I, on the other hand have a govt. supervisor who works half time from home that is at least 4x more productive from home. I can send him an email and get an immediate response, but when he's at work it's meetings for three quarters of the day.
Govt Work at Home May Be Over
- Thread starter Sneakers
- Start date
And that has been my experience as well, not to mention the time people spend physicially navigating from office to office.
The best metric I know, is to measure the work that they do, and this is always true, whether they are there in person, or not.
I worked for over 25 years in government before telework came along, and there are always lazy people who don't work, or whose work is so poor as to be less than worthless. When I FIRST BEGAN in the late 80's, I recall people who spent all day in the cafeteria - or flapping their gums at people's desks - or even attended meetings but didn't really contribute in any meaningful way. We had mentally ILL people we couldn't get rid of - shockingly stupid people that you wondered how they could find their ass with both hands - lazy ass people who clocked in, went home a few hours later - and returned in the afternoon to clock out.
AND - easily as many very hard working people who still got their work done. When these shmucks ended up on my staff - we couldn't get rid of them - so I had to do their work. Because it still had to get done.
Telework opened a lot of doors - it meant I could "go back to work" when I got home and realized something needed to be changed. It also meant that during a snowstorm - you were still expected to "show up" since the Internet isn't shut down by snow. It meant if I had a deadline to meet - I could stay working until late - unlike the building, which had to be empty at a certain time.
I am sure there are anecdotes everyone can furnish - that kind of data does not PROVE anything. What does? Actual data -
In a press release announcing the delivery of her report, Ernst claimed that “90% of federal employees telework,” that only 6% of federal employees work entirely in-person, and that “nearly 33%” of federal workers are entirely remote workers. None of these figures are accurate when compared to the most recent report on federal telework.
As of May 2024, 54% of federal employees spent all of their work hours at traditional work sites because of the nature of their job precludes telework. Though 46% of the federal workforce is eligible for telework, only about 41.4% actually use the workplace flexibility to telework at least situationally. The data comes from the Office of Management and Budget in a nearly 3,000-page report last August, issued in response to language in fiscal 2024 appropriations legislation demanding an up-to-date snapshot of federal telework.
According to OMB, the 1.1 million telework-eligible workers who used telework still spent 61.2% of their work hours in person. And just 10% of the civilian federal workforce, or 228,000 employees, are approved for remote work, in which an employee may work entirely from their home or an agency-approved alternative work site, well below the 1/3 figure Ernst cited.
Ernst’s report documenting telework ‘abuse’ obscures more than it reveals
The Iowa senator and head of a new caucus related to President-elect Trump’s planned government efficiency commission misrepresented key statistics regarding telework’s usage at federal agencies.
Bear in mind - eliminating telework is not in the slightest being touted as a means to make things more efficient or less expensive - it is widely and loudly promoted as a means of frustrating employees, encouraging them to QUIT. I can practically guarantee that will mean the loss of desirable, hard-working, talented people in favor of retaining the kind that stand by the water cooler all day. They are the kind of employee that this measure will only annoy but not eliminate.
IF - you want to eliminate dead wood - the best way is to loosen up the myriad regulations and union rules to fire people who aren't doing their job. There are scores of people who get poor reviews every year - and you can't get rid of them because the union will protect them.
First you get rid of the union.
Government work force should have NEVER been a part of a collective bargaining org.
The computer mouse is hooked to a fan, hooked to a timer. It moves just enough to keep logged on to the government website. It may look like I'm at the Cracker Barrel laughing at special needs kids being hungry as I enjoy my meal, but I'm working!
OccamsRazor
Well-Known Member
The only people that I have spoken with who are GOV employees that have said they would quit if telework is cancelled are those who are already eligible to retire. They are simply holding on because it is an easy payday for them. Once they have to return, they submit their retirement papers. Every single WFH non-retirement aged GOV worker I have spoken to merely gripe about it and say that they don't want to go back to the office because they won't be able to manage their own day (all 3 of the GOV employees that I see doing their yard work fall into this category)
thurley42
HY;FR
I feel like the people who worked from home because of covid have been back to work already....i've been on a hybrid work schedule for the last 15 years or so, and I've always felt if I needed to get something done, I stay as far away from the office as possible.....the idea people need to be babysat is hilarious
35 years of government work - guessing I've known thousands - overwhelming majority I know would never do this. Frankly, some of the work a lot I know do so much, they put me to shame on all but my best days.
