New OPM memo on RTO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't have school aged kids before telework so what did people do? Did people put their kids in before/aftercare/camps/school for 10 hours a day? How did people find time for extracurriculars if elementary kids are in aftercare until 5:30-6?

Staggered schedules. Before remote work, I went in at 6:45 and was home by 3:45 to do pickup and DH did school drop off at 8 and was home by 7:15. Our kids are older now, so they can be home alone if needed, but the big issue for us is sports practices. The good news is that DH and I both carried over the max last year and earn 27 days of leave a year so we will be able to take a couple hours of leave each week for emergencies. Additionally, we both accrued quite a lot of sickleave over the past five years because we did not need to take leave when we were sick and could just work from home. It means that we will plan doctors appointments for days that we otherwise would need to be home. I took some sickleave when I had kids, but DH has probably taken two sick days the entire time he’s been a fed (20 years).

Am I the only sucker who took sick leave to be sick and go to (take my kids to) appointments?

No, I am low on sick and annual leave because I have little kids and I took off for every minute and hour and appointment. I did things the right way and you are not alone.

We should be friends - me too (young kids). But I am pretty sure we are rare.

[Anonymous]

Not a fan of this admin, but I'm grateful that Rubio came in at State and sent out guidance on telework almost immediately. Now we can plan. State is also keeping situational telework, which is the common sense thing to do. Onward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't have school aged kids before telework so what did people do? Did people put their kids in before/aftercare/camps/school for 10 hours a day? How did people find time for extracurriculars if elementary kids are in aftercare until 5:30-6?

Staggered schedules. Before remote work, I went in at 6:45 and was home by 3:45 to do pickup and DH did school drop off at 8 and was home by 7:15. Our kids are older now, so they can be home alone if needed, but the big issue for us is sports practices. The good news is that DH and I both carried over the max last year and earn 27 days of leave a year so we will be able to take a couple hours of leave each week for emergencies. Additionally, we both accrued quite a lot of sickleave over the past five years because we did not need to take leave when we were sick and could just work from home. It means that we will plan doctors appointments for days that we otherwise would need to be home. I took some sickleave when I had kids, but DH has probably taken two sick days the entire time he’s been a fed (20 years).

Am I the only sucker who took sick leave to be sick and go to (take my kids to) appointments?

No, I am low on sick and annual leave because I have little kids and I took off for every minute and hour and appointment. I did things the right way and you are not alone.

My kids are older but I was basically expected to telework when they were home sick. I just handed them an iPad. I did take sick leave when I was incapable of working (too sick or at appointments).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m worried about how much leave I’ll now need to take now that you can’t TW before or after let’s say an appt or running a kid off to soccer practice. TW allows the opportunity to flex your time and not to mention most private sector companies do things like summer Fridays off or two week shut down during the holidays as part of their work/life balance packages. We’ve basically been stripped of any work/life balance. Which is why I ultimately will need to leave. I need some balance and flexibility.

I’d love for everyone threatening to leave their federal jobs to report back in a year and let us know if that actually happened.

+1

Like the people who claimed they’d leave the country when Trump won.

Too bad there's also a hiring freeze. I'm starting to think about retirement, have enough saved up, and would love to take one of those jobs and put in 5 years as a fed to have access to the retiree healthcare benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a fan of this admin, but I'm grateful that Rubio came in at State and sent out guidance on telework almost immediately. Now we can plan. State is also keeping situational telework, which is the common sense thing to do. Onward.

Totally radio silence from my small agency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

People who had their kids in 2019 or before would be familiar with this. It’s just going back to pre Covid life.

Except these services are less available, have shorter hours, and are more expensive.

Also, I had my kids pre-2019, and commuted, but I would never have taken a job 2 hours away like I did post-2019. Some of us were hired remote! The conditions are different. And housing doesn't cost 2019 prices anymore either, so "just move closer" isn't that easy.

Yes. I only took jobs where the hours and the location fit my schedule. I was upfront about this with employers.

The location I'll be reporting to if we're back in the office didn't even come up in the interview process because we were hired remote.

[Anonymous]

Mom who didn't have school aged kids pre covid here. I know I might sound whinny (and your posts have all been very helpful for a view of pre covid parent life) but all that sounds so exhausting. Just more coordination, more floating pieces, more unhappy children and more pressure on spouse. I know you all did it before but life has only gotten more complicated with time and parents are already stretched thin. Something will have to give. Society can adjust when everyone goes into work 5x a week but it might not with only feds back in office. Those camps and aftercares might not add extra hours or weeks, schools might still expect parents to volunteer or come in for whatever, and extracurriculars might not accommodate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m worried about how much leave I’ll now need to take now that you can’t TW before or after let’s say an appt or running a kid off to soccer practice. TW allows the opportunity to flex your time and not to mention most private sector companies do things like summer Fridays off or two week shut down during the holidays as part of their work/life balance packages. We’ve basically been stripped of any work/life balance. Which is why I ultimately will need to leave. I need some balance and flexibility.

Just as people who were going to leave the country if Trump won found out that isn’t all that easy, people will find out that there aren’t a lot of WFH jobs that pay six figures, and there are many applicants for each and every one.

I’d love for everyone threatening to leave their federal jobs to report back in a year and let us know if that actually happened.

+1

Like the people who claimed they’d leave the country when Trump won.

