Telecommuting from overseas (Fed job)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just resign yourself to being the CLO or accompanying contractors around the Embassy. Trailing spouses have it rough in the career dept.

Yep. I (masters in engineering) was offered a GS 5 part time position at the embassy. I was a GS 13 in my own agency.

Yikes, that sounds like career suicide.

I know people (mostly women) who have refused to PCS until their spouses were offered decent jobs. They were similarly situated - one was a contractor, and the other was a GS-13 in another agency.

[Anonymous]

You should get hiring preference when you come back. That said hiring at some agencies has slowed to a crawl under this administration.

[Anonymous]

I refused to PCS when dh was offered a spot. I don’t understand why dual fed families aren’t offered spousal preference in job postings. Or even spousal preference when they return. I have a great job now but the chances of me getting a job when I returned are next to nothing. I’m not a veteran.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I refused to PCS when dh was offered a spot. I don’t understand why dual fed families aren’t offered spousal preference in job postings. Or even spousal preference when they return. I have a great job now but the chances of me getting a job when I returned are next to nothing. I’m not a veteran.

Same. I sometimes wonder if we didn’t make a mistake, it was a great opportunity for DH and would have been good for our family. But it had taken me so long to get a federal position and I had just been promoted to a 13. I do wish there were more considerations for dual-Fed households in this situation, it isn’t the 1970s anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I refused to PCS when dh was offered a spot. I don’t understand why dual fed families aren’t offered spousal preference in job postings. Or even spousal preference when they return. I have a great job now but the chances of me getting a job when I returned are next to nothing. I’m not a veteran.

Same. I sometimes wonder if we didn’t make a mistake, it was a great opportunity for DH and would have been good for our family. But it had taken me so long to get a federal position and I had just been promoted to a 13. I do wish there were more considerations for dual-Fed households in this situation, it isn’t the 1970s anymore.

Guess that’s why they call it the “golden handcuffs”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I refused to PCS when dh was offered a spot. I don’t understand why dual fed families aren’t offered spousal preference in job postings. Or even spousal preference when they return. I have a great job now but the chances of me getting a job when I returned are next to nothing. I’m not a veteran.

Same. I sometimes wonder if we didn’t make a mistake, it was a great opportunity for DH and would have been good for our family. But it had taken me so long to get a federal position and I had just been promoted to a 13. I do wish there were more considerations for dual-Fed households in this situation, it isn’t the 1970s anymore.

Guess that’s why they call it the “golden handcuffs”

Fed jobs are called golden handcuffs??? No. That’s for executives with huge payouts if they stay.

[Anonymous]

Christ, my agency (USPTO) has some of the most liberal telework policies out there, but we can't work overseas due to the nature of the job.

[Anonymous]

Just wondering if anyone had any additional insight into this topic. M spouse is Active Duty Military and I am a Federal employee. We have PCS orders and I would like my agency to at least consider this...Please help...Any links, documents, policies etc. would be helpful.

[Anonymous]

Can you work core hours? You would still have to work core hours

[Anonymous]

My partner was not able to do it due to the IT security issue. However, the spouse of one of my colleagues was able to make it work. He worked at DHS I believe. I’m not 100% sure whether he was a staffer or contractor though.

If you want to make it work YOU have to make it work. Don’t wait for someone to tell you how it’s done. You figure out what’s needed, what your agency will require, and then try to put the pieces in place. It may still not work out but this is one of those things where people typically just say no because they’ve never seen it done and don’t know how to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Christ, my agency (USPTO) has some of the most liberal telework policies out there, but we can't work overseas due to the nature of the job.

Yep. our laptops cannot even fly over non-American airspace, so no Alaska. Doubt they would consider a us embassy site secure enough.

[Anonymous]

I work for GSA who has a very liberal telework policy and they have had said no to international telework. Even when the spouse is with foreign service or military. You can work anywhere in the US but you can’t take your laptop out of the country.

[Anonymous]

I dealt with a similar request on the management side at my agency. I advised against approval, after much consideration. A couple reasons:

1. First and most importantly, the employee performed a function that did require physical presence and ability to come to external meetings on occasion, something he/she could not do from overseas (without a lot of planning ahead and expense to the employee. Keep in mind that when you telework, travel costs to get to duty station are on the employee).
2. IT security
3. Physical security
4. Telecommuting means that the duty station remains DC, getting LOC for DC, which is unfair to other employees
5. We are working with a union that is pushing for ever increasing telework. We believe that our existing policy is liberal, but does provide managers discretion that we train to use appropriately. If we were to let one employee telework fulltime, without the ability to recall to the office when necessary, it would set a very dangerous precedent.

I really don't mean to sound cold-hearted here. The choice you are facing is a tough one for your marriage and career. And maybe you do perform one of those rare functions that do not require physical presence ever. Good luck to you. No harm in asking. But just please don't get upset with your employer if you are denied. They have to think about the entire workforce and getting the job done efficiently and effectively.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I dealt with a similar request on the management side at my agency. I advised against approval, after much consideration. A couple reasons:

1. First and most importantly, the employee performed a function that did require physical presence and ability to come to external meetings on occasion, something he/she could not do from overseas (without a lot of planning ahead and expense to the employee. Keep in mind that when you telework, travel costs to get to duty station are on the employee).
2. IT security
3. Physical security
4. Telecommuting means that the duty station remains DC, getting LOC for DC, which is unfair to other employees
5. We are working with a union that is pushing for ever increasing telework. We believe that our existing policy is liberal, but does provide managers discretion that we train to use appropriately. If we were to let one employee telework fulltime, without the ability to recall to the office when necessary, it would set a very dangerous precedent.

I really don't mean to sound cold-hearted here. The choice you are facing is a tough one for your marriage and career. And maybe you do perform one of those rare functions that do not require physical presence ever. Good luck to you. No harm in asking. But just please don't get upset with your employer if you are denied. They have to think about the entire workforce and getting the job done efficiently and effectively.

I’m a little surprised you would take #4 seriously enough to have it affect your decision. Seems like a minor thing and the “unfairness” would really depend on where the employee is going.

And I’ll push back on #5 a bit too. I think it’s possible to set up a category of “temporarily (2-3 years) permanent” teleworking employees for the purposes of accompanying a partner overseas without worrying about a slippery slope.

[Anonymous]

You must be connected to the embassy in the country for this to work. The agency you want to work for most have some in country embassy presence. Otherwise do you l know what most countries call individuals being paid by a foreign government who are not connected to the embassy? A spy. In order to avoid an international incident DOS must agree to any telework agreement and they will only agree if the agency you are working for has some presence in the embassy