Don't get me wrong - I've seen this - even in private industry - mostly, young engineers taking VERY LONG lunch breaks for example - but they aren't the norm.
Our agency problem is mostly - they've re-engineered and repurposed the ENTIRE bloc of offices to work via telework and as a result, added people from other agencies. There simply is not room to accommodate every employee five days a week. At best they could do two to three. Their vision was that remote work will be the future and they spent a lot of work time and money to plan that way.
I'm griping mainly because - going back in doesn't gain anything for me. My job doesn't involve interacting with anyone except via teleconference, which is STILL THE WAY meetings are done when I am onsite. Because I can actually continue to work while the meeting is going on, I can correct things while they are mentioned and I don't waste time locking up, walking, sitting, walking back and re-logging in.
My job consists entirely of sitting at a desk and working quietly where no one is even much aware I am there. IF I ever actually talk, it's a quick Teams call to another team member, and then I am silent as the grave all day.
Physically clocking in and out onsite does not make anything easier, except it wastes time and gas.
OccamsRazor
Well-Known Member
Businesses (or even GOV) are NOT going to call for a "back to the office" plan and spend millions of dollars to house workers, pay for electricity, pay for work space, etc. if they were getting the production they require. Plain and simple!
People crying "It's all the middle management's fault! They need to have a purpose and they need to be looking over our shoulder!" is a CROCK! Do people think middle management is making these decisions? NO. It's the corporate bosses NOT seeing the results they need/want that are calling for return to work. What company would forego profit and invest in business infrastructure AGAIN if the ship was sailing smoothly?
That reasoning makes ZERO sense...
I am not following your point here...
Sneakers
Just sneakin' around....
?
If there is but one person in the office now, they are already paying for space, power, lights, heat. You state this like once people started working from home, all these spaces were abandoned and sold off and no longer exist.
Clem72
Well-Known Member
My pre-pre-covid work from home experience was that I definitely had a more time to get stuff done around the house, but I saved two plus hours of commute and found myself answering e-mails when I got my morning coffee at 6am instead of 730 when I would normally be in the office, and often later in the evening as I was working from the west coast and my customers were here on the east coast. So I would say I spent at least as much time working as I ever did in the office, even if I did have time to mow the lawn at 10am.
That said, I agree there are too many people clogging up the streets and stores all day long who should be working.
They'll still be clogging up the streets.
Except it'll be during the times we're driving to and from work.
I never ever ever even implied that - in fact, my point here, on Twitter and other places online I've made it clear - it's stupid to bring people in if you're accomplishing your mission with an empty building. REPURPOSE or sell the building, which is what BEA and BLS did. Do NOT order everyone back into the building to "save money". It doesn't save anything.
They DID accomplish a number of things, though, The building was already overcrowded and the agency needed to rent space all around town, and ran shuttles to ferry people back and forth. Once COVID hit, they didn't need THOSE spaces at all - or the shuttle.
On another note - I've been saying for DECADES regarding churches, which I've worked with for the same amount of time - why do we waste most of our member's money maintaining a building which is barely used but once or twice a week? Isn't it smarter to either dispose of the building and rent space - or repurpose the existing space to further the church's mission? Say, turn the sanctuary into a shelter or soup kitchen?
EDIT to add -
Sorry - just realized you weren't addressing ME.
I think you nailed it.
I never griped about not getting telework.
I like coming in.
It's near impossible to abuse your co-workers and subordinates remotely.
Clem72
Well-Known Member
Are they still trying to fit every single PMA (and half the PMWs) in the Navy into 2272? Didn't they throw that hangar up next to 2187 in like 2 years? That's less time than they have spent running studies on how they can fit 20% more seats into former stairwells in Moffett.