Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do folks think this is the new trend for federal agencies? I hope they don’t abolish it.

They should. I know people who "telework" who go grocery shopping, take kids to medical appointments and one who went Christmas shopping. It's a sham. You have a job and it should be performed at your office!

Why should my job be in the office?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours was negotiated by the union. Does that mean it’s some sort of binding contract?

This IS the new contract

For SSA. I'm talking about a different agency. But I guess you're saying the contract can be modified . . . ?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do folks think this is the new trend for federal agencies? I hope they don’t abolish it.

They should. I know people who "telework" who go grocery shopping, take kids to medical appointments and one who went Christmas shopping. It's a sham. You have a job and it should be performed at your office!

OK Daddy Warbucks

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do folks think this is the new trend for federal agencies? I hope they don’t abolish it.

They should. I know people who "telework" who go grocery shopping, take kids to medical appointments and one who went Christmas shopping. It's a sham. You have a job and it should be performed at your office!

Waaah! Waaah! Waaah! You obviously have no idea about maxiflex. Plenty of teleworkers can do all of those things, and it doesnt mean they're doing it during working hours.

Another reason to vote Democratic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do folks think this is the new trend for federal agencies? I hope they don’t abolish it.

They should. I know people who "telework" who go grocery shopping, take kids to medical appointments and one who went Christmas shopping. It's a sham. You have a job and it should be performed at your office!

Our agency showed that teleworkers were more productive and had better quality on average. Those that began teleworking had higher production than in when in the Office. I telework. If I go to a kid’s medical appointment I use my sick leave which is allowed which is the same as if I were in the Office. If I use mid-day Flex to run an errand (also allowed), I make up the hours later in the day/week or weekends and if I can’t I use my leave.

All of my friends who are NOT Feds telework— in IT, software, lawyers, etc. It is commonplace in 2019. I think 95% of workers in my HHI neighborhood telework at least part of the week, many full-time.

Anonymous wrote:Do folks think this is the new trend for federal agencies? I hope they don’t abolish it.

They should. I know people who "telework" who go grocery shopping, take kids to medical appointments and one who went Christmas shopping. It's a sham. You have a job and it should be performed at your office!

SSA attorney, and it sounds like these were heavily public contact jobs. SSA unions were very strong, and very into telework for everyone is the fair thing. So, they shifted workload and forced telework into places where it wasn’t a good fit, often with outdated technology.

The fact is, telework is great, but it doesn’t work for everyone. Everyone I know has given up on softphone. So I’m not shocked they are having problems making telework work.

My component has no public contact and our metrics say people are more productive on days they telework. And yet— some things in my job can’t be managed through telework.

My department, Interior, got rid of all telework for managers. This has impacted hiring and a lot of other things. Previously people were willing to have 3 or so employees because it didn’t impact their work much and they didn’t mind being a supervisor. After this, they threatened to quit if their employees weren’t taken over by other managers. Work re-evaluated who was a manager and decided 10 was the magical number of employees for supervisors. But with 10 employees to supervise, those managers can’t really get much else done. Also, managers used to log in on weeknights and weekends to check in, but this is now considered telework so they don’t do this anymore. We had a few people rescind their applications for employment too because of the lack of telework compared to other agencies.

On the flip side, bad employees do seem to be better managed now. It’s harder to check out when you can’t telework and have to see their poor performance daily.

Didn't the Patent and Trademark Office greatly curtail or eliminate much of its telework several years ago? I'm pretty sure it did so.
So, it's not a new trend. But I agree with the PP saying it hurts federal hiring. Fewer and fewer people who are qualified for these SSA or PTO jobs are going to want to apply if there is no option for telework. Reducing or taking away flexibility -- not the way to go if the agencies want to hire and keep people today. It's sad because these agencies perform vital work.

I think it will change with the new administration. I work legislative branch in cyber, we have no telework. It harms hiring. Contractors and commercial all telework.

Anonymous wrote:Ours was negotiated by the union. Does that mean it’s some sort of binding contract?

This IS the new contract

Ours was negotiated by the union. Does that mean it’s some sort of binding contract?

Do folks think this is the new trend for federal agencies? I hope they don’t abolish it.