Fed parents: Is your worklife balance better or worse than mine?

[Anonymous]

My work life balance is similar but a little better and my job is a lot less stressful than yours. Also a policy position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are asking the wrong question by comparing yourself to other Feds. What you should be asking 'Is this working out well for me?'

+1

My job sounds much better than yours, but most people would hate it. However, it's working out well for me.

[Anonymous]

Someone please tell me where to find these telework jobs

[Anonymous]

Agree with pp that comparison to others is not worthwhile. Question to ask is, is this working for me? Anybody with small kids and a full time job is going to be maxed out. However, job hunting is very time consuming. I disagree strongly that nonprofits have worse work life balance, in my experience it was much better. It completely depends on the organization. Can you afford to quit and stay home for a while?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone please tell me where to find these telework jobs

Supervisor and type of work (portable or not) dependent. No way to point you to the mother load of telework jobs, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

I'm a fed with similar flexibility - maxiflex, telework option, etc. My workload is not as constant as yours though - I've got heavier and lighter times. And I've got travel about 4x a year for about a week at a time.

Telework totally depends on supervisor and your ability to prove you can be just as productive and available while at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Much worse, but depends on the position. 8-7pm (leave the house at 7:30, home around 7:30), M-F, lots of travel, and maxed out at $155.

Which division?

[Anonymous]

Curious what sort of policy jobs these are. What's the job title? I'm an atty but interested in moving into more of a policy role.

[Anonymous]

Mine is better than yours (in my opinion) and my H's is much worse.

In mine, I can telework 4 days a week. Before the budget crunch I traveled 3-5 weeks a year, but I never minded. I have a gliding daily schedule, so I can start my day at any point up until 9:30am as long as I work a full shift. I have one busy season that lasts roughly 6-8 where I need to work 50+ hours a week, otherwise, its is mostly a straight 40.

My H, on the other hand, cannot telework at all. His set hours are 8-6 every day but Friday when they are 8-5. However, he rarely works that little and it is usually closer to 8-7 and on the blackberry all the time. If Congress is in session he must be at work until they close for the evening, including there when they are in session on the weekends. He cannot take leave, at all, unless Congress is in recess. We have had to miss many family events, weddings, etc. or I have had to attend even his family events without him over the years. His new supervisor is even more of a workaholic and the hours keep increasing. He also makes less than I do.

[Anonymous]

I can telework half time and it's currently being negotiated to 80%. Some people are able to move away from the area and telework 100% but it's on a case-by-case basis. I can do maxi-flex or a compressed schedule, and have a fairly flexible start time. I start at 6.45am and work till 3.15pm daily, but am on a maxi-flex schedule. That means I can work longer one day to make up for a dr's appt, etc. We live .25 mile from my kids' schools, which is great. There is virtually no travel.

The downside is that the job is menial and paper-pushing to the extreme. We go through our predictable cycles of really busy times and then some downtime. I don't feel particularly fulfilled, but the flexibility is what keeps me there.

My husband's balance is much worse. He has a telework agreement but is not allowed to actually telework unless the govt offers unscheduled telework (though he usually ends up going in). He has a much higher level position than I do, though, and works a lot more after hours. In fact, his Assistant Secretary just emailed that he's very concerned about the number of evening/weekend hours that DH works and that he's afraid DH is going to burn out soon.

[Anonymous]

Which fed agencies allow full-time (or 80 percent) telework, especially for attorneys?

[Anonymous]

My job isn't as flexible in terms of telework, but I don't have to either work more than 40 hours or feel like everything is rushed. And my supervisors are very flexible about medical appointments, going to class parties, etc. So I'd say my work-life balance is better because I don't feel stressed and don't take my work home with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious what sort of policy jobs these are. What's the job title? I'm an atty but interested in moving into more of a policy role.

Some titles at my agency are Policy Advisor, Senior Policy Advisor, and Policy Analyst and some of the people in the positions have JDs.