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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]RTO is going to cause some agencies to hemorrhage decent young-ish employees. One day a week already led to us losing a few attorneys for the private sector. They can’t afford to live close in and as soon as they have kids they can’t manage a commute that’s an hour plus. I’m in a weird boat where my spouse makes a lot of money so we live close in but has garbage health insurance which doesn’t work because one of our kids is SN. [/quote]

+1. Some of the posters are delusional about how much it costs to live reasonably close in with kids, where there is access to safe public schools and housing. I bought my house in 2013 and prices have since skyrocketed, and I still had nearly an hour commute downtown from within Fairfax County. Why would I want to spend nearly 1.5 - 2 hours a day commuting when I could spend that time with my family, driving kids to activities, exercising, cooking a healthy meal, etc. Life is too short to waste it in a car to spend 8 hours in the office on Teams meetings. Furthermore, I am a Federal manager and most of my younger, hard-working staff all want telework - for the exact reasons I do, so they can balance their careers and home life. I don’t want to lose them and I certainly don’t want to force them in the office more. Our work is computer based and can be completed effectively from home. I also have staff more willing to work on an issue later in the day or earlier in the morning when they’re home. Staff is flexible and more engaged in the work because they have a manager who is flexible regarding where they do the work. For computer based work, RTO is not the answer. The genie is out of the bottle and it’s not going back. [/quote]

I understand but has this all changed dramatically in the last 3 years since the pandemic started? My whole office used to commute 4 days a week deal with traffic or public transportation, figure out kids activities, etc and now just doing what they used to do is intolerable? I get that we had a few years with more flexibility but we're being asked to do what everyone did for decades and suddenly that's too hard and everyone will quit?[/quote]

Houses I was looking at for 400k three years ago are now going for 700k. Federal employee pay has not increased 75%. [/quote]

Most people don’t pay cash for a house. The relevant difference is the monthly payment on a 30-year mortgage of $400k vs. $700k. And, look at dollar, not percent, increase. If a stick of gum goes from 5 cents to 10, that’s a 100% increase, but it doesn’t mean your salary needs to double to afford gum. [/quote]

Good thing interest rates haven't gone up! This is the dumbest post. Honestly. Going from a payment on 400k at 2.5% to 700k at 7% is way more than a 75% increase, and far far more in dollars than any fed salary increase in that time. Do the math. Don't be lazy. [/quote]

That's the reason you don't want to go back in the office? Why not find another job?? [/quote]

My point is that it's not all people who worked in the same offices before covid not wanting to come back. I am trying to hire right now. We get more and better applications for remote jobs already. Our salaries are not sustainable for people to live a reasonable distance from work. Telework helps us attract well qualified people who can't move their families, whose partners have jobs in Richmond or Baltimore, etc. Why do you think this isn't a barrier? 
[/quote]

Richmond and Baltimore? Sounds like you're a Fed Board manager trying to get staff from Fed Richmond branches. Fed Board salaries, bonuses, and benefits are definitely high enough to live in the DC area. What you're really saying is that if your recruits can get a DC salary and remain in Baltimore and Richmond, that's a coup. Of course it is! This has always been an issue at the Board because there is no locality pay difference. Some Fed managers are narrowly focused on hiring from the Reserve Banks, but there are plenty of qualified people in other places. [/quote]

This myopic view makes me chuckle.  You assume that because somebody references spouses in the two closest metro areas they must work for the Board?[/quote]

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