Anonymous wrote:I worked around 8:15 am to 630 pm for 30 years. It is not a long day.

I was taking 704 am in every day and catching the last express train at 649pm.


Guess what had dinner with my family at 7pm, helped get kids ready for bed, had time with wife from 830 pm to around 1030 pm, got up and helped kids get ready for bus.

First 15 minutes or so at work had my coffee, bagel, read the news online. Took an hour lunch every day or ran errands at lunch that hour.

I never worked weekends, had holidays. Not exactly the end of the world. If anything I miss it.

I call BS. You made it to the last express train from your desk in 19 minutes? And you made it from the train departure to your house in 11 minutes? None of this is likely. Many people have a 20-minute walk just to get to a train. And the only way you get home at 7:00 from a 6:49 train is if you are the first stop on the express train and live at the train station. Again, not likely.

Anonymous wrote:I worked around 8:15 am to 630 pm for 30 years. It is not a long day.

I was taking 704 am in every day and catching the last express train at 649pm.


Guess what had dinner with my family at 7pm, helped get kids ready for bed, had time with wife from 830 pm to around 1030 pm, got up and helped kids get ready for bus.

First 15 minutes or so at work had my coffee, bagel, read the news online. Took an hour lunch every day or ran errands at lunch that hour.

I never worked weekends, had holidays. Not exactly the end of the world. If anything I miss it.

Your door to door commute was 11 minutes (or less)?

Why stop at 8-6? Why not 6 am to 8 pm, if he really wants to force attrition? Why not eliminate hvac and desks? Why not just make everyone work outside on the sidewalk?

Oh yeah — federal labor laws! I forgot about those! Darn! Is it possible that Vivek can’t do whatever he wants? I wonder….

Anonymous wrote:I worked around 8:15 am to 630 pm for 30 years. It is not a long day.

I was taking 704 am in every day and catching the last express train at 649pm.


Guess what had dinner with my family at 7pm, helped get kids ready for bed, had time with wife from 830 pm to around 1030 pm, got up and helped kids get ready for bus.

First 15 minutes or so at work had my coffee, bagel, read the news online. Took an hour lunch every day or ran errands at lunch that hour.

I never worked weekends, had holidays. Not exactly the end of the world. If anything I miss it.

Good grief. Read the room. I'm guessing your wife SAH and cooked and cleaned in heels and pearls. You probably bought a house for practically nothing and now it's worth over a million $. It's 2024. For most people, two incomes are needed to survive now. We can't buy homes. We're limiting children to two maybe one because it's too expensive to have any more. The cost of college is ASTRONOMICAL. Give me a HUGE effin break.

Anonymous wrote:I worked around 8:15 am to 630 pm for 30 years. It is not a long day.

I was taking 704 am in every day and catching the last express train at 649pm.


Guess what had dinner with my family at 7pm, helped get kids ready for bed, had time with wife from 830 pm to around 1030 pm, got up and helped kids get ready for bus.

First 15 minutes or so at work had my coffee, bagel, read the news online. Took an hour lunch every day or ran errands at lunch that hour.

I never worked weekends, had holidays. Not exactly the end of the world. If anything I miss it.

Oh wow. You spent 1.5 hours a day with your kids and then made them get on bus before 7 am every day for your employer’s convenience.

Of course you miss it - you clearly hate your family.

I worked around 8:15 am to 630 pm for 30 years. It is not a long day.

I was taking 704 am in every day and catching the last express train at 649pm.


Guess what had dinner with my family at 7pm, helped get kids ready for bed, had time with wife from 830 pm to around 1030 pm, got up and helped kids get ready for bus.

First 15 minutes or so at work had my coffee, bagel, read the news online. Took an hour lunch every day or ran errands at lunch that hour.

I never worked weekends, had holidays. Not exactly the end of the world. If anything I miss it.

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Anonymous wrote:Are a lot of women employed FT in professional careers really saying they have no childcare? That's not what I've seen on DCUM. People are often talking about the extra time for commuting and difference of being out of the house. So like a 10yp may come home from school and not have childcare from 4-5pm because they can entertain themselves while parent works. But the parent may not want them actually alone in the house. It's a childcare gap. Same with the mornings before school opens - I would need beforecare to RTO and it might not be available this school year (already full). Or preschool may close at 5pm but with commute I'd get home later than that, etc.

