Reply to RTO and No Childcare.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This thread is 28 pages, and AFAICT not a single pro-RTO person has explained why it is better or necessary to have people commute to an office 5d/week where they will be on virtual calls at least half the time.

I don't know anyone who has no childcare and WFH. That's a strawman. But if you WFH, it's much easier to find and afford childcare since you don't have to account for commuting time.

This is the issue. FT RTO is being proposed solely to punish federal workers, for no other reason. And if you think that private sector employers won't see that they can also use this tactic with impunity (rather than layoffs with severance), you are an idiot.[/quote]

Lots of people have made arguments, you just disagree with them. That’s fine, but don’t pretend the arguments done exist. I will try to briefly summarize, not to argue big just to clarify: Many federal employees wouldn’t spend half their day on Teams if everyone was in person. They would be interacting with their colleagues and there is arguably some benefit to in person interaction. Also, downtown DC would benefit from a returning federal employee customer base. Finally, there is some benefit to federal managers and leaders who often find it easier to manage in person.

Again, you don’t have to agree with any of these arguments. But don’t pretend that everyone who disagrees with you is entirely mean-spirited or everyone who doesn’t adopt your views an idiot.[/quote]

I wouldn't call someone an idiot but they are surely misguided. My managers live in NY and Austin. Senior staff live in DC. Junior staff are new remote hires. They'll never be in person in the DMV. Yes, I'd be on teams. I manage contracts ... none of them are in house. My office is in a no mans land where literally one pot belly benefits and it's super gross. (Aside, it's not our job to revitalize DC. Boomers need to adapt and find new ways.)

These arguments are just tired ones that fail to acknowledge reality.

I have childcare 8-5. When commuting I need childcare 7-6:30. When not commuting 8-5. It's not the money. It's the time with my family that counts and I am not interested in rigid thinkers taking it away because they are stuck on how things used to be.[/quote]

If it's not the money, why don't you live closer to work?[/quote]

Not PP - actually OP - but I live 12 miles from my work.  We live 6 miles from my spouse’s work.  Reality is having to go into the office adds 35 minutes to work and 45 minutes home.  No public transport, but would not take it anyway because need to pick-up our kids.  I definitely see that hour + as time away from our kids.  On telework days, our kids take the bus home.  I start at 7 and end at 3:30. They arrive home on the bus at 3.  I also usually do an hour or so of work in the evenings to catch other time zones.  [/quote]

In terms of “why not live closer to work,” I’m a fed in a field office. We moved from DC years before the pandemic and I was only required to go to the office 14 hrs a pay period (on two separate days). My husband took a job in a lab and had to be there daily, sometimes nights and weekends, depending on his experiments. So we found a town that was 20 mins for him and 40 mins for me via public transit. Then my office moved (interestingly, pre-pandemic my office moved and another field office moved - both to much cheaper leases - but both had to bridge the gap by requiring about a year of telework) and now my office is 90 mins via public transit. My husband actually works from home now, as do I, but moving would require breaking a low cost lease, leaving a town we’ve loved for 10 years, pulling our children from their school and activities etc. And for what? I’m in  northern California, my boss is in DC and my colleague on the project is in southern CA. When the pandemic started my team was in Boston, Chicago and CA (no DC). I would go into the office for my required day and sit by myself or be on zoom. [/quote]

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