Federal employees "working from home"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh dear, it seems as though someone is a little envious of the flexible work-life balance that federal employees can enjoy. Let's take a moment to clear up your confusion, shall we? Federal employees do have a relatively generous leave package, including annual leave, sick leave, and various other leave options, which may include family and medical leave or even leave for volunteer activities. It's not inconceivable that your child's father is simply adept at managing his leave time and taking advantage of the flexibility his job offers. In fact, many federal agencies have been promoting work-life balance for years, because, believe it or not, happy and well-rested employees are more productive.

Now, if you find yourself questioning the integrity of your child's father, it might be more productive to address those concerns directly with him instead of speculating on DCUM. As for your career aspirations, it's never too late to consider a change if you're unhappy with your current situation. However, I do hope you understand that the grass isn't always greener on the other side, and the federal sector has its own unique set of challenges and responsibilities. But, best of luck to you in your quest for a more satisfying and flexible work arrangement.

OP here. As a federal contractor, I see both sides. I interact closely with federal employees who struggle with work life balance because of the work expectations. I'm baffled that in a separate federal agency its so vastly different where he can be away so often under so many circumstances.

Really? A lot of agencies have different requirements- some no WAH, some 100% remote. Some are well-staffed and some are underfunded/understaffed. Some cant keep staff, some have staff for 30 years +. This seems to me like you think one agency is reflective of the entire fed and that isn't true. My DH has worked for two separate agencies that perform audits and they were vastly different, including how easy/difficult it was to increase your grade. Supervisors were different, management structure was different, one was internal the other external. One had significant lulls and then crazy mad deadlines. My DH was only available for the former. The other agency goes from one audit straight into the next with no break and it was an adjustment for him.

[Anonymous]

I’m a fed and with 5 weeks a year of leave (after 15 years) if you take those weeks off when there’s already a federal holiday you can easily stretch that to 6 weeks off, or say 4-5 weeks and days off here and there. Then, as others have mentioned I probably average about 8 days a year in data given in lieu of cash bonuses.

I don’t cheat the system and my office is super busy, but, frankly, I get private sector offers for more money and I’m not going to work insane hours or lose vs action time for my fed job salary. That’s the trade off. I’m also very efficient because I’ve been there so long.

I’m sure there are slackers. The OP just didn’t really provide an indication her ex is one of them. It sounds like he has a lot of leave and is using it, and is maybe doing something like working 7-3:30 ( easy especially if WFH) so he can do things like go to soccer practice.

[Anonymous]

Maybe he was a jerk to you, op, but he’s clearly not a jerk as a dad. Just let go of your resentment towards him or it will really drive a wedge between you and your child. I frankly wouldn’t care if my ex was a stripper if he made an effort to pick up our kid everyday and go to soccer games, etc. You need to get a grip on reality here. Your resentment means he’s living rent free in your head and you are only one making yourself (and hopefully not your kid) suffer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol, so the only evidence of telework abuse that OP has is the fact that her baby daddy spends his vacations with his kid and takes him to soccer practice?

Nope, you missed that he is also on weeks and weeks of vacations...

I have worked for the Government for so long that I could take a week every other month and still bring 240 hours into the next year. That doesn’t even count all of the Federal Holidays, so probably more than that. Plus, I travel twice a year and each trip adds nearly a day of Travel Comp to my schedule too. I am in a job that’s a grade lower than I’d held for years prior and my work load is a lot lower than it had been, so I am always ahead. At the end of last year I had to schedule a day off every week for several weeks to finish my leave and I still had a half day to donate.

I do not work a compressed schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing no one is going to talk about this on here, but my kid's dad is a very well-paid fed who is constantly on personal vacation. I mean, I've lost track of how many times per year he has been off traveling, plus breaks with the kids winter break, spring break, summer vacations, being chaperone for their field trips, able to pick them up early after school, attend their sports practices at times most people are working. This is has been ongoing for years. How much leave to federal employees get or is he milking the system? It would be impossible that this is carryover year after year and he is not the type to be up on his computer late into the night. I am working in the wrong sector.

It sounds like you need a therapist, rather than complain about your ex using his benefits. It's absolutely unhealthy that you're angry about him taking time off with his kids, picking them up from school, attending sports practice, and joining field trips. Anyone else would be calling him a damn good dad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of jobs are like this. It’s crazy. We get pushed to get high grades and to do well in school etc. and then… the jobs are such a snooze!

Right, but most on here can admit it. Instead, they want to tell you how hard they have it.

Feds are almost automatically defensive because there is an entire political party that doesn’t respect the majority of non-defense jobs. So, any critique, even if it is valid, causes a “rally around the flag” type response.