WFH necessitates childcare if you have a real job but can be for fewer hours, or you cover the occasional days off and breaks without always taking PTO etc

OP here - I consider a childcare gap a lack of childcare. Before or after school care programs are not going to quickly sprout up.

+1
And even if kids can entertain themselves a bit or parents find programs, the kids can't magically transport themselves and they can't drive yet. So parents (all parents, dads too) need that flexibility after school. Strict RTO mean that these good employees will no longer be bending backwards to check mails and handle things after business hours.

I think you’re ranting about things you have no idea about. Kids can’t transport themselves? The aftercare programs all have buses and vans that pick up at our school. Parents don’t need to drive their kids to ballet or karate or gymnastics.

I'm so glad your data point of one is universal.

What school doesn't have that? Give us an example.

Our public elementary in DCPS definitely does want have transportation to activities.

Elementary school kids don’t need to be bused to activities. aftercare is fine.

It is fine. But it’s not great.

Being able to come right home from school to play with neighborhood friends, go to an extracurricular that they’re interested in, or even just have some free play is better. I know being out of the house 45-50 hours/week (i.e. 8-5:30/6) is tiring for many adults, I wouldn’t choose this for a young elementary kid. It is fine if it is what you have to do, but let’s not act like this is more ideal than kids getting to play soccer, learn an instrument, take tutoring classes, go to scouts meetings, etc. and having a family meal together.

if that’s your ideal AND you want both parents to work FT, you need a better plan than assuming that covid-era telework (for positions that are not actually fully remote) will last forever.

I have some millennial coworkers who had kids and bought houses way out in the burbs during covid. I feel for them but truly, they shouldn’t have counted on max telework lasting indefinitely. I also have a GenX coworker who relocated across the country during covid - at least she fully knows she’ll be terminated when they eventually catch up to her.

Except the plan had gone fine for over a decade now …

All of you calling telework a “COVID era” thing are really behind the times. My DH is in the private sector and has had some form of telework (either hybrid or full time like now) since at least 2010.

But that hasn't been allowed for feds except for at the height of the pandemic. And the pp didn't describe telework. She described bailing from work mid-afternoon to take her kids to practices and activities.

Where are you getting your bad info? Yes telework increased with COVID, but it was not a novel concept. Many agencies are already back to pre-pandemic levels of telework. DOGE wants to travel back in time to 1990, not 2020.

I keep hearing this, but I haven't been able to find anything that says the plan is to completely eliminate workplace flexibility. Where are you seeing this?

The whole concept of 5 days per week in an office dates back to pre internet basically. As technology has increased, telework has grown. I had telework as a new hire fed in 2009 and many of my coworkers had been doing it for years prior. It used to be much clunkier, but a lot of kinks were worked out during COVID to get rid of paper documents that needed in-person work.

If DOGE wanted to go back to 2019 era work, that would be one thing. But they’re trying to make new, draconian changes *with the explicit purpose of causing people to quit.*

Regardless of your personal thoughts on WAH, I don’t know how anybody is totally unconcerned with some unelected billionaires bragging all over the news how they’re going to make fed employees miserable and quit. That is literal insanity.

Ok but you didn't answer the question. Where does it say that DOGE is going to completely eliminate workplace flexibility? My personal thoughts are that they are likely all insane, but I haven't read anything from a credible source that says we're going back to five days in the office with no flexible work at all. If you have seen this from a credible source, please share.

It’s literally all over the news. It’s a quote from their WSJ op ed. I don’t have a subscription but it is quoted here for instance.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/musk-ramaswamy-want-federal-workers-in-office-5-days-a-week/483286

“Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don't want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn't pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home," the two wrote on Wednesday in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.”

There was also a Tucker Carlson interview that Vivek wants an in-person 8-6 work week.

I don’t actually think this will come to pass, but I think it’s a bad sign for our country that we’ve somehow given these two the guise of power to be talking to national news about their plans to dismantle the federal workforce.

