Anyone get telework approved at SEC?
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Anonymous
| How many agencies to date have announced RIFs? 8? Out of 450? Yet the SEC would be “special” for not doing any, after losing 15 pct of its workforce in 2 months? |
Anonymous
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It was bearable. Not great.
Morale is LOW. Many of us would now take a VERA. either becuase we come eligible in next few months or because RTO sucks worse than we expected. I hope they offer it again. Some think Yes, some think no. |
Anonymous
I’ve been in for a month+ by now. It’s not great, but let’s not pretend it’s horrific either. And no, I am not kidless and/or living in NOMA. I have one elementary school and one middle and have nearly an hour commute. People need to keep some perspective here. |
Anonymous
+1. I thought it was fine too. I'm not saying it was soooo great or that I'd rather RTO than telework. But IDK it was doable and yes I have a commute too; kids are older so that likely makes it easier as they were still at activities when I got home daily and they are old enough that they do not want mom and dad at every practice anyway so I didn't feel like I missed anything. |
Anonymous
I wouldn’t say it was no dig deal. I can do this for now. I have kids, two elementary. Finding care for longer hours with such short notice was a challenge and we had to cobble together coverage. We don’t always make sports practices that are earlier in the day like we used to. That may change for the next school year and beyond as we pivot to other things that work for our schedule. Ask me again in 6 months, or a year and I might feel differently about whether it will drive me to look elsewhere. It is a slog. I also think it is a benefit that set us apart from private industry, especially now that so many are doing RTO. If RTO stays for the long haul, that might make it harder to compete for talent when we finally do hire at some point someday. |
Anonymous
+1 on the difficulty of finding childcare for elementary school kids being really hard on such short notice in the middle of the school year. They could have done this starting end of the school year where people have summer camps scheduled and they could get in line early for after care options. I get it though, they really want people to quit. |
Anonymous
lol on competing with private industry. Why on earth would anyone ever choose this over private industry again? Ever. Less pay, equivalent job security, less flexibility, less respect, etc. And if things ever went back to normal, it could be taken away again anytime in 30 days. |
Anonymous
The worst part is the noise from other people. It's so, so loud even with doors shut. |
Anonymous
I agree- I have been back since March and it is weird how distracting the noise is- I was so used to working alone in my home. I listen to podcasts with my AirPods 😄 |
Anonymous
So what did you do with elementary school kids before hand? They presumably get home around 3:30. So did you just work the last couple of hours of your day with them home? (With school starting around 9, you presumably couldn’t start too early.) If you and a spouse are both Feds and now both had to RTO, I can see where a problem arises because you could have previously staggered and had one person work early and do after school and the other do before school and work later. But otherwise, you were spending the last couple of hours doing both child care and work, which you aren’t supposed to do, and which is part of what gives WFH a bad name. (Cue chorus of everyone who chimes in saying their Petunia, although only 7, doesn’t need any supervision and doesn’t distract from work at all.) |
Anonymous
PP here and we staggered our schedules which is no longer possible to do with the commuting time. |
Anonymous
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People hate the billable hour, but this thread underscores why it’s so superior. Who gives a damn where or when you get work done as long as it gets done!? And who cares who else was in the house while you’re doing the work?
If doge were smart, they’d impose a billable hour model where employees account for their time in 15 minute increments (analyzed by AI), but also allow full telework where practical and thus save billions in real estate. |
Anonymous
DP. I always wonder if posters like you just never had kids, or had a SAHP, or what. It doesn't take much imagination to understand the problem. Scenario 1. There's no school bus, so somebody has to pick kids up at 3:30. Teleworking parent had a scheduled break (meaning, they worked longer to cover the time) to do pick up. Now that's not an option, so they need aftercare. Scenario 2. Parent teleworked 7 - 3:30 and was off in the afternoon. But adding 2 hours of commute to that schedule would mean leaving work an hour earlier to pick up at 3:30 ... or finding aftercare. Scenario 3. Kids - yes, as young as 7 - take the bus home, let themselves in, and don't need any attention until the end of the workday. But parents nonetheless want someone in the house for emergencies, plus the commute means that kid is alone an extra hour or so longer than if the parent was WFH. Kids end up in aftercare instead. |
Anonymous
But the billable hour changes nothing about accountability. If you trust someone to bill their 15 minute increments honestly, you can trust them to work 8 hours honestly. In both cases the correct measure is whether the work gets done. In neither case does it matter where you are or who else was there. The only thing the billable hour does is elevate the time you spent (more = better) over the result (not necessarily time dependent). It's an inefficiency engine. |
Anonymous
Nope. Two kids. Two parents working full time. Scenario 1 means you are working the last couple of hours when the kid is home. Same with scenario 3, but if you were wfh, why was there a need to have the kids let themselves in in the first place. And BS that elementary, particularly early elementary don’t need attention and aren’t distracting over a two hour span that you are supposedly working. |