Other feds just very depressed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15% of the federal workforce is 60+...won't all those folks just take some kind of buyout/retire?

That seems like a fairly low-pain kind of RIF that is still fairly meaningful.

Another 13.7% is between 55-60.

No, because most of us are feds because we were laid off at age 50+ during the great recession and don't even have 20 years in yet. We can't afford to retire.

Most people, under FERs and TSP, can't afford to retire until 70, unlike the old federal retirement plan.

I am not a Fed. Is 20 years the magic number?

There is a system based on year of birth. I was born in 79 and must serve minimum of 35 years to retire.

Yeah the 35 years thing doesn't seem correct.

Also born in 79, and I've never heard of this 35 years. Isn't MRA like age 57 or something, and max valuation for retirement annuity at 30 years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for all the FEDS that are rendered helpless with no marketable skills due to unneeded government jobs. The real world expects results and they aren’t mentally prepared for being a taxpayer instead of a tax taker.

They also pay taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15% of the federal workforce is 60+...won't all those folks just take some kind of buyout/retire?

That seems like a fairly low-pain kind of RIF that is still fairly meaningful.

Another 13.7% is between 55-60.

No, because most of us are feds because we were laid off at age 50+ during the great recession and don't even have 20 years in yet. We can't afford to retire.

Most people, under FERs and TSP, can't afford to retire until 70, unlike the old federal retirement plan.

I am not a Fed. Is 20 years the magic number?

There is a system based on year of birth. I was born in 79 and must serve minimum of 35 years to retire.

Yeah the 35 years thing doesn't seem correct.

Also born in 79, and I've never heard of this 35 years. Isn't MRA like age 57 or something, and max valuation for retirement annuity at 30 years?

I was also born in 79 and have started tuning in to all the mid career seminars they offer. It's 20 years to get full suite of retirement benefits. That doesn't correlate with age, the MRA is still 57. The longer you stay, the more your "high 3" will be to calculate your pension. This is smart if you want to max out your step increases before retiring. Pure conjecture, but I could see after 35 years it's capped. No more matches or upping the high 3. There are penalties if you get your full 20 in and decide to immediately take your pension before 57.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that many people are happy to see other people get fired. It reminds of public floggings. Some people are very envious that Federal jobs are secure, stable and can offer an opportunity to live a simple way of life.

I notice so many people want to see the Federal government run like a business. Yet, I know so many people in the private sector who are sick, overweight, stressed and living very challenging lives unless they earn over $200k. Even those people are working themselves to the bone.

Federal salaries are not even that high considering the cost of living in the DMV. It saddens me that so many people are living hand to mouth and that as a collective, we would rather bring everyone down instead of increasing salaries across private sector for the average American. How much more can a billionaire earn, buy and sell? At one point does the collective well being of the nation become a priority over seeing another group suffer financially?

This is typical federal employee BS. The private sector is better. Better pay, and often better benefits. No, the federal workforce is not healthier.

I feel bad for federal employees who have been brainwashed to fear the private sector.

The private sector employees hundreds of millions of people. It’s not all a sweat shop and it doesn’t exist to try to lay people off.

Yes, private sector pay and benefits are often better for many professions. However, the statement about private sector employees being healthier is unequivocally false.
Government employees are healthier and they live about a year longer than comparable private sector employees. https://www.soa.org/4aa1e0/globalassets/assets/files/resources/research-report/2021/life-expectancy.pdf

Gov health insurance is amazing. I went from a high tech firm to a Fed position in tech and the insurance is AMAZING.

Really? How so?

DP. 10% coinsurance for just about everything, 30%-40% for out of network, worldwide, all for under $500 a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15% of the federal workforce is 60+...won't all those folks just take some kind of buyout/retire?

That seems like a fairly low-pain kind of RIF that is still fairly meaningful.

Another 13.7% is between 55-60.

No, because most of us are feds because we were laid off at age 50+ during the great recession and don't even have 20 years in yet. We can't afford to retire.

Most people, under FERs and TSP, can't afford to retire until 70, unlike the old federal retirement plan.

I am not a Fed. Is 20 years the magic number?

There is a system based on year of birth. I was born in 79 and must serve minimum of 35 years to retire.

Yeah the 35 years thing doesn't seem correct.

