Flexibility, telework, core hours, etc. It's revolution time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Well some of us can't take the work home as that is not a a place to keep sensitive information or send it over email.

Aren't there methods of addressing this? I know my husband has one laptop for classified info and one for non-classified info.

My sister works for the FBI and people in her position absolutely can't take any classified work home, which is almost all of her job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

For the PP whose work requires access to paper files: That is your job. You do what you have to do to deliver results. For you, that seems to mean spending at least some time in a physical office. But it does not have to mean sitting in a specific chair during specific hours. Don't you ever do any work that does NOT require access to those files? My job requires access to physical files as well as access to a secured computer terminal that sits on a desk in an office downtown. But I only need those things for about 30% of my overall job. And that 30% usually takes place at certain times in the financial cycle. It's not from 9am to 12pm Monday through Friday 52 weeks a year without fail-- it's more like a solid week at the end of each month, and a solid month at the end of the fiscal year. When I'm not doing those particular tasks, why should I be at that desk? I have a laptop and a cell phone. People who need me can reach me. I can send emails and edit reports from anywhere, at any time. As long as I get it done by deadline, why should anyone care where I was sitting when I was doing it? Yes, I go to an office. I do it when my work requires it, not on some anachronistic schedule. Not like I'm assembling widgets on a conveyor belt which is connected to a machine which sits in a factory.

PP here. Not really. I'm a gov attorney with a high case load, and each case has multiple files from which we work. 90% of my work involves working with the files. Sure, there are complicated cases where I may spend a couple days doing research, but most of the time I am writing briefs or decisions and need to reference the files, copy the files, etc. I could do it from home if I were willing to lug the computer and the files home on the train -- but I'm not. My choice. Others do so. I just happen to work more efficiently in the office where I can tackle multiple cases in a day. I do work from home occasionally, but I'm not as productive. However, I do appreciate the flexibility of coming in when I want to. No reason for me to have to get in at 8 am sharp or stay until 8 pm unless the work requires it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be difficult for me to work from home more than one or two days a week because my job (gov attorney) is very paper-centric. Many of our files are not electronic, and even if they were, we'd still have to cite to the official paper file with its tabs, page numbers, and other info that doesn't get transferred when the file is scanned. I can't haul home 6 or 7 files every day, at least not on the metro. Maybe if I drove I could do it, but I don't. And to take a week's worth of files home would be insane. Plus, I really like the office atmosphere and comparing notes with my colleagues -- probably because so much of what we do is solitary. I do like the flexible hours though. We have to do 80 hours in a 2-week period, but when we do them is largely up to us. The one thing I wish we had was the ability to split our time -- 6 hours at work and 2 hours at home in the same day, for example. We can telework, but it's an all or nothing proposition -- an entire day in the office or an entire day at home. No splitting.

Former Fed manager here again.

Your bosses do not understand what Episodic Telework is. It certainly permits a split day like that for ad hoc (not "regular") telework days. If you're in a bargaining unit, get in touch with your union reps, some of the idiotic managers in govt. won't follow the rules unless they are forced to.

I meant it would be nice to be able to split time for regular telework. They let us do it for ad hoc days, but I could see wanting to split it on a regular basis once I have kids -- to be able to leave at 4 pm and do another 2 hours in the evening after the kids are in bed. I could have done this if I'd stayed at my law firm, but my agency doesn't permit it. And, sadly, I am one of the few not in the bargaining unit b/c I do work for management. Ah well. It's still a great gig.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'll tell you why I love the 8 to 5 at my desk. I'm an in house counsel. Very overworked. I could easily work 60 to 80 hours every week to get done what needs to be done, but if I'm going to work like that, I'm going to make $750k instead of 200K a year. Working only at the office allows me to carve out family time and a work/life balance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be difficult for me to work from home more than one or two days a week because my job (gov attorney) is very paper-centric. Many of our files are not electronic, and even if they were, we'd still have to cite to the official paper file with its tabs, page numbers, and other info that doesn't get transferred when the file is scanned. I can't haul home 6 or 7 files every day, at least not on the metro. Maybe if I drove I could do it, but I don't. And to take a week's worth of files home would be insane. Plus, I really like the office atmosphere and comparing notes with my colleagues -- probably because so much of what we do is solitary. I do like the flexible hours though. We have to do 80 hours in a 2-week period, but when we do them is largely up to us. The one thing I wish we had was the ability to split our time -- 6 hours at work and 2 hours at home in the same day, for example. We can telework, but it's an all or nothing proposition -- an entire day in the office or an entire day at home. No splitting.

