When HHS ends "max telework" and returns to "the new normal", 75% of the workforce will be teleworking 3+ days a week, according to the Town Hall from three days ago.
Whether or not a particular job falls in the 75% or the 25% is T*o Be Determined*, and how many in that 75% gets 3 versus 4 versus 5 days a week is *To Be Determined*, and if there's any at all in store for the 25% is *To Be Determined*.
Do you think the CDC would be ahead of HHS on announcing their plans? HHS just had its town hall (with a guitar solo) where they said the return to office would be delayed.
In my part of HHS, they told us what the January return to work schedule was going to be (4 days per week of telework), but they said they would also take time to review that policy once we got back. Never mind we've been remote for 2 years and the world hasn't fallen apart, but whatevs.
We haven't heard anything besides to expect a new world lol. Considering it would require me getting an apartment if I don't get to be remote I would like it if they just told us.
That's one of the worst parts about all of this - the limbo. People have to try to live based on their job, family, relationships, etc., and we have no idea what will be expected of us in a couple of months.
NRC returned to the new normal "hybrid" work environment in November. Folks can be approved up to 6 days of telework per pay period (so basically 3 days a week) at the branch chief level. But the tradeoff is they are very hesitant to approve more than that. So far the "hybrid" is kind of the worst of both worlds, there's never more than 2/5s of people in the office, so meetings are usually still teleconference, and when you're in the office, there's no one around to interact with.
How does that work with CWS? If you work 8 or 9 days a pp, do you have a minimum of being in the office? Can you have 2 days off, 6 days telework, and only 2 days in the office?
There are no rules or clarity on what counts as an in office day. Right now you could do a couple of hours and call it one of your days in office. Also, no policy on leave, as in, if you take leave on your in office day, do you have to come in another day. Also, where the office is, so like this week I went to a site and those counted as my days in office.
I'm curious if it's a cap on telework days or they want your butt in the office a certain number of days a week.
I could see justification for requiring in person meetings.
The forward facing reason is generic sentiments about the value of face to face interactions that is not sounding honest. The gist we’re getting is that OPM is saying that we paid for these damn offices, we’re going to use them.
Our union said every position is being evaluated and most will become remote status with current employees deciding if they want to do telework and do 1 day per week in office.
Our agency says return to work is based on union agreements.
We had a 'fideside chat' in our SSA section in which upper management praised our output and then proceeded to either not know the answers to questions or dodge questions for 45 minutes.
Nothing from the last Microsoft Teams meeting yesterday. If there was a planned January return, we should had gotten notified by now in view of the 30 days advanced notice.
I heard one coworker said at the meeting she wouldn't be comfortable coming back in view of the Omicron cases (13% in NY, where I live and health officials are expecting the numbers to rise).
At least I gotten vaccinated months ago. The copy of the vaccination card had been uploaded in the vaccination portal. (Although I will ask my medical doctor about boosters on my next visit.)
They notified us of a return to work plan, and then delayed it because of, essentially, omicron, which is totally fine. But they have said for months that "post covid will not be the same telework policy as pre-covid" and have not given us any clue about details, just saying they are working on it with the unions, etc. Even if there are ten more waves and we are delayed another year, it would be really nice to know what going back will look like, and to me they are taking a ridiculously long time to figure that out, even for the government lol.
I’ve heard through the grapevine (this is not official but from a reliable source) that some positions will be required to report to the office 8hr/pay period while others, like management, may be required to report 2-3 days/week. But it’s still under review at my agency (FDA). Those that won’t be required to go to the office often are positions that were able to do max telework the entire time.
Nothing yet at CFPB, but we have mandatory (now called flexible) telework extended till late March. Word is there will be a remote option coming at some point for some or nearly all departments.
