Biden wants RTO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yeah lots of feds, who earn up to 39 days off a year and get 11 paid holidays a year, can’t take vacations…

I always wind up donating leave because I can't take it due to being busy at work.

Who gets 39 days of leave? I thought the max was 5 weeks.

The PP was including sick leave.

I’m a fed with 15+ years and I have almost no leave saved up. I had kids before maternity leave was a thing and it out be deep into a hole. It took many years to make it up and take an actual vacation. I take about 2 weeks a year and a handful of sick days.

On top of that you don't accumulate the max annual leave (26 days) until after 15 years of service. I won't hit that until I'm 45!

I also used up my leave balance for my last kid the year before paid leave, and WFH has helped me dig out of the hole instead of staying negative for normal life stuff. It means medical and dental appointments only require an extra 30 minutes tacked on for travel, rather than a full half day, and when kids are sick, my spouse and I can split shifts and still work half a day to make sure neither if us misses critical stuff. RTO is ironically going to mean I'll spend less total time working because of these normal life things. Right now I have the leave for it, so that's fine, but fewer work hours means less work gets done, more meetings get canceled, etc.

Yes. It’s been an absolute game changer for our family. I had some serious health issues this year and probably would have been out for a couple of months without WFH flexibility. And who knows, maybe I’d be a lot sicker. I live near health services and can just run out and get stuff done and come home and work. I flex my hours and just work around my appointments. It’s nice.

And I’m sorry if other people are jealous . They’re welcome to pay 300k for my degrees and get a similar job for mediocre pay in exchange for WFH, along with my diagnosis. I didn’t leave for the private sector to make more money for a reason. But the event horizon is approaching. Gotta pay for college, wages aren’t keeping up, and without the WFH I can’t afford to stay in federal service. If I’m going to cut my life short by commuting I might was well make a lot of money to leave my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I love WFH more than anyone, but there’s no question that RTO is much better for the local economy. Lunches, metro rides, parking fees, dry cleaners, etc.

I'll take metro, but won't do any of those other things (dry cleaning - my office is business casual, I wear Boden, which is machine wash; I bring lunch, I don't drive or buy coffee).

That's you. In aggregate, RTO will be a huge boost to local economies in downtown business districts. Not only do people spend more on transportation, parking, food, and services, but filling up downtown offices has the potential to also bring back downtown retail.

Complain about it all you want but this is the way the wind is blowing. Better get those Boden dresses ready.

I have limited sympathy for municipalities suffering from less activity because they partly brought it upon themselves by encouraging everyone to stay home for so long. Plenty of other areas re-opened schools and workplaces fall of 2020 but that was seen as too dangerous here, even with masks. But that was still at a time where folks weren't so used to WFH (I for one did not like it). The longer it went on, the more we adapted and questioned why we needed to go in so much.

The suburbs around DC are all booming due to WFH. It's kind of hard to miss all the new stores and restaurants opening unless you are stuck in DC reminiscing about Feds wearing their shirts from Ross while standing in line at Subway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yeah lots of feds, who earn up to 39 days off a year and get 11 paid holidays a year, can’t take vacations…

I always wind up donating leave because I can't take it due to being busy at work.

Who gets 39 days of leave? I thought the max was 5 weeks.

The PP was including sick leave.

I’m a fed with 15+ years and I have almost no leave saved up. I had kids before maternity leave was a thing and it out be deep into a hole. It took many years to make it up and take an actual vacation. I take about 2 weeks a year and a handful of sick days.

On top of that you don't accumulate the max annual leave (26 days) until after 15 years of service. I won't hit that until I'm 45!

I also used up my leave balance for my last kid the year before paid leave, and WFH has helped me dig out of the hole instead of staying negative for normal life stuff. It means medical and dental appointments only require an extra 30 minutes tacked on for travel, rather than a full half day, and when kids are sick, my spouse and I can split shifts and still work half a day to make sure neither if us misses critical stuff. RTO is ironically going to mean I'll spend less total time working because of these normal life things. Right now I have the leave for it, so that's fine, but fewer work hours means less work gets done, more meetings get canceled, etc.

