DMV Feds only - is your agency still struggling with WFH policy?

[Anonymous]

You federal leeches are pathetic. Fighting to keep remote work, where you know you do less than when you come to the office, and at the same time fighting for the ability to move away from the DMV and keep DMV salaries? Makes me sick. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re still home 5 days per week. My agency got rid of office space and we don’t even have room for everyone to go in anywhere. No indication we’ll be going back.

We’re probably in the same agency. Have only been in twice since 3/2020– to renew creds and to clean out my office space. The lease on our DC area buildings ran out. HQ not DC based or reasonably commutable. There is very limited hoteling downtown if needed and that’s it. Feel pretty safe in 5 days a week telework being permanent because they spent several years trying to move our offices to a new space and got nowhere. Starting from scratch isn’t realistic.

We just started Union negotiations. Looks like the big issue isn’t keeping 5 days a week. It’s whether we are FT telework/ must live in the DMV or become fully remote/ can live anywhere. Come on fully remote!

Fully remote could lose lose DC locality. Unless you’re moving to a more expensive place you’d lose money. So come on pay reduction!

People where I work are fighting to keep DC pay and live in areas with lower locality. Problem is we have people already in those localities at other sites and they don’t get DC pay and also, it’s a massive waste of public money to pay people like that but they want what they want and whine over it. Personally, I think if they want to move they should take the locality of where they live or suck up the cost to come to the home office like everyone else. I have literally no sympathy. Anyone who thought they could move to South Carolina and keep DC pay only coming in once a quarter was dreaming and unrealistic.

That's a settled matter at my agency. You moved to a lower COL area, your locality is adjusted accordingly.

Yeah I thought OMB policy was very clear on this. Two of my coworkers went remote and took the lower locality pay (happily). It's actually been harder for people in the greater DMV area to get remote approved because it's hard to prove "benefit to the agency" with the same pay but agency responsibility for travel costs.

[Anonymous]

Our agency renewed our office space even though we are 100% remote and have been since 2020. So very likely that we will be called back in full time soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You federal leeches are pathetic. Fighting to keep remote work, where you know you do less than when you come to the office, and at the same time fighting for the ability to move away from the DMV and keep DMV salaries? Makes me sick. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

What I hear you saying is that you prefer for federal employees to be working from expensive office buildings in higher COL cities like DC? You don’t want to take advantage of technology that’s now available so employees no longer need to go into the office?

Let me guess….you also don’t believe in maternity leave and would rather a woman drop out of the workforce and stop paying taxes and possible never return to work versus six months of paid leave?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You federal leeches are pathetic. Fighting to keep remote work, where you know you do less than when you come to the office, and at the same time fighting for the ability to move away from the DMV and keep DMV salaries? Makes me sick. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

What I hear you saying is that you prefer for federal employees to be working from expensive office buildings in higher COL cities like DC? You don’t want to take advantage of technology that’s now available so employees no longer need to go into the office?

Let me guess….you also don’t believe in maternity leave and would rather a woman drop out of the workforce and stop paying taxes and possible never return to work versus six months of paid leave?

Amazing. Company after company in the private sector has concluded that remote work isn’t working and it’s not increasing productivity and you really expect me to believe that the situation is the opposite with the federal government workers in their cushy jobs? You’re full of it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You federal leeches are pathetic. Fighting to keep remote work, where you know you do less than when you come to the office, and at the same time fighting for the ability to move away from the DMV and keep DMV salaries? Makes me sick. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

What I hear you saying is that you prefer for federal employees to be working from expensive office buildings in higher COL cities like DC? You don’t want to take advantage of technology that’s now available so employees no longer need to go into the office?

Let me guess….you also don’t believe in maternity leave and would rather a woman drop out of the workforce and stop paying taxes and possible never return to work versus six months of paid leave?

And one more thing, nice try when you turn this into a woman issue. It’s not a woman issue. It’s a gender neutral issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You federal leeches are pathetic. Fighting to keep remote work, where you know you do less than when you come to the office, and at the same time fighting for the ability to move away from the DMV and keep DMV salaries? Makes me sick. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

What I hear you saying is that you prefer for federal employees to be working from expensive office buildings in higher COL cities like DC? You don’t want to take advantage of technology that’s now available so employees no longer need to go into the office?

Let me guess….you also don’t believe in maternity leave and would rather a woman drop out of the workforce and stop paying taxes and possible never return to work versus six months of paid leave?