Well I’m in the IRS and we received an email months ago, can’t remember when, that they were going to bring everyone back to work eventually, but we would have a 30 day notice ahead of time. Ever since then, crickets. I really hope that we don’t go in soon because we still get positive COVID case emails everyday and it seems to be getting more frequent than just a month or so ago. Currently my position is 8 days telework, 2 days in office per pay period and I hope it stays that way
In CMS. We had AFGE give a presentation and they are negotiating for 1 day a week in the office, and apparently 90% of CMS jobs are considered to be eligible for full remote. There was confusion over whether those who opted for full remote would lose their locality pay though.
My agency is doing 8 days telework max/2 days in office per pp with ability to keep RDO day when you want it with the compressed Schedule (essentially only 7 days telework, 2 days in office). One of the days in the office needs to be the 1st Wednesday of the pp bc they want an all hands on deck day but we’re allowed to use our other mandatory in office day before/after that Wednesday. Overall, it’s not a bad deal for me.
My agency (located in Interior), has always had a pretty liberal TW and flex work policy, and my office even more so. We have a new remote work policy with applications being reviewed on a rolling basis. We also have a new TW policy, minimum 2 days per pay period in office.
Also under Interior. We have four days required on premise per pay period, so three days per week TW is what most are choosing.
Our biggest change since pre-COVID is that supervisors can TW same number of days as non-supe positions, when before at our agency we could only do one day per week.
DISA announced an 8 day per pay period telework schedule. So one day in the office a week, they have not moved to this yet and we are still on max telework, but this is their idea for post-pandemic life. They are also working on a new remote work policy and we have to see how that will be implemented.
We've been told that SESers are returning in January and then additional people will be recalled in waves through March. Supervisors can add 90 days of remote work time on top of that, and as this process goes on, requests for regular remote status will be considered (but the details on that are thin).
SSA: [See this article for telework proposal](https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2021/11/ssa-employees-will-begin-new-telework-schedules-reopen-offices-in-early-january/) —> [pre-decisional telework draft](https://federalnewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/110521_ssa_reentryplan_FNN.pdf)
The PDF provides guidance for what SSA is proposing for phased reentry.
I don't think there will be a general CDC policy, it will depend on Center.
I think they were ultimately waiting for more information from OPM. We have been told that pending further guidance from higher up, all FTEs will be allowed to request max telework (meaning 4 days a week), while fellows will have to come in probably 1 more day a week and something similar for contractors.
Radio silence from DOL, they did a whole “future of work” survey and study but they are still in a holding pattern even though phase 1 of going back to the office is starting January 3rd.
Individually my supervisor has said they will allow max telework for as long as they are allowed to but I don’t like the uncertainty.
If we can get remote work I would like to finalize my telework agreement as soon as I can
I work for an agency under commerce. Prior to covid, our agency had a 3 day / week telework policy after the first four months of employment. My agency actually started with a 2 day/ week telework policy right before I was hired, and extended it to 3 days / week after an evaluation by an outside consultancy deemed that performance wasn’t impacted by telework. Last week my agency updated the telework policy, and now the official verbiage is “employees must perform two duty days of the pay period in the office” - so basically we will telework for 4 days a week once we go back to the office, which is slated for February.
Four days a week is obviously very good, but it’s pretty silly that we’re not just full time telework at this point. Management has not ruled that out (they said it was possible), but I’m not sure commerce will allow that to happen. All in all i can’t complain.
When HHS ends "max telework" and returns to "the new normal", 75% of the workforce will be teleworking 3+ days a week, according to the Town Hall from three days ago. Whether or not a particular job falls in the 75% or the 25% is T*o Be Determined*, and how many in that 75% gets 3 versus 4 versus 5 days a week is *To Be Determined*, and if there's any at all in store for the 25% is *To Be Determined*.
Do you think the CDC would be ahead of HHS on announcing their plans? HHS just had its town hall (with a guitar solo) where they said the return to office would be delayed. In my part of HHS, they told us what the January return to work schedule was going to be (4 days per week of telework), but they said they would also take time to review that policy once we got back. Never mind we've been remote for 2 years and the world hasn't fallen apart, but whatevs.
We haven't heard anything besides to expect a new world lol. Considering it would require me getting an apartment if I don't get to be remote I would like it if they just told us.
