MeganC...
Just me, but if someone works remote and does his job exactly what is being accomplished by making him do the same work at an office?
There are clearly many with negative mindsets regarding federal government workers. Like all work forces, there are people that are highly productive, and there are folks looking to do as little as possible. Unfortunately, Trump has been convinced that all federal workers do nothing. This is not true.
I am married to a federal worker, and her normal week is about 60 hours. Her position has a fair amount of stress, and she is expected to produce as a physician. Long before COVID, she was working 2 days each week from home. With COVID, much of the federal workforce went to five days working at home.
Fact is, there is a trend of people working from home starting around 1990. It has continued to grow. Why? Because the cost of working five days per week in a brick and mortar facility was costly. The government just like for profit organizations began having their workforce work from home to SAVE MONEY.
The federal government will end up spending BILLIONS for buildings they are not paying for right now. I know for fact that one agency surrendered many buildings in the Atlanta area, and they no longer have space in buildings for their workforce to work 5 days per week. I suspect this 5 days per week is to drive more people out of the federal government. Once they are scared off, there will be a return to working as they did pre pandemic, working from home 2-3 days per week.
Fact is, the approach Trump is using will be very damaging to productivity levels in the federal workforce. Bottomline, people happy in their job are more productive. People made miserable,, the opposite is true. The angst Trump is dishing out will have just the opposite of what anyone interested in improving cost and productivity would have.
To answer your question, the attack on the workforce is unnecessary and stupid.
Trump in one breath claims he wants the best of the best working for the federal government. Given a choice between working 5 days per week in an office building requiring one to drive 1-2 hours each way to work versus working 2-5 days from home, what do you think the best of the best would select? I have a lot of friends that work in for profit organizations, working 5 days each week from home. No way will they return to 5 days in the office. Who wants to spend 2 hours driving each way to work? Paying for the expense related to the car, parking, etc. Those days are history, but not for Trumpland.
There are all kinds of idiocy, there is the Biden/Harris form, out right idiocy, then there is the vindictive nonsense Trump is shoveling. The best of the best will leave. Trump will be left with more deadheads than ever. And for the person that thinks the unions will be adversely affected, not so much. Union workers, some 800,000 of the 2.4 million will largely be protected. The folks Trump will furlough will be non union folks who are less than 3 years in service or are temporary employees.
If Trump was about saving money, and he is not, resoundingly not, he would eliminate the majority of the contractors working for the federal government. No civil service protections, and they actually cost more than the employees. Eliminate the 7 million contractors, would force the full time federal employees to pick up the workload. The dead heads who do not want to work will leave, creating the lean workforce you would think he would want.
And no judge will step in and halt the effort of eliminating the contractors, THREE TIMES the numbers of employees.