Yes. It’s been an absolute game changer for our family. I had some serious health issues this year and probably would have been out for a couple of months without WFH flexibility. And who knows, maybe I’d be a lot sicker. I live near health services and can just run out and get stuff done and come home and work. I flex my hours and just work around my appointments. It’s nice.

And I’m sorry if other people are jealous . They’re welcome to pay 300k for my degrees and get a similar job for mediocre pay in exchange for WFH, along with my diagnosis. I didn’t leave for the private sector to make more money for a reason. But the event horizon is approaching. Gotta pay for college, wages aren’t keeping up, and without the WFH I can’t afford to stay in federal service. If I’m going to cut my life short by commuting I might was well make a lot of money to leave my kids.

Yup, I'm the PP you're quoting and I've put out an application every day in the last week since my agency's RTO announcement. My logic is EXACTLY this - if I have no choice but to leave my kids and spend the equivalent of 1-2 extra workdays commuting, I'd have to be an idiot to keep doing it for the exact same pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Biden admin just keeps pissing the wrong people off and it's going to back fire royally. They keep pushing they will see what's going to happen next election.

+100 THIS!

This idiocy was floated in another thread on this topic. It's as silly now as it was then.

I’m not sure I’d want to f-around with the Virginia vote.

Precisely which Republican candidate will be better for federal workers (i) on WFH issues, and (ii) generally speaking than Biden?

For this 52-year period, the federal workforce has had higher pay raises during a Republican administration. Here is how it breaks out.

The average pay raise per year: 3.71%
Under Republicans: 4.05%
Under Democrats: 3.65%

https://www.fedsmith.com/2021/01/10/50-years-federal-pay-democrats-v-republicans/

Yeah, because Rs screw up the economy so that Ds have to clean up a recession. That always comes with lower inflation.

I agree with you that Rs are awful, but no one has pointed to anything where the R presidential candidates said they would force federal employees back to the office. If Biden makes me spend 15 hours per week commuting just to please his rich donors, he is not getting my vote. I have no clue why anyone would support a candidate who gives such a strong middle finger to you. We don't know if a R would be better, but based on what Biden is advocating, it won't be any worse. So I'll take my chances.

I agree. The heck with all those women who may lose the right to choose. And I don't really care if corporate taxers are lowered to nothing. If I have ot do the commute I signed on for pre-pandemic, it'll turn me into a Trump voter. MAGA!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Biden admin just keeps pissing the wrong people off and it's going to back fire royally. They keep pushing they will see what's going to happen next election.

+100 THIS!

This idiocy was floated in another thread on this topic. It's as silly now as it was then.

I’m not sure I’d want to f-around with the Virginia vote.

Precisely which Republican candidate will be better for federal workers (i) on WFH issues, and (ii) generally speaking than Biden?

For this 52-year period, the federal workforce has had higher pay raises during a Republican administration. Here is how it breaks out.

The average pay raise per year: 3.71%
Under Republicans: 4.05%
Under Democrats: 3.65%

https://www.fedsmith.com/2021/01/10/50-years-federal-pay-democrats-v-republicans/

Yeah, because Rs screw up the economy so that Ds have to clean up a recession. That always comes with lower inflation.

I agree with you that Rs are awful, but no one has pointed to anything where the R presidential candidates said they would force federal employees back to the office. If Biden makes me spend 15 hours per week commuting just to please his rich donors, he is not getting my vote. I have no clue why anyone would support a candidate who gives such a strong middle finger to you. We don't know if a R would be better, but based on what Biden is advocating, it won't be any worse. So I'll take my chances.

