Govt Work at Home May Be Over

[thurley42]

What's amazing is folk that need to work from home but have no problem with driving to the base to get a round in, maybe something extra at the 19th hole.

That's an awful specific example...but ya...it's odd you're whining so much

 

[LightRoasted]

For your consideration ...

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...

Of course they will. They are already spending money on electricity, buildings and workplaces. One benefit will be city's economy will pick back up again. The hustle and bustle of the city will once again thrive.

 

[OccamsRazor]

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.

This is my whole point. Why would a company, corporation, or even the GOV invest in re-opening closed facilities or procuring new spaces to house on-site employees IF there was acceptable or even spectacular production and work effort when offsite (like everyone claims it is)?
Simple... production is NOT being seen as effective and/or great SO these businesses have to bring people back in to work in order to assure an acceptable level of work output.

 

[SamSpade]

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.

I don't work at PAX. I have no idea what a PMA is.

 

[Czar]

That's an awful specific example...but ya...it's odd you're whining so much

Lol. Taxpayer money. Go to work. My firm is trying to get some of that money selling product at grossly inflated prices!

 

[SamSpade]

This is my whole point. Why would a company, corporation, or even the GOV invest in re-opening closed facilities or procuring new spaces to house on-site employees IF there was acceptable or even spectacular production and work effort when offsite (like everyone claims it is)?
Simple... production is NOT being seen as effective and/or great SO these businesses have to bring people back in to work in order to assure an acceptable level of work output.

I imagine some of them do. My sister works for a record keeping company where 100% of its workers telework, She has never even met a co-worker.

So, sure, I imagine a company would urge people to return to work from telework if that were true. I sort of thought that most DID change, many years ago. I don't know of any massive retreat from telework save for a few companies.

BUT MOST federal workers aren't even eligible for telework - like - ever. Between 55 to 60 per cent are never eligible for telework, simply because their job doesn't work that way. Of the remaining 40-45% - about 90% of those do SOME, but only a small sliver are 100% WFH.

That was from an OPM report published last summer. This BS Ernst is peddling is distortion at best, lies at the least.

 

[thurley42]

Lol. Taxpayer money. Go to work. My firm is trying to get some of that money selling product at grossly inflated prices!

I assume you're an adult...on the internet complaining about other adults that do not effect you in the slightest, that's hilariously pathetic.....and as i said earlier, i've been teleworking for 15 years plus...so i guess it just sucks to suck

 

[Grumpy]

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!

Ex office mate taped her vibe to the mouse to keep her PC active.

 

[SamSpade]

Ex office mate taped her vibe to the mouse to keep her PC active.

That's too much. You have to be determinedly lazy to do that.

Admittedly my teams icon goes off because I am reading and not typing - or I am taking notes on paper.
And from time to time, troubleshooting something means, I'm thinking.

 

[Czar]

I assume you're an adult...on the internet complaining about other adults that do not effect you in the slightest, that's hilariously pathetic.....and as i said earlier, i've been teleworking for 15 years plus...so i guess it just sucks to suck

Sure, all government employees working from home are diligently working! More productivity than a Chinese sweatshop! No idlers, goldbricking in the bunch!

 

[OccamsRazor]

I assume you're an adult...on the internet complaining about other adults that do not effect you in the slightest, that's hilariously pathetic....

 

[WingsOfGold]

I'm not sure that cuts to the Postal Service has any effect on saving money, since they more or less function as a completely separate entity from the government. They may get a few billion from the government - because they are still operating in the red - but they generate about ten times as much as they get from Uncle Sam. In a given year, they might GET 9 billion from Uncle Sam but generate 80 billion on their own.

The problem with the USPS is they don't function as a business, because they're compelled to meet the postal needs of everyone in the country - whereas other carriers can simply write off some rural areas as a waste of money.

I agree, however, that they have two many separate facilities but I am not sure how eliminating them would keep it efficient. If you've ever looked at tracking for some parcels you order, it's crazy how many places they go.

Fewer leases for starters.

 

[WingsOfGold]

Same reason aircraft parts cost a lot more than identical off the shelf parts. You need accountability back to the source and a "chain of custody" through the life cycle.

Not all nuts and bolts are created equal if you're including simple hardware.

 

[WingsOfGold]

It's odd to me how much some of ya'll are whining because people work from home and you can't...

I see it as their tax dollar being stolen or wasted,
Maybe if there were a watchdog group monitoring productivity and raises and job security hinged on that.

 

[WingsOfGold]

Wife worked at a non profit in Pa as the CFO. The boss was banging the RECEPTIONIST that was working from home.

 

[glhs837]

Not all nuts and bolts are created equal if you're including simple hardware.

Yep, especially Critical Safety Items (CSI). They literally need to have tracking for the raw materials back to the ore. And each step from there.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

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)

We have lost the last three fresh out of college engineers to other departments because they are more able to telework in those jobs.

In my dept we can probably only do 25% telework.

I mean beyond getting their required work done what do you think being in the office will do? My office is right across from my supervisors and I never see him because he is in waste of time meetings all day long. Do you think a supervisor sits and watches employees all day long if they are in the office?

I can waste a hell of a lot more time on base than off just going to other buildings, sitting in on waste of time meetings etc. One dept I was in had the exact same goddamn meeting every week for two years, same exact conversations and nothing ever got done, they asked me why I was always so quiet in it, I said my mind the first time two years earlier and had no interest in singing happy birthday to whoever had a birthday that week.

 

[PrchJrkr]

We have lost the last three fresh out of college engineers to other departments because they are more able to telework in those jobs.

In my dept we can probably only do 25% telework.

I mean beyond getting their required work done what do you think being in the office will do? My office is right across from my supervisors and I never see him because he is in waste of time meetings all day long. Do you think a supervisor sits and watches employees all day long if they are in the office?

I can waste a hell of a lot more time on base than off just going to other buildings, sitting in on waste of time meetings etc. One dept I was in had the exact same goddamn meeting every week for two years, same exact conversations and nothing ever got done, they asked me why I was always so quiet in it, I said my mind the first time two years earlier and had no interest in singing happy birthday to whoever had a birthday that week.

Sounds exactly like why I moved on from the last "real" job I held. Software development for a soon-to-be obsolete airframe is like watching a ship sinking, with everyone hanging on, until it finally slips under the surface.

 

[WingsOfGold]

Yep, especially Critical Safety Items (CSI). They literally need to have tracking for the raw materials back to the ore. And each step from there.

Had no idea of that, stuff I used usually had Grumman, Douglass, Convair or McDonnel/Douglass packaging from navy supply to our titless waves then to the shops. I assumed it came from the big warehouse in the sky, I or D level maint or direct from manufactures. Major parts were usually obviously from aircraft manufacture. Wheels sometimes had Goodyear stamped in the casting if I remember correctly.

 

[SamSpade]

We have lost the last three fresh out of college engineers to other departments because they are more able to telework in those jobs.

In my dept we can probably only do 25% telework.

I mean beyond getting their required work done what do you think being in the office will do? My office is right across from my supervisors and I never see him because he is in waste of time meetings all day long. Do you think a supervisor sits and watches employees all day long if they are in the office?

I can waste a hell of a lot more time on base than off just going to other buildings, sitting in on waste of time meetings etc. One dept I was in had the exact same goddamn meeting every week for two years, same exact conversations and nothing ever got done, they asked me why I was always so quiet in it, I said my mind the first time two years earlier and had no interest in singing happy birthday to whoever had a birthday that week.

Meetings conducted online not only save time and money but technology can make them vastly better. We’re sharing screens and data much better than using overheads.