I am aware of the news and what it says. BTW, calling Tucker Carlson national news is a stretch. But once again, the question is not answered: Where has it been said that all workplace flexibilities will be eliminated (i.e., flexible start and end times, situational telework, core hours in office with mornings and afternoons flexed if needed)? Not trying to be difficult, but everyone is freaking out, and no one has provided any evidence that DOGE is kicking us back to 1970 completely, and that our six year-olds will be letting themselves into the house with keys around their necks. All I've heard from credible sources (please leave Tucker out of it) is they want everyone back in the office 5 days. That doesn't seem unreasonable IF office space is available and flexibilities on core hours remain. Show me where they are eliminating the flexibilities for the five days, and I'll eat my hat.

Anonymous wrote:The issue for me is the 8-6 in office requirement. Right now, I work 8-5, pick up my kids, and then work a few more hours at home in the evening. Daycare closes at 6 and I have a 45 minute commute, so I'm not sure what I will go if the 8-6 requirement goes into effect.

8-6 is 10 hours (plus you mention extra hours at home.)

get a new job!

this no childcare BS is ridiculous. nobody can WFH if they have kids at home that they are responsible for.

you used to go to work and have childcare arranged. now your job wants you to go back to the office. so, get childcare and go back, or find another job!

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Anonymous wrote:Are a lot of women employed FT in professional careers really saying they have no childcare? That's not what I've seen on DCUM. People are often talking about the extra time for commuting and difference of being out of the house. So like a 10yp may come home from school and not have childcare from 4-5pm because they can entertain themselves while parent works. But the parent may not want them actually alone in the house. It's a childcare gap. Same with the mornings before school opens - I would need beforecare to RTO and it might not be available this school year (already full). Or preschool may close at 5pm but with commute I'd get home later than that, etc.

WFH necessitates childcare if you have a real job but can be for fewer hours, or you cover the occasional days off and breaks without always taking PTO etc

OP here - I consider a childcare gap a lack of childcare. Before or after school care programs are not going to quickly sprout up.

+1
And even if kids can entertain themselves a bit or parents find programs, the kids can't magically transport themselves and they can't drive yet. So parents (all parents, dads too) need that flexibility after school. Strict RTO mean that these good employees will no longer be bending backwards to check mails and handle things after business hours.

I think you’re ranting about things you have no idea about. Kids can’t transport themselves? The aftercare programs all have buses and vans that pick up at our school. Parents don’t need to drive their kids to ballet or karate or gymnastics.

I'm so glad your data point of one is universal.

What school doesn't have that? Give us an example.

Our public elementary in DCPS definitely does want have transportation to activities.

Elementary school kids don’t need to be bused to activities. aftercare is fine.

It is fine. But it’s not great.

Being able to come right home from school to play with neighborhood friends, go to an extracurricular that they’re interested in, or even just have some free play is better. I know being out of the house 45-50 hours/week (i.e. 8-5:30/6) is tiring for many adults, I wouldn’t choose this for a young elementary kid. It is fine if it is what you have to do, but let’s not act like this is more ideal than kids getting to play soccer, learn an instrument, take tutoring classes, go to scouts meetings, etc. and having a family meal together.

if that’s your ideal AND you want both parents to work FT, you need a better plan than assuming that covid-era telework (for positions that are not actually fully remote) will last forever.

I have some millennial coworkers who had kids and bought houses way out in the burbs during covid. I feel for them but truly, they shouldn’t have counted on max telework lasting indefinitely. I also have a GenX coworker who relocated across the country during covid - at least she fully knows she’ll be terminated when they eventually catch up to her.

Except the plan had gone fine for over a decade now …

All of you calling telework a “COVID era” thing are really behind the times. My DH is in the private sector and has had some form of telework (either hybrid or full time like now) since at least 2010.

But that hasn't been allowed for feds except for at the height of the pandemic. And the pp didn't describe telework. She described bailing from work mid-afternoon to take her kids to practices and activities.

Where are you getting your bad info? Yes telework increased with COVID, but it was not a novel concept. Many agencies are already back to pre-pandemic levels of telework. DOGE wants to travel back in time to 1990, not 2020.

