Federal employees and 2025 vacations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actual RIFs seem very unlikely to me. Of course no one knows but if they have any brains at all they’ll just rely on attrition.

This. There will be a hiring freeze, wage freezes, and RTO. This will cause those who are retirement eligible to depart and they won't be backfilled.

According to this report from the WH in 2022, 30% of Feds are retirement eligible "within the next 5 years"....so by 2027.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ap_7_strengthening_fy2023.pdf

They won't even need to do a VERA or VSIP.

[Anonymous]

I’m at a HHS subagency and I don’t feel vulnerable. I will be on PPL and a mix of annual leave for almost half of 2025.

If I were OP, I would go to the wedding. Life is too short to worry about things that may never happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this is very very low on the list of concerns for federal employees now. But, a close relative is getting married internationally next summer(where my family is from). I had always planned on going but haven't put in leave, bought tickets, etc. Now I feel stressed about 1)spending the money and 2)being out of contact for a week+ and then coming back to a RIF or something. I'm probably overthinking this? What are other feds at vulnerable agencies doing about their future time off?

Yep. Probably.

We (both of us feds) are planning a vacation abroad for early next fall. Never dawned on me to worry about it in the least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your employer is restructuring and many times that comes with RIFs. Literally every person who doesn’t work for the federal government has likely experienced this, it’s frankly astonishing how frail our government employees are at just the *thought* of being impacted at their job.

A good point. And an obvious one, that I haven't seen anybody mention before.

[Anonymous]

I'm going to use all my annual leave, being gone for an extra week isn't going to make any difference to a RIF or restructuring. But I'm not going to go on as expensive trips as I might have planned - e.g. instead of Puerto Rico this winter, it'll be a long weekend in Philly. More liquid savings can't hurt in an unstable time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your employer is restructuring and many times that comes with RIFs. Literally every person who doesn’t work for the federal government has likely experienced this, it’s frankly astonishing how frail our government employees are at just the *thought* of being impacted at their job.

A good point. And an obvious one, that I haven't seen anybody mention before.

And the obvious response to this “good” point is one a PP posted yesterday:

Well, feds did exchange the option of higher pay for stability plus lower pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual RIFs seem very unlikely to me. Of course no one knows but if they have any brains at all they’ll just rely on attrition.

This. There will be a hiring freeze, wage freezes, and RTO. This will cause those who are retirement eligible to depart and they won't be backfilled.

According to this report from the WH in 2022, 30% of Feds are retirement eligible "within the next 5 years"....so by 2027.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ap_7_strengthening_fy2023.pdf

They won't even need to do a VERA or VSIP.

What qualifies someone as retirement eligible?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your employer is restructuring and many times that comes with RIFs. Literally every person who doesn’t work for the federal government has likely experienced this, it’s frankly astonishing how frail our government employees are at just the *thought* of being impacted at their job.

This is nonsense. I have friends who work in state government, education, and private firms, all of whom have had the same employer for 20 years.

A good point. And an obvious one, that I haven't seen anybody mention before.

[Anonymous]

OP, if it's an expensive vacation and you're not very very close, I personally would not go for cost reasons. But I have already booked and paid for an expensive vacation in 2025 (last hurrah with terminal parent) and I'm not worried about the time away. Nothing is going to happen in my absence that couldn't happen in my presence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the real estate forum, I suggested that the market would slow down as buyers gut fearful, and people there scoffed at the idea. But it seems I am correct: If people are too scared to plan vacations, they're definitely going to be too scared to be buying houses.

Yes, we are canceling all big expenses, scaling back on Christmas, no eating out, etc. We are not unusual in this and collectively it will hurt business (and long term, job numbers).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your employer is restructuring and many times that comes with RIFs. Literally every person who doesn’t work for the federal government has likely experienced this, it’s frankly astonishing how frail our government employees are at just the *thought* of being impacted at their job.

A good point. And an obvious one, that I haven't seen anybody mention before.

And the obvious response to this “good” point is one a PP posted yesterday:

Well, feds did exchange the option of higher pay for stability plus lower pay.

You assume all feds have the "option of higher pay." They don't. In my office, there are plenty who would not survive a week in private practice. They are likely the ones who are worried, and for good reason. Plenty of dead weight that we could stand to lose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual RIFs seem very unlikely to me. Of course no one knows but if they have any brains at all they’ll just rely on attrition.

This. There will be a hiring freeze, wage freezes, and RTO. This will cause those who are retirement eligible to depart and they won't be backfilled.

According to this report from the WH in 2022, 30% of Feds are retirement eligible "within the next 5 years"....so by 2027.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ap_7_strengthening_fy2023.pdf

They won't even need to do a VERA or VSIP.

What qualifies someone as retirement eligible?

They’ve reached MRA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your employer is restructuring and many times that comes with RIFs. Literally every person who doesn’t work for the federal government has likely experienced this, it’s frankly astonishing how frail our government employees are at just the *thought* of being impacted at their job.

A good point. And an obvious one, that I haven't seen anybody mention before.

And the obvious response to this “good” point is one a PP posted yesterday:

Well, feds did exchange the option of higher pay for stability plus lower pay.

You assume all feds have the "option of higher pay." They don't. In my office, there are plenty who would not survive a week in private practice. They are likely the ones who are worried, and for good reason. Plenty of dead weight that we could stand to lose.

Sure, now that I'm 40. But a bunch of my classmates went into tech 10-12 years ago - I could have done that and chose stability over pay. Age discrimination and path dependence are real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actual RIFs seem very unlikely to me. Of course no one knows but if they have any brains at all they’ll just rely on attrition.

This. There will be a hiring freeze, wage freezes, and RTO. This will cause those who are retirement eligible to depart and they won't be backfilled.

According to this report from the WH in 2022, 30% of Feds are retirement eligible "within the next 5 years"....so by 2027.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ap_7_strengthening_fy2023.pdf

They won't even need to do a VERA or VSIP.

What qualifies someone as retirement eligible?

They’ve reached MRA.

What is MRA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All this proves is that the federal workforce is overloaded with Democrats who are paranoid and should be purged not for political affiliation but for irrationality.

Or the fact that you can take a “long vacation” and your work just sits there and waits for you? The government is so bloated. Many people need to be fired. My dad had a guy who literally didn’t show up for a year and wasn’t fired. All those slickers need to go.