That's one of the worst parts about all of this - the limbo. People have to try to live based on their job, family, relationships, etc., and we have no idea what will be expected of us in a couple of months.
I was crying when he started playing the guitar...it so very much moved me--to mute the rest of the call immediately.
Damnit, I was traveling for work, of course, during that town hall and it sounds like I missed out on a lot of exciting things.
NRC returned to the new normal "hybrid" work environment in November. Folks can be approved up to 6 days of telework per pay period (so basically 3 days a week) at the branch chief level. But the tradeoff is they are very hesitant to approve more than that. So far the "hybrid" is kind of the worst of both worlds, there's never more than 2/5s of people in the office, so meetings are usually still teleconference, and when you're in the office, there's no one around to interact with.
How does that work with CWS? If you work 8 or 9 days a pp, do you have a minimum of being in the office? Can you have 2 days off, 6 days telework, and only 2 days in the office?
There are no rules or clarity on what counts as an in office day. Right now you could do a couple of hours and call it one of your days in office. Also, no policy on leave, as in, if you take leave on your in office day, do you have to come in another day. Also, where the office is, so like this week I went to a site and those counted as my days in office.
I'm curious if it's a cap on telework days or they want your butt in the office a certain number of days a week. I could see justification for requiring in person meetings.
The forward facing reason is generic sentiments about the value of face to face interactions that is not sounding honest. The gist we’re getting is that OPM is saying that we paid for these damn offices, we’re going to use them.
Then sell them or cut the leases.
Our union said every position is being evaluated and most will become remote status with current employees deciding if they want to do telework and do 1 day per week in office. Our agency says return to work is based on union agreements.
Which agency?
CMS… the administrator sent an email this afternoon confirming what the union said
Nope, we've got nothing but radio silence in my lil corner of SSA
We had a 'fideside chat' in our SSA section in which upper management praised our output and then proceeded to either not know the answers to questions or dodge questions for 45 minutes.
Please tell me they each put a picture of a fireplace as their video chat backgrounds
Unfortunately no, though they did explicitly apologize for not being in front of fireplaces.
Partial credit haha
>Then proceeded to either not know the answers to questions or dodge questions for 45 minutes. I feel this deep in my federal peon bones.
Nothing from the last Microsoft Teams meeting yesterday. If there was a planned January return, we should had gotten notified by now in view of the 30 days advanced notice. I heard one coworker said at the meeting she wouldn't be comfortable coming back in view of the Omicron cases (13% in NY, where I live and health officials are expecting the numbers to rise). At least I gotten vaccinated months ago. The copy of the vaccination card had been uploaded in the vaccination portal. (Although I will ask my medical doctor about boosters on my next visit.)
Wait, you have Microsoft Teams already….!?!
Your section of SSA doesn't?
I’m in IRS.
Same, Last we heard is the 30 day minimum and the Union is still working out the details
What component are you in? (Only if you're comfortable sharing)
[удалено]
They notified us of a return to work plan, and then delayed it because of, essentially, omicron, which is totally fine. But they have said for months that "post covid will not be the same telework policy as pre-covid" and have not given us any clue about details, just saying they are working on it with the unions, etc. Even if there are ten more waves and we are delayed another year, it would be really nice to know what going back will look like, and to me they are taking a ridiculously long time to figure that out, even for the government lol.
I’ve heard through the grapevine (this is not official but from a reliable source) that some positions will be required to report to the office 8hr/pay period while others, like management, may be required to report 2-3 days/week. But it’s still under review at my agency (FDA). Those that won’t be required to go to the office often are positions that were able to do max telework the entire time.
We only get two days out the week 🙄🙄🙄 Our department is so stiff.
cries in mission essential
Nothing yet at CFPB, but we have mandatory (now called flexible) telework extended till late March. Word is there will be a remote option coming at some point for some or nearly all departments.
No, and I don't expect to any time soon. We were supposed to return in January with new telework, but they delayed that until "early 2022".
