Any other feds struggling to give a damn long enough to hang on until retirement?

[Anonymous]

I'm a fed employee with about three and a half years until I'm eligible for retirement and keeping that sweet, sweet subsidized healthcare into retirement (assuming congress doesn't mess that up, of course). Logically, I should just keep my head down and put in the next three and a half years. But good lord, the work is awful lately. Part of it is the whole effort to make fed lives miserable, like 5-day in-office policies. But the work itself is just...pointless. At best, I'm writing memos recommending things that will never happen because this administration is much more about deleting regulations than doing anything. And my bosses are so afraid that our jobs will be eliminated that they're spending all their time creating busywork that duplicates work other parts of my agency already does. The thought of another three-and-a-half years of this is depressing. I'm so tempted to say "screw it" and go into the private sector (or to a state government job), even though I know that it may not be a good idea financially.

How are other feds handling this?

[Anonymous]

I would just try to work your in office hours and then refuse to do anything in the evenings and weekends and try to enjoy your off hours.

That health care is pretty awesome. I'd hang in there for that and then get the hell out.

[Anonymous]

Same here, OP. My job has changed significantly with hiring freezes, spending freezes, etc. and I drive an hour each way to sit with hardly anything to do.

I’m 4 years until eligibility for regular retirement and I often wish I had taken the VERA that had been offered at my agency, but the pay cut was too much for our family, and no guarantee of a private industry job.

So I’m just muddling through and hoping my job gets back to some sense of what it had been.

[Anonymous]

I’m confused about the “sweet, sweet subsidized healthcare”

Is it really that great?

Wouldn’t it make more financial sense to work another decade in a higher earning job and invest the money?

I feel like government employees have been gaslit about their benefits. Why should you work a miserable low paying job just for 5-10 years of subsidized healthcare??

[Anonymous]

Yes, only I have 8 years to go. It's all demoralizing and we're not even 6 months in. For me, its watching what has occurred to others (USAID, in particular) plus thinking of all of the local hires abroad who will lose employment and benefits in countries where we provide some of the few middle class jobs.

[Anonymous]

This is depressing as a taxpayer. Is any valuable work being done at all. This doesn't help the overall look of feds. I know there are areas that desperately need bodies and I know that their are feds busting their butts. This uneven distribution is what bit us in the first place, everyone thinking that they are all lazy because of a slim demographic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is depressing as a taxpayer. Is any valuable work being done at all. This doesn't help the overall look of feds. I know there are areas that desperately need bodies and I know that there are feds busting their butts. This uneven distribution is what bit us in the first place, everyone thinking that they are all lazy because of a slim demographic.

+1
And why do feds have so much better health insurance than the rest of us?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is depressing as a taxpayer. Is any valuable work being done at all. This doesn't help the overall look of feds. I know there are areas that desperately need bodies and I know that their are feds busting their butts. This uneven distribution is what bit us in the first place, everyone thinking that they are all lazy because of a slim demographic.

Do you read any news at all? This administration wants to prevent the government from functioning. It's not the employees' choice that meaningful projects have been killed, necessary people fired, tech contracts ended, etc.
Feds are not being lazy, they are not being allowed to do their jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is depressing as a taxpayer. Is any valuable work being done at all. This doesn't help the overall look of feds. I know there are areas that desperately need bodies and I know that there are feds busting their butts. This uneven distribution is what bit us in the first place, everyone thinking that they are all lazy because of a slim demographic.

+1
And why do feds have so much better health insurance than the rest of us?

Fed health insurance isn't that great unless by the rest of us you mean someone working at Walmart that doesn't get benefits. Its comparable/slightly worse than what my spouse at a large corporation gets.

[Anonymous]

Np, I used to be busy, but all my work has been reassigned or stopped altogether. I am doing a three-hour daily round trip to sit at my desk with no work. I make up things to do, but I don't have any significant work to keep me occupied.

My agency has not offered VERA to my group yet (25 years), but I am strongly considering taking it if and when they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is depressing as a taxpayer. Is any valuable work being done at all. This doesn't help the overall look of feds. I know there are areas that desperately need bodies and I know that there are feds busting their butts. This uneven distribution is what bit us in the first place, everyone thinking that they are all lazy because of a slim demographic.

+1
And why do feds have so much better health insurance than the rest of us?

I’m not so sure they do. So many federal workers only know the benefits of other federal workers. A lot of government workers have convinced themselves that they receive fantastic benefits.

I’m married to a private sector employee who has worked for 5-6 employers during my time as a government worker. Every employer has offered perfectly fine insurance. Sometimes it’s a little more than my insurance, but it’s hardly anything so significant that I’d stay a government worker for it.

[Anonymous]

Many feds were long before DOGE.

Why don’t you do something useful like look for extraneous regs and suggest their deletion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is depressing as a taxpayer. Is any valuable work being done at all. This doesn't help the overall look of feds. I know there are areas that desperately need bodies and I know that there are feds busting their butts. This uneven distribution is what bit us in the first place, everyone thinking that they are all lazy because of a slim demographic.

+1
And why do feds have so much better health insurance than the rest of us?

Fed health insurance isn't that great unless by the rest of us you mean someone working at Walmart that doesn't get benefits. Its comparable/slightly worse than what my spouse at a large corporation gets.

[phone]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is depressing as a taxpayer. Is any valuable work being done at all. This doesn't help the overall look of feds. I know there are areas that desperately need bodies and I know that there are feds busting their butts. This uneven distribution is what bit us in the first place, everyone thinking that they are all lazy because of a slim demographic.

+1
And why do feds have so much better health insurance than the rest of us?

It's not particularly good, actually. It's just a nice perk to carry the same insurance into retirement than have to find insurance privately or rely on Medicare.

Most private sector employers offer fewer insurance options but pay for more of the premium. DH's employer pays the whole premium but you can only use Cigna. (The BCBS federal plan is actually very good, but it's expensive.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many feds were long before DOGE.

Why don’t you do something useful like look for extraneous regs and suggest their deletion?

Agencies have been legally required to do this for years. Every agency I've worked at was doing it on a regular schedule. The public can also submit suggestions. All of that predates DOGE.