Anybody from Va. wish to comment?

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Hundreds of state employees in Virginia have resigned from their jobs amid the start of a new telework policy.

On May 5, Gov. Glenn Youngkin updated the telework policy for all state employees to begin working in-person full-time by July 5, a change the governor’s office stressed would provide “options for and supports the use of telework where appropriate.” Youngkin said it would help “balance the demands of government services with the needs of our public servants.”

PREVIOUS: Over 300 Virginia state employees resign in wake of Gov. Youngkin’s telework policy
Nexstar’s WRIC learned more than 300 state employees resigned since this new telework policy was announced in early May. Employees were given two weeks to submit their telework applications.

WRIC discovered that 28 out of 183 Virginia Department of Transportation workers who left their positions have cited telework options as their reason for leaving. Two VDOT workers who listed telework as the reason did move to another state agency, records obtained by WRIC after filing a Freedom of Information Act request show.

Since May, the Virginia Department of Health had 78 resignations and the Virginia Employment Commission had 37 resignations from May 5 to June 27. Virginia’s Department of Housing and Community Development had seven resignations from May 5 to July 6 and Virginia’s Department of Emergency Management had six resignations from May 4 to July 7.

Most of the departments did not provide reasons for the resignations, but the Department of Housing shared that 29 former workers cited “Better Job,” three said “Dissatisfied,” six cited “Home Responsibilities,” two listed “Illness,” seven said they were leaving the area, three cited “School” and 27 listed “Other” as the reason.



Some employees said they are concerned with losing the flexibility that comes with telework. Others also raised concerns about the increasing cost of travel and trouble arranging childcare.

VGEA, a volunteer, nonpartisan organization that advocates for Virginia state employees, surveyed its members and the results showed that some felt the policy was rushed, confusing and inefficient.

State employees were given two weeks to submit telework applications and the administration set a June 3 deadline to review all of the requests, but Youngkin missed that goal. The governor’s office told WRIC that some agencies received an overwhelming amount of requests and some workers submitted applications late. Still, the July 5 back-to-work deadline remained in place.

There are more than 21,000 state employees eligible for telework and 46% of those workers chose a telework option. Youngkin’s office told WRIC in a FOIA response that as of July 7, there were at least 1,500 final applications.

It’s unclear how many state workers returned to the office when the deadline hit Tuesday.


linK: https://wgntv.com/news/hundred...-back-to-the-office/

So if they had to be somewhere where they could be observed either working or screwing off, they resigned?

Seems like they were spending most of their time screwing off.

Not a surprise when you consider they were State employees.

quote:

Some employees said they are concerned with losing the flexibility that comes with telework.

Translated: They didn't want anyone monitoring their work habits or time actually spent working. Government work is not rocket science, and just about anyone can fill these positions. Covid gave many of these clowns an opportunity to get paid for doing even less than they normally would do in the office, and they don't want to have to actually go back to working again. Screw 'em. Just replace 'em.

It’s the new normal, and, “they get more work done from home”!

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Anybody from Va. wish to comment?

"Show the heck up to work, man."
There. That's my general comment.

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VGEA, a volunteer, nonpartisan organization that advocates for Virginia state employees, surveyed its members and the results showed that some felt the policy was rushed, confusing and inefficient.

Rushed? Y'all had two years to think once in a while about, "gee, golly, this work-from-home thing isn't really the norm... I'm probably going to have to go back to the normal routine sometime."



I realize I'm biased -- I'm in manufacturing. You just don't run a mini version of the production operation from your living room.

I have called many insurance companies only to be placed on hold for a long time. The phone is then answered by a harried individual with a barking dog and crying baby in the background. I can imagine how bad it is with state employees. The only time there was a slowdown in traffic was the stupid lockdown. These work at home employees seem to be cruising during work time.

Good riddance. I'm sure they won't be missed. They obviously weren't working from home before covid showed up and now they don't like someone telling them that they can't be on the clock while laying on their couch with Cheetos dust on their chest. However, I'm sure they'll figure out a way of still living off my tax money.

quote:

Seems like they were spending most of their time screwing off.

Not a surprise when you consider they were State employees.

Ouch, dang.

Full disclosure, I am one of those. And you're not all wrong. Some people have been using this as a massive opportunity to slack off.

But some of them have found out they can complete their work just as well, if not better than they do in the office. No change in productivity or work output, no change in communications or customer service.

In some cases, the people who are actually useless are the multiple redundant supervisors. And if most are doing their work from home, it doesn't take long to figure out we really don't need that many supervisors.

And if you can do the same amount of work - no change in output or service - without the expense of driving to work every day and paying for daycare, etc.....why would you not?

What really happened - as an unintended circumstance - from all this, is that many workers have figured out they don't need the office as much as the office needs them. If it weren't true, why would they be resigning? If it were true, they'd just take their lumps and go back to the office.

If Covid did one good thing, it has shown many that there are more ways to make a living than going into the office and grinding it out 9-5. And if that makes somebody - probably a redundant supervisor - sad, well, it is what it is.

There are three fundamental elements to the employer-employee relationship:
1. Show up at the time and place the employer tells you
2. You are attired and your appearance must be as instructed.
3. You do the things you are told to do in the manner instructed

So many "employees" cannot get even one of these things right

If the assigned work is getting done, then leave them alone, if not, then that's another conversation.