I keep hearing this, but I haven't been able to find anything that says the plan is to completely eliminate workplace flexibility. Where are you seeing this?

The whole concept of 5 days per week in an office dates back to pre internet basically. As technology has increased, telework has grown. I had telework as a new hire fed in 2009 and many of my coworkers had been doing it for years prior. It used to be much clunkier, but a lot of kinks were worked out during COVID to get rid of paper documents that needed in-person work.

If DOGE wanted to go back to 2019 era work, that would be one thing. But they’re trying to make new, draconian changes *with the explicit purpose of causing people to quit.*

Regardless of your personal thoughts on WAH, I don’t know how anybody is totally unconcerned with some unelected billionaires bragging all over the news how they’re going to make fed employees miserable and quit. That is literal insanity.

Ok but you didn't answer the question. Where does it say that DOGE is going to completely eliminate workplace flexibility? My personal thoughts are that they are likely all insane, but I haven't read anything from a credible source that says we're going back to five days in the office with no flexible work at all. If you have seen this from a credible source, please share.

It’s literally all over the news. It’s a quote from their WSJ op ed. I don’t have a subscription but it is quoted here for instance.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/musk-ramaswamy-want-federal-workers-in-office-5-days-a-week/483286

“Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don't want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn't pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home," the two wrote on Wednesday in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.”

There was also a Tucker Carlson interview that Vivek wants an in-person 8-6 work week.

I don’t actually think this will come to pass, but I think it’s a bad sign for our country that we’ve somehow given these two the guise of power to be talking to national news about their plans to dismantle the federal workforce.

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Anonymous wrote:Can someone tell me how employees in private sectors handle all these childcare issues post-covid? For example, nurses, EMTs, polce officiers, teachers, supermarket workers, factory workers, etc.

Honestly, these people never took their kids out of childcare because they have never done WFH. They don’t have to worry about waitlists, etc. because they never gave up their child care slots to begin with.

I can't believe you cite this reason. Most kids of these parents in childcare pre-covid should be out of childcare by now (that's 5 yrs ago).

Some of them must have put their kids in childcare the first time after covid. How did they do it?

Also, many of us didn’t “give up” our childcare slots during covid. Our kids LOST their slots because their childcare centers were either closed or the capacity was drastically reduced.

And many centers even only offered care for people with essential in-person jobs. Those of us with telework were asked to take our kids out. I paid a lot more $ for a nanny and a pod teacher during COVID so my childcare expenses were way up.

+1 Same. Paid an extra tens of thousands for childcare during school closures, then increased prices for any care as it came back online.

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Anonymous wrote:Are a lot of women employed FT in professional careers really saying they have no childcare? That's not what I've seen on DCUM. People are often talking about the extra time for commuting and difference of being out of the house. So like a 10yp may come home from school and not have childcare from 4-5pm because they can entertain themselves while parent works. But the parent may not want them actually alone in the house. It's a childcare gap. Same with the mornings before school opens - I would need beforecare to RTO and it might not be available this school year (already full). Or preschool may close at 5pm but with commute I'd get home later than that, etc.

WFH necessitates childcare if you have a real job but can be for fewer hours, or you cover the occasional days off and breaks without always taking PTO etc

OP here - I consider a childcare gap a lack of childcare. Before or after school care programs are not going to quickly sprout up.

+1
And even if kids can entertain themselves a bit or parents find programs, the kids can't magically transport themselves and they can't drive yet. So parents (all parents, dads too) need that flexibility after school. Strict RTO mean that these good employees will no longer be bending backwards to check mails and handle things after business hours.

I think you’re ranting about things you have no idea about. Kids can’t transport themselves? The aftercare programs all have buses and vans that pick up at our school. Parents don’t need to drive their kids to ballet or karate or gymnastics.

I'm so glad your data point of one is universal.

What school doesn't have that? Give us an example.

Our public elementary in DCPS definitely does want have transportation to activities.

Elementary school kids don’t need to be bused to activities. aftercare is fine.

It is fine. But it’s not great.

