DHS ends teleworking, requires employees to work in person

[Anonymous]

DHS employee here. Return to office Monday, February 3rd, 5 days a week, no exceptions or excuses, no telework options. We were told today that not enough office space is not an excuse; lack of enough parking spaces is not an excuse; if you have a sick child at home but could theoretically telework a few hours, you can’t and must take leave; if you have a doctors appointment you have to take the whole day off (we were literally told we can’t even work a half day in the office before or after the actual which doesn’t make sense). They are taking a very draconian approach and not allowing any flexibility whatsoever. I don’t mind going into the office as a general rule but would appreciate a little flexibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DHS employee here. Return to office Monday, February 3rd, 5 days a week, no exceptions or excuses, no telework options. We were told today that not enough office space is not an excuse; lack of enough parking spaces is not an excuse; if you have a sick child at home but could theoretically telework a few hours, you can’t and must take leave; if you have a doctors appointment you have to take the whole day off (we were literally told we can’t even work a half day in the office before or after the actual which doesn’t make sense). They are taking a very draconian approach and not allowing any flexibility whatsoever. I don’t mind going into the office as a general rule but would appreciate a little flexibility.

You can only take leave in full-day increments? That’s nonsensical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone from a DHS agency heard anything yet?

My cousin returns to in person work tomorrow at DHS. 2 days a week with a 3rd day every other week due to office space limitations.

Is your cousin bargaining unit?

[Anonymous]

people what you post here is read by the new administration and they use this info to refine their approach. AI makes this SO Ez.

[Anonymous]

Please stop posting. We’re feeding the animals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:people what you post here is read by the new administration and they use this info to refine their approach. AI makes this SO Ez.

If their approach is coming from sentiment analysis and text summarization of DCUM and not from talking to their lawyers, I think that's great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:people what you post here is read by the new administration and they use this info to refine their approach. AI makes this SO Ez.

If their approach is coming from sentiment analysis and text summarization of DCUM and not from talking to their lawyers, I think that's great.

Haven’t you heard? Rule of law is no longer a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:people what you post here is read by the new administration and they use this info to refine their approach. AI makes this SO Ez.

If their approach is coming from sentiment analysis and text summarization of DCUM and not from talking to their lawyers, I think that's great.

Haven’t you heard? Rule of law is no longer a thing.

In that case, I also don't see this helping!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Help me follow the logic of anti-telework folks.
If a small number of people are abusing the system, is the argument everyone should lose the benefit? Or is the argument, my private sector job doesn’t allow telework, so your job shouldn’t either? I’m really trying to understand.

Neither. I think they've been pretty transparent about the goal being to make federal employment more miserable in order to drive high-performers to the private sector. They want government to be less effective.

Private companies are cutting back and hiring freezes. It could be a big recession on top if inflation.

So teleworking will be the "cause" of the next recession?

Private companies were rto at the beginning of the year. They are looking to fire too.

I don’t know anyone in a private sector role back five days a week. Most people are hybrid. That’s the norm.

People are pretty delusional about the state of the world. Look at the wildfires. My husband’s company, based in in LA, is feeling pretty good about diversifying their workforce and expanding nationwide hiring cause a lot of the LA staff aren’t focused on work lately.

There is no question we will have another pandemic. It makes sense to get used to remote work becoming a more regular thing.

Most white collar people are hybrid. Even at the height of the pandemic the majority of American workers were not working from home. Lots of jobs require you to be physically present for them to happen.

This is not an argument against telework. DH can telework, I can't. Our family runs much better and DH is much happier when he can telework. But the blindness to the sheer number of people who cannot telework (like me!) is part of what causes the irrational rage against teleworking feds.

you know, from now on you should have your desk moved right outside of your office and you should work under the scorching sun and 100 degrees in the summer and holding and umbrella under the rain or snow in the winter. Your blindness to the sheer number of people who cannot work in a comfy office but are forced to work outside (construction workers, roofers, produce pickers, road workers and so on) is part of the irrational rage against office workers so sorry but get a good coat for your day at the office tomorrow as it would be unfair to have you work inside when so many people, for the very nature of their work, cannot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DHS employee here. Return to office Monday, February 3rd, 5 days a week, no exceptions or excuses, no telework options. We were told today that not enough office space is not an excuse; lack of enough parking spaces is not an excuse; if you have a sick child at home but could theoretically telework a few hours, you can’t and must take leave; if you have a doctors appointment you have to take the whole day off (we were literally told we can’t even work a half day in the office before or after the actual which doesn’t make sense). They are taking a very draconian approach and not allowing any flexibility whatsoever. I don’t mind going into the office as a general rule but would appreciate a little flexibility.

What Component and Office is this? Guidance has been very different by not just Component, but by Offices within Components. I have not heard of anything this strict yet from anyone I know in multiple Components or HQ elements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These headline grabbing articles are just that. There are exemptions for lack of physical space or employee’s inability to return. Let’s see how this plays out with actual DHS employees.

+1, the loopholes are actually huge.

They are using RTO as stealth layoffs, just like the private sector has the last few years. It's also a way to clear out older workers who probably should retire but have stuck around because their jobs are very easy for them at this stage and if they can do them at home with a flexible schedule, why not.

Managers are going to come back with exemptions for most of their other workers though. A lot of these jobs have no permanent offices to go back to. Some are highly skilled workers who are very hard to replace (and most replacements would also expect WFH allowances).

If you have an empty office somewhere that you never go to, are relatively easy to replace, and are a poor performer, you should either ready yourself to return to the office or look for another job.

I can't stand Trump but I support this specific policy. I've managed people a long time and there are lots of appropriate uses for RTO but there are also a lot of people who just abuse it to avoid working and you need mechanisms for rooting those people out.

