Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love WFH more than anyone, but there’s no question that RTO is much better for the local economy. Lunches, metro rides, parking fees, dry cleaners, etc.

Excuse me but RTO will cost me $1000/month. It’s not my responsibility to prop up the local economy at the expense of my own retirement or kids’ college fund.

That’s an underestimation.

There’s another thread about what “hacks” people use to juggle two commuters. The cost of coming in every day is really not small. Raising a family when both parents are out of the house 12 hours a day is hard and expensive. In my case—

300 per month to park, plus gas and mileage.
50 per week in dry cleaning (min)
350 per month for bi-weekly house keeping
400 for after school care if we can’t stagger our commutes
400 for dog walking

Plus whatever extra we spend on eating out for convenience since time is so tight.

Plus a work wardrobe and a gym membership near the office.

Plus private school or any educational enrichment you want for your kids since you can’t be with them as much.

That’s great. A few less people will be buying outrageously expensive cars and airline and hotel costs will finally deflate. Very few have talked about the ongoing savings boost that consumers have enjoyed with WFH. Let’s bust this bubble of implicit wage inflation.

The money we “saved” has been spent elsewhere in the economy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are being told WH COS memo is the driver.

Whatever happened to "agency heads will just ignore COS memo"? Some poster here was confident enough to guarantee it.

Even mid-week I95 I395 remain empty. The VRE is empty as is Metro. Slug Lots are empty. No one is RTOing.

We are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love WFH more than anyone, but there’s no question that RTO is much better for the local economy. Lunches, metro rides, parking fees, dry cleaners, etc.

Excuse me but RTO will cost me $1000/month. It’s not my responsibility to prop up the local economy at the expense of my own retirement or kids’ college fund.

Excuse me but it’s not the government’s job to employ you. Why should any employer OWE you a life on YOUR TERMS? If you can do better, get another job. Your comments reek of entitlement.

And why should government be more concerned about you than the cities it does business in? If you lived in DC, you might welcome RTO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love WFH more than anyone, but there’s no question that RTO is much better for the local economy. Lunches, metro rides, parking fees, dry cleaners, etc.

Excuse me but RTO will cost me $1000/month. It’s not my responsibility to prop up the local economy at the expense of my own retirement or kids’ college fund.

That’s an underestimation.

There’s another thread about what “hacks” people use to juggle two commuters. The cost of coming in every day is really not small. Raising a family when both parents are out of the house 12 hours a day is hard and expensive. In my case—

300 per month to park, plus gas and mileage.
50 per week in dry cleaning (min)
350 per month for bi-weekly house keeping
400 for after school care if we can’t stagger our commutes
400 for dog walking

Plus whatever extra we spend on eating out for convenience since time is so tight.

Plus a work wardrobe and a gym membership near the office.

Plus private school or any educational enrichment you want for your kids since you can’t be with them as much.

That’s great. A few less people will be buying outrageously expensive cars and airline and hotel costs will finally deflate. Very few have talked about the ongoing savings boost that consumers have enjoyed with WFH. Let’s bust this bubble of implicit wage inflation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are being told WH COS memo is the driver.

Whatever happened to "agency heads will just ignore COS memo"? Some poster here was confident enough to guarantee it.

Even mid-week I95 I395 remain empty. The VRE is empty as is Metro. Slug Lots are empty. No one is RTOing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love WFH more than anyone, but there’s no question that RTO is much better for the local economy. Lunches, metro rides, parking fees, dry cleaners, etc.

Excuse me but RTO will cost me $1000/month. It’s not my responsibility to prop up the local economy at the expense of my own retirement or kids’ college fund.

That’s an underestimation.

There’s another thread about what “hacks” people use to juggle two commuters. The cost of coming in every day is really not small. Raising a family when both parents are out of the house 12 hours a day is hard and expensive. In my case—

300 per month to park, plus gas and mileage.
50 per week in dry cleaning (min)
350 per month for bi-weekly house keeping
400 for after school care if we can’t stagger our commutes
400 for dog walking

Plus whatever extra we spend on eating out for convenience since time is so tight.

Plus a work wardrobe and a gym membership near the office.

Plus private school or any educational enrichment you want for your kids since you can’t be with them as much.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love WFH more than anyone, but there’s no question that RTO is much better for the local economy. Lunches, metro rides, parking fees, dry cleaners, etc.

Excuse me but RTO will cost me $1000/month. It’s not my responsibility to prop up the local economy at the expense of my own retirement or kids’ college fund.

Excuse me but it’s not the government’s job to employ you. Why should any employer OWE you a life on YOUR TERMS? If you can do better, get another job. Your comments reek of entitlement.

