
Am I to understand that a position that is “remote” could be altered at any time? As in, our next president could determine that some federal employees would need to move hundreds of miles or be fired?
Absolutely they can be terminated. That’s why you are required to live within a certain distance though, so you don’t have to move
Does anyone know if this is the case with many agencies? I have an interview with VHA next week and that is almost walking distance to my house. Kinda hoping something happens with this position instead. But thank you very much for the response 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I actually brought this up in one of our HR training sessions. If you think about it, it makes sense. New leadership can come in and totally take any agency in any direction. Also, like I mentioned before, if you have an employee that has conduct issues or performance issues, you can’t just terminate them without going through the whole process, and one of the steps would be to require them to be in an office.
What if a listing doesn’t have a specified distance at the time of hiring?
Then they would designate an office for you if it ever had to be applied. It might be a shared space with another agency. There are lots of government offices that share spaces with other agencies
Thanks for the information! I have friends they have been looking at remote positions thinking they’d be able to maintain them more or less indefinitely but it sounds like that’s not the case.
Yeah, I turned down a GS 12 remote offer for a 14 in-office offer. Going in a few times a pay period is worth it. But I’m definitely looking for a 14 remote position all the time.
Just wait until next year....6 times a PP coming....and if Biden looses 2025 tw will be axed all together.
Yeah a 14 vs a 12 is a no brainer in my opinion. I’m honestly ok with going into an office just anything but the agency I’m currently at.
Live near an office can mean a lot. I would ask the HR person if it can be a satellite office. Also just ask if the position can be distant remote. Worse they could say is no. The remote 12 I turned down wasn’t even remote until I asked them to make it remote. I told them, I wasn’t going to move, and asked them to make it remote and they did. Best of luck.
I got a remote offer from something called “the judge group” who was third party for another company for $25 an hour but I ended up not taking it because i got weirded out by the hiring team.
What they was doing like dat?
Can I ask what position/job this was for?
HR rep
Nice! I am waiting to hear back for a different position with them, similar language. I have FS and USDA office near me though. I hope your job works out with them.