Yes, some people on my team work at night after their young children are in bed. Some work early in the morning before anyone else is awake. Why is that so hard for you to believe? Nobody is getting away with anything. We all have heavy workloads and real deadlines to meet. If people weren't putting in their hours, it would be very obvious. It's weird that you find the idea of people working a flexible schedule "laughable". It's actually pretty common in 2024. You sound like a crusty old dinosaur. Glad you don't manage me! |
I’m a fed who works at home. My kids have no school this week. I dropped them at camps at 9/9:30 and was online at 10. At 3 I w picked them up and stopped and ran an errand. I ran this by my boss ahead of time and took 3 hours of annual leave today. Based on child care I could find, if I didn’t work from home I would have needed a full 8 hours of leave today. Instead I was able to move our project forward. |
This sounds particular to your agency and like workloads are being poorly or unfairly managed. At my agency everyone (parents and non-parents) use a flex band. Core hours for larger group meetings/trainings are 10-2 EST. We have some people in other time zones in the US who work around these HQ hours. For smaller group meetings we’ll work within each other’s calendar availability. Work is a lot of research/writing and report drafting, which means a lot of it is done independently. As long as everyone is getting their stuff turned in on time it really doesn’t matter if employee A works 8-3:30, takes a kid to ballet and makes dinner, and then logs back on 7-8 while employee B works 6-2:30 and employee C works 9-5:30. Plenty of agencies are built for this type of set up and the flexibility is what allows for recruitment and retention of quality people. |
Way to let the logic go right over your head. I was literally pointing out the stupidity of the PP’s argument that we should do things a certain way because it was how things were done before. That is lame reasoning. If there is a business need for RTO then that should be plenty easy for agency managers to articulate. But just saying we need to go back to doing something X way because “I it and now you need to do it too” is intellectually lazy and insufferable. |
They don’t owe you an explanation and you don’t owe them any loyalty. Your management can decide they want everyone to RTO. If you disagree you should feel free to find a better situation and leave. Workers and employers should do what’s best for them however they see fit, what’s insufferable is the constant complaining. Please move on. |
I really wish we could go in for three days and telework two. I feel like fully remote has issues for most agencies - you're lucky if yours is doing it right. Ours isn't. I will embrace going back for a few days, but if they go all out five days and take away all flexible work, I won't be able to do that for long. The juice isn't worth the squeeze for my family. And this is the goal right? To get tons of people to quit. |
You were being honest and took leave. I don’t know anyone who would take those three hours of leave. They would just say they worked a full day from home. |
You’re right. They don’t have to give an explanation and I don’t have to stay. But I believe any decent manager would explain RTO is because of XYZ workload changes or whatever. Employee morale is going to be low if managers make employees do things (whether RTO, change a deadline, being loaned out to another component for a project etc.) with the explanation of “because I said so.” This is how you end up with a disengaged workforce where your top performers continually move on. I am a grown adult with a professional degree. I don’t need to work for anyone bossing me around like a parent to a toddler. I have over 15 years experience as an attorney and many connections in the private sector. So my answer to the OP’s question is that I will likely move on for more money and/or more flexibility elsewhere if there is RTO. I’m waiting it out for now though in the hopes this won’t come to fruition because I like my job and hope to keep it. If you want to call message board discussion whining then … ok. Also, if you don’t want to read “whining” then why did you open a thread in which the topic is literally asking Feds whether they plan to return to office or quit? Like OMG what did you think was going to be discussed here? You must struggle a lot in life if you manage to voluntarily click on something and then get disgruntled when people talk about it. |
Why? The plan is not to replace them with other people. How will it improve your life? |
DP but how? What happens when someone tries to contact them on TEAMS and they’re not available for 3 hours? I’m in a role where people reach out to me frequently so it would be impossible for me to lie about working that time. |
NP here. I would absolutely take leave because it's time card fraud to do otherwise and I believe most of my coworkers would follow the rules as well. |
Well, I've developed agoraphobia and am putting in for a reasonable accommodation of, you guessed it, telework. Don't care if you think it's shameful. |
This. And will add that if anything, I work more hours than I need to and because our time management system is such a pain, do not ask for credit hours. I often work early, late, and on the weekend which allows me to pick up my three kids at three different times a few times a week. I produce more than my childless colleagues by a long shot. |
As would I. My bosses can see when I'm lohgged on and often message me. |
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