The work / management styles of 1995 have left the building. (yes, that was somewhat of a pun)

I am a teleworker and run a team.

So far all of our projects are on time and on budget.

The only difference is I no longer waste two to three hours commuting every work day.

I am not spending $1375.00 in tolls.
$2450 for gas. $5700 for parking.

I save $9525 total and two to three hours out of my day.

I keep turning down offers to change to on-site or hybrid jobs.

If they're getting their work done on time, correctly, and efficiently, then why make them go back to in-person? There's no reason for it. It saves the employee time and money, and most likely saves the employer money as well.

If there's good reason for it, I understand, but if it's just a mindset of "people working here should come to the office because that's the way it should be" then I'd resign too.

I don't think any of us disagree that we CAN efficiently telework. I think what has happened in a large number of cases is that people AREN'T actually teleWORKing.

What we did (full disclosure: .gov contractor) is we brought everyone back to work, THEN we implemented a telework policy. Amazing how many we "lost" when they had to show back up at the office. Now those who actually can teleWORK are doing it (mostly a hybrid-type schedule), and the chaff is gone (or at least a lot of it).

One of my neighbors works from home. She tells me one of its major benefits is she can avoid all the drama, office politics and whiny, woke, triggered toxic people she had to share an office with.

NEXT!

Anybody remember the 1970s when you were happy to have ANY job? Got to be some coffee smelling mofos real soon… Employers are going to have the powa back right soon.

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:
1. Show up at the time and place the employer tells you
2. You are attired and your appearance must be as instructed.
3. You do the things you are told to do in the manner instructed

Get the workers back into the fucking offices, shops, etc now.

Human interaction is an important element of the work place, not Zoom meetings.

A whole economy is dependent on the workplace. Lunch places, coffee shops, flower shops, tailors, dry cleaners, happy hour pubs, etc.

IMO, it is a disgrace to have a large chunk of people working in their pajamas and slippers, not intermingling with other people outside of their homes.

DoD contractor in NoVa. I have been chomping at the bit for the last year to be in the office at least 2-3 times a week. But our DoD oversee-ers feel not quite once a week is still OK for now. If they even remember we are still going. One of the downsides of being on a team of seniors is we don't need the babysitters. It seems to be industry wide that a lot of the younger employees are dropping letters when the order to spend more time in the office is given. And since a lot of what we handle is not the type of paperwork that can be done from home, not sure what their plans are.

The Great Resignation is still going strong, and I am willing to bet this whole article is just a way to try to discredit the new Governor. It would be interesting for someone to look at Blue States that have tried to limit telework and how many quit there too.

I am slowly changing my tune on this
I cannot work from home
I had jobs where I was my own boss and could telework
I suck at it.
So I need to go to the office
Now my best friend is disciplined and his productivity has increased because of not having to deal with work drama.
He told me as a reward he can continue to work from home. (He is an employee of the state of Ohio.

The reason I like to work the midnight shift and work alone is so I can avoid all the people and office drama.

quote:

Originally posted by bionic218:

quote:

Seems like they were spending most of their time screwing off.

Not a surprise when you consider they were State employees.

Ouch, dang.

Full disclosure, I am one of those. And you're not all wrong. Some people have been using this as a massive opportunity to slack off.

But some of them have found out they can complete their work just as well, if not better than they do in the office. No change in productivity or work output, no change in communications or customer service.

In some cases, the people who are actually useless are the multiple redundant supervisors. And if most are doing their work from home, it doesn't take long to figure out we really don't need that many supervisors.

And if you can do the same amount of work - no change in output or service - without the expense of driving to work every day and paying for daycare, etc.....why would you not?

What really happened - as an unintended circumstance - from all this, is that many workers have figured out they don't need the office as much as the office needs them. If it weren't true, why would they be resigning? If it were true, they'd just take their lumps and go back to the office.

If Covid did one good thing, it has shown many that there are more ways to make a living than going into the office and grinding it out 9-5. And if that makes somebody - probably a redundant supervisor - sad, well, it is what it is.

^^^^^^^This. I'm one of these as well. While you might hear a dog now and then, you won't hear loud gossip, people munching on chips or carrots next to you, constant sales pitches on phone calls, or many other distractions common in open offices popular these days. Sure, some jobs require a person to be in an office constantly interacting with equipment and people. Other jobs don't and involve only calls, video conferences, and computers in far away data centers.

quote:

A whole economy is dependent on the workplace.

There you have it, the quiet part out loud. It's not because the worker needs the office. It's because the rest of the community needs the worker. So start paying them like it.

Because if we can save $10K a year (as the member above demonstrated) we don't need to go to the office for X amount of money. We can find a stay-at-home job for Y amount, have exactly the same amount of money in our pocket, pay fewer taxes, and most importantly, enjoy more of our own time.

The article isn't about people doing things to get fired so they can collect benefits, they aren't trying to con their way into getting unemployment. They're simply resigning and finding other work or jobs.

The fact that this pisses people off is hilarious.

Why you mad, bro? Because they found a job that works better for them and their lifestyle? Because the government created the space for them to figure out there's a way of life outside of the office?

It's a free country. If you want them to come into work, provide the incentive for them to come in. Otherwise...