AkivaMCohen: Seriously, look at this nonsense. Apparently, federal office leases have a weird provision where the cost per square foot goes down the more people are physically there? The Federal Government's real estate costs are SUNK, Mitt. They don't vary based on in-office time.

Seriously, look at this nonsense. Apparently, federal office leases have a weird provision where the cost per square foot goes down the more people are physically there? The Federal Government's real estate costs are SUNK, Mitt. They don't vary based on in-office time.

amongst so many candidates for the dumbest shit I ever saw, this is the dumbest www.govexec.com/workforce/20...

In fact, it's the opposite - fewer people in-office means lower utility bills. It saves money. And it also allows the government to have a realistic understanding of how much office space it actually *needs*, so it can lease the right amount, or lease out unused space it owns.

Which brings us to that second highlight: No, the American people don't "deserve a federal workforce that is BOTH present and productive" - just one that's productive. Maybe I'm unique in this, but so long as the job gets done, I don't care where the fuck Bob in accounting has his desk.

Yes, there are some jobs that require *presence* in order to be productive; you can't be a remote janitor, or a remote teller, etc. But that varies by job, and a one-size fits all government mandate that everyone needs to be in-office a minimum of 60% of the time is not justifiable.

Just economically illiterate garbage

Additionally, this will lead to significant attrition in the government workforce, as workers have been working remotely on a regular basis for the past 4 years and see this (rightfully) as the removal of significant privileges and benefits and an increase in out-of-pocket spending for them!

I suspect that both of them see that as a benefit (although I think Manchin is probably more motivated by the economic impact to WV caused by fed employees not commuting in from MD/VA). Secondary effect: the ban on full telework will push agencies to shift more jobs from GS to contractor.

I'm guessing that he wants the focus more on the second part. He's saying that federal workers should be in the office because we all know those people aren't actually working unless they're in the office being supervised. (I know that isn't true about Feds. But he's pandering)

If you don't have someone "to monitor to see if people are doing their jobs" you've lost a whole level of middle managers that can't work remote. What about them Jerry!!!! Or I guess we could just cut those positions.............

If you think like a worker, government treating workers better is good not just because it's doing important work but because they're competing for you. If you think like a corporation, you'll experience it as the government competing against you.

Economically illiterate and stupid management practice. The tail (amount of office space) wags the dog (telework policies). Office workers everywhere are facing this idiotic "we have it, thus we must use it" management attitude.

Sadly it's not just senators who think that way. Where I work one of the "justifications" for making us come back (never directly stated but I've heard it from trusted people who were in meetings) was execs pissed off about the lease payments "being wasted" if people weren't in the office.

I also feel like the various federal unions would challenge (and quite possibly win) such laws.

California state workers went remote and a few trends emerged 1) workers became more productive 2) worker retention increased 3) it became markedly easier to fill vacant positions 4) applicants are much more qualified 5) Fixed operating costs went down Like this nonsense, California is...

also moaning about getting workers back in the office (well, at least the governor's office is) because wealthy donors who speculated on a bunch of commercial real estate aren't seeing the infinite growth that they assumed would always happen to them.

and what about field jobs, which are neither at the office nor remote but a secret third thing?

Also a proof that one-size-fits-all is asinine. We KEEP getting asked why our fieldwork vehicles don't get used in winter...we do CROP RESEARCH in IOWA, and there's nothing growing in fucking FEBRUARY!

Also this:

What's motivating Manchin is fed workers not moving to WV if they don't have to, and Romney, office building rents being crushed (along w/some feds not going to MA, in no small part due to housing costs). Instead of fixing those problems directly, they're just doing dumb shit like this.

This is not economic illiteracy. This is directly to benefit the people whose portfolios contain a ton of corporate real estate, including the places that many government offices lease from. It’s absolutely not stupidity. It’s to keep tax dollars going to shore up corporate property values.

A bunch of agencies are also already on “footprint reduction” mandates and are moving to spaces that literally can’t accommodate all employees at once. Love to optimize for contradictory mandates.

Why should anyone care where the work gets done? I never understand when people make this point.

