Twitchy- The Covid pandemic started about five years ago, and the government adjusted accordingly when it comes to remote work, and it appears that many agencies don’t want to return to normal. The Social Security Administration among them. As a matter of fact, the SSA recently extended their telework policy:
The Social Security Administration and its largest union last week finalized a deal to instill the agency’s current telework policy in the parties union contract until at least 2029, roiling Republicans intent on ending the practice.
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Field office workers are allowed two days of telework per week, while most Office of Hearings Operations employees work between three and four days per week from home. Remote workers make up 1.3% of the agency’s workforce. more here
I’ve been working for the same gubmint contractor for 18 years. The past 12 years 100% remotely. I’ve gotten stellar yearly reviews the entire time. I’m a systems analyst and build, modify, and maintain a plethora of automated data engineering systems. Working in a office wouldn’t help me do my job better one bit, and here’s why:
— Showering, dressing up, and commuting sucks. Whereas it takes 90 minutes from pillow to office seat in the morning for office work, I go from pillow to work in 15 minutes with remote work. This gives me more hours to work and quicker reaction time to emergencies.
— At the office, I’d get interrupted ten times per day by assholes too lazy to read the fucking manual or simply trying to get me to do their job for them by masking it as a technical query. At home, most of those queries are IMed which allows me to manage my work hours better and ignore requests that are inappropriate freeloading.
— I curse like a Marine. No one likes being around me in an office. And, for the most part, the feeling is mutual.
— I am independently motivated to do my job. I don’t need some asshole breathing down my neck to get my job done. I fact, the last asshole who tried that lost their job because they drove me off and their department productivity dropped to near zero.
Not everyone is built for remote work. Some people are lazy. Some are not smart enough to function with out a nearby colleague to use as an intellectual or emotional crutch. That ain’t me.
8 billion to maintain and 7 billion to heat these offices. Shut them down and sell them. Save the taxpayers 15 billion in taxes.
I’m retired HR. IN CONCEPT, I like work-from-home. In practice, it has several problems. First is the difficulty of measuring productivity. Second, is monitoring the quality of work being performed. Then there are questions when the workers claim overtime is required. There are also a lot of peripheral questions. Can a supervisor visit a worker in his home? What about OSHA issues? Is the employer required to buy lights, desks, and chairs that are OSHA compliant? What about work-place injuries when the workplace is the home? What about other equipment aka computers and internet? Standardized computers, sure, but will tech support have to make “house calls?” Then there is the argument about the synergy of employees working together: can you build a team out of people who meet once a week st most?
There are a lot of factors, but like TheMule I find that when I work remote for an employer I can be more responsive, more efficient, and get more done. But a manager would definitely need to establish and monitor metrics to ensure that is the case. It absolutely creates an environment that slackers can take advantage of if there is no management keeping an eye on their productivity. To speak nothing of team morale, mission focus, and drive – if you own a company and want it to grow, remote may be fine for support functions but not for the core business. Person to person contact is important.
Lokki, you left out OSHA in the bedroom.
Back in the early 2000s I worked from home for my Pastor’s start-up company providing Websites for Missionaries. I developed our company website and helped with formatting some of the Website choices for the Missionaries (about 10 different styles). I also maintained the contacts with the Missionaries when they were in need of help.
When he told me that we’d be working from home, I thought about how I would do … would I take advantage of the lack of oversite or would I work my butt off?
Turns out, I worked my butt off. Put in 10-12 hours/day.
The first time I emailed my supervisor in the computer programming section about 2am when I woke up thinking I had an answer to a problem we were having, he emailed back right away by saying, “What are you doing up?” and I replied to him with the same question! We laughed and got the problem solved. Did that several more times in the two years we tried to make the company go. It only failed because, at the time, Missionaries didn’t want to put their newsletters online or collect donations online. So, unfortunately, we were about 10 years ahead of the market.
Anyway, work from home CAN be super productive and a cost saver for the employer (my salary stayed the same no matter how much time I put in, so I was actually making about $5-7/hour!).
I doubt people who are working for the government put very much effort into their work.
Team synergy – there was a Canada firm that had employees all over the globe, and they got along great using the various meeting & sharing tools available. As for metrics, if the work is so obscure that you can’t tell if something is being done without standing over their shoulder, then you need to revisit your metrics or the tools you are using…or the managers who are using/misusing said tools. I see lazy workers mentioned way more often than lazy management, but I have seen enough cases to think it should be addressed as well.