Jeff Zients throws a hissy fit in a memo about RTO

[Anonymous]

Before the pandemic I could telework one day per week, for the last year I’ve only been in the office one day a week. Now they’re saying I need to be in 2-3 days a week, which is still much better than before. I’m happy with the increased flexibility and wish all the whiners would stop making us look entitled so this doesn’t go away too.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I believe we've seen an entire generation or two of Americans in big cities experience / discover an enormous shift in thinking about when, how, and why they work. I own a small business and its impacting me because my employees, who are younger, see the world differently. It's not going to be as easy as just sending out this memo and telling agency heads to make it happen.

But it’s not just that. For people with families, it’s about schools, housing and commutes. I’m perfectly happy to work 9-5:30. I don’t want to commute 2 hrs/day just so my kid can be enrolled in a decent school in a house I can afford. If Zients wants us middle-level feds (the backbone of our agencies) to stay put he needs to also pay attention to schools and housing prices. But I bet he’d be horrified to have his precious SFH neighborhood upzoned for apartments.

. It’s not just Zients. The politicians want to be re-elected. State and local government workers are back in the office. Different treatment for feds isn’t going to fly with voters.

I don’t think any voters are going one way or the other based on RTO policies. This clearly has a lot more to do with federal leases of commercial properties and putting some REITS in peril by letting feds stay home.

Oh, you are VERY mistaken.

LOL what a convincing argument.

You will see since many people cannot and will not tolerate the complete & disgusting hypocrisy of ignoring the environmental benefits of teleworking vs. RTO.
Feds are po'ed and will vote that way.

LOL right back at you.

So you think there are a substantial number of voters for whom the environment is a top, or the top priority, and those voters are going to . . . vote Republican? Because of RTO?

I'm sure there are some people, including feds, who are that blindingly stupid (your posts certainly suggest that at least one person is), but I can't believe there are more than a handful. I may be wrong, though.

[Anonymous]

Let’s see 100 workers sitting at home 10 hours a day on a 95 degree day all running AC vs they all go to office where AC is on already. Which is better environment. 101 central
ACs running or one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe we've seen an entire generation or two of Americans in big cities experience / discover an enormous shift in thinking about when, how, and why they work. I own a small business and its impacting me because my employees, who are younger, see the world differently. It's not going to be as easy as just sending out this memo and telling agency heads to make it happen.

But it’s not just that. For people with families, it’s about schools, housing and commutes. I’m perfectly happy to work 9-5:30. I don’t want to commute 2 hrs/day just so my kid can be enrolled in a decent school in a house I can afford. If Zients wants us middle-level feds (the backbone of our agencies) to stay put he needs to also pay attention to schools and housing prices. But I bet he’d be horrified to have his precious SFH neighborhood upzoned for apartments.

. It’s not just Zients. The politicians want to be re-elected. State and local government workers are back in the office. Different treatment for feds isn’t going to fly with voters.

I don’t think any voters are going one way or the other based on RTO policies. This clearly has a lot more to do with federal leases of commercial properties and putting some REITS in peril by letting feds stay home.

Oh, you are VERY mistaken.

LOL what a convincing argument.

You will see since many people cannot and will not tolerate the complete & disgusting hypocrisy of ignoring the environmental benefits of teleworking vs. RTO.
Feds are po'ed and will vote that way.

LOL right back at you.

Ok, so which presidential candidate should I vote for in 2024 who would let me maximize wfh as a fed?

I don't know.
Jump in your time machine and let me know who will be running and what their position is.
Right now, people will remember the environmental hypocrisy and decision to go with the $$ commercial real estate lobbyists are paying.

Right now the front runners are Trump and Biden. Which one would be better on environmental issues? Which would be better to federal employees? If Trump loses to DeSantis do you think he’d be more of an environmentalist and pro civil servant?

Saaaay..who is going to the 2025 Super bowl?
Right now the front runners are Philly and KC.

Psst, the answer is neither but one hypocritically poses to be for the environment.
That's my point.

At best, you’re a Republican shill. At worst, you’re just trying to give the world to Putin. Go away and eat some blini.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Zients is right. I know some Feds who take their work and mission very seriously and they are all back in the office at least 3 days a week. It is mostly the lazy ass Feds who are complaining

Interesting, I care deeply about the mission but am cranking out new regs and policy from home. Process would be much slower if we were in the office screwing around with coffee breaks while the incompetent chatters walk in on our discussions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe we've seen an entire generation or two of Americans in big cities experience / discover an enormous shift in thinking about when, how, and why they work. I own a small business and its impacting me because my employees, who are younger, see the world differently. It's not going to be as easy as just sending out this memo and telling agency heads to make it happen.

But it’s not just that. For people with families, it’s about schools, housing and commutes. I’m perfectly happy to work 9-5:30. I don’t want to commute 2 hrs/day just so my kid can be enrolled in a decent school in a house I can afford. If Zients wants us middle-level feds (the backbone of our agencies) to stay put he needs to also pay attention to schools and housing prices. But I bet he’d be horrified to have his precious SFH neighborhood upzoned for apartments.

. It’s not just Zients. The politicians want to be re-elected. State and local government workers are back in the office. Different treatment for feds isn’t going to fly with voters.

I don’t think any voters are going one way or the other based on RTO policies. This clearly has a lot more to do with federal leases of commercial properties and putting some REITS in peril by letting feds stay home.

Oh, you are VERY mistaken.

LOL what a convincing argument.

