How has the fork played out at your agency?

[Anonymous]

In my office, managers urged everyone to take the fork because we were sure to have massive RIFs. About 35% took the fork. We had no RIFs and none are planned, and we’ve even gotten authority to hire some positions. I didn’t take the fork and am very glad that I did not. My friends who took it have less than a month of salary left and aren’t even getting interviews because the market is flooded and their experience is too specialized.

[Anonymous]

I took it bc I turned 62 in August. My program lost about 20+%. Folks with a lot of institutional knowledge and managers at various levels. I am officially retiring at the end of September

[Anonymous]

About 30% of my office took it, but 50-75% of our managers took it (all the people eligible to retire). No RIFs expected where I am, but they are happening to other parts of the Agency. Our office is being reorganized, so we're in a weird limbo right now. The lack of managers is looking like it's going to be a big problem in the new structure--and with the number of other senior people who retired, there aren't even logical people to promote to replace them.

As one of 2 managers in my chain who stayed, it's a lot. I'm supervising 3 times as many people as I used to while getting no useful information from the people above me. The people left are frustrated and nervous about the changes that are coming, and there's very little I can do to help.

[Anonymous]

About 20% of my very new agency took it, mostly bc they were hired remotely during the pandemic. It’s really sad. Plus we are still waiting for leadership to be confirmed so we are doing nothing. I hate it.

[Anonymous]

It only made sense if you could retire or VERA. Quitting with no new job lined up is always a risky play, and in current job market insane.

[Anonymous]

About 30% of my agency signed up for it, but once it became clear that RIFs weren’t actually happening, only about 20% are leaving. It’s mostly people who are of retirement age or conversely, younger people who are like screw this and easily got a higher paying private sector jobs. Most of the older people leaving are supervisors and leaders with massive amounts of experience and institutional knowledge.

Because it was open to anyone without any strategic thinking at all, there’s huge holes now in some areas and the remaining supervisors are trying to manage large teams of completely demoralized employees who are doing multiple jobs because none of the workload was actually reduced and in fact, all these poorly-written EOs are causing additional work.

We’re now planning to reorganize since there aren’t enough people in some areas and are going to be hiring back some of the jobs that left.

It’s an absolute disaster basically.

[Anonymous]

The only people who took it were ready to retire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It only made sense if you could retire or VERA. Quitting with no new job lined up is always a risky play, and in current job market insane.

Yep. I was making that same comment constantly back in the spring. It make no sense for most people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About 30% of my agency signed up for it, but once it became clear that RIFs weren’t actually happening, only about 20% are leaving. It’s mostly people who are of retirement age or conversely, younger people who are like screw this and easily got a higher paying private sector jobs. Most of the older people leaving are supervisors and leaders with massive amounts of experience and institutional knowledge.

Because it was open to anyone without any strategic thinking at all, there’s huge holes now in some areas and the remaining supervisors are trying to manage large teams of completely demoralized employees who are doing multiple jobs because none of the workload was actually reduced and in fact, all these poorly-written EOs are causing additional work.

We’re now planning to reorganize since there aren’t enough people in some areas and are going to be hiring back some of the jobs that left.

It’s an absolute disaster basically.

Are they actually allowing the 10% to back out? I figured that optionally was a Trojan horse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About 30% of my agency signed up for it, but once it became clear that RIFs weren’t actually happening, only about 20% are leaving. It’s mostly people who are of retirement age or conversely, younger people who are like screw this and easily got a higher paying private sector jobs. Most of the older people leaving are supervisors and leaders with massive amounts of experience and institutional knowledge.

Because it was open to anyone without any strategic thinking at all, there’s huge holes now in some areas and the remaining supervisors are trying to manage large teams of completely demoralized employees who are doing multiple jobs because none of the workload was actually reduced and in fact, all these poorly-written EOs are causing additional work.

We’re now planning to reorganize since there aren’t enough people in some areas and are going to be hiring back some of the jobs that left.

It’s an absolute disaster basically.

Did those young people actually find jobs easily, what field are you in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About 30% of my agency signed up for it, but once it became clear that RIFs weren’t actually happening, only about 20% are leaving. It’s mostly people who are of retirement age or conversely, younger people who are like screw this and easily got a higher paying private sector jobs. Most of the older people leaving are supervisors and leaders with massive amounts of experience and institutional knowledge.

Because it was open to anyone without any strategic thinking at all, there’s huge holes now in some areas and the remaining supervisors are trying to manage large teams of completely demoralized employees who are doing multiple jobs because none of the workload was actually reduced and in fact, all these poorly-written EOs are causing additional work.

We’re now planning to reorganize since there aren’t enough people in some areas and are going to be hiring back some of the jobs that left.

It’s an absolute disaster basically.

Are they actually allowing the 10% to back out? I figured that optionally was a Trojan horse.

They are. Legally required to for employees 40 and over within a certain amount of time.

[Anonymous]

Praying they do it again because I’m eligible for VERA next year.

[Anonymous]

Similar to others, most of the Fork takers were planning on retiring in 1-5 years and this was an easy decision. We also had a few younger remote workers who took it because they were unwilling to relocate. One person took it because he was sure he’d get RIFd but there weren’t any large-scale RIFs at our org. I don’t know if he is regretting the decision or if he’s happy to be out anyway.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know anyone who took it, but we only had it offered that first time when everyone was skeptical. We had a separate VERA offered and a few people did that.

[Anonymous]

The only people who took it were close to retiring or in term-limited appointments. A lot of the term-limited folks were being pushed out instead of being renewed (which previously happened with little-to-no fuss) so that ended up being smart on their part.

And then we had whole categories of people RIF'ed right after that. As it turns out they were essential, so many of them got recalled temporarily and there are rumors that some might get hired back eventually.