Elon Musk Catch-All | Musk tries to bring down UK government

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rodoheel said:
I have no problem with downsizing federal government office space. What I have a problem with is a blanket policy of forcing every government worker (or the vast majority of them) back into full-time, in-person work, which is expressly intended to make working for the government less attractive.
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People came into the office before Covid. It seems like more and more companies are starting to encourage returning to the office, with some being a little more forceful, and I'd bet a good portion of that is performance based. When we went to work from home during Covid, there was a big jump in terminations of people who simply didn't have the self control to focus and perform at an acceptable level at home.
 
ZenMode said:
People came into the office before Covid. It seems like more and more companies are starting to encourage returning to the office, with some being a little more forceful, and I'd bet a good portion of that is performance based. When we went to work from home during Covid, there was a big jump in terminations of people who simply didn't have the self control to focus and perform at an acceptable level at home.
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And people worked remotely far before then as well. Especially in federal agencies. Heck, Judge Ginsburg on the DC Circuit used to work from his mansion out in the countryside somewhere that his clerks called "Monticello 2.0." I never saw it, but anyway.

It's sort of bizarre to simultaneously claim:

1. Government workers are useless bureaucrats who add nothing; and
2. They have to be in the office so they can be more productive.

These things just don't go together. They are not strictly speaking 100% contradictory but let's just say there's a tension there.

Anyway, it's on brand for you to start warbling about what private companies do, without a) any recognition of how the federal government's operations are not like private companies, for many good reasons and b) any knowledge of what remote employees do and why they are remote.

My brother has worked for a defense contractor for two decades. He has usually worked remotely, because his job is actually split between three locations (and possibly a fourth, as he's had some Space Force work come into his portfolio, about which I know nothing of course because TS). Making him "come into the office" is ludicrous. And while his employer is a defense contractor, the federal government provides direct funding for his department and there are liaisons within the government who have similarly distributed work responsibilities, if not more distributed.
 
ZenMode said:
People came into the office before Covid. It seems like more and more companies are starting to encourage returning to the office, with some being a little more forceful, and I'd bet a good portion of that is performance based. When we went to work from home during Covid, there was a big jump in terminations of people who simply didn't have the self control to focus and perform at an acceptable level at home.
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There is a widespread perception among employers that employees work harder and are more accountable when they work at a physical office location. I have never seen that backed up by data, and in fact I have seen studies that claim that workers are happier and more productive when given flexibility and the opportunity to work remotely.

But again: we don't have to speculate here. Vivek has said that he hopes requiring federal employees to work full-time in the office (not "encourage" them to return to the office) will cause them to quit. Vivek's goal is to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce, and that is the explicit purpose of requiring them to work in person all the time. It's not "performance based."
 
ZenMode said:
The company I work for had some difficulty getting people back in the office, but it eventually gets worked out. Many of our clients are bringing people back to the office. We implemented a work from home policy that is performance based. I don't necessarily mind full-time remote work as long as there is accountability. Accountability is often lacking in government jobs.

If they want to go to work from home, then get rid of the buildings or at least drastically scale back the on-site seats. Having a desk for each work from home employee is a waste.
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most of this office space is under a lease, it's not like they can simply stop paying for it.
 
rodoheel said:
I have no problem with downsizing federal government office space. What I have a problem with is a blanket policy of forcing every government worker (or the vast majority of them) back into full-time, in-person work, which is expressly intended to make working for the government less attractive.
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There are always outliers, but from what I've read hybrid, work at home, and shorter work weeks have all had very positive returns in productivity.
 
ZenMode said:
People came into the office before Covid.
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And how much of that was more a practice of "That's how we have always done it"?

Technology gives us greater and greater flexibility, don't get caught up in how it was done before.

My company has sites all around the world, in the past there was a lot of travel needed to do certain jobs. With technology increases that's probably dropped 90%, would you be willing to tell my boss that we should go back to flying overseas for meetings, instead of using Zoom? I'd appreciate it if you could convince him.
 
Mulberry Heel said:
... I will say one thing for right-wingers, they never, ever give up and they are incredibly tenacious and persistent. These people have been fighting the New Deal for nine decades now, have never really surrendered to it, and are now finally in a position to abolish most of it. Hell, there are even discussions of abolishing progressive reforms enacted by Teddy Roosevelt 120 years ago. They just don't stop. And unfortunately most Americans are clueless and just keep smiling and complacently saying "it surely won't be that bad, it wasn't last time."
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They've been fighting the Civil War for 21 decades!
 
TitanNC said:
My parents live off of their social security payments and Medicare covering most of their medical costs. They would still find a way to blame the godless Dems.
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That is sad but true no doubt
 
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