Lol, I had an employee do the same this morning and I… didn’t care. Because he’s generally a great worker and shows up. I don’t mind giving him some down time to nurse his hangover or whatever. I know he’ll make it up later and deliver what he needs to. |
Ha, okay. If you say so. She is a presidential management fellow who is totally new to government. The rules are the rules; we don't make them up, we just follow them. The rules can be bent, but not until you've proven yourself and have some time in the job. As OP will soon find out. |
+1. I'm GenX and would not bat an eye at this request because I really have other things to worry about - I'm looking for the work to get done. |
So she's a professional. Treat her like a professional. Otherwise, she'll just use her sick leave instead of teleworking. You'll get less work done and there won't be a damn thing you can do about it. You're not really helping your case here. You just sound petty. |
Please read what you wrote. Your position is inconsistent. Apparently the rules are only the rules that must be followed if you don't like the employee. |
I have no problem with folks taking their leave. Every organization has established norms about what you ask for vs. notify. I don't understand how this is hard for some people to understand. |
... if they haven't established themselves. |
Really now! What makes you think this? |
Do you realize that you both have b Highjacked this conversation and shifted it to something else entirely? What’s wrong w you? You lack insight. |
I don't understand how it's this hard for people to understand how to treat a professional. Your "management" style is what people hate about government. It's petty and overly focused on formalities over the work and mission. Nevermind that you fail to see the hypocrisy in saying "the rules are the rules" and then immediately note you can bend them for people you like. |
Granted I wasn’t a new employee but this reminds me of a time I told my supervisor (in DC) that I (in CA) wouldn’t be able to make it in due to weather. I asked if I could switch my telework day. She responded “Ok. But what do you mean weather? I don’t think California gets bad weather.” It definitely seemed ridiculous (I don’t think she was joking) because a quick google search could have told her that transit systems were down due to 2 plus inches of rain, high winds, and potential for flash floods and mudslides. |
Pp here. I’ll add that I used to work in our DC location with zero telework. For certain tasks I’d find concentration in cubes hard. We could reserve conference rooms and small spaces online. Periodically (like a few times a year) I’d tell my supervisor “to work on X and really focus I’m going to be in Y room today.” I’d also put it on my calendar as an appointment so people could find me and I would only do this if there was a room in the same portion of the office as my team (I wouldn’t go to a different floor, for example). Good headphones and playing white noise helps a lot too.
I haven’t read all the posts but I think you need to find a mentor / more senior colleague and ask them for ideas on how to fix this within your office culture. I think it’s also worth a conversation with your supervisor. |
This seems very job-specific.
For some jobs working at home vs in the office is arbitrary (where I am now) For others including the fed office I worked for previously, being in person on certain days is crucial. Failure to come in on your in-office day could lead to other people’s time and money being wasted and long processing delays. So last minute “schedule changes” are taken very seriously. |
It was a joke. |
This, sounds problematic. |