New OPM memo on RTO

[Anonymous]

I’m still not clear what happens to fully remote people. I’m in another state. Will I be assigned to a federal bldg near me? That’s fine if that’s the case. I just can’t move to dc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, just to be clear, I don’t even mind the idea of being in the office so much. I can live with RTO. What is making me absolutely crazy is the hostility. For example, suggesting that we just haven’t been showing up since Covid. First, my office has had some telework for more than 20 years so if we are getting rid of it entirely that’s really taking us back to the dark ages. Second, we’ve had pretty liberal telework since Covid but that’s because the office went through a whole analysis and concluded that’s what made sense and we were told we could telework. We weren’t awol. We were following instructions. So, fine, change the policy but don’t make it sound like we’ve been disobedient children.

Voight says he wants us to feel trauma and well I guess I am. I feel incredibly insulted after working hard for the govt for years.

The crazy thing is that in his testimony last week he praised the civil servants he worked with when he was last at OMB. I totally don’t get why he is making a statement like that on the one hand, and saying he wants to inflict trauma on civil servants on the other.

Yes. It is really sad. I am so sad. I have worked hard for 20 years and to be treated with such utter disrespect and vitriol is awful. We are emergency responders and step up during times of need so this is a really crappy feeling.

I feel the same way.

I’m honestly so sad. Not about RTO. I thought we might be back more even under Harris, but sad about the contempt and ignorance about government and its workers. Are there some duds? Absolutely. I haven’t had to deal with HR much but I understand it’s ridiculous. But I’ve dealt with 100s of agency staff on issues of substance and approx 60 percent are excellent, 20 percent good, 15 fair and maybe 5 percent I think are not good. People work weekends, long hours, on vacation…

Yes we put in long hours. During COVID the crew of us who were online until midnight after our kids went to bed. Coming in to work on holidays because we had briefs due. I've had over a decade straight of Outstanding ratings.

I feel the same as you all. It’s truly the bad apples and our inability to handle them that’s gotten us where we are. I have watched managers handle and try to fire certain employees for years without succeeding. I too have trouble with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m still not clear what happens to fully remote people. I’m in another state. Will I be assigned to a federal bldg near me? That’s fine if that’s the case. I just can’t move to dc.

I have a colleague who lives in rural Maine. Total republican area too. Dunno what he's going to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, just to be clear, I don’t even mind the idea of being in the office so much. I can live with RTO. What is making me absolutely crazy is the hostility. For example, suggesting that we just haven’t been showing up since Covid. First, my office has had some telework for more than 20 years so if we are getting rid of it entirely that’s really taking us back to the dark ages. Second, we’ve had pretty liberal telework since Covid but that’s because the office went through a whole analysis and concluded that’s what made sense and we were told we could telework. We weren’t awol. We were following instructions. So, fine, change the policy but don’t make it sound like we’ve been disobedient children.

Voight says he wants us to feel trauma and well I guess I am. I feel incredibly insulted after working hard for the govt for years.

The crazy thing is that in his testimony last week he praised the civil servants he worked with when he was last at OMB. I totally don’t get why he is making a statement like that on the one hand, and saying he wants to inflict trauma on civil servants on the other.

Yes. It is really sad. I am so sad. I have worked hard for 20 years and to be treated with such utter disrespect and vitriol is awful. We are emergency responders and step up during times of need so this is a really crappy feeling.

I feel the same way.

I’m honestly so sad. Not about RTO. I thought we might be back more even under Harris, but sad about the contempt and ignorance about government and its workers. Are there some duds? Absolutely. I haven’t had to deal with HR much but I understand it’s ridiculous. But I’ve dealt with 100s of agency staff on issues of substance and approx 60 percent are excellent, 20 percent good, 15 fair and maybe 5 percent I think are not good. People work weekends, long hours, on vacation…

Yes we put in long hours. During COVID the crew of us who were online until midnight after our kids went to bed. Coming in to work on holidays because we had briefs due. I've had over a decade straight of Outstanding ratings.

I feel the same as you all. It’s truly the bad apples and our inability to handle them that’s gotten us where we are. I have watched managers handle and try to fire certain employees for years without succeeding. I too have trouble with it.

My organization is pretty good about screening people out during the probationary period and letting them go. Can't blame bad apples in my office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is part of what it means to Make America Great Again. Back in the days when America was great, there was no telework, no remote work. The government did fine.

No it wasn’t fine.

I think the quoted person is joking. At least I got a good chuckle. Yes the good ole days of paper, pencil, and telegrams.

Honestly, bring it on. Technology has made life more difficult. We won't need to bring our computers home anymore. We won't be expected to work while sick. Snow days will be spent playing with our kids. I'll come back to the office. I remember getting coffee with my colleagues, it was fun. I'm not going to snivel like a little b--ch, I am going to focus on the positive and then when I get fired, I'll move on to the next thing.

You know what? I like it.

[Anonymous]

So does “must work full time at their assigned duty station” mean that when you’re not at your assigned duty station, you cannot work? Is this how we’re reading it? It’s so poorly worded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, just to be clear, I don’t even mind the idea of being in the office so much. I can live with RTO. What is making me absolutely crazy is the hostility. For example, suggesting that we just haven’t been showing up since Covid. First, my office has had some telework for more than 20 years so if we are getting rid of it entirely that’s really taking us back to the dark ages. Second, we’ve had pretty liberal telework since Covid but that’s because the office went through a whole analysis and concluded that’s what made sense and we were told we could telework. We weren’t awol. We were following instructions. So, fine, change the policy but don’t make it sound like we’ve been disobedient children.

