If you're a fed, are you planning to quit or go back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stupid question…but aren’t there all these govt owned buildings with tons of free space that could be quickly used to house workers if needed?

My understanding is that the gov doesn't own a lot of buildings, other than FBI/CIA and the likes. Most are leased using GSA. Some have been unoccupied for years and are no longer inhabitable or safe - plumbing not working, rodents everywhere, and it will take time to negociate leases and get them ready.

Leased from whom? What are all the buildings that Bowser wants to be turned over to DC by the govt for development that she claims are empty.

Leased from property companies like Douglas and Jemal. Per GSA's website there are 184 owned buildings in the DMV vs 504 leased. The only DC buildings I've heard Bowser mention are FBI and DOE, both of which are gross old buildings long slated for replacement.

Ooh RTO 5 days to gross old building with rats and asbestos and mold sounds promising! Great way to weed out the workers who really want to be there. There are 5 workers (and 10 with vet preference) who are willing to replace them!

/s

[Anonymous]

you all realize that you have power right?
if this was france, you would all immediately strike and then get leverage. they wouldn't' know what to do bc these people dont understand collective bargaining and things would start falling apart and they'd be screwed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you all realize that you have power right?
if this was france, you would all immediately strike and then get leverage. they wouldn't' know what to do bc these people dont understand collective bargaining and things would start falling apart and they'd be screwed.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you all realize that you have power right?
if this was france, you would all immediately strike and then get leverage. they wouldn't' know what to do bc these people dont understand collective bargaining and things would start falling apart and they'd be screwed.

Feds can't strike, by law. And as PPs have noted, decreasing headcounts is the goal here. Then when things do "start falling apart," they can point to that as further evidence that the government doesn't work to justify the next round of cuts, and on and on.

[Anonymous]

Not quitting. Will be waiting them out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people will go back while looking for other jobs. Foolish to just quit...unless you literally can not do it due to childcare or ?? I also think the space issue is real. It will take a while. My office was always 1 day a week in. Are there more floors available to lease in our building . Would we be moving? Our last move took a year. And we are just one little organization.

Yes they literally cannot fit a tenth of my office in the building. We'll completely collapse. We're a pro business organization too.

So lets say you have 10,000 people and you seat 1,000. Going to three shifts then make half company do Sunday to Thursday and other half Tuesday to Saturday you could fit a lot more in. Then double up offices and cubes and go to bullpen style seating.

My old company we had 1000 people in a space for 400 people at one point. We got rid of cubes and offices. Only CEO, CFO Head of HR had an office. Got rid of phones and cabinets pretty much. We stretch long narrow tables with small partition with each worker getting 36 inches of space. Folks had laptop with headset to laptop to do calls.

Now if we did three shifts we could have 1,600 people in that space for 400 people. If we added 1/2 workers Sunday to Thursday and the other half Tuesday to Saturday maybe we squeeze in 2,000 into a space of 400.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people will go back while looking for other jobs. Foolish to just quit...unless you literally can not do it due to childcare or ?? I also think the space issue is real. It will take a while. My office was always 1 day a week in. Are there more floors available to lease in our building . Would we be moving? Our last move took a year. And we are just one little organization.

Yes they literally cannot fit a tenth of my office in the building. We'll completely collapse. We're a pro business organization too.

So lets say you have 10,000 people and you seat 1,000. Going to three shifts then make half company do Sunday to Thursday and other half Tuesday to Saturday you could fit a lot more in. Then double up offices and cubes and go to bullpen style seating.

My old company we had 1000 people in a space for 400 people at one point. We got rid of cubes and offices. Only CEO, CFO Head of HR had an office. Got rid of phones and cabinets pretty much. We stretch long narrow tables with small partition with each worker getting 36 inches of space. Folks had laptop with headset to laptop to do calls.

Now if we did three shifts we could have 1,600 people in that space for 400 people. If we added 1/2 workers Sunday to Thursday and the other half Tuesday to Saturday maybe we squeeze in 2,000 into a space of 400.

*eye roll*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not quitting. Will be waiting them out.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people will go back while looking for other jobs. Foolish to just quit...unless you literally can not do it due to childcare or ?? I also think the space issue is real. It will take a while. My office was always 1 day a week in. Are there more floors available to lease in our building . Would we be moving? Our last move took a year. And we are just one little organization.

Yes they literally cannot fit a tenth of my office in the building. We'll completely collapse. We're a pro business organization too.

So lets say you have 10,000 people and you seat 1,000. Going to three shifts then make half company do Sunday to Thursday and other half Tuesday to Saturday you could fit a lot more in. Then double up offices and cubes and go to bullpen style seating.

My old company we had 1000 people in a space for 400 people at one point. We got rid of cubes and offices. Only CEO, CFO Head of HR had an office. Got rid of phones and cabinets pretty much. We stretch long narrow tables with small partition with each worker getting 36 inches of space. Folks had laptop with headset to laptop to do calls.

Now if we did three shifts we could have 1,600 people in that space for 400 people. If we added 1/2 workers Sunday to Thursday and the other half Tuesday to Saturday maybe we squeeze in 2,000 into a space of 400.