Because often leaders lose their object permanence and stop believing that work is getting done unless they can actually see it being done

It's a combination of (a) hating the civil service to the point of Bitch Eating Crackers (en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bitch_e...), where *anything* they do is terrible and offensive because they're the ones doing it and (b) wanting to make the job as miserable as possible so people will quit

If it gets done in a place that has no labor protections, that’s a problem.

You should consider making your team come into the KUSK office every day.

How else do you think @kathryntewson.bsky.social brings me my coffee?

You don’t make @questauthority.bsky.social bring you fresh picked Kona beans each morning?

What a truly terrible management take, totally ignoring the amount of potential remote work unlocks by letting talented people who otherwise wouldn’t or couldn’t be move to DC join the federal workforce

I think that last bit is the key: others are assuming that "not present" MUST also mean "not productive."

My team is spread out over many time zones around the world. This is great in multiple ways: people get to live where they choose, we get access to a much larger talent pool, and there's coverage around the clock without having people "at work" during non-business hours. Everyone wins.

Given that a fair number of federal employees work in buildings that are not accessible to the public anyway, why would it matter to anyone? It’s not as if you could go to Bob’s desk even if you knew where it was.

And that a LOT of what we USED to do in-house is now contracted out to some legislator's failure of a brother-in-law's company ANYWAY, it's already done "remotely" (and less well)...

Mitt and Joe want to make the Beltway suck harder again

Yeah here in Finland they're actually cutting some office space from the local university because, well, the office staff is mostly working from home these days ANYWAYS.

A few months ago, I spoke to an extremely helpful IRS agent who was working from his home in West Virginia. I did not care that he was working remotely! I was just thrilled to speak to a person who helped me!

The IRS is something where I would care about them working at home. I would prefer that taxpayer data never transit any external network anywhere, let alone ending up on a machine in a worker's home. But yeah, I agree with you in general re: remote work.

I think they have extremely strict technical standards for security for those gigs. Or at least I hope so.

In 2019 I was at a fundraiser with Manchin. He asked me how to build a tech industry in WV and my answer was basically promote it as a remote work location. So what I’m saying is I guess that the man wouldn’t know a good idea if you said it right to his face.

"Make West Virginia a place where people want to live" conflicts with his stance of "Fuck West Virginia".

Maybe that is the actual motivation here. Make the people who work at West Virginia's numerous federal offices - over 20% of the workforce - actually live in West Virginia.

You didn’t let him finish his question. He meant, “How do we build a tech industry in WV, that kicks back a bunch of cash to my personal bank account?”

yup. that mofo has never done ANYTHING that didn't help line his own pockets. I wish I had keyed his suv when I got the chance lol

To do that he’d have to admit that internet infrastructure for everyone is a necessity and that is way too hifalutin.

I went to school in WV and have worked remotely since 2011 and you are 10,000% right. Low cost of living, beautiful scenery, reasonable housing prices - it'd be a choice destination. The local politics aren't great, but enough people would either look past that or not care at all

How do you find internet access and stability? That's one of the biggest concerns, I think. Visited there for college tours and phone service was spotty, at best. I imagine wiring up the state with true fiber is also a problem? Maybe cities are good/solid but how's rural access?

internet generally suuucks here. Unless you have optimum, all the other isp's range from garbage to tolerable. Good luck getting decent internet outta interstate adjacent towns too.

Thanks. Yeah, that's what I'd heard a bit ago. Was hoping maybe they made good updates with that earlier funding but...guess not. WV sounds ripe for community broadband (I only care cause WV is beautiful and I could see retiring there, but not with current state of their connectivity)

I haven't lived there in almost thirty years, so I can't really speak from experience there, but part of making WV a remote work destination would be funding the infrastructure to do exactly that, I would expect.

They had a plan but ran out of Fed covid money it appears. Seems short-sighted to not re-fund the plan to help WV move past the coal economy. www.fcc.gov/affordable-c...

Affordable Connectivity Program Consumer FAQwww.fcc.gov .ui-state-active a, .ui-state-active a:link, .ui-state-active a:visited { color: #FFFFFF !important; } .ui-state-hover, .ui-widget-content .ui-state-hover, .ui-widget-header .ui-state-hover { backgrou...

Speaking as a member of one of WV's County Democratic Executive Committees .. I think you are 100% correct.

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