Toggle navigation
Toggle navigation
Home
DCUM Forums
Nanny Forums
Events
About DCUM
Advertising
Search
Recent Topics
Hottest Topics
FAQs and Guidelines
Privacy Policy
Your current identity is: Anonymous
Login
Preview
Subject:
Forum Index
»
Jobs and Careers
Reply to "Saw the Trump comment re: telework and dismissal, any words of sane advice"
Subject:
Emoticons
More smilies
Text Color:
Default
Dark Red
Red
Orange
Brown
Yellow
Green
Olive
Cyan
Blue
Dark Blue
Violet
White
Black
Font:
Very Small
Small
Normal
Big
Giant
Close Marks
[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here - have a few years and moved due to husbands job and my agency transitioned my role to remote because of my portfolio. I am far, far away and I truly miss DC but we cannot afford it and kids are in elementary school. I find so much meaning in my work and I’d be willing to even go in satellite offices but I don’t know if that is enough. It just makes me sad that the address of my work will drive if I keep my job. I wonder if I’m being too positive and hopeful and should be jumping ship instead. [/quote] I get what you are saying and if you were truly remote before covid I would think you’d be fine. But keep in mind that there are no guarantees with any job, be it public or private. Lot’s of people in the private sector are sad when they get laid off too. It sucks. Hope you find a work around. [/quote] DP, but I’m tired of people making comparisons to what happens in the private sector. Feds accepted their jobs based on the protections and benefits of the public sector including giving up careers making more money. I’m 15 years in and teleworked for a decade prior to COVID. I chose this over making more money because I wanted work/life balance as a mom. My DH is private sector so I’m aware of what can happen in the private sector. But he makes more money than me including employee stock and bonuses. I and many Feds are having the rug pulled out from under us by a president who doesn’t give a crap about this country. He’s doing it to create a civil service full of loyalists and so he can destroy programs he doesn’t like without going through Congress. So no, this is a absolutely nothing like anything that has happened in the private sector.[/quote] This is what bugs me. So, what does your work/life balance mean for the taxpayers that fund your salary, excellent benefits and pension? There is also no guarantee you'd be making tons of money/get an excellent role in the private sector. There are tremendous benefits in government jobs all of which are funded by taxpayers. Going to pick up Joey from school at 3PM and then signing on at 4:30PM to send one email and call it a day is not work/life balance. There are plenty of jobs that give flexibility if you need to leave occasionally, but it is when people use it frequently that it can be a problem. Don't you think Elon Musk will have IT check to see when everyone has been working? People seem concerned about badge swipes. They can access information/usage from any equipment they own. My spouse was in a meeting (not gov) which showed all sorts of data about people not working/getting stuff done. He was concerned about a team member who said they were working and my spouse went on the system after it became a pattern and realized the person signed on and worked for maybe a couple hours and then used some kind of device (mouse mover or some such) to make it look like they were working. My spouse also realized pretty quickly this person was using AI to do work/emails. They would send an email here or there/hard to reach. When my spouse got this information, then IT was contacted and they got even more. Who knows maybe they even do these system checks, I don't know, but I would be more concerned about it happening in the coming months. If you're worried and you are meant to be in the office and are close-by I would go in. And if you are remote then work your hours and make sure you're actually working in the system. Either way it will take time (I think) so just apply for roles you'd actually take and keep in touch with people in your network so that if you get laid off, you aren't just contacting people when you need something. [/quote] There have always been bad actors in public and private sector. I used to work with an attorney who would pretend to be in meetings and then nap in her office (she eventually was invited to leave the firm). In the public sector I’ve worked with people who do things that are inappropriate as well, and I recently reported someone for their use of AI to perform work functions, which they were doing in the office BTW, not remote/telework. Pre covid, I had flexibility to go to an appointment and make up the hours so I didn’t have to take sick leave. I don’t now have the flexibility to work 6 hours during the workday and log on later to work additional 2 hours on a regular basis, because right now much of my work is collaborative. But there have certainly been times and projects that I completed independently and it made zero difference to colleagues, supervisors, or taxpayers whether I did that at 3pm or 3am as long as it was done. I know not all jobs are like that, but it is foolish to require someone to sit at a desk in an office for 8 hours/day to keep the seat warm. Not to mention the cost to taxpayers to get the person to and from the office, and to pay for the seats, the lights, the AC. Heck, even the printer paper! That’s why the government was strongly encouraging telework policies pre-COVID - it is much less expensive for folks to work from home. Im local remote now and yes, my family has really benefited from my not having a commute, but so has my employer (and by extension, the taxpayers). I’ve always known local remote was not going to last forever and Im disappointed, but not surprised we’ll be called back to the office. I hope we still get to TW once or twice a week, though I know that may be gone too. It’s going to impact quality of life for my whole family, which sucks. But thinking that it will have a positive impact on my productivity is just ridiculous. I’m going to be more stressed and more rushed, and have fewer hours in the day to do all the things. I often work my 8 hours, spend time with my family, and then hop online later to do more work. I can guarantee you that after adding a 2 hour commute and missing that time with my kids, I won’t be putting in those extra hours at work. Again, I knew this would happen someday and I get it. But it’s stupid and bad policy all around. [/quote]
Options
Disable HTML in this message
Disable BB Code in this message
Disable smilies in this message
Review message
Search
Recent Topics
Hottest Topics