Govt Work at Home May Be Over
- Thread starter Sneakers
- Start date
Get back to work, you slackers. We're not paying you to sit on your ass and goof around.
TPD
the poor dad
So if you’ve been on the gravy train for the last 4 years, will you quit or will you tuck your tail between your legs and go back to the office? As much as I have enjoyed the decreased traffic levels in Great Mills and on 235 in the evenings when I do have to travel those roads, I really think people need to be in the office so as no to abuse my tax dollars. I hope this happens and I hope it reduces the government workforce when it does happen.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
You would be surprised how much more work gets done with people out of the office.
I see it more as a control thing, being in the office isn't inherently better. I knew someone who worked for a very large aircraft manufacture that starts with a B that would sit at his desk and sleep all day (come to think of it I knew two that would do this). I guess they got their work done, but really what difference if they did that at work vs at home?
I just dread the return of the people that don't have enough to do so they end up interfering with actual work. Back during the lean sequestration years people that were usually always on travel weren't allowed to travel so their bosses had to find something for them to do, some of what they found them to do just interfered with the people that did actual work.
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There are some people who can work unsupervised, but way more people who don't do chit unless they have a boss standing over them. Ideally the people who need to be constantly, um, motivated would just be cut loose to pursue other career opportunities, but such is life.
But cheer up! With DOGE maybe some of that dead weight will get gone and things can loosen up. I'm in big favor of work at home....providing people actually *work* at home. I did it for decades and didn't need anyone standing over me or giving me a task list, and always thought it was a perfect situation....but I had numerous employees working from home who flat couldn't get their butt out of bed. Or they'd get sidetracked and piss away their whole day instead of what they were supposed to be doing. Sharon was a gem, and so was Jan. Everyone else....pfffft.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
Not holding my breath, most of the dead weight is in some type of management. We have what are referred to as "off sites" where management goes out in town or even up to DC for all day meetings to discuss management type things, during the couple days nobody can reach them and they aren't supposed to focus on anything except the off-site operations never run so smooth and so much work gets done.
What I'm expecting is more lean six sigma, total quality leadership, or theory of constraints boondoggles so we can "tighten the belt" "do more with less" blah blah. Someones relative will make a bunch of money providing the training.
Yeah, I just quit a place like that. But apparently in the last couple of months they've shed some of their worthless middle managers and the douche that was my boss' boss now has to actually work for a living, which will end with him moving on because he's inept and now it will be apparent. They also dumped the bimbo who dared come in with her silly seminar where she babytalked us and was so patronizing, and the other bimbo who headed a team of 10 and their whole job was to find silly "holidays" and DEI garbage to spam everyone about. They also cut way back on the online courses we had to take every couple months to make sure we know what to do if someone busts in the office and starts shooting at us, and remind us not to drink the pool bleach.
So take heart! All is not lost and things can change.
Grumpy
Well-Known Member
That chit is so old...it will be renamed as the latest and greatest.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
I'm thinking "afterburner"
BOP
Well-Known Member
BOP
Well-Known Member
BOP
Well-Known Member
It always is.
BadGirl
I am so very blessed
I hope my position continues to be mostly WFH. The two days a week that I go in to the office just about wears me out on an emotional/mental level: I just want to do my job and NOT interact with people, put on dress clothes, do my makeup and hair, deal with (minor) traffic, etc. I really enjoy the peace and quiet of being left alone to do my work.
But think about the joy it brings to your coworkers.
My thing about it is -
I’ve been doing WAH years before the pandemic - mainly a COST-SAVING measure since GSA decided to cram two more agencies into our already overcrowded building. Admittedly UNTIL the pandemic - I still had to come in a couple times a week.
The thing for me is - my job is 100% solitary. Even when I am IN the building, none of my JOB ever has any interaction personally - with anyone. I don’t collaborate. I don’t work on a team. I don’t consult and I don’t mentor or teach. Whether I am home or physically at the building my work - and the majority of my peers - doesn’t change. I login with my assigned laptop, code, troubleshoot, analyze and log off. IF for any reason I need to talk to someone else, I use MS Teams. Why? Because even when I am on site, anyone I work with is either not likely to be in that day or was assigned a workstation THAT day (they change every time you come in) very far from you. Everyone on Teams is a click away and we can share screens - something I CANNOT do in person.
In short - my WAH experience is in every way identical to my on site experience. No one comes by my desk. No one calls except via Teams. The only difference is the 3 hours of additional driving. It is otherwise 100% the same.
It is NOT “more efficient “ or cost saving. My daily work is tracked with excruciating detail.
And - the data used to claim empty buildings is massively flawed.
I am going to guess they won't call *everyone* back into the office, but because it's government you can count on them to do whatever is the stupidest and most expensive. If you were WFH before the lockdowns I can't think of a reason why they'd want you to put in daily face time now.
Also if you work for a contractor and not the government, this shouldn't affect you.
Everyone freaks out over change - or change back, as the case may be.
Also if you work for a contractor and not the government, this shouldn't affect you.
Everyone freaks out over change - or change back, as the case may be.
Sneakers
Just sneakin' around....
Not saying people are slackers or not doing their jobs when they WAH, but before the pandemic, there were actual rush hours twice a day headed for the base. The rest of the time the roads were pretty empty. Now it seems the roads are packed at all hours. If everyone is working from home, why and how all the traffic from people supposedly working during work hours?
Clem72
Well-Known Member
Couple hundred? Try several thousand.