How has the fork played out at your agency?

[Anonymous]

We had a ton of people take it - either retirement age or close to it, fully remote young people, and/or people with specialized knowledge who could (and as far as I know) were easily hired in the industry.

So many people took it, that it looks like we will have no RIFs outside of small targeted ones towards programs the Administration dislikes (and even there, most people saw the writing on the wall so there’d be very few people left to RIF.)

In fact, apparently too many people left in various portions of the organization that there is worry from the political people that we might not be able to perform the way they want and there might be hiring.

[Anonymous]

We had about 25% of our agency take it. I don't know if they found new jobs. It's been ROUGH here with so few people. Just a hellish amount of work and we often can't find things we need because the person who was responsible left. They forced out the fork people so quickly that they didn't have enough time to really hand over projects. With the extra amount of work we've had, we've had other people just quit and they hadn't even taken the fork.

[Anonymous]

At my agency VERA was offered only if you also did DRP. Most fork takers were either VERA or immediate retirement eligible OR they were probationary. Not much in-between. Being eligible for VERA, I made the hard decision to take it. I still talk with colleagues many of whom either regret not taking it or wished they were VERA-eligible. Tough for everyone and stinks any of it happened.

[Anonymous]

About 30 percent of our 200 person office took it, agency OGC. Some were near retirement but a lot of VERA folks were more like early 50s and would have stuck around for significantly longer. Also some younger people, mostly parents of young kids. And the people who actually moved away out of DC and did not want to return.

A lot of high performers and a number of managers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

You don’t know anyone who took it? How could it be??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About 30 percent of our 200 person office took it, agency OGC. Some were near retirement but a lot of VERA folks were more like early 50s and would have stuck around for significantly longer. Also some younger people, mostly parents of young kids. And the people who actually moved away out of DC and did not want to return.

A lot of high performers and a number of managers.

A LOT of high performers took it at my program. Almost no low performers took it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

You don’t know anyone who took it? How could it be??

DP but for my building they only offered the first one. Out of the 60-ish people I know in my building I only know one who took it, and he was moving out of town anyway. I guess we like our jobs, idk.

[Anonymous]

Not many people took it. Some did and are not planning on coming back.

[Anonymous]

Most of the retirement eligible people in my office took it. A few younger remote people did but from what I've heard, none of them have new jobs yet. (The probationary folks who left after getting fired do have new jobs, but I don't know if they took DRP or had the option.)

Now the agency is struggling to staff some basic operations and trying to get HQ and regional staff to volunteer for lateral transfers to field units. It's hard to volunteer when you don't know if RIFs are still in the table and prefer your current job, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only people who took it were ready to retire. [/quote

Same with the people who took it in my organization, and other feds I know who took it.

And they all seem to be loving life. Regular pay for seven months of not working, yet still earning leave and getting a nice payout in about a month.

I sure wish I had been just a couple years older and retirement eligible bc I’d have signed up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:About 30 percent of our 200 person office took it, agency OGC. Some were near retirement but a lot of VERA folks were more like early 50s and would have stuck around for significantly longer. Also some younger people, mostly parents of young kids. And the people who actually moved away out of DC and did not want to return.

A lot of high performers and a number of managers.

A LOT of high performers took it at my program. Almost no low performers took it.

Nobody in my age range/tenure took it that I know (35-55, at least 5 years in).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:About 30 percent of our 200 person office took it, agency OGC. Some were near retirement but a lot of VERA folks were more like early 50s and would have stuck around for significantly longer. Also some younger people, mostly parents of young kids. And the people who actually moved away out of DC and did not want to return.

A lot of high performers and a number of managers.

Same in my agency OGC, not quite 30 percent but a lot. They are now understaffed and are going to be trying to hire. They lost so much expertise and almost all managers and people are continuing to leave and job opportunities have been plentiful for those leaving which I know is sort of unusual at the moment.

[Anonymous]

Not many took the fork, but many took VSIP/VERA and either retired or had another job upon departure. I only know one non-retired person who took it without a job already lined up: she is single and can afford to more or less start over in another field.

Fork was problematic for us due to ethics rules about working while on admin leave, plus people just didn't trust it.