Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I am a Fed. My work deals with PII (SSN's) personal identifying information. Our division will not allow any of its 3,000+ people to telecommute. It is the most micromanaged sector of the agency and I hate it.

Count yourself blessed if you have the opportunity to telecommute.

I work for SSA and telework 3x/week. The PII issue was big, but we finally started rolling out VPN, which apparently helped.

I also get a ton more done at home--my work is very focused on reading and writing, so the quiet of home is really helpful.

Waiving!!! ---I'm in operations. It will NEVER happen on this side of the ship.

I'm in ODAR/OAO. It is utterly insane how one agency can have such vastly different policies. I'm sorry you don't get what we have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. I am a Fed. My work deals with PII (SSN's) personal identifying information. Our division will not allow any of its 3,000+ people to telecommute. It is the most micromanaged sector of the agency and I hate it.

Count yourself blessed if you have the opportunity to telecommute.

I work for SSA and telework 3x/week. The PII issue was big, but we finally started rolling out VPN, which apparently helped.

I also get a ton more done at home--my work is very focused on reading and writing, so the quiet of home is really helpful.

Waiving!!! ---I'm in operations. It will NEVER happen on this side of the ship.

Anonymous wrote:No. I am a Fed. My work deals with PII (SSN's) personal identifying information. Our division will not allow any of its 3,000+ people to telecommute. It is the most micromanaged sector of the agency and I hate it.

Count yourself blessed if you have the opportunity to telecommute.

I work for SSA and telework 3x/week. The PII issue was big, but we finally started rolling out VPN, which apparently helped.

I also get a ton more done at home--my work is very focused on reading and writing, so the quiet of home is really helpful.

I'm also a Fed, and telework two days/week. Everyone in my agency needs a telework agreement, though some of us do it more than others.

My husband, also a Fed, teleworks four days/week.

At this point, neither of us would take a job unless telework was allowed. We work in positions in which it's possible (i.e., neither of us is, say, an RN or a teacher), so companies that don't allow it are, IMO, way behind the curve.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a fed. We're only allowed to telework one day a week if we have a long commute, which I think is very unfair. I only have a 10 minute commute, and thus won't be allowed.

But, this kind of makes sense, right? Why telework if your office is only 10 minutes away?
One of the ways we sold telework in our office was by explaining that we'd be working during the time we'd normally be commuting.

No, it doesn't make sense. Why should someone who lives further be given advantages?

Agree. The person living closer likely has higher costs so why should the person incurring less cost by living farther away be given additional advantages?

It's not an "advantage." Employers don't let you telework for your benefit, It's for their benefit, and in the case of the feds, to promote larger goals, such as reducing traffic congestion. Length of commute isn't some protected status; i'ts just as relevant a consideration as seniority, which is routinely used as a basis to determine who gets to telecommute.
anyway, under the new regime, anyone can telework, even the folks that live a 10 minute walk from our office.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a fed. We're only allowed to telework one day a week if we have a long commute, which I think is very unfair. I only have a 10 minute commute, and thus won't be allowed.

But, this kind of makes sense, right? Why telework if your office is only 10 minutes away?
One of the ways we sold telework in our office was by explaining that we'd be working during the time we'd normally be commuting.

No, it doesn't make sense. Why should someone who lives further be given advantages?

Agree. The person living closer likely has higher costs so why should the person incurring less cost by living farther away be given additional advantages?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a fed. We're only allowed to telework one day a week if we have a long commute, which I think is very unfair. I only have a 10 minute commute, and thus won't be allowed.

But, this kind of makes sense, right? Why telework if your office is only 10 minutes away?
One of the ways we sold telework in our office was by explaining that we'd be working during the time we'd normally be commuting.

No, it doesn't make sense. Why should someone who lives further be given advantages?