Amazing. Company after company in the private sector has concluded that remote work isn’t working and it’s not increasing productivity and you really expect me to believe that the situation is the opposite with the federal government workers in their cushy jobs? You’re full of it

If this is the case then why are so many private companies dropping leases? Why is there news article after news article about corporate real estate?

No I really don’t believe productivity is higher in an office. Why? iPhones. Also, many people pre-Covid were working in an office that isn’t the same office as the other employees they mostly work with. For example, my manager is in Chicago.

I would agree with you if technology hadn’t advanced to support remote work. But now that employees are using Teams and Zoom, it makes less and less sense for employees to get in a car to go do something they can do from their home office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You federal leeches are pathetic. Fighting to keep remote work, where you know you do less than when you come to the office, and at the same time fighting for the ability to move away from the DMV and keep DMV salaries? Makes me sick. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

What I hear you saying is that you prefer for federal employees to be working from expensive office buildings in higher COL cities like DC? You don’t want to take advantage of technology that’s now available so employees no longer need to go into the office?

Let me guess….you also don’t believe in maternity leave and would rather a woman drop out of the workforce and stop paying taxes and possible never return to work versus six months of paid leave?

And one more thing, nice try when you turn this into a woman issue. It’s not a woman issue. It’s a gender neutral issue.

Definitely. So many men drop out of the workforce because they don’t have time to recover after birth and bond with their infant.

In all seriousness, my point is that you have a tough time evolving and accepting change. Someone like you can’t accept things like remote work and maternity leave. You want everyone sitting in an office with a typewriter and their manager walking around watching them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You federal leeches are pathetic. Fighting to keep remote work, where you know you do less than when you come to the office, and at the same time fighting for the ability to move away from the DMV and keep DMV salaries? Makes me sick. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

I do more work at home because I don't have to waste time talking to dinosaurs like you. YOU are pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Folks let’s stay on the topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’re still home 5 days per week. My agency got rid of office space and we don’t even have room for everyone to go in anywhere. No indication we’ll be going back.

We’re probably in the same agency. Have only been in twice since 3/2020– to renew creds and to clean out my office space. The lease on our DC area buildings ran out. HQ not DC based or reasonably commutable. There is very limited hoteling downtown if needed and that’s it. Feel pretty safe in 5 days a week telework being permanent because they spent several years trying to move our offices to a new space and got nowhere. Starting from scratch isn’t realistic.

We just started Union negotiations. Looks like the big issue isn’t keeping 5 days a week. It’s whether we are FT telework/ must live in the DMV or become fully remote/ can live anywhere. Come on fully remote!

Fully remote could lose lose DC locality. Unless you’re moving to a more expensive place you’d lose money. So come on pay reduction!

People where I work are fighting to keep DC pay and live in areas with lower locality. Problem is we have people already in those localities at other sites and they don’t get DC pay and also, it’s a massive waste of public money to pay people like that but they want what they want and whine over it. Personally, I think if they want to move they should take the locality of where they live or suck up the cost to come to the home office like everyone else. I have literally no sympathy. Anyone who thought they could move to South Carolina and keep DC pay only coming in once a quarter was dreaming and unrealistic.

That's a settled matter at my agency. You moved to a lower COL area, your locality is adjusted accordingly.

Yeah I thought OMB policy was very clear on this. Two of my coworkers went remote and took the lower locality pay (happily). It's actually been harder for people in the greater DMV area to get remote approved because it's hard to prove "benefit to the agency" with the same pay but agency responsibility for travel costs.

Agencies have ways to work things out. I don’t think this will continue indefinitely (and I don’t think it should). If you move then you take the cut. It’s ridiculous to me that people moved and thought they could hold their pay.

[Anonymous]

I'm at NOAA and it's a mixed bag. DOC called us back 3 days a week last year but there was so much hue and cry that several exemptions based on job type were granted so we're down to 1-2 days per week. I do feel less productive in the office with all the chatting, coffee, etc but I feel like leadership must see value in that or they wouldn't want us in so badly. The only thing that's really annoying is they are shrinking our footprint so we will be hoteling next year as the building is remodeled and we'll all start using lockers. I suppose we'll adjust!

[Anonymous]

Again: it’s not the responsibility of federal workers to support downtown “restaurants.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again: it’s not the responsibility of federal workers to support downtown “restaurants.”

Maybe not, but it is the responsibility of the federal government to care about the variability of restaurants in our economy.

You’re a civil servant….so that means you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again: it’s not the responsibility of federal workers to support downtown “restaurants.”

Maybe not, but it is the responsibility of the federal government to care about the variability of restaurants in our economy.

You’re a civil servant….so that means you.

*viability