If RIFs are executed to cut 30-70%, who is safe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who can point to an exact law Congress enacted that justifies their job, and are superior at doing said job. Most people in government have survived by inserting themselves into the 23-step approval process for anything and they’re glorified paper pushers with the title assistant deputy to the deputy chief’s assistant. That’s all going away.

Yep. I am not wishing for anyone to lose their jobs but as an experienced private sector veteran, corporations reduce their headcounts all the time for fiscal reasons and low performers are gently laid off. It's clear Trump is looking for a more resilient, nimble and efficient government and part of that has to be much greater flexibility to change the personnel as needs require rather than a system of institutional tenure that shuffles low performers from department to department.

“Experienced private sector veteran” = “I feel certain I know a ton of stuff about the inner workings of the federal government, which I never though about before until yesterday.”

Private sector with a lot of federal contracting exposure. There's plenty of grift in the government and plenty of wastage and inefficient staffing. It can be a problem. It rewards some while bogging down others. No one wants to be told their job is useless or they do something that can be combined with multiple other roles in a private company. But it's true enough. "inner workings of the federal grovernment" means following endless arcane rules and processes delaying everything in order to protect one person's job or one little department that needs to justify its existence. Endless busywork and meetings and shuffling of papers.

Most people are not losing their jobs. We're not facing a situation where 80% are laid off. But I do see 30% being realistic.

As if federal contractors don't grift. I've seen high priced contractors grift so hard trying to make problems seem so much more exaggerated than they really are to ensure they can keep the work. It's always very obvious when that's what's going on and it's so unnecessary because there's plenty of work to do without that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So in answering this question as if we were in a sane environment following the law. Since that is not true what I am saying is not necessarily going to happen but this is basically how a rif works in the federal government. First specific job series are identified. Eg 0905 (attorneys). Then specific grade levels where there is a surplus are identified. In those grade levels they look at seniority. Performance appraisals serve like a tie breaker. If you are covered by a collective bargaining agreement it will also include some rif provisions

This is how a normal RIF works, but this isn't what Trump is doing. He's picking specific sections and getting rid of them -- all DEIA, or all Policy. And then they are defining the competitive area to be just that unit, so the people being RIFed don't have any chance of being transferred elsewhere. THIS CANNOT BE LEGAL, BUT IT DOESN'T APPEAR THAT ANYONE CARES. Why is no one suing over this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Elon Musk is all for merit based. More than anything, they will look at performance ratings

I hope so! I have some employees who have been on and off pips for years. They are veterans though so they’ll probably be the only ones not fired. I’m sure they’ll run my program into the ground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elon Musk is all for merit based. More than anything, they will look at performance ratings

I hope so! I have some employees who have been on and off pips for years. They are veterans though so they’ll probably be the only ones not fired. I’m sure they’ll run my program into the ground.

They get soooo many points for being Vets. You won't be able to get rid of them ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People who can point to an exact law Congress enacted that justifies their job, and are superior at doing said job. Most people in government have survived by inserting themselves into the 23-step approval process for anything and they’re glorified paper pushers with the title assistant deputy to the deputy chief’s assistant. That’s all going away.

Yep. I am not wishing for anyone to lose their jobs but as an experienced private sector veteran, corporations reduce their headcounts all the time for fiscal reasons and low performers are gently laid off. It's clear Trump is looking for a more resilient, nimble and efficient government and part of that has to be much greater flexibility to change the personnel as needs require rather than a system of institutional tenure that shuffles low performers from department to department.

But they are laying people off who have perfect performance evaluations. These 24 year old DOGERs do not even know what the people they are firing are responsible for.

The comparison is way off.

[Anonymous]

This could be done well,thoughtfully. But they chose quickly instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So in answering this question as if we were in a sane environment following the law. Since that is not true what I am saying is not necessarily going to happen but this is basically how a rif works in the federal government. First specific job series are identified. Eg 0905 (attorneys). Then specific grade levels where there is a surplus are identified. In those grade levels they look at seniority. Performance appraisals serve like a tie breaker. If you are covered by a collective bargaining agreement it will also include some rif provisions

This is how a normal RIF works, but this isn't what Trump is doing. He's picking specific sections and getting rid of them -- all DEIA, or all Policy. And then they are defining the competitive area to be just that unit, so the people being RIFed don't have any chance of being transferred elsewhere. THIS CANNOT BE LEGAL, BUT IT DOESN'T APPEAR THAT ANYONE CARES. Why is no one suing over this?

This. Our competitive areas are being defined down to the program level. Mine is about 20 people. I won't be in the same competitive area as people with my job series in the same hallway who have a different grandboss. They're not going to keep a few of us from each area. It's way easier to just X out the whole unit.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't matter. With that level of cuts, those who remain cannot do the work the American people's elected officials have voted for them to do. Our tax dollars are now being wasted because there aren't enough people left to do the work we paid for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who can point to an exact law Congress enacted that justifies their job, and are superior at doing said job. Most people in government have survived by inserting themselves into the 23-step approval process for anything and they’re glorified paper pushers with the title assistant deputy to the deputy chief’s assistant. That’s all going away.

There's a lot of bureaucracy, personal preference, and agency politics baked in to that determination of "superior" performance. It's rarely an objective measure and its consistent application across the government is even more rare.

[Anonymous]

Heard that they are looking to save feds with PM certifications since the end game is privatizing the work through contractors and only handful of feds needed to do PM level work.

This seems like clear violation of RIF rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't matter. With that level of cuts, those who remain cannot do the work the American people's elected officials have voted for them to do. Our tax dollars are now being wasted because there aren't enough people left to do the work we paid for.

That’s why it will all be outsourced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So in answering this question as if we were in a sane environment following the law. Since that is not true what I am saying is not necessarily going to happen but this is basically how a rif works in the federal government. First specific job series are identified. Eg 0905 (attorneys). Then specific grade levels where there is a surplus are identified. In those grade levels they look at seniority. Performance appraisals serve like a tie breaker. If you are covered by a collective bargaining agreement it will also include some rif provisions

This is how a normal RIF works, but this isn't what Trump is doing. He's picking specific sections and getting rid of them -- all DEIA, or all Policy. And then they are defining the competitive area to be just that unit, so the people being RIFed don't have any chance of being transferred elsewhere. THIS CANNOT BE LEGAL, BUT IT DOESN'T APPEAR THAT ANYONE CARES. Why is no one suing over this?

Because all the judges are on Trump’s side so you will lose if you sue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't matter. With that level of cuts, those who remain cannot do the work the American people's elected officials have voted for them to do. Our tax dollars are now being wasted because there aren't enough people left to do the work we paid for.

That’s why it will all be outsourced.

And it will cost double

[Anonymous]

Honestly, there is little rhyme of reason to who gets cut. No one is safe. Trumpeter gonna trumpet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who can point to an exact law Congress enacted that justifies their job, and are superior at doing said job. Most people in government have survived by inserting themselves into the 23-step approval process for anything and they’re glorified paper pushers with the title assistant deputy to the deputy chief’s assistant. That’s all going away.

You clearly don't know anything about government.