That'd be a good way to destroy productivity.

[Anonymous]

Seems like the worst way to try to create efficient government You are going to lose the young people and the hardest to replace (more competitive with private). People like me who are close to retirement will just basically hang on regardless trying to get to 62.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people will go back while looking for other jobs. Foolish to just quit...unless you literally can not do it due to childcare or ?? I also think the space issue is real. It will take a while. My office was always 1 day a week in. Are there more floors available to lease in our building . Would we be moving? Our last move took a year. And we are just one little organization.

Yes they literally cannot fit a tenth of my office in the building. We'll completely collapse. We're a pro business organization too.

So lets say you have 10,000 people and you seat 1,000. Going to three shifts then make half company do Sunday to Thursday and other half Tuesday to Saturday you could fit a lot more in. Then double up offices and cubes and go to bullpen style seating.

My old company we had 1000 people in a space for 400 people at one point. We got rid of cubes and offices. Only CEO, CFO Head of HR had an office. Got rid of phones and cabinets pretty much. We stretch long narrow tables with small partition with each worker getting 36 inches of space. Folks had laptop with headset to laptop to do calls.

Now if we did three shifts we could have 1,600 people in that space for 400 people. If we added 1/2 workers Sunday to Thursday and the other half Tuesday to Saturday maybe we squeeze in 2,000 into a space of 400.

You know this is insane right? I am not going to be able to provide virtual training or office hours for local governments trying to navigate a federal program at 3 AM. Working with people outside your office has to happen when THEY are available too.

I don't know why I engage, you definitely know this is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I predict a lot of people will take FMLA to buy time.

You realize you can’t just “take” FMLA right? And if you lie about a health condition to get time off you’re committing federal fraud, so good luck with that one.

Pp here. Yes, they will need to get a doctor to fill out a form saying they need time off work due to illness. They can cite severe depression or anxiety due to RTO. For many people it wouldn’t be lying.

Alternatively, they can bring a form related to their parents or children and a health situation requiring they take time off work.

+1

I have a special needs child which involves a lot of therapies and IEP meetings etc. I haven’t put in for FMLA because my boss knows about it and is understanding (and I can manage it with telework and flex time). I’ve definitely already thought about this before seeing this post.

Similar boat here - my child is not obviously special needs but until recently did an hour of speech and an hour of occupational therapy a week. Her pediatrician had offered to sign FMlA forms but we didn’t need the flexibilities because working from home we could get her from school and drive her to speech or OT without leaving early. (DH works from home but he’s not a fed.) if we’d had to do that and commute I think I would have needed FMLA. I’m sure many Feds are in situations like this.

I’m the PP you’re responding to and I’m willing to bet people with SNs kids or who have chronic medical conditions themselves (especially with disability preferences being offered) are more likely to sacrifice pay for stability and flexibility in the public sector. So yeah, I see a big wave of FMLA requests coming in. I feel real bad for HR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stupid question…but aren’t there all these govt owned buildings with tons of free space that could be quickly used to house workers if needed?

My understanding is that the gov doesn't own a lot of buildings, other than FBI/CIA and the likes. Most are leased using GSA. Some have been unoccupied for years and are no longer inhabitable or safe - plumbing not working, rodents everywhere, and it will take time to negociate leases and get them ready.

Leased from whom? What are all the buildings that Bowser wants to be turned over to DC by the govt for development that she claims are empty.

Leased from property companies like Douglas and Jemal. Per GSA's website there are 184 owned buildings in the DMV vs 504 leased. The only DC buildings I've heard Bowser mention are FBI and DOE, both of which are gross old buildings long slated for replacement.

So all those grand old buildings on Constitution Avenue (Treasury, Archives, etc.) and the buildings on the other side of the mall (Dept of Ag et al)...those are actually privately owned and leased to the government?

I didn't realize that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like the worst way to try to create efficient government You are going to lose the young people and the hardest to replace (more competitive with private). People like me who are close to retirement will just basically hang on regardless trying to get to 62.

To be honest, I always thought I would reassess life when my PSLF went through and it did earlier this year, so I'm okay with letting go. I'm ten years in, I had thought of making this my full career but I'm meh on it now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stupid question…but aren’t there all these govt owned buildings with tons of free space that could be quickly used to house workers if needed?

My understanding is that the gov doesn't own a lot of buildings, other than FBI/CIA and the likes. Most are leased using GSA. Some have been unoccupied for years and are no longer inhabitable or safe - plumbing not working, rodents everywhere, and it will take time to negociate leases and get them ready.

Leased from whom? What are all the buildings that Bowser wants to be turned over to DC by the govt for development that she claims are empty.

Leased from property companies like Douglas and Jemal. Per GSA's website there are 184 owned buildings in the DMV vs 504 leased. The only DC buildings I've heard Bowser mention are FBI and DOE, both of which are gross old buildings long slated for replacement.

So all those grand old buildings on Constitution Avenue (Treasury, Archives, etc.) and the buildings on the other side of the mall (Dept of Ag et al)...those are actually privately owned and leased to the government?

I didn't realize that.

There are 374,000 federal employees in the DC area. Good luck fitting them in the headquarters buildings along the Mall.