Questions about DOGE and RTO
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Anonymous
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I feel sorry for HR who will be dealing with a TSUNAMI of requests for exemptions and special accommodations, etc etc.
The likely end result of DOGE: pre-COVID telework posture and a 30 pct increase in HR personnel. Not a penny saved. Too funny. |
Anonymous
Guess who usually works remotely? HR. Every single one at our small agency and not local remote. They literally live in another state. |
Anonymous
The FDIC is a criminal agency. Read the WSJ. Get rid of half the agency starting with the crooks in the Division of Administration. Very stupid people and way over compensated. Make them come to work. |
Anonymous
Yup. My agency can hardly retain HR people even with generous remote work. Good luck. |
Anonymous
HR. The dumbest of the dumb and hundreds of them in my agency. |
Anonymous
4.4% to be exact, but who’s counting? And that includes federal pensions. |
Anonymous
I’m a lawyer under a CBA. Our hours are closely tracked. I go over 40, I get credit or OT. I have tried to work an extra 20 minutes in the past without doing the paperwork and had my hand slapped and been forced to go back and get CHs for the extra. They do this because of the CBA. Also, I’ve been 100% remote since COVID (was 60% remote before) but do have productivity metrics I meet. I work for SSA. Martin O’Malley was our Commissioner until her resigned over Thanksgiving. On his way out the door, he signed a CBA with AFGE covering 42,000 employees that gave the unions their wish list, and locked in telework at current levels through 2029. And a 40 hour workweek, must get credit or OT if I go over. Very limited conditions where OT can be mandated. CHs cannot be mandated. Love that guy. Seriously, he was the only decent Commissioner we’ve had as long as I’ve been there. We are usually under “Actings”. Sad to see him go. Maybe Musk can undo this, but it’s going to be tough because it covers so many employees in so many positions— from field office secretaries in Alabama to the call center to the payment centers to hearing office staff to attorneys in the DMV and everything in between. And each class of employees needs to be dealt with separately, because there are different rationales for reopening the CBA for each. And because we gave up something like 80% of our DC based space when we went full remote (SSA is Baltimore based, so most of our space isn’t here). And a lot of FO space all over the country. They can begin to get everyone back in. Just straightening out us and getting us in would be an enormous job and take more than 4 years. And we are an agency where they don’t want people quitting. We are at our lowest staffing levels in the last 40 years, with obviously bunch larger caseloads given the Boomers. Our backlogs are insane and they are in crisis mode, detailing anyone who is willing to deal with the worst of it. Red staters get upset about people dying waiting for SSI or not getting retirement because of a screwup, which is happening now in some states. And our programs are very complex and take time to learn. They need every employee they can get. So yeah— good luck with that. https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2024/12/ssa-afge-reach-deal-lock-current-telework-levels-until-2029/401501/ |
Anonymous
You're assuming that DOGE is going to bother figuring that out before they start hacking away at your agency. |
Anonymous
Why do you think they care AT ALL about the CBA? What is the union going to do if they start ignoring parts of the CBA? Strike, nope, illegal... Federal unions are a political entity not a labour market entity, and they have zero political capital in current landscape. |
Anonymous
But how do they actually track your hours down to the minute? Sounds anal. |
Anonymous
During Trump 1 they tried to reopen the CBA with telecenter staff. The union sued and there was an injunction to maintain the status quo (keep telework during litigation). I think it was still in litigation when Biden came into office. The Asministration had to show a good reason to reopen the CBA. If they ignore the CBA, the union sues. That’s why New have a union. |
Anonymous
WebTA. Yes it’s tracked down to the minute. I have to log my time into WebTA within 5 minutes of logging in, and after I put in y time at the end of the day I have 5 minutes to log off. If I miss it, I have to enter a justification or change my time. Super anal. But, I get credit for an extra time I work. And we’re so backlogged we often have the option to get OT— even as attorneys. This 8 to 6 thing would be litigated, and DOGE would probably lose. |
Anonymous
They have a legally enforceable contract. They sue. And during litigation, there is typically an injunction to maintain the status quo. |
Anonymous
DOGE doesn’t care. However, Congress is deeply concerned because they’d are getting nary calls from constituents. Our Commissioner has spent so much time testifying about backlogs and working with Congress to get them addressed this year. There is a ton of info showing claims going up and productivity going up while staffing plummets. Plus, SSA is an agency both parties have zero interest in breaking. Per capita, we serve red states more than blue states. On a macro scale they may make changes in the margins on age requirements or benefits amounts. But in terms of the substantive work we do, making checks smaller does not decrease our caseload. We are way, way down the list of agencies they want to mess with. We just are not low hanging fruit. |
Anonymous
LOL. You're assuming they can even figure out where or how to hack. Or that the agency can tell them. Most of our HR management systems are ancient and like three people know how to fully run them. |