I think agency heads are going to set policies for exemptions that will be too narrow for individual managers to circumvent. That's been my experience in my career to date.

This!
An administration that doesn’t believe in remote work and telework will make sure that many people don’t use exemptions to work around the EO.
They have a goal and will make sure they achieve.

True. The goal is to have people on the roads so that they buy gas and cars, then they spend 2-3 hrs in commute and are so tired that they end up eating out a lot, then when they are fat and unhealthy the pharmaceutical companies can make mind off of them.

This is no coincidence, billionaires want the plebes constantly working and tired, that’s how they make money. From fast foods to gas stations to big pharma to clothes retailers, we are supposed to enrich all of them off our backs. The tragedy is that billionaires exploit people by using them against each other, a tale as old as time.

Otherwise, what difference does it make to Trump whether Federal workers have a hybrid schedule or not, to him and his donors these people are the cogs in their money making process.

Teachers, doctors, nurses and so many other professionals have to go into work every day. Why should you all get to ‘work from home’ for years?

I’m a teacher and wish workers could still telework. Now I have to go in person every day and deal with insane traffic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:people what you post here is read by the new administration and they use this info to refine their approach. AI makes this SO Ez.

That's like investing based on advice in the money forum. This administration is done if they are that stupid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These headline grabbing articles are just that. There are exemptions for lack of physical space or employee’s inability to return. Let’s see how this plays out with actual DHS employees.

+1, the loopholes are actually huge.

They are using RTO as stealth layoffs, just like the private sector has the last few years. It's also a way to clear out older workers who probably should retire but have stuck around because their jobs are very easy for them at this stage and if they can do them at home with a flexible schedule, why not.

Managers are going to come back with exemptions for most of their other workers though. A lot of these jobs have no permanent offices to go back to. Some are highly skilled workers who are very hard to replace (and most replacements would also expect WFH allowances).

If you have an empty office somewhere that you never go to, are relatively easy to replace, and are a poor performer, you should either ready yourself to return to the office or look for another job.

I can't stand Trump but I support this specific policy. I've managed people a long time and there are lots of appropriate uses for RTO but there are also a lot of people who just abuse it to avoid working and you need mechanisms for rooting those people out.

I think agency heads are going to set policies for exemptions that will be too narrow for individual managers to circumvent. That's been my experience in my career to date.

This!
An administration that doesn’t believe in remote work and telework will make sure that many people don’t use exemptions to work around the EO.
They have a goal and will make sure they achieve.

True. The goal is to have people on the roads so that they buy gas and cars, then they spend 2-3 hrs in commute and are so tired that they end up eating out a lot, then when they are fat and unhealthy the pharmaceutical companies can make mind off of them.

This is no coincidence, billionaires want the plebes constantly working and tired, that’s how they make money. From fast foods to gas stations to big pharma to clothes retailers, we are supposed to enrich all of them off our backs. The tragedy is that billionaires exploit people by using them against each other, a tale as old as time.

Otherwise, what difference does it make to Trump whether Federal workers have a hybrid schedule or not, to him and his donors these people are the cogs in their money making process.

Teachers, doctors, nurses and so many other professionals have to go into work every day. Why should you all get to ‘work from home’ for years?

I’m a teacher and wish workers could still telework. Now I have to go in person every day and deal with insane traffic?

LOL teaching over telework while students have to go into he a classroom watching a zoom video IS WILD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:people what you post here is read by the new administration and they use this info to refine their approach. AI makes this SO Ez.

That's like investing based on advice in the money forum. This administration is done if they are that stupid

They’d be stupid to ignore the conversations here and on Reddit. Their goal is to make feds’ lives as miserable as possible. And here we are. Feeding them. They are using our ideas, our concerns, our questions against us. Stop giving them food for thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Help me follow the logic of anti-telework folks.
If a small number of people are abusing the system, is the argument everyone should lose the benefit? Or is the argument, my private sector job doesn’t allow telework, so your job shouldn’t either? I’m really trying to understand.

Neither. I think they've been pretty transparent about the goal being to make federal employment more miserable in order to drive high-performers to the private sector. They want government to be less effective.

Private companies are cutting back and hiring freezes. It could be a big recession on top if inflation.

So teleworking will be the "cause" of the next recession?

Private companies were rto at the beginning of the year. They are looking to fire too.

I don’t know anyone in a private sector role back five days a week. Most people are hybrid. That’s the norm.

People are pretty delusional about the state of the world. Look at the wildfires. My husband’s company, based in in LA, is feeling pretty good about diversifying their workforce and expanding nationwide hiring cause a lot of the LA staff aren’t focused on work lately.

There is no question we will have another pandemic. It makes sense to get used to remote work becoming a more regular thing.

Most white collar people are hybrid. Even at the height of the pandemic the majority of American workers were not working from home. Lots of jobs require you to be physically present for them to happen.

This is not an argument against telework. DH can telework, I can't. Our family runs much better and DH is much happier when he can telework. But the blindness to the sheer number of people who cannot telework (like me!) is part of what causes the irrational rage against teleworking feds.

you know, from now on you should have your desk moved right outside of your office and you should work under the scorching sun and 100 degrees in the summer and holding and umbrella under the rain or snow in the winter. Your blindness to the sheer number of people who cannot work in a comfy office but are forced to work outside (construction workers, roofers, produce pickers, road workers and so on) is part of the irrational rage against office workers so sorry but get a good coat for your day at the office tomorrow as it would be unfair to have you work inside when so many people, for the very nature of their work, cannot.

Exactly, that is the life’s work of Prez T and the Broligarchs, to use their vast wealth and power to ease the discomfort and pain of the working poor. Truly a mission of mercy, they will likely be beatified by Pope Francis when all is said and done.