Also born in 79, and I've never heard of this 35 years. Isn't MRA like age 57 or something, and max valuation for retirement annuity at 30 years?

I was also born in 79 and have started tuning in to all the mid career seminars they offer. It's 20 years to get full suite of retirement benefits. That doesn't correlate with age, the MRA is still 57. The longer you stay, the more your "high 3" will be to calculate your pension. This is smart if you want to max out your step increases before retiring. Pure conjecture, but I could see after 35 years it's capped. No more matches or upping the high 3. There are penalties if you get your full 20 in and decide to immediately take your pension before 57.

ANd at 62 you get 10% more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:15% of the federal workforce is 60+...won't all those folks just take some kind of buyout/retire?

That seems like a fairly low-pain kind of RIF that is still fairly meaningful.

Another 13.7% is between 55-60.

more than 80% of these retirement eligible feds need to just quit and I don't think they deserve a buy out or early retirement. Fire or keep them on their performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15% of the federal workforce is 60+...won't all those folks just take some kind of buyout/retire?

That seems like a fairly low-pain kind of RIF that is still fairly meaningful.

Another 13.7% is between 55-60.

more than 80% of these retirement eligible feds need to just quit and I don't think they deserve a buy out or early retirement. Fire or keep them on their performance.

Of course they won't do that...my only point is life in theory won't be too bad for someone that has put in their 20+ years and now will probably get great severance/buyout (they keep talking about 2 years), plus then just retire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for all the FEDS that are rendered helpless with no marketable skills due to unneeded government jobs. The real world expects results and they aren’t mentally prepared for being a taxpayer instead of a tax taker.

I don’t get the logic. Most if not all are college educated and there seems to always be a place for people that understand how the government works.

Again, 1/3 of all Feds work for the VA or administer Veteran benefits (most not in DC area). For some reason, I don’t think that’s the picture of a Fed somebody has in their head.

My Fed husband is an engineer who regularly gets job offers from private companies. He stays in government for the work/life balance and because he genuinely believes in the work he's doing (very vaguely the work he does protects servicemembers from physical injury).

I have a friend who's a scientist for the federal government who basically identifies workplace safety hazards. She's basically trying to save the lives of workers by identifying things like how certain common activities can cause lung damage.

Basically these are people who have PhDs in science and engineering whose whole job is trying to save lives. And that's a LOT of feds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not a political partisan but my agency will likely face massive cuts. I’ve spent two decades in a specialized job and the skills can’t transfer easily elsewhere. Just so incredibly worried now.

All this social media crazy talk about federal agency closures and RIF creates a risk of federal employees proactively cutting down on their planned major, discretionary purchases and going into max saving mode. That may impact demand for private sector goods and services and trigger more private sector cost cutting announcements.
All of that regardless if these speculations about federal RIF/closures ever materialize.

You're not already doing this? My spending is going bare minimum now. Saving everything. I had a bunch of purchases postponed until after the election. All those purchases were canceled. I'm in survival mode now until midterms 2026.

Absolute true bare minimum? Like no discretionary spending at all on activities, alcohol, restaurants, Christmas gifts? Putting off medical spending, new glasses, worn out shoes as long as possible? Or do you mean no big purchases only?

We finally just came out of that level of "grad school budget" living a couple years ago, and I haven't been able to go back to it yet, while I still have a job. We are making some big financial changes but depriving the whole family of all the little things is tough when I do still have a job.

Yes discretionary spending is going sharply down for me. That includes activities, alcohol (I don't drink anyway), restaurants, gifts. Not zero, of course. But as close to that as possible.

I consider medical expenses and dental to be part of bare minimum spending. But I don't spend a lot on medical expenses anyway. Dental care is where I've spent the most but I have good insurance and I'm all caught up in my dental work.

I'd encourage all feds (and non-Feds really) to get in survival mode and start saving. No one is coming to save us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the gleeful "cullers" do you have any capacity for empathy? Suppose you, whatever you do, were deemed "cullable" would you feel anything?

Do you dissolve into a puddle of tears every time a company lays off staff? This happens ALL the time in companies and corporations, across entire industries.

Remember covid when people lost their jobs, their businesses, their livelihoods?

This. Government workers were calm and relaxed while the government put restrictions in place on most private industries that put tons of people out of work (either officially or unofficially by simply not allowing them to work to get a paycheck). It’s long overdue that the bloat was cut from our federal government. I don’t agree with everything that Trump does but this one I’m looking forward to.