I agree. The heck with all those women who may lose the right to choose. And I don't really care if corporate taxers are lowered to nothing. If I have ot do the commute I signed on for pre-pandemic, it'll turn me into a Trump voter. MAGA!!

So you can be mostly a one issue voter, butt someone who disagrees with you can't? Yeah, ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Biden admin just keeps pissing the wrong people off and it's going to back fire royally. They keep pushing they will see what's going to happen next election.

+100 THIS!

This idiocy was floated in another thread on this topic. It's as silly now as it was then.

I’m not sure I’d want to f-around with the Virginia vote.

Precisely which Republican candidate will be better for federal workers (i) on WFH issues, and (ii) generally speaking than Biden?

For this 52-year period, the federal workforce has had higher pay raises during a Republican administration. Here is how it breaks out.

The average pay raise per year: 3.71%
Under Republicans: 4.05%
Under Democrats: 3.65%

https://www.fedsmith.com/2021/01/10/50-years-federal-pay-democrats-v-republicans/

Yeah, because Rs screw up the economy so that Ds have to clean up a recession. That always comes with lower inflation.

I agree with you that Rs are awful, but no one has pointed to anything where the R presidential candidates said they would force federal employees back to the office. If Biden makes me spend 15 hours per week commuting just to please his rich donors, he is not getting my vote. I have no clue why anyone would support a candidate who gives such a strong middle finger to you. We don't know if a R would be better, but based on what Biden is advocating, it won't be any worse. So I'll take my chances.

I agree. The heck with all those women who may lose the right to choose. And I don't really care if corporate taxers are lowered to nothing. If I have ot do the commute I signed on for pre-pandemic, it'll turn me into a Trump voter. MAGA!!

So you can be mostly a one issue voter, butt someone who disagrees with you can't? Yeah, ok.

First,if you need a laundry list of other ways a Republican President would be terrible, there's really no hope for you. Second, I identified two major issues. Third, being a one issue voter is pretty silly in any circumstance, but it's just absurd when the issue is, "I am being required to do something, once again, hat I did for years before the pandemic."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Biden admin just keeps pissing the wrong people off and it's going to back fire royally. They keep pushing they will see what's going to happen next election.

+100 THIS!

This idiocy was floated in another thread on this topic. It's as silly now as it was then.

I’m not sure I’d want to f-around with the Virginia vote.

Precisely which Republican candidate will be better for federal workers (i) on WFH issues, and (ii) generally speaking than Biden?

For this 52-year period, the federal workforce has had higher pay raises during a Republican administration. Here is how it breaks out.

The average pay raise per year: 3.71%
Under Republicans: 4.05%
Under Democrats: 3.65%

https://www.fedsmith.com/2021/01/10/50-years-federal-pay-democrats-v-republicans/

Yeah, because Rs screw up the economy so that Ds have to clean up a recession. That always comes with lower inflation.

I agree with you that Rs are awful, but no one has pointed to anything where the R presidential candidates said they would force federal employees back to the office. If Biden makes me spend 15 hours per week commuting just to please his rich donors, he is not getting my vote. I have no clue why anyone would support a candidate who gives such a strong middle finger to you. We don't know if a R would be better, but based on what Biden is advocating, it won't be any worse. So I'll take my chances.

Are you joking? The R front runner never thought COVID was a problem in the first place. Get real.

R's aren't totally unfriendly to their federal employees when in office. I mean the pandemic remote posture was during Trump and he gave fed employees raises that were higher than under Obama. Wasn't a big deal under GW Bush either. I do hope Democrats don't think they can just dump on fed employees and continue to get their vote because that just won't happen.

Trump also started paid parental leave, which is huge. I'd vote for him again if he gives us benefits like he did the last time.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the admin is trying to get ahead of the moodys downgrade of the banks with CRE holdings thinking they can influence that (unlikely.). maybe they think they can’t politically survive a bank failure driven recession especially after touting bidenomics. Sigh fed workers are always pawns.