Too bad there's also a hiring freeze. I'm starting to think about retirement, have enough saved up, and would love to take one of those jobs and put in 5 years as a fed to have access to the retiree healthcare benefits.

[Anonymous]

I mentioned it earlier - but are there agencies that do not require the 30 minute unpaid lunch? If so, how do they get around it? An 8 hour day vs an 8.5 hour day would actually make a big difference for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m worried about how much leave I’ll now need to take now that you can’t TW before or after let’s say an appt or running a kid off to soccer practice. TW allows the opportunity to flex your time and not to mention most private sector companies do things like summer Fridays off or two week shut down during the holidays as part of their work/life balance packages. We’ve basically been stripped of any work/life balance. Which is why I ultimately will need to leave. I need some balance and flexibility.

I’d love for everyone threatening to leave their federal jobs to report back in a year and let us know if that actually happened.

+1

Like the people who claimed they’d leave the country when Trump won.

Too bad there's also a hiring freeze. I'm starting to think about retirement, have enough saved up, and would love to take one of those jobs and put in 5 years as a fed to have access to the retiree healthcare benefits.

[Anonymous]

My first job was at an Operational Center for MasterCard that was open 24/5. We also was open 8 hours on Saturday. We had three shifts Monday to Friday. If you took a 30 minute lunch you could leave 30 minutes early. My complex in immediate area Citibank and Amex had similar set ups.

Rents were high as we were in the NYC area which is part of reason the shifts as well work loads.

With zero work from home and zero flexibility on shift times was extremely family friendly. The Govt given space is tight should go to shifts.

My coworker she worked 8am to 345 pm and her husband also worked with me 4 pm to 11:45 pm. They needed zero child care. Someone was home 24/7. The kids were young so at 345pm daily I see Dad driving up in minivan with kids in back to start work and Mom would switch cars and drive minivan home.

We also had a lot of cop and nurse couples in my town on different shifts. There is no rule couples have to work exact same hours.

Or teachers married to guys who work in city or two professionals one works close to home and other in the city.

It actually worked better for the kids. Someone always there. This is pre-laptops and home high speed internet where WFH was nearly impossible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mom who didn't have school aged kids pre covid here. I know I might sound whinny (and your posts have all been very helpful for a view of pre covid parent life) but all that sounds so exhausting. Just more coordination, more floating pieces, more unhappy children and more pressure on spouse. I know you all did it before but life has only gotten more complicated with time and parents are already stretched thin. Something will have to give. Society can adjust when everyone goes into work 5x a week but it might not with only feds back in office. Those camps and aftercares might not add extra hours or weeks, schools might still expect parents to volunteer or come in for whatever, and extracurriculars might not accommodate.

People keep mentioning unhappy children but that wasn’t my experience or that of my friends who parented kids who needed childcare pre Covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't have school aged kids before telework so what did people do? Did people put their kids in before/aftercare/camps/school for 10 hours a day? How did people find time for extracurriculars if elementary kids are in aftercare until 5:30-6?

Staggered schedules. Before remote work, I went in at 6:45 and was home by 3:45 to do pickup and DH did school drop off at 8 and was home by 7:15. Our kids are older now, so they can be home alone if needed, but the big issue for us is sports practices. The good news is that DH and I both carried over the max last year and earn 27 days of leave a year so we will be able to take a couple hours of leave each week for emergencies. Additionally, we both accrued quite a lot of sickleave over the past five years because we did not need to take leave when we were sick and could just work from home. It means that we will plan doctors appointments for days that we otherwise would need to be home. I took some sickleave when I had kids, but DH has probably taken two sick days the entire time he’s been a fed (20 years).

Am I the only sucker who took sick leave to be sick and go to (take my kids to) appointments?

Nope I also took sick leave, including when I was teleworking and did not have childcare. Like if both my husband and I were teleworking we’d split the day so I’d take sick leave when I was in charge of the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't have school aged kids before telework so what did people do? Did people put their kids in before/aftercare/camps/school for 10 hours a day? How did people find time for extracurriculars if elementary kids are in aftercare until 5:30-6?

Staggered schedules. Before remote work, I went in at 6:45 and was home by 3:45 to do pickup and DH did school drop off at 8 and was home by 7:15. Our kids are older now, so they can be home alone if needed, but the big issue for us is sports practices. The good news is that DH and I both carried over the max last year and earn 27 days of leave a year so we will be able to take a couple hours of leave each week for emergencies. Additionally, we both accrued quite a lot of sickleave over the past five years because we did not need to take leave when we were sick and could just work from home. It means that we will plan doctors appointments for days that we otherwise would need to be home. I took some sickleave when I had kids, but DH has probably taken two sick days the entire time he’s been a fed (20 years).

Am I the only sucker who took sick leave to be sick and go to (take my kids to) appointments?

Nope I also took sick leave, including when I was teleworking and did not have childcare. Like if both my husband and I were teleworking we’d split the day so I’d take sick leave when I was in charge of the kids.

Many in my agency put in 50-60 hr weeks, mostly teleworking since our stakeholders are in multiple time zones and countries. We rarely use sick leave for appointments b/c we work more than enough hours to cover 40 hr requirement. Only use sick leave if actually sick and can’t work or we need to be offline for more than half a day.

[Anonymous]

I had Covid and was quite ill. My boss just told me to telework bc things had to get done. I didn’t take sick leave then bc I continued to work (much to my dismay).

But my boss has also been fine with me making up hours for doctors appointments, bc i actually do the work.