Voight says he wants us to feel trauma and well I guess I am. I feel incredibly insulted after working hard for the govt for years.

The crazy thing is that in his testimony last week he praised the civil servants he worked with when he was last at OMB. I totally don’t get why he is making a statement like that on the one hand, and saying he wants to inflict trauma on civil servants on the other.

Yes. It is really sad. I am so sad. I have worked hard for 20 years and to be treated with such utter disrespect and vitriol is awful. We are emergency responders and step up during times of need so this is a really crappy feeling.

I feel the same way.

I’m honestly so sad. Not about RTO. I thought we might be back more even under Harris, but sad about the contempt and ignorance about government and its workers. Are there some duds? Absolutely. I haven’t had to deal with HR much but I understand it’s ridiculous. But I’ve dealt with 100s of agency staff on issues of substance and approx 60 percent are excellent, 20 percent good, 15 fair and maybe 5 percent I think are not good. People work weekends, long hours, on vacation…

Yes we put in long hours. During COVID the crew of us who were online until midnight after our kids went to bed. Coming in to work on holidays because we had briefs due. I've had over a decade straight of Outstanding ratings.

I feel the same as you all. It’s truly the bad apples and our inability to handle them that’s gotten us where we are. I have watched managers handle and try to fire certain employees for years without succeeding. I too have trouble with it.

You are misunderstanding. This crew just wants to burn it all down. They aren’t trying to make it work better. They don’t want it to work at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So does “must work full time at their assigned duty station” mean that when you’re not at your assigned duty station, you cannot work? Is this how we’re reading it? It’s so poorly worded.

I too don’t understand it. Remote workers duty stations are their homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m still not clear what happens to fully remote people. I’m in another state. Will I be assigned to a federal bldg near me? That’s fine if that’s the case. I just can’t move to dc.

Same. Every person on my team is 100% remote and we are all over the country. So I am assuming I’d have to come to the closest army base and work from there, even though it will still be technically a remote work. How bizarre.

I’ll quit and go back to contracting. It’s more money and frankly - less of a workload.

[Anonymous]

I’m really annoyed. If people had just gone in 3 days a week like they wanted us to, I think they wouldn’t have gone to such extremes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So does “must work full time at their assigned duty station” mean that when you’re not at your assigned duty station, you cannot work? Is this how we’re reading it? It’s so poorly worded.

I too don’t understand it. Remote workers duty stations are their homes.

This statement refers to telework eligible employees not remote. Remote is handled in the last paragraph

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m still not clear what happens to fully remote people. I’m in another state. Will I be assigned to a federal bldg near me? That’s fine if that’s the case. I just can’t move to dc.

Same. Every person on my team is 100% remote and we are all over the country. So I am assuming I’d have to come to the closest army base and work from there, even though it will still be technically a remote work. How bizarre.

I’ll quit and go back to contracting. It’s more money and frankly - less of a workload.

You can’t work at another agency’s office. Typically it’s only done within agencies because they pay for the office space. So if you’re USDA, you need to work at a USDA office and not an Army office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m really annoyed. If people had just gone in 3 days a week like they wanted us to, I think they wouldn’t have gone to such extremes.

I feel the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, just to be clear, I don’t even mind the idea of being in the office so much. I can live with RTO. What is making me absolutely crazy is the hostility. For example, suggesting that we just haven’t been showing up since Covid. First, my office has had some telework for more than 20 years so if we are getting rid of it entirely that’s really taking us back to the dark ages. Second, we’ve had pretty liberal telework since Covid but that’s because the office went through a whole analysis and concluded that’s what made sense and we were told we could telework. We weren’t awol. We were following instructions. So, fine, change the policy but don’t make it sound like we’ve been disobedient children.

Voight says he wants us to feel trauma and well I guess I am. I feel incredibly insulted after working hard for the govt for years.

The crazy thing is that in his testimony last week he praised the civil servants he worked with when he was last at OMB. I totally don’t get why he is making a statement like that on the one hand, and saying he wants to inflict trauma on civil servants on the other.

Yes. It is really sad. I am so sad. I have worked hard for 20 years and to be treated with such utter disrespect and vitriol is awful. We are emergency responders and step up during times of need so this is a really crappy feeling.

I feel the same way.

I’m honestly so sad. Not about RTO. I thought we might be back more even under Harris, but sad about the contempt and ignorance about government and its workers. Are there some duds? Absolutely. I haven’t had to deal with HR much but I understand it’s ridiculous. But I’ve dealt with 100s of agency staff on issues of substance and approx 60 percent are excellent, 20 percent good, 15 fair and maybe 5 percent I think are not good. People work weekends, long hours, on vacation…

Yes we put in long hours. During COVID the crew of us who were online until midnight after our kids went to bed. Coming in to work on holidays because we had briefs due. I've had over a decade straight of Outstanding ratings.

I feel the same as you all. It’s truly the bad apples and our inability to handle them that’s gotten us where we are. I have watched managers handle and try to fire certain employees for years without succeeding. I too have trouble with it.

You are misunderstanding. This crew just wants to burn it all down. They aren’t trying to make it work better. They don’t want it to work at all.

We have industry stakeholders, they show up occasionally and talk about how we impact them. So having us collapse presume would be a problem for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m really annoyed. If people had just gone in 3 days a week like they wanted us to, I think they wouldn’t have gone to such extremes.

I feel the same.

Yes. I blame Biden. He didn’t come down hard enough. Heck even his own EOP offices were TW more than we were. He let agencies get away with hardly complying with RTO and well here we are.