[Anonymous]

Zients is in no one’s supervisory chain. He has zero authority to dictate to agency heads or intimidate federal workers. The only one who can do this is POTUS. Until the President says it’s time to RTO, I feel perfectly at ease ignoring some lackey’s ill-conceived memo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Biden admin just keeps pissing the wrong people off and it's going to back fire royally. They keep pushing they will see what's going to happen next election.

+100 THIS!

This idiocy was floated in another thread on this topic. It's as silly now as it was then.

I’m not sure I’d want to f-around with the Virginia vote.

Precisely which Republican candidate will be better for federal workers (i) on WFH issues, and (ii) generally speaking than Biden?

For this 52-year period, the federal workforce has had higher pay raises during a Republican administration. Here is how it breaks out.

The average pay raise per year: 3.71%
Under Republicans: 4.05%
Under Democrats: 3.65%

https://www.fedsmith.com/2021/01/10/50-years-federal-pay-democrats-v-republicans/

Yeah, because Rs screw up the economy so that Ds have to clean up a recession. That always comes with lower inflation.

I agree with you that Rs are awful, but no one has pointed to anything where the R presidential candidates said they would force federal employees back to the office. If Biden makes me spend 15 hours per week commuting just to please his rich donors, he is not getting my vote. I have no clue why anyone would support a candidate who gives such a strong middle finger to you. We don't know if a R would be better, but based on what Biden is advocating, it won't be any worse. So I'll take my chances.

Are you joking? The R front runner never thought COVID was a problem in the first place. Get real.

You just never know how folks will govern once they’re actually in charge. All of the Covid stimulus was under that R front runner. Who would have known that Biden would be so hostile to federal workers?

Having to go to an Office where you worked regularly until an unprecedented global pandemic is… hostile!? Lol. Ok.

Yes it is. Your argument is akin to saying that we should be happy to have the same pay we had before the pandemic. Times change. And taking away a big benefit is as hostile as it gets.

[Anonymous]

I know this is silly, but the head of my division spoke with us and said that although they would have to increase our in-office days some, they are working to keep it reasonable and as close to what we currently have (3 days out of every 10) as they can. I don't know if they will ultimately be able to do that for us, but the fact that they at least want to try was a morale booster, because it showed that are trying for us.

[Anonymous]

Re: PPs who mentioned one year telework arrangements vs permanent remote status - in our agency, they changed remote employees’ duty station to their homes a couple years ago, but they have clearly said that they are reviewing that and will be changing that as needed. That is not going to stop anyone from being required to come to the office. Even positions advertised as remote aren’t safe long term.

I am not happy to be going in but I expected this to happen sometime. I will take the 3.5 years and so many hours I gained from not commuting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Biden admin just keeps pissing the wrong people off and it's going to back fire royally. They keep pushing they will see what's going to happen next election.

+100 THIS!

This idiocy was floated in another thread on this topic. It's as silly now as it was then.

I’m not sure I’d want to f-around with the Virginia vote.

Precisely which Republican candidate will be better for federal workers (i) on WFH issues, and (ii) generally speaking than Biden?

For this 52-year period, the federal workforce has had higher pay raises during a Republican administration. Here is how it breaks out.

The average pay raise per year: 3.71%
Under Republicans: 4.05%
Under Democrats: 3.65%

https://www.fedsmith.com/2021/01/10/50-years-federal-pay-democrats-v-republicans/

Yeah, because Rs screw up the economy so that Ds have to clean up a recession. That always comes with lower inflation.

I agree with you that Rs are awful, but no one has pointed to anything where the R presidential candidates said they would force federal employees back to the office. If Biden makes me spend 15 hours per week commuting just to please his rich donors, he is not getting my vote. I have no clue why anyone would support a candidate who gives such a strong middle finger to you. We don't know if a R would be better, but based on what Biden is advocating, it won't be any worse. So I'll take my chances.