Former Fed manager here again.

Your bosses do not understand what Episodic Telework is. It certainly permits a split day like that for ad hoc (not "regular") telework days. If you're in a bargaining unit, get in touch with your union reps, some of the idiotic managers in govt. won't follow the rules unless they are forced to.

I meant it would be nice to be able to split time for regular telework. They let us do it for ad hoc days, but I could see wanting to split it on a regular basis once I have kids -- to be able to leave at 4 pm and do another 2 hours in the evening after the kids are in bed. I could have done this if I'd stayed at my law firm, but my agency doesn't permit it. And, sadly, I am one of the few not in the bargaining unit b/c I do work for management. Ah well. It's still a great gig.

Do you have a minimum number of days per week you need to be in the office? I'm wondering if you can't split it to prevent workers from working their schedule so that they complete most of their work hours one week and then work from home the next week by splitting the telework hours into multiple days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Accenture

I hope you mean that as a joke.

they do allow telework
I interviewed with them for a legal position and it allowed for 3 days a week of telecommuting and after meeting with many of the people who worked there, several said they came in less frequently because they have a shared office arrangement in the Reston office and office space was often not available
You had to preschedule days you wanted to use the temporary offices
As a consulting firm, it seemed to be a large part of their culture

unless something has changed since I interviewed about 5 yrs ago

I know two attorneys currently working there

That said, they all mentioned how they were on call all the time and often expected to work into the evenings since they were home

The telework options sounded great...the pay...not so much

Accenture moved its offices to Arlington about a year ago and they have even less space for Legal than they used to. Many of their lawyers telecommute 90 or 100%-time and I know of at least one lawyer there who works part-time.

I think their pay is about average for in-house positions.

My friend who works there is happy with her setup. She goes to the office a few times a month.

Wasn't aware of the Arlington move Sounds like the telework options are still the same. On pay, at the time I interviewed I know they said they were reevaluating their attorney pay. I was making more at my current company so it wasn't worth it to me to make that move. The people I know there are very happy as well. I also know one who is doing a job share with another mom...they do the same job/assignments but both work half days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Accenture

Accenture moved its offices to Arlington about a year ago and they have even less space for Legal than they used to. Many of their lawyers telecommute 90 or 100%-time and I know of at least one lawyer there who works part-time.

I think their pay is about average for in-house positions.

My friend who works there is happy with her setup. She goes to the office a few times a month.

Wasn't aware of the Arlington move Sounds like the telework options are still the same. On pay, at the time I interviewed I know they said they were reevaluating their attorney pay. I was making more at my current company so it wasn't worth it to me to make that move. The people I know there are very happy as well. I also know one who is doing a job share with another mom...they do the same job/assignments but both work half days.

No, telework options are greater. It used to be that the Legal group teleworked 50%-time; now it is much more than that (if they wish). Some of their lawyers never go to the office.

[Anonymous]

I meant it would be nice to be able to split time for regular telework. They let us do it for ad hoc days, but I could see wanting to split it on a regular basis once I have kids -- to be able to leave at 4 pm and do another 2 hours in the evening after the kids are in bed. I could have done this if I'd stayed at my law firm, but my agency doesn't permit it. And, sadly, I am one of the few not in the bargaining unit b/c I do work for management. Ah well. It's still a great gig.

Do you have a minimum number of days per week you need to be in the office? I'm wondering if you can't split it to prevent workers from working their schedule so that they complete most of their work hours one week and then work from home the next week by splitting the telework hours into multiple days.

Yes, minimum is 3 days in the office for my group, but I know others that only need to show up for 2 days.

[Anonymous]

I couldn't agree more, OP! I'm moving to this model with my team and we're all very happy with it. Will be interesting to see how the rest of our org. reacts...