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telework and the federal attorney
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Anonymous
| Okay, PP, say you're laid off. How do you find your next job if your professional network is not up to date? |
Anonymous
|
I'm not the PP, but I'll take a stab at it...
As a federal employee, she would never be "laid off." She could be removed for conduct or performance issues, but both those things are under her control. Second, if she is removed a "network" of federal employees is going to be of no use to her for two reasons. Merit systems principles are a true impediment to getting a job through knowing the right people. And two, she will have been removed for performance or conduct and she ain't getting another federal job. |
Anonymous
Stunningly naive and uninformed. |
Anonymous
|
PP, you may quibble with the impact of merit systmes principles, but it is true that a federal attorney is never going to be removed for reasons that are not related to poor performance or misconduct. It is also true that once removed for those reasons, it is nearly impossible to find federal employment.
Networks absolutely have their place. And I maintain that teleworking, especially part time telework, does not detract substantially from one's abiltiy to maintain a network. But if the question is how a network of federal employees will help you get a job after you are fired, the answer is not a whole heck of a lot. |
Anonymous
|
Ok 15:15, how does that federal telework network OUTSIDE of the people she works with, then? I make it a point to touch base or have lunch with one network contact outside of my current employer once a week.
If you're teleworking and making sure you're productive, are you ever going to take time to network, or are you just counting on never getting fired? |
Anonymous
|
"And I maintain that teleworking, especially part time telework, does not detract substantially from one's abiltiy to maintain a network."
Please do elaborate. How many days/hours a week at home are you considering part time telework? |
Anonymous
Most people I know telework once per week. I don't think once a week out of the office is enough to blow your network and hopefully if I leave Tuesday and come back on Thursday most of my co-workers still recognize and remember me! OP specifically asked in a follow up post about teleworking once a week, so that is her goal as well. A lot of jobs require that you leave the office a lot. Think of consultants who go for months at a time to the site they are working on, or journalists who do reporting elsewhere, attorneys who spend a lot of time in court, etc. My husband travels pretty frequently for work so he constantly bonding with his colleagues that way as well as making connections all over the country. In fact, he does quite a bit of contracting on the side based on connections he has made and his side work just paid for our kitchen renovation. Really, I know few people who sit in an office day in and day out any more. |
Anonymous
Do you really do this? I'm a federal worker and I'm lucky if I have time to have lunch with a friend, much less a "contact" once a month. Whether I am teleworking or not, I generally spend lunch in meetings/conference calls, or eating at my desk for 15 minutes. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
I would like to work from home one day per week. And I maintain that such an arrangement would not detract from my ability to maintain a "network." You think it would? |
Anonymous
| 15:15 is absolutely incorrect. You can be "laided off" in the federal government. It is called "RIF" - reduction in force. It happened to my father when they closed his agency in the late 1990's. http://www.opm.gov/rif/general/rifguide.asp. He went on to find a job in another agency, but was RIFed. |
Anonymous
Private-sector 80%-teleworker here. I don't have time for that kind of networking (once a week isn't possible for me), but I do make it a point to stay in touch with old friends and colleagues from previous jobs, school, etc. On average I have lunch, dinner, coffee, whatever with someone who meets that description about once a month. I recognize that my way of working is not conducive to developing or maintaining networks, but as an introvert, I've never been great at that anyway - even when I was working in an office. So, I make the same (reasonable) effort now that I did then. There isn't much difference. |
Anonymous
Was your father an attorney? I was responding to a question about an attorney and clarified in a later post that I was limiting my analysis to an attorney. And was he actually removed from federal service pursuant to the RIF and have to apply as a non-employee for the new job? I suspect he did not have a break in federal employment and got preferential placement in a new position. You are absolutely correct though. RIFs happen ever so very rarely. I thought about mentioning it in my post, but thought it would confuse the issue. Particularly for federal attorneys. |
Anonymous
| 15:33, why are you not taking lunch? I work in the private sector and simply make time for lunch. Then again, I don't leave for the day at 5 pm. |
Anonymous
| I've seen this go both ways in the Third Branch. |