Being able to come right home from school to play with neighborhood friends, go to an extracurricular that they’re interested in, or even just have some free play is better. I know being out of the house 45-50 hours/week (i.e. 8-5:30/6) is tiring for many adults, I wouldn’t choose this for a young elementary kid. It is fine if it is what you have to do, but let’s not act like this is more ideal than kids getting to play soccer, learn an instrument, take tutoring classes, go to scouts meetings, etc. and having a family meal together.

if that’s your ideal AND you want both parents to work FT, you need a better plan than assuming that covid-era telework (for positions that are not actually fully remote) will last forever.

I have some millennial coworkers who had kids and bought houses way out in the burbs during covid. I feel for them but truly, they shouldn’t have counted on max telework lasting indefinitely. I also have a GenX coworker who relocated across the country during covid - at least she fully knows she’ll be terminated when they eventually catch up to her.

Except the plan had gone fine for over a decade now …

All of you calling telework a “COVID era” thing are really behind the times. My DH is in the private sector and has had some form of telework (either hybrid or full time like now) since at least 2010.

But that hasn't been allowed for feds except for at the height of the pandemic. And the pp didn't describe telework. She described bailing from work mid-afternoon to take her kids to practices and activities.

Where are you getting your bad info? Yes telework increased with COVID, but it was not a novel concept. Many agencies are already back to pre-pandemic levels of telework. DOGE wants to travel back in time to 1990, not 2020.

I keep hearing this, but I haven't been able to find anything that says the plan is to completely eliminate workplace flexibility. Where are you seeing this?

The whole concept of 5 days per week in an office dates back to pre internet basically. As technology has increased, telework has grown. I had telework as a new hire fed in 2009 and many of my coworkers had been doing it for years prior. It used to be much clunkier, but a lot of kinks were worked out during COVID to get rid of paper documents that needed in-person work.

If DOGE wanted to go back to 2019 era work, that would be one thing. But they’re trying to make new, draconian changes *with the explicit purpose of causing people to quit.*

Regardless of your personal thoughts on WAH, I don’t know how anybody is totally unconcerned with some unelected billionaires bragging all over the news how they’re going to make fed employees miserable and quit. That is literal insanity.

I was teleworking via Remote Desktop in 2003. I’ve done work via ssh since 1996.

I'm so sorry... (more for the former than the latter)

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Anonymous wrote:Are a lot of women employed FT in professional careers really saying they have no childcare? That's not what I've seen on DCUM. People are often talking about the extra time for commuting and difference of being out of the house. So like a 10yp may come home from school and not have childcare from 4-5pm because they can entertain themselves while parent works. But the parent may not want them actually alone in the house. It's a childcare gap. Same with the mornings before school opens - I would need beforecare to RTO and it might not be available this school year (already full). Or preschool may close at 5pm but with commute I'd get home later than that, etc.

WFH necessitates childcare if you have a real job but can be for fewer hours, or you cover the occasional days off and breaks without always taking PTO etc

OP here - I consider a childcare gap a lack of childcare. Before or after school care programs are not going to quickly sprout up.

+1
And even if kids can entertain themselves a bit or parents find programs, the kids can't magically transport themselves and they can't drive yet. So parents (all parents, dads too) need that flexibility after school. Strict RTO mean that these good employees will no longer be bending backwards to check mails and handle things after business hours.

I think you’re ranting about things you have no idea about. Kids can’t transport themselves? The aftercare programs all have buses and vans that pick up at our school. Parents don’t need to drive their kids to ballet or karate or gymnastics.

I'm so glad your data point of one is universal.

What school doesn't have that? Give us an example.

Our public elementary in DCPS definitely does want have transportation to activities.

Elementary school kids don’t need to be bused to activities. aftercare is fine.

It is fine. But it’s not great.

Being able to come right home from school to play with neighborhood friends, go to an extracurricular that they’re interested in, or even just have some free play is better. I know being out of the house 45-50 hours/week (i.e. 8-5:30/6) is tiring for many adults, I wouldn’t choose this for a young elementary kid. It is fine if it is what you have to do, but let’s not act like this is more ideal than kids getting to play soccer, learn an instrument, take tutoring classes, go to scouts meetings, etc. and having a family meal together.

if that’s your ideal AND you want both parents to work FT, you need a better plan than assuming that covid-era telework (for positions that are not actually fully remote) will last forever.