You will see since many people cannot and will not tolerate the complete & disgusting hypocrisy of ignoring the environmental benefits of teleworking vs. RTO.
Feds are po'ed and will vote that way.

LOL right back at you.

Ok, so which presidential candidate should I vote for in 2024 who would let me maximize wfh as a fed?

I don't know.
Jump in your time machine and let me know who will be running and what their position is.
Right now, people will remember the environmental hypocrisy and decision to go with the $$ commercial real estate lobbyists are paying.

Right now the front runners are Trump and Biden. Which one would be better on environmental issues? Which would be better to federal employees? If Trump loses to DeSantis do you think he’d be more of an environmentalist and pro civil servant?

Saaaay..who is going to the 2025 Super bowl?
Right now the front runners are Philly and KC.

Psst, the answer is neither but one hypocritically poses to be for the environment.
That's my point.

At best, you’re a Republican shill. At worst, you’re just trying to give the world to Putin. Go away and eat some blini.

At best you are an idiotic troll.
At worst you are an idiotic troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s see 100 workers sitting at home 10 hours a day on a 95 degree day all running AC vs they all go to office where AC is on already. Which is better environment. 101 central
ACs running or one

Kids are home for summer. It's already on all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s see 100 workers sitting at home 10 hours a day on a 95 degree day all running AC vs they all go to office where AC is on already. Which is better environment. 101 central
ACs running or one

This is beyond stupid.
You obviously do not know what zero sum means.
The home AC will already be running.
Obviously you don't have a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s see 100 workers sitting at home 10 hours a day on a 95 degree day all running AC vs they all go to office where AC is on already. Which is better environment. 101 central
ACs running or one

Your argument is silly. The 100 workers are not turning their home AC off when they go to the office. The AC is still running at their homes. Meanwhile, the AC at the office building has to crank to cool an entire building regardless of its level of occupation. And, it’s not like they power it down on the weekends because it is too inefficient to bring the building back to the right temp on Mondays when the workers return.

In the case of my building, it is 70 years old with terrible air circulation and ancient leaky windows. Half of the building is freezing cold, while other offices are unbearably hot. It’s a mishmash of space heaters and fans going all day just to make it halfway tolerable. Lately we have had a series of flooding incidents in the building from the air conditioning system. We won’t even talk about the asbestos remediation.

I’m working in the office anyway, so don’t dismiss this as a “whine.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe we've seen an entire generation or two of Americans in big cities experience / discover an enormous shift in thinking about when, how, and why they work. I own a small business and its impacting me because my employees, who are younger, see the world differently. It's not going to be as easy as just sending out this memo and telling agency heads to make it happen.

But it’s not just that. For people with families, it’s about schools, housing and commutes. I’m perfectly happy to work 9-5:30. I don’t want to commute 2 hrs/day just so my kid can be enrolled in a decent school in a house I can afford. If Zients wants us middle-level feds (the backbone of our agencies) to stay put he needs to also pay attention to schools and housing prices. But I bet he’d be horrified to have his precious SFH neighborhood upzoned for apartments.

. It’s not just Zients. The politicians want to be re-elected. State and local government workers are back in the office. Different treatment for feds isn’t going to fly with voters.

Feds are already in the office, at least for hybrid. Some have to go in every day. Very few are still 100% WFH.

Not OP

[Anonymous]

I turn my AC to 80 when at work 12 hours a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I turn my AC to 80 when at work 12 hours a day.

Sure and not many do that.
God can you just concede when you might be wrong?
Insufferable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s see 100 workers sitting at home 10 hours a day on a 95 degree day all running AC vs they all go to office where AC is on already. Which is better environment. 101 central
ACs running or one

Your argument is silly. The 100 workers are not turning their home AC off when they go to the office. The AC is still running at their homes. Meanwhile, the AC at the office building has to crank to cool an entire building regardless of its level of occupation. And, it’s not like they power it down on the weekends because it is too inefficient to bring the building back to the right temp on Mondays when the workers return.

In the case of my building, it is 70 years old with terrible air circulation and ancient leaky windows. Half of the building is freezing cold, while other offices are unbearably hot. It’s a mishmash of space heaters and fans going all day just to make it halfway tolerable. Lately we have had a series of flooding incidents in the building from the air conditioning system. We won’t even talk about the asbestos remediation.

I’m working in the office anyway, so don’t dismiss this as a “whine.”

+1 I used to have space heater running in the office during winter AND summer. And I had layers and a heavy sweater at my desk. I wasn't one of those people complaining I was cold in a tank top and sandals. Just another benefit of WFH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I turn my AC to 80 when at work 12 hours a day.

Good for you. I’m going to go out on a limb and say most others don’t do that. The AC is cranking along everywhere, whether at home or not at home, in a full office building or in a half-vacant one. The argument that an earlier poster (you?) made, that it’s better for the environment for everyone to go to the office to save on energy costs associated with air conditioning, is silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I turn my AC to 80 when at work 12 hours a day.

Good for you. I’m going to go out on a limb and say most others don’t do that. The AC is cranking along everywhere, whether at home or not at home, in a full office building or in a half-vacant one. The argument that an earlier poster (you?) made, that it’s better for the environment for everyone to go to the office to save on energy costs associated with air conditioning, is silly.

NP and a little off topic but that's unfortunate if many people don't do this both from an expense and an environmental perspective, it's so wasteful and programmable thermostats are cheap and take just a few minutes to set up.

Also OT but my agency shuts down AC over the weekend. My old law firm did too, you had to request it by floor. I also hope this is a common practice, so wasteful to heat and cool buildings on the weekend.