Do you think DOGE will eliminate remote policy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NBUs should assume the worst. They are the most at risk. They give agencies the easiest way to say...look we tried. We do not have enough space for everyone and we have a union agreement but we brought back the highest grades.

This is already the case in my agency. NBU folks have to be in 3 days, BU are still 2 days/pp and protected by the CBA. So, correct.

Not clear, sorry. NBU folks are 3 days/week. BU are 1 day/week.

[Anonymous]

Easy way to get rid of headcount. Mandatory RTO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DOGE is just two guys in room. They’re not Congress, an office or anything. Baddies how long til Trump gets sick if musk and moves on to his next shiny object?

I don’t think congress will try to save FT telework. It’s out of sync with employers everywhere and does zero for them optically. (A NYT article in 2023 said only 10% of the US workforce was fully remote and 20% of the workforce was hybrid).

Congress is probably more interested in trying to stop punitive and unreasonable cuts to agencies. Voluntary attrition through RTO plus a hiring freeze is way better than firing people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a good and interesting and novel new post to put out there.

Np fed, and I agree. I mentioned to a coworker today that I'm baffled by the incessant worry regarding RTO.

Really? People have been working at least hybrid in many cases for several decades and in some cases fully remote since Covid (or before in some cases) and have organized their lives around that schedule. A sudden change is going to require a lot of adjustments especially if the policy eliminates telework entirely. Do you live in this area? The traffic is bad. I live close in and it can easily take me an hour each way so that’s adding two hours every day to my workday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: The agency had given up space so the operations team had to figure out they days that different groups could come in. .

So you guys share desks? That is bad.

Correct. Everyone hotels and leaves nothing in the cubes/offices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WFH saves the government money.

You still need to pay for HVAC and maintain buildings if employees aren’t coming in much and deferred maintenance is more costly. It’s not a huge savings when you think about it that way. Companies figured out during the pandemic that the only way to lock in savings from reduced office time is to sell buildings, lease unused space, or get out of leases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: The agency had given up space so the operations team had to figure out they days that different groups could come in. .

So you guys share desks? That is bad.

Correct. Everyone hotels and leaves nothing in the cubes/offices.

Companies were doing this a decade ago. Plenty of companies also use bullpens with trading desks where a bunch of desks are attached in a line. Definitely panopticon vibes but hardly abusive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a good and interesting and novel new post to put out there.

Np fed, and I agree. I mentioned to a coworker today that I'm baffled by the incessant worry regarding RTO.

Really? People have been working at least hybrid in many cases for several decades and in some cases fully remote since Covid (or before in some cases) and have organized their lives around that schedule. A sudden change is going to require a lot of adjustments especially if the policy eliminates telework entirely. Do you live in this area? The traffic is bad. I live close in and it can easily take me an hour each way so that’s adding two hours every day to my workday.

I live in a larger metro area and most people take the train to work. An hour commute each way is pretty common in a HCOL metro, especially if you drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WFH saves the government money.

You still need to pay for HVAC and maintain buildings if employees aren’t coming in much and deferred maintenance is more costly. It’s not a huge savings when you think about it that way. Companies figured out during the pandemic that the only way to lock in savings from reduced office time is to sell buildings, lease unused space, or get out of leases.

They have let many leases go. They are saving $$. They also made our cubes smaller. We may go to open desks now..or we joke a folding chair pulled up to a snack tray.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been fully remote since 2020 but still live in the DMV and I fully expect to be called back into the office. I hope we’re still able to telework 2 days/week, which was the prior policy, including during the first Trump administration. RTO is really going to impact quality of life; currently I have 90-120 minutes/day for my kids (k and 3rd grade) or exercise, and the lack of stress associated with commuting and being in the office. But truly, I’ve been lucky to be remote as long as I have and I can think of many things worse than .RTO.

I’m curious about what will happen to truly remote workers. My agency has experienced tremendous growth. 30% of my team has been hired in the last 3 years and live all around the country. They’ve never reported to work in DC. In the agency as a whole more than 50% Of staff is now remote and outside of the DC area. Will they be directed to RTO an office they never worked at and a city they don’t live in? Some of my colleagues are understandably very concerned about this. I assume the DOGE will only push this is they really want to destroy the ability of the federal government to function. But that may be the goal

[Anonymous]

Local remote would seem to be lumped with telework. I’m concerned about non-local remote. I can’t move to DC. So does that mean I lose my job?

[Anonymous]

Yes, you should expect to have to return to the office. Either that or Dave possible job elimination. There is no way Trump made such a big deal about DOGE and will risk having nothing to show for it.

[Anonymous]

No one knows. Trump probably will "require" feds to return 3-5 days per week but a lot will depend on the department heads, the people staffing the WH, etc. One of his campaign managers worked from home; there will be a lot of people in his administration who won't actually care what happens as long as they can appear to be acting tough on the lazy federal workforce.

[Anonymous]

I am fully remote but fully expect that to change. Yes, I understand that some of us work the entire 8 hours or more, but realistically, most people work less when they work from home. I think it’s disingenuous not to concede that point. I’m not looking forward to RTO but I can concede that if I was in management, I’d want people in the office. We had a longer run post pandemic than most and I’m grateful that I had this brief period in life of remote but it’s a privilege that I never expected to go on indefinitely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, unless someone from the Administration is cruising DCUM, no one here knows.

Even if Musk is cruising DCUM, no one knows. Literally no one knows yet.