I have some millennial coworkers who had kids and bought houses way out in the burbs during covid. I feel for them but truly, they shouldn’t have counted on max telework lasting indefinitely. I also have a GenX coworker who relocated across the country during covid - at least she fully knows she’ll be terminated when they eventually catch up to her.

Except the plan had gone fine for over a decade now …

All of you calling telework a “COVID era” thing are really behind the times. My DH is in the private sector and has had some form of telework (either hybrid or full time like now) since at least 2010.

But that hasn't been allowed for feds except for at the height of the pandemic. And the pp didn't describe telework. She described bailing from work mid-afternoon to take her kids to practices and activities.

Where are you getting your bad info? Yes telework increased with COVID, but it was not a novel concept. Many agencies are already back to pre-pandemic levels of telework. DOGE wants to travel back in time to 1990, not 2020.

I keep hearing this, but I haven't been able to find anything that says the plan is to completely eliminate workplace flexibility. Where are you seeing this?

The whole concept of 5 days per week in an office dates back to pre internet basically. As technology has increased, telework has grown. I had telework as a new hire fed in 2009 and many of my coworkers had been doing it for years prior. It used to be much clunkier, but a lot of kinks were worked out during COVID to get rid of paper documents that needed in-person work.

If DOGE wanted to go back to 2019 era work, that would be one thing. But they’re trying to make new, draconian changes *with the explicit purpose of causing people to quit.*

Regardless of your personal thoughts on WAH, I don’t know how anybody is totally unconcerned with some unelected billionaires bragging all over the news how they’re going to make fed employees miserable and quit. That is literal insanity.

Ok but you didn't answer the question. Where does it say that DOGE is going to completely eliminate workplace flexibility? My personal thoughts are that they are likely all insane, but I haven't read anything from a credible source that says we're going back to five days in the office with no flexible work at all. If you have seen this from a credible source, please share.

I mean that’s what Vivek has said in interviews and on X, 5 days in the office - everyone 8-6 (which is a 50 hr week). Is this grandstanding? Possibly but he’s said - and others have said - that the goal is to require this to make feds miserable because then they’ll quit.

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Anonymous wrote:Are a lot of women employed FT in professional careers really saying they have no childcare? That's not what I've seen on DCUM. People are often talking about the extra time for commuting and difference of being out of the house. So like a 10yp may come home from school and not have childcare from 4-5pm because they can entertain themselves while parent works. But the parent may not want them actually alone in the house. It's a childcare gap. Same with the mornings before school opens - I would need beforecare to RTO and it might not be available this school year (already full). Or preschool may close at 5pm but with commute I'd get home later than that, etc.

WFH necessitates childcare if you have a real job but can be for fewer hours, or you cover the occasional days off and breaks without always taking PTO etc

OP here - I consider a childcare gap a lack of childcare. Before or after school care programs are not going to quickly sprout up.

+1
And even if kids can entertain themselves a bit or parents find programs, the kids can't magically transport themselves and they can't drive yet. So parents (all parents, dads too) need that flexibility after school. Strict RTO mean that these good employees will no longer be bending backwards to check mails and handle things after business hours.

I think you’re ranting about things you have no idea about. Kids can’t transport themselves? The aftercare programs all have buses and vans that pick up at our school. Parents don’t need to drive their kids to ballet or karate or gymnastics.

I'm so glad your data point of one is universal.

What school doesn't have that? Give us an example.

Our public elementary in DCPS definitely does want have transportation to activities.

Elementary school kids don’t need to be bused to activities. aftercare is fine.

It is fine. But it’s not great.

Being able to come right home from school to play with neighborhood friends, go to an extracurricular that they’re interested in, or even just have some free play is better. I know being out of the house 45-50 hours/week (i.e. 8-5:30/6) is tiring for many adults, I wouldn’t choose this for a young elementary kid. It is fine if it is what you have to do, but let’s not act like this is more ideal than kids getting to play soccer, learn an instrument, take tutoring classes, go to scouts meetings, etc. and having a family meal together.

if that’s your ideal AND you want both parents to work FT, you need a better plan than assuming that covid-era telework (for positions that are not actually fully remote) will last forever.