I agree. The heck with all those women who may lose the right to choose. And I don't really care if corporate taxers are lowered to nothing. If I have ot do the commute I signed on for pre-pandemic, it'll turn me into a Trump voter. MAGA!!

The right to choose is already gone. Strange to hinge your vote on an issue that is no longer even up for debate at the national level. And what exactly has Biden done to raise corporate taxes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Biden admin just keeps pissing the wrong people off and it's going to back fire royally. They keep pushing they will see what's going to happen next election.

+100 THIS!

This idiocy was floated in another thread on this topic. It's as silly now as it was then.

I’m not sure I’d want to f-around with the Virginia vote.

Precisely which Republican candidate will be better for federal workers (i) on WFH issues, and (ii) generally speaking than Biden?

For this 52-year period, the federal workforce has had higher pay raises during a Republican administration. Here is how it breaks out.

The average pay raise per year: 3.71%
Under Republicans: 4.05%
Under Democrats: 3.65%

https://www.fedsmith.com/2021/01/10/50-years-federal-pay-democrats-v-republicans/

Yeah, because Rs screw up the economy so that Ds have to clean up a recession. That always comes with lower inflation.

I agree with you that Rs are awful, but no one has pointed to anything where the R presidential candidates said they would force federal employees back to the office. If Biden makes me spend 15 hours per week commuting just to please his rich donors, he is not getting my vote. I have no clue why anyone would support a candidate who gives such a strong middle finger to you. We don't know if a R would be better, but based on what Biden is advocating, it won't be any worse. So I'll take my chances.

Are you joking? The R front runner never thought COVID was a problem in the first place. Get real.

You just never know how folks will govern once they’re actually in charge. All of the Covid stimulus was under that R front runner. Who would have known that Biden would be so hostile to federal workers?

Having to go to an Office where you worked regularly until an unprecedented global pandemic is… hostile!? Lol. Ok.

Yes it is. Your argument is akin to saying that we should be happy to have the same pay we had before the pandemic. Times change. And taking away a big benefit is as hostile as it gets.

Amen.

My telework and pay increased over the years pre-pandemic. 3 days in is what I had before. Show me the money or I’m gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Biden admin just keeps pissing the wrong people off and it's going to back fire royally. They keep pushing they will see what's going to happen next election.

+100 THIS!

This idiocy was floated in another thread on this topic. It's as silly now as it was then.

I’m not sure I’d want to f-around with the Virginia vote.

Precisely which Republican candidate will be better for federal workers (i) on WFH issues, and (ii) generally speaking than Biden?

For this 52-year period, the federal workforce has had higher pay raises during a Republican administration. Here is how it breaks out.

The average pay raise per year: 3.71%
Under Republicans: 4.05%
Under Democrats: 3.65%

https://www.fedsmith.com/2021/01/10/50-years-federal-pay-democrats-v-republicans/

Yeah, because Rs screw up the economy so that Ds have to clean up a recession. That always comes with lower inflation.

I agree with you that Rs are awful, but no one has pointed to anything where the R presidential candidates said they would force federal employees back to the office. If Biden makes me spend 15 hours per week commuting just to please his rich donors, he is not getting my vote. I have no clue why anyone would support a candidate who gives such a strong middle finger to you. We don't know if a R would be better, but based on what Biden is advocating, it won't be any worse. So I'll take my chances.

Are you joking? The R front runner never thought COVID was a problem in the first place. Get real.

R's aren't totally unfriendly to their federal employees when in office. I mean the pandemic remote posture was during Trump and he gave fed employees raises that were higher than under Obama. Wasn't a big deal under GW Bush either. I do hope Democrats don't think they can just dump on fed employees and continue to get their vote because that just won't happen.

Trump also started paid parental leave, which is huge. I'd vote for him again if he gives us benefits like he did the last time.

He did? I’m on maternity leave right now. Where’s this paid parental leave?