[Anonymous]

I’m a fed and like others mentioned you get a lot of leave after 15 years. Also I am able to earn credit hours (basically a form of comp time, get time off awards, and have a broad flex band of hours I can work). I am able to volunteer at my kids’ schools and take long weekends, school breaks, etc. off because I plan my work schedule around them. It may mean getting up early to work at 6 am or catching up at night once their asleep.

Also, my DH is in the private sector and has a similar setup. He coaches sports games with 5 pm practices, meaning he has to wrap up work by 4:15 or so a couple times per week.

Some jobs are more amenable to this type of flexibility than others. We chose to stay in these roles so we aren’t tethered to our computers, but it also means we aren’t making the crazy $$$ that comes with some of the more stressful jobs out there (e.g. I have zero interest in giving up my lifestyle to work in big law).

[Anonymous]

*they’re asleep, sorry typing too fast!

[Anonymous]

You're a terrible and jealous wife

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a fed and like others mentioned you get a lot of leave after 15 years. Also I am able to earn credit hours (basically a form of comp time, get time off awards, and have a broad flex band of hours I can work). I am able to volunteer at my kids’ schools and take long weekends, school breaks, etc. off because I plan my work schedule around them. It may mean getting up early to work at 6 am or catching up at night once their asleep.

Also, my DH is in the private sector and has a similar setup. He coaches sports games with 5 pm practices, meaning he has to wrap up work by 4:15 or so a couple times per week.

Some jobs are more amenable to this type of flexibility than others. We chose to stay in these roles so we aren’t tethered to our computers, but it also means we aren’t making the crazy $$$ that comes with some of the more stressful jobs out there (e.g. I have zero interest in giving up my lifestyle to work in big law).

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I worked for the government for 20 years. It’s interesting that the instinct of most posters on here is to defend WFH, the time the dad has with his kids, federal employee time-off benefits, etc. In other words, when confronted with the possibility of abuse, federal workers quickly rally around the flag. My experience with such knee-jerk responses is that many know there is abuse, but they don’t want light shed on it. Why? Because they do it too. They don’t want the gravy train to stop. Another typical response to such allegations is that federal employees need a break because they are underpaid. Again, this is all about distraction. For the work performed, many, many Federal employees are overpaid, especially when lifetime benefits are considered. This is even more egregious at the financial regulators. I know. Been there, done that. OP, what you describe is abuse and fraud. It has nothing to do with flexible work arrangements. Unfortunately, I could name you a dozen people from my former agency division that do as your ex does. Yes, they abuse the system. Any “jealousy” on your part is really outrage that this can be happening, and yes, a bit of “if this is how it works, why not me.” But, this isn’t how it should work. You are right to question it.

Yup, everyone’s colluding. That must be it.

It’s interesting to me that you think people pushing back on what’s an obvious troll post must have a nefarious reason to do so. What other reason could they possibly have for defending themselves when they’re part of a workforce that is the constant target of disingenuous attacks from certain political groups whose primary motive is to lower their own tax bill at everyone’s expense?

Reread my post. I don’t need to wonder if this happens, I know that it does. I’ve witnessed it. I knew a young woman who had a child out of wedlock. Even after she returned to work, no one knew where she was. She was never available for assignments. During COVID, she went to live with her mother. Anytime someone raised an issue, her Director covered for her. She became an untouchable. She makes $200k. There are many stories like this. I’m not a troll. I’m channeling reality.

Why does it matter that the child was born out of wedlock?

[Anonymous]

Sounds like it's a manager issue. Either he doesn't have a lot of work so he's able to do all this, or he doesn't get his work done and his boss doesn't care.

[Anonymous]

Prior to Covid I worked mostly from home, but we were required to not work prior to 6 am or after 7 pm and weren’t allowed to work on weekends. Now we’re allowed to work between 5 am to midnight and on Saturdays. I love that I can watch a soccer practice or go to an appointment and then work other hours. That said I don’t, because my nonfed / private sector husband has unlimited sick and vacation leave at his job and covers most appointments and practices. He typically works nights or weekends to make time up, but not always. In short, we both have similar flexibility in our jobs and I will have more now because I just hit 15 years.

[Anonymous]

A lot of us can leave work early, go to a school event, and then work later in the evening.

But yeah, I'm sure there are lots of feds slacking off everywhere. That's why I focus on the actual work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of us can leave work early, go to a school event, and then work later in the evening.

But yeah, I'm sure there are lots of feds slacking off everywhere. That's why I focus on the actual work.

There are lots of everyone slacking off, at offices and at home.