I have some millennial coworkers who had kids and bought houses way out in the burbs during covid. I feel for them but truly, they shouldn’t have counted on max telework lasting indefinitely. I also have a GenX coworker who relocated across the country during covid - at least she fully knows she’ll be terminated when they eventually catch up to her.

Except the plan had gone fine for over a decade now …

All of you calling telework a “COVID era” thing are really behind the times. My DH is in the private sector and has had some form of telework (either hybrid or full time like now) since at least 2010.

But that hasn't been allowed for feds except for at the height of the pandemic. And the pp didn't describe telework. She described bailing from work mid-afternoon to take her kids to practices and activities.

Where are you getting your bad info? Yes telework increased with COVID, but it was not a novel concept. Many agencies are already back to pre-pandemic levels of telework. DOGE wants to travel back in time to 1990, not 2020.

I keep hearing this, but I haven't been able to find anything that says the plan is to completely eliminate workplace flexibility. Where are you seeing this?

The whole concept of 5 days per week in an office dates back to pre internet basically. As technology has increased, telework has grown. I had telework as a new hire fed in 2009 and many of my coworkers had been doing it for years prior. It used to be much clunkier, but a lot of kinks were worked out during COVID to get rid of paper documents that needed in-person work.

If DOGE wanted to go back to 2019 era work, that would be one thing. But they’re trying to make new, draconian changes *with the explicit purpose of causing people to quit.*

Regardless of your personal thoughts on WAH, I don’t know how anybody is totally unconcerned with some unelected billionaires bragging all over the news how they’re going to make fed employees miserable and quit. That is literal insanity.

I was teleworking via Remote Desktop in 2003. I’ve done work via ssh since 1996.

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Anonymous wrote:Are a lot of women employed FT in professional careers really saying they have no childcare? That's not what I've seen on DCUM. People are often talking about the extra time for commuting and difference of being out of the house. So like a 10yp may come home from school and not have childcare from 4-5pm because they can entertain themselves while parent works. But the parent may not want them actually alone in the house. It's a childcare gap. Same with the mornings before school opens - I would need beforecare to RTO and it might not be available this school year (already full). Or preschool may close at 5pm but with commute I'd get home later than that, etc.

WFH necessitates childcare if you have a real job but can be for fewer hours, or you cover the occasional days off and breaks without always taking PTO etc

OP here - I consider a childcare gap a lack of childcare. Before or after school care programs are not going to quickly sprout up.

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And even if kids can entertain themselves a bit or parents find programs, the kids can't magically transport themselves and they can't drive yet. So parents (all parents, dads too) need that flexibility after school. Strict RTO mean that these good employees will no longer be bending backwards to check mails and handle things after business hours.

I think you’re ranting about things you have no idea about. Kids can’t transport themselves? The aftercare programs all have buses and vans that pick up at our school. Parents don’t need to drive their kids to ballet or karate or gymnastics.

I'm so glad your data point of one is universal.

What school doesn't have that? Give us an example.

I've never been to, nor parented at a school where the after school program took kids to activities. The AC we have has kids from dismissal (3:30) to 6:30PM. They are at the school the entire time and require transportation to leave.

You might be surprised. I know there are at least 5 programs that pick up kids from our school, and the school buses will drop kids off at a handful more daycare programs.

None of this matters if all programs are full - and that includes school-based/county SACC and private programs. And believe me, they are all full in our neighborhood. And even if they aren't full, the private programs are wildly expensive. The ones that aren't expensive are sketchy. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I will go in five days a week. Sign me up. But I can't do 8 hours at a desk in the office. I have to have flexibility to navigate traffic, commute, and getting kids to and from school.

I'm feeling confident (perhaps naively) that schedule flexibilities will remain in place to allow people to shift their start/stop times, but if you need to do both school drop-offs and pick-ups, then you might want to think about what it would take to go part-time.