Many functions will likely move to the states anyway. So unless you’re doing something completely useless, you probably still have options if you live in a blue state. There will be some disruption but that’s life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the gleeful "cullers" do you have any capacity for empathy? Suppose you, whatever you do, were deemed "cullable" would you feel anything?

Do you dissolve into a puddle of tears every time a company lays off staff? This happens ALL the time in companies and corporations, across entire industries.

Remember covid when people lost their jobs, their businesses, their livelihoods?

This. Government workers were calm and relaxed while the government put restrictions in place on most private industries that put tons of people out of work (either officially or unofficially by simply not allowing them to work to get a paycheck). It’s long overdue that the bloat was cut from our federal government. I don’t agree with everything that Trump does but this one I’m looking forward to.

Many functions will likely move to the states anyway. So unless you’re doing something completely useless, you probably still have options if you live in a blue state. There will be some disruption but that’s life.

Tell me you know nothing about government work without telling me you know nothing about government work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the gleeful "cullers" do you have any capacity for empathy? Suppose you, whatever you do, were deemed "cullable" would you feel anything?

Do you dissolve into a puddle of tears every time a company lays off staff? This happens ALL the time in companies and corporations, across entire industries.

Remember covid when people lost their jobs, their businesses, their livelihoods?

This. Government workers were calm and relaxed while the government put restrictions in place on most private industries that put tons of people out of work (either officially or unofficially by simply not allowing them to work to get a paycheck). It’s long overdue that the bloat was cut from our federal government. I don’t agree with everything that Trump does but this one I’m looking forward to.

Many functions will likely move to the states anyway. So unless you’re doing something completely useless, you probably still have options if you live in a blue state. There will be some disruption but that’s life.

Unemployment is still at record lows…what are you even talking about?

[Anonymous]

Their purpose is to traumatize federal workers. The new head of OMB has explicitly stated so.

“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” he said. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can't do all of the rules against our energy industry because they have no bandwidth financially to do so.

“We want to put them in trauma.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/video-donald-trump-russ-vought-center-renewing-america-maga

The question is, what have you ever done in your life when someone has tried to traumatize you? Do you run away?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15% of the federal workforce is 60+...won't all those folks just take some kind of buyout/retire?

That seems like a fairly low-pain kind of RIF that is still fairly meaningful.

Another 13.7% is between 55-60.

more than 80% of these retirement eligible feds need to just quit and I don't think they deserve a buy out or early retirement. Fire or keep them on their performance.

Of course they won't do that...my only point is life in theory won't be too bad for someone that has put in their 20+ years and now will probably get great severance/buyout (they keep talking about 2 years), plus then just retire.

And once again millennials who are mid career with kids to put through college and mortgages to pay will fare the worst. Many of us are a decade plus into a niche regulatory career that may not have a private sector counterpart. We’re not close to retirement, but also too old to pivot to a new career path with potentially entry level pay. I’m just tired at this point. All I want is to show up and do my job and then go home and coach my kid’s soccer teams and lead scout outings etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the gleeful "cullers" do you have any capacity for empathy? Suppose you, whatever you do, were deemed "cullable" would you feel anything?

Do you dissolve into a puddle of tears every time a company lays off staff? This happens ALL the time in companies and corporations, across entire industries.

Remember covid when people lost their jobs, their businesses, their livelihoods?

This. Government workers were calm and relaxed while the government put restrictions in place on most private industries that put tons of people out of work (either officially or unofficially by simply not allowing them to work to get a paycheck). It’s long overdue that the bloat was cut from our federal government. I don’t agree with everything that Trump does but this one I’m looking forward to.

Many functions will likely move to the states anyway. So unless you’re doing something completely useless, you probably still have options if you live in a blue state. There will be some disruption but that’s life.

As a fed I’ve never once rooted for or looked forward to any mass layoffs in any industry, and I’ve repeatedly voted for the party that is pro-union and dissented in the Citizens United ruling that gave corporations more political power.

I also find it ironic that so many so called “Christians” are hoping for bad things to happen to regular working people who are trying to do good things for this country.

I truly hope this administration ends up being the Vietnam of the federal workforce (where we finally realize we shouldn’t be taking out political differences on public sector workers).