I think the fact that these are GOVERNMENT workers plays a role. I would like to see IRS and Social Security offices open so necessary business can be conducted. The same holds for state employees. How far behind is the IRS??

Personally, I could never work from home and would hate it. I came to work during the lockdown as well.

I'm still working at home, and go to the office now and then since they "reopened" in April, but it's hard to believe the number of distractions at the office. Like people standing next to you when you are on a conference call talking loudly to your neighbor, etc. Or coming up and talking to you when you are on said conference call.

Most people I work with are "hybrid" now but there is no set schedule about when people will be in the office. So if I go and there isn't some special "all hands" event, I might sit alone, which is pointless. And in any case I will still be on conference calls.

My job is global, and I'm connected one way or another 24/7 anyway, and I am dealing with manufacturing sites in the US, UK, China, India, and Japan, along with designers in most of those places too. Plus some side projects in Australia and other places. Saving 2-2.5 hours a day commuting makes it easier to deal with the different time zones, and I can do early meetings at 7 am or earlier (India), as well as later evening meetings (China) with flexibility to do other things during the day here and there. If I'm in meetings at 7 am and as late as 10 pm, then sometimes in the middle I do my own stuff when I have time. The flexibility helps and is better than leaving my house before 6 am, not getting back until after 6 pm and then getting on evening calls.

The people I work with seem not to be slacking off for the most part. The worthless people were already worthless in the office before COVID so there are no surprises there.

So my guess is that everyone who says stuff like "any idiot can do government jobs and better off without all those employees anyway" has never relied on a government employee to issue a permit, look up something important, file something, apporove a license or plan, or interact in some important, life critical way. Because I can tell you flat out that as someone who does, the fact that employees are leaving is a issue that is anywhere from annoying to flat out unliveable depending.

There have been shit workers ever since work was invented. Where they work matters not one wit, shit is shit, and for good/great workers, where they work doesn't matter unless it's important to the actual work. Making people work from the office just because there were economic systems built around that model results in choices like this: some leave and some stay. But for a lot that leave, there is no real replacement system for them and a super competitive market where competitors allow their employees to work from home some (or all of) the time.

And while I really don't like a lot about governement, I'm always reminded of THIS when I hear the "the government has never done anything that business can't do better argument". Show me the AT&T Interstate, the Facebbok Justice Center, the Walmart Emergency Response Systems. I mean, the USS Ford is an aircraft carrier named after the president and not the flagship for the company, and frankly there is no way that I would ever live in a country that allowed it otherwise.

How much do you travel? If you do not how do you keep relationships going?? There are many things that I like to do in person.
REFERENCE TO LEFTY SIG POST

I'm not sure I'd get a moments peace working at home. I have an hour commute and its decompression time for me.

As long as the work is completed I dont see the need to drag people in. But I would damn well expect it to be accurate and on time.

I wonder what the productivity of "Working from home" really is. Sure some people can be productive but in reality how many are?

I'm onsite and they impact me with the many hours of unproductive Zoom / online meetings. Bad connections, late, going overtime, people talking over each other, open mics. It's like a bad joke to sit through them.

When the employer forces the employee to telework against the employee's objections then there is no telework policy as the employer just broke that poicy.

When the job is being done at or better than the expected level for 2.5 years by telework the precedent is set.

My employer told me I had to return to work, and I was very clear that I would not be doing this. I even went and gave them two medical accommodation letters to support my teleworking.

I only go in when needed for functions I can't do from home.

Also,my workload has tripled when my co-worker and others left the agency.

I spent 109k out of the total 135k credit card billing at my office in June,and will be spending at least that for July by purchasing parts, safety equipment, tools, and other items for McNary Dam, US Army Corps of Engineers.

My not being in the office means less interruptions to my work allowing me to stay focused.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Not a day goes by that I do not have some kind of technical problem. It is annoying and gets in the way. A friend told me that videoconferencing wont be like the telephone for another ten years.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
How far behind is the IRS??

....

Last year, the IRS received nearly 17 million paper Forms 1040, over 4 million Forms 1040-X,
and millions of paper business returns.2
2 As of March 18, 2022, the IRS had at least 4.9 million original paper business returns and 1.2 million amended
paper business returns waiting to be processed.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-ut...ardship%20for%20some.

Anecdote: An accountant friend is the executor of her mother-in-law's estate. IRS has not processed and accepted the final estate income tax return for over two years - it is sitting in a tractor trailer at the Philadelphia IRS center.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
A friend told me that videoconferencing wont be like the telephone for another ten years.

Heck, the telephone isn't like the telephone any more. Look at what we accept as "good quality" in a cell phone call compared to POTS.

Ok.

If you don't like your job, quit.

I'm a fed and work 3 days in the office over a 2-week pay period in our Washington DC HQ. I could do as little as 2 days total with no special approvals. Our division works *hard* and has continued to do so over the pandemic. But DC is semi unique in that the home-rule government fought tooth and nail to keep workers out of the offices (it seems).

At this point I'd guess about 20% of our workforce remote works full time, some have moved to the west coast and all points in-between. I probably will remote work when I'm down to my last 2 years of work, so in about 4-5 years. I get just as much done at home but save an hour commuting each way and $16 per day of commuting. I'm guessing many of the folks who'd resigned work in and around Richmond, VA.

quote:

trouble arranging childcare

If you're caring for your children then you're not teleworking.

Some jobs can be done at home, (My buddy is a software tech and has worked from home for years) but its killing my company. I work in the manufacturing plant, so funny how I could still come to work with a couple of thousand people and that was OK, but those in an office couldn't because it was too dangerous.

They have been sitting at home now for 2.5 years, and they are out of touch, not getting things done, have lost all sense of urgency, and worst of all managers sitting on their rears with nothing to do, so dreaming up all manner of off the charts DEI and PC woke BS to work on and attend. Some of us don't have that time, we are still working every day in the customer facility and trying to get things done.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

quote:

trouble arranging childcare

If you're caring for your children then you're not teleworking.

This is exactly right. I have called various places and the screaming crotch goblins in the background aggravate the piss outta me. Can't hear anything.

As to the quitters? Fine. Don't need ya. I'd be okay if even more state employees quit for whatever boohoo reason. The government; including state governments has become bloated and needs to be reduced. Maybe this will bring about more automation and help streamline redundant roles.

quote:

Originally posted by bionic218:
The fact that this pisses people off is hilarious.

Why you mad, bro?

Not mad. Disgusted is more like it.

Before Covid, none of these workers gave it a second thought. Now that several years of staying at home because of Covid hysteria, they think there is this new world 'paradigm" of all sorts of workers "needing to stay home" to suit their "lifestyle" and sensibilities.

Why stop there. Make all schooling from home on Zoom permanent for all the same reasons as work. Make all concerts, plays, operas, etc on Zoom permanently.

I suppose that I am too old school for my own good. Unless they request that you do something illegal on the job, you do as you are told. If you don’t like the employer policies, you have every right to not let the door hit you in the ass on the way out when you quit.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:

Not mad. Disgusted is more like it.

Before Covid, none of these workers gave it a second thought. Now that several years of staying at home because of Covid hysteria, they think there is this new world 'paradigm" of all sorts of workers "needing to stay home" to suit their "lifestyle" and sensibilities.

Why stop there. Make all schooling from home on Zoom permanent for all the same reasons as work. Make all concerts, plays, operas, etc on Zoom permanently.

Exactly. This is all a bunch of crap. This was caused by the Covid panic. The panic is over. Give them thirty days to show up for work or replace them. Better yet, find a way to eliminate that job.

If it can be done remotely, it will eventually be done offshore