City of D.C. going to 1 day a week telework

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are several reasons this happened.

1) Buildings sitting empty. Why is the building being rented if nobody is in it? So you cannot justify that in your budget. Well, force people back in.

2)Business are complaining to the mayor and city council that without people coming into the office, they cant survive

3)Parking. DC garage companies are a mafia. Always have been. You can thank Marion Barry. People are not driving in and parking? There goes their $

4)Parking enforcement and traffic enforcement. While DC traffic enforcement is not something I remember being an issue, the parking enforcement is and always has been. Nobody driving into the city? There goes your revenue from ticketing people.

5) Metro. Less people riding trains. So more revenue goes down and there go the unions getting mad that their people are getting cut as they are not needed with decreased ridership. And in general, less riders=less revenuer in general for a crumbling public transportation infrastructure. Metro sucks, it is a shell of what it used to be.

6.Control. At one point, with people working from home, administrations lost oversight. Having people who could and did do their jobs without issue from home forced back into the office reeks of micro management.

Alot of people moved out of DC during COVID and moved to places like anywhere in WV in the panhandle, Adams County, PA, Frederick & Washington County MD and Louden & Frederick County, VA since they wanted bigger homes, land and low crime. Now, the "bettors" want them back in the grime. Do you think management will be returning? I know from experience, they are not where I work and it is the same at several other companies and government agencies.

It’s the city budget. Revenue projections are horrendous and Bowser was elected by a city that had a consistent, large surplus. She’s panicking and making rash decisions because her administration has never really had to budget before.

Yes - I also think that as a result, Bowser would not care if people quit if they don’t like that they have to come in more, since that means less money to spend on staff.

[Anonymous]

City employees will rebel over this. Bowser will back down. It will return to no more than two days in office. Guaranteed.

[Anonymous]

I'm glad. Employees of the city they serve need to be accessible. And the policy seems to acknowledge that they know people working from home that one day a week aren't really working since the policy allows a 4 day/10 hours a day work week as an alternative. That's what will happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:City employees will rebel over this. Bowser will back down. It will return to no more than two days in office. Guaranteed.

I agree that city employees will rebel but I don’t think this administration is messing around and they would prefer to have less money to spend on resources if those resources aren’t playing by the rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:City employees will rebel over this. Bowser will back down. It will return to no more than two days in office. Guaranteed.

No chance.

That’s the whole point. This is a way to reduce headcount without calling it a downsizing.

[Anonymous]

The ridiculous memo says that through RTO district employees will serve as examples to other large employers in the city.
Hilarious.
Like the Feds or anyone else was hinging RTO on what DC employees were going to do.

[Anonymous]

this is because biden won't order federal employees back to the office. bowser is trying to get him to do that and this is a way to try to increase the pressure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:City employees will rebel over this. Bowser will back down. It will return to no more than two days in office. Guaranteed.

No chance.

That’s the whole point. This is a way to reduce headcount without calling it a downsizing.

It's not a bad idea. DC government agencies are filled with people who barely work. Also, the people most likely to object to this are people who live outside DC. If the upshot of this policy is that a bunch of DC employees living in VA/MD decide to quit instead of drive (you know they would drive not take public transportation) to work in DC 4 days a week, because they care so little about getting their jobs done that actually going to an office where they might interact with the people they supposedly serve is unreasonable to them, I am all for it. Take them off the payroll and keep them from becoming pension eligible. Fill those positions with DC residents who won't clog the streets with cars everyday.

I am not a Bowser fan but support this move. It's overdue in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

My spouse works for Maryland state government and they were ordered back into the office 3 days a week like 2 years ago. I don't really get what the big deal is here. I guess 3 days would be better than 4, but I also think it's insane that there are people who haven't set foot in an office since March 2020. That was 4 years ago! It's crazy this took so long. If I was a DC employee who was required to work in person (teacher, police officer, public works employee, DMV, etc.) I'd have such immense scorn for the lazy middle managers parked on their butts in suburban home sending emails all day and never bothering to come into the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:City employees will rebel over this. Bowser will back down. It will return to no more than two days in office. Guaranteed.

No chance.

That’s the whole point. This is a way to reduce headcount without calling it a downsizing.

It's not a bad idea. DC government agencies are filled with people who barely work. Also, the people most likely to object to this are people who live outside DC. If the upshot of this policy is that a bunch of DC employees living in VA/MD decide to quit instead of drive (you know they would drive not take public transportation) to work in DC 4 days a week, because they care so little about getting their jobs done that actually going to an office where they might interact with the people they supposedly serve is unreasonable to them, I am all for it. Take them off the payroll and keep them from becoming pension eligible. Fill those positions with DC residents who won't clog the streets with cars everyday.

I am not a Bowser fan but support this move. It's overdue in my opinion.

This isn't accurate. The only city employees that are eligible for a pension were hired in 1987 or earlier. They'll just retire, not quit. The ones that will quit are the higher grade professionals that actually do work and have transferable skills. The lazy, lower grade employees don't have other hybrid, likely higher paying opportunities available to them, so they'll complain but do what they did before the pandemic - spend all day in the office not working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So DC government is forcing middle class government workers to subsidize billionaire commercial building owners. Nice.

I guess it's too hard to come up with a more innovative way to repurpose those buildings.

How are the workers subsidizing commercial building owners given DC owns many of its buildings and otherwise are on long term leases long since executed?

Exactly. I've asked my employees to come into the office 3 days per week. It's important that people see and work with each other.

I worked with people in several different areas of the country and a few out of the country. We did not see each other even when everyone came to an office every day. We are just as productive from home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this is because biden won't order federal employees back to the office. bowser is trying to get him to do that and this is a way to try to increase the pressure.

Oh please. There’s no good reasons for Feds to RTO (or anyone else), especially if that’s just to support the DC economy. For Bowser to think that this is going to do anything is ludicrous and shows nothing but her desperation. No one in the Admin pays attention to her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The WH is “encouraging” all federal agencies in the DMV to be back to 50% in-office attendance (5 days per pay period) by next spring. If you work at a federal agency and aren’t yet back to half time in office, it is coming. The goal is for all federal agencies in DC to be back to pre-COVID levels of telework by next fall.

And lots of younger feds will leave. Much like younger city employees who have a choice.

People talk a good game, but there are not as many remote jobs as there once were. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is because biden won't order federal employees back to the office. bowser is trying to get him to do that and this is a way to try to increase the pressure.

Oh please. There’s no good reasons for Feds to RTO (or anyone else), especially if that’s just to support the DC economy. For Bowser to think that this is going to do anything is ludicrous and shows nothing but her desperation. No one in the Admin pays attention to her.

Many cities are having this issue. Don't just blame Bowser. I don't like her, but people need to get back to the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So DC government is forcing middle class government workers to subsidize billionaire commercial building owners. Nice.

I guess it's too hard to come up with a more innovative way to repurpose those buildings.

Amen to this!