Telework

This was my last week of telework, aka working from home. Our agency, at the direction of the Felon in Chief, has banned it. Tomorrow, I return to full time in the office.

During the pandemic, my small Agency went to full time telework for about two years and then moved to a hybrid model, with a requirement of once a week in office. My shop went in on Wednesdays.

The five years of telework were the best days of my career. Without the ninety minute commute to downtown DC, I was able to sleep later and still get to work on time. Without the ninety minute commute home, I was able to spend more time with my family and get projects done around the house. Most days, I went back online after 10PM to work more and prepare for the following day. It was quiet and relaxing.

All those benefits are gone, because we're led by an old, dementia-addled, tin-pot dictator who can't imagine not seeing his minions lined up in offices, away from their homes and families. Because he and his band of traitors want dedicated, professional public servants to quit the government to make it easier for the oligarchs to privatize government services for their own profit. 

The conservative "argument" against telework is that you can't tell if people are actually working. This is, of course, bullshit. You're a pretty poor manager if you can't determine whether or not people are finishing their work. You can have Teams or Zoom meetings to talk face to face and judge progress. The idea that teleworking employees aren't doing their jobs is shown false by years of practical examples of people getting things done. During the last five years, my small team went through the busiest time in our history, and had no issues. We crushed it because a good work/life balance is healthier and improves morale.

The Administration is trying to downsize the government footprint by cancelling building leases under the lie of cost savings. What's more cost-saving than hundreds of thousands of workers working from home, providing free office space? This impacts me directly, as we've just been notified that our lease was cancelled and we have to fit hundreds of staff in a smaller building without enough offices. It's going to cause chaos and inefficiency. Continued telework would be ideal to reduce the footprint, but they want people to quit. The cruelty is the point.

My life is about to get substantially more inconvenient and less efficient. 

I'm trying to keep perspective as at least I still have a job. The real issue is with the firing of thousands of dedicated, professional, smart and experienced civil servants. Not only are their lives already more frightening and difficult, but their firing will have consequences for the economy, the job market, public health and safety, and government assistance for millions of Americans. Some MAGA are finally starting to realize that.

When government is being deliberately broken, all of us will suffer.

So long telework, you were awesome.