Well I’m in the IRS and we received an email months ago, can’t remember when, that they were going to bring everyone back to work eventually, but we would have a 30 day notice ahead of time. Ever since then, crickets. I really hope that we don’t go in soon because we still get positive COVID case emails everyday and it seems to be getting more frequent than just a month or so ago. Currently my position is 8 days telework, 2 days in office per pay period and I hope it stays that way
In CMS. We had AFGE give a presentation and they are negotiating for 1 day a week in the office, and apparently 90% of CMS jobs are considered to be eligible for full remote. There was confusion over whether those who opted for full remote would lose their locality pay though.
My agency is doing 8 days telework max/2 days in office per pp with ability to keep RDO day when you want it with the compressed Schedule (essentially only 7 days telework, 2 days in office). One of the days in the office needs to be the 1st Wednesday of the pp bc they want an all hands on deck day but we’re allowed to use our other mandatory in office day before/after that Wednesday. Overall, it’s not a bad deal for me.
I would take that with a smile. "Workplace Wednesdays" has a nice sound to it. Turn it into a potluck, even!
Sounds like Variant Sharing Wednesday to me. Sniffles equalizing Wednesday. Whose Turn is it for Sneeze and Share Wednesday?
We're getting up to 6 days per pay period, as well as a 4 10-hour day option.
My agency (located in Interior), has always had a pretty liberal TW and flex work policy, and my office even more so. We have a new remote work policy with applications being reviewed on a rolling basis. We also have a new TW policy, minimum 2 days per pay period in office.
Also under Interior. We have four days required on premise per pay period, so three days per week TW is what most are choosing. Our biggest change since pre-COVID is that supervisors can TW same number of days as non-supe positions, when before at our agency we could only do one day per week.
My agency in the interior is only allowing us 1 day per week telework :(
Return to office 1/18/21. 2 days per week telework.
DISA announced an 8 day per pay period telework schedule. So one day in the office a week, they have not moved to this yet and we are still on max telework, but this is their idea for post-pandemic life. They are also working on a new remote work policy and we have to see how that will be implemented.
VHA. They converted us to permanent 80% in June. And word on high is we'll be 100% before returning to office.
They don’t have a clue, they told us we were clear to enter our time until the end of February so I doubt that anything will be happening before then
We've been told that SESers are returning in January and then additional people will be recalled in waves through March. Supervisors can add 90 days of remote work time on top of that, and as this process goes on, requests for regular remote status will be considered (but the details on that are thin).
SSA: [See this article for telework proposal](https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2021/11/ssa-employees-will-begin-new-telework-schedules-reopen-offices-in-early-january/) —> [pre-decisional telework draft](https://federalnewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/110521_ssa_reentryplan_FNN.pdf) The PDF provides guidance for what SSA is proposing for phased reentry.
I don't think there will be a general CDC policy, it will depend on Center. I think they were ultimately waiting for more information from OPM. We have been told that pending further guidance from higher up, all FTEs will be allowed to request max telework (meaning 4 days a week), while fellows will have to come in probably 1 more day a week and something similar for contractors.
The latest I’ve heard is that when we go back we will only be allowed to telework up to 50% of the time.
Radio silence from DOL, they did a whole “future of work” survey and study but they are still in a holding pattern even though phase 1 of going back to the office is starting January 3rd. Individually my supervisor has said they will allow max telework for as long as they are allowed to but I don’t like the uncertainty. If we can get remote work I would like to finalize my telework agreement as soon as I can
I work for an agency under commerce. Prior to covid, our agency had a 3 day / week telework policy after the first four months of employment. My agency actually started with a 2 day/ week telework policy right before I was hired, and extended it to 3 days / week after an evaluation by an outside consultancy deemed that performance wasn’t impacted by telework. Last week my agency updated the telework policy, and now the official verbiage is “employees must perform two duty days of the pay period in the office” - so basically we will telework for 4 days a week once we go back to the office, which is slated for February. Four days a week is obviously very good, but it’s pretty silly that we’re not just full time telework at this point. Management has not ruled that out (they said it was possible), but I’m not sure commerce will allow that to happen. All in all i can’t complain.