And why should government be more concerned about you than the cities it does business in? If you lived in DC, you might welcome RTO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love WFH more than anyone, but there’s no question that RTO is much better for the local economy. Lunches, metro rides, parking fees, dry cleaners, etc.

Excuse me but RTO will cost me $1000/month. It’s not my responsibility to prop up the local economy at the expense of my own retirement or kids’ college fund.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love WFH more than anyone, but there’s no question that RTO is much better for the local economy. Lunches, metro rides, parking fees, dry cleaners, etc.

Excuse me but RTO will cost me $1000/month. It’s not my responsibility to prop up the local economy at the expense of my own retirement or kids’ college fund.

Excuse me but it’s not the government’s job to employ you. Why should any employer OWE you a life on YOUR TERMS? If you can do better, get another job. Your comments reek of entitlement.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our office gets the best candidates because we offer remote.

An ongoing conversation within my component of an agency is how we compete with other agencies for candidates. Our concern is that if we are required as an agency to be in the office 3 days a week we will lose the best candidates to other agencies with more flexible practices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love WFH more than anyone, but there’s no question that RTO is much better for the local economy. Lunches, metro rides, parking fees, dry cleaners, etc.

Excuse me but RTO will cost me $1000/month. It’s not my responsibility to prop up the local economy at the expense of my own retirement or kids’ college fund.

Anonymous wrote:I love WFH more than anyone, but there’s no question that RTO is much better for the local economy. Lunches, metro rides, parking fees, dry cleaners, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Our office gets the best candidates because we offer remote.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of how many people leave the agency because of RTO there is always some turnover and there is no doubt that it is becoming harder to recruit good people and WFH flexibility is the last really good recruiting tool we have.

I can tell you we used to have our choice of the cream of the crop and now if I have to hire 2 people I am almost afraid to hire the second because I am lucky to get one really good candidate.

This. They might hang onto the established workers, but they're not going to bring in new workers, especially younger Millennials and Gen Z.

We just hired 4 new ones - two GS-15s and two GS-14s. Didn't have any issues. But 15s are older guys and 14s are in 40s. Maybe you are referring to even younger folks.

Totally agree. Lots of applications for our agency jobs. We’re filling jobs faster than ever before. We also have fewer available positions than pre-pandemic. In short, people are not fleeing government jobs. In fact, many want the security or to earn lifetime health insurance before retirement. The notion that people are going to leave in large numbers is just not true.

Which agency? And do you currently offer remote work to new hires? The hiring situation now is the best it’s going to be, and it’s challenging at my agency. When RTO happens, you will see what we’re talking about here. I’ll be gone, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Door to your left.

Already halfway out. Enjoy the mess you’re making.

I hope you stay but you should do whatever makes you happy. I don't even know if people take "I am going to leave, you will see" seriously anymore. It is so overused. Best of luck out there.

Perhaps it appears overused because the sentiment is rising, and genuine. If the vision for government is hold on to the old guys, let the middle leave, and hire new talent cheap and grind them up for a few years before they leave, I don’t want any part of that.

You’ve just described every consulting firm. If you want work/life balance, the private sector isn’t your answer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of how many people leave the agency because of RTO there is always some turnover and there is no doubt that it is becoming harder to recruit good people and WFH flexibility is the last really good recruiting tool we have.

I can tell you we used to have our choice of the cream of the crop and now if I have to hire 2 people I am almost afraid to hire the second because I am lucky to get one really good candidate.

This. They might hang onto the established workers, but they're not going to bring in new workers, especially younger Millennials and Gen Z.

We just hired 4 new ones - two GS-15s and two GS-14s. Didn't have any issues. But 15s are older guys and 14s are in 40s. Maybe you are referring to even younger folks.

Totally agree. Lots of applications for our agency jobs. We’re filling jobs faster than ever before. We also have fewer available positions than pre-pandemic. In short, people are not fleeing government jobs. In fact, many want the security or to earn lifetime health insurance before retirement. The notion that people are going to leave in large numbers is just not true.

Which agency? And do you currently offer remote work to new hires? The hiring situation now is the best it’s going to be, and it’s challenging at my agency. When RTO happens, you will see what we’re talking about here. I’ll be gone, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Door to your left.

Already halfway out. Enjoy the mess you’re making.

I hope you stay but you should do whatever makes you happy. I don't even know if people take "I am going to leave, you will see" seriously anymore. It is so overused. Best of luck out there.

Perhaps it appears overused because the sentiment is rising, and genuine. If the vision for government is hold on to the old guys, let the middle leave, and hire new talent cheap and grind them up for a few years before they leave, I don’t want any part of that.