Telework Inequities
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Anonymous
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How is this fair? And how would you approach it? My company had a very lenient telework policy coming out of the pandemic - basically everyone teleworked 70-80% of the time. During this time, a few employees moved further away from the office, started families, adopted dogs, whatever. Now, since the govt is back in person, our director has made the same rule and everyone within a 50 mile radius has to be in the office 5 days a week. The only exception is telework is allowed if you have a medical appointment or family emergency to deal with. So basically, those folks who moved further away get a sweet deal - full time telework with DC area pay while the rest of us pay DC cost of living to drag ourselves into the office daily.
Yes, I can find a new job, but really, my question is about equity and fairness. It feels like those who move further away get rewarded. I want to bring this up to my boss. I’m seriously considering uprooting my family just so I can spend more time with the kids instead of on my commute. |
Anonymous
| It's not an uncommon rule. |
Anonymous
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You are correct in your feelings. They are being rewarded. Think about the poor 40-45 mile away sap.
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Anonymous
| 50 miles is such a stupid number. It should be like 5. |
Anonymous
| Yes it’s one of the inequities when you have folks who don’t work at the HQ location. So we have people who work full time remote from home, but we also have people who have to commute in from Woodbridge, Gaithersburg, Baltimore etc 2-3x/ week. |
Anonymous
| My company had grandfathered in people who lived beyond a certain radius but are changing that starting January 1st. I think they realized it was causing resentment hurting overall morale. So hang tight - I think other companies are doing the same. |
Anonymous
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Start talking about a move to outside the 50 mile radius. Use it to point out to management how unfair they are being
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Anonymous
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Unfortunately the real problem is no one needs to be in the office and the real estate is an unnecessary expense. But that’s a challenging problem to solve or big change so they’ll simply get rid of anyone who can’t come in 5 days a week.
The end result will be smaller companies will increasingly have a huge advantage for hiring. |
Anonymous
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It's so odd that your company is basing it's policies on what the government is doing. Have they seen the federal government lately?
Pointing this out probably would not be helpful, but like many federal employees, I would start looking for another job. |
Anonymous
I wouldn’t approach it at all. This is bad leadership and isn’t a good place to work. Simply find a new job or accept what is happening. Even if you don’t think this group of people should telework, you don’t want your company to lose a large % of workers overnight due to a silly policy. Most likely you’ll be able to TW again in the next 6 months to a year. I wouldn’t push to punish the special group because you do yourself want the rules to become more lenient. |
Anonymous
| My place went back to 4 days in office but there were some people who were allowed to continue teleworking due to extenuating circumstances, at first it made sense, but now we are several years into a normal situation and some of those people continue to be allowed to telework - not sure how and why but it doesn't bother me as much any more because I thin it is acutally quite hard for them because they are so removed from the work and suffer professionally too. there are negatives as well and it is not all good, so maybe remember that too. |
Anonymous
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This is a common rule but typically people are grandfathered in - you can't usually move after the fact and get the same treatment. If you can, then sure, I would consider moving.
You could also try changing the radius - 50 miles one-way is a bad commute, even here - but that's unfair to other people so .... |
Anonymous
| The govt rule is based on having to pay moving expenses if it changes their duty station from their house to an office 50+ miles away. Perhaps your company has a similar policy and doesn't want to pay relocations. |
Anonymous
| I don’t see how this affects you. They are not taking anything away from you. You are free to move further away or look for another job. Why ruin a good thing for someone else? Wouldn’t you want others to do the same for you? |
Anonymous
This can cut both ways as your company might lose the contract and then you are stuck in an area where you might not be able to find a job. |