• logicbomb@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Okay, I had heard most of the rest of the GOP’s moronic plans, but telework restrictions? From the article, the telework part:

    If Republicans are able to pass their FSGG bill, it would require federal employees to work in the office at least as much as they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. “Instead of ‘leading by example’ in the construction of sustainable buildings, [the General Services Administration] should lead by example by bringing their employees back to the office, like the private sector,” Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., the bill’s author, said on the House floor on Wednesday. “We must hold the federal workforce accountable for the quality of their work and the service they provide to the American people.”

    Is there any evidence that telework reduces the quality of the work? How does the GOP consistently empower the dumbest people?

    • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Is there any evidence that telework reduces the quality of the work?

      No, no there is not.

      Edit: I’ve been working from home ever since the pandemic started, and my performance has never suffered.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I work a hybrid schedule and I’m more productive at home than in the office. Because I’m more comfortable.

        • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Same, when I do go to the office, people are always talking and moving around. It makes it much harder to concentrate too when people can just stop by your desk.

        • zurohki@aussie.zone
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          10 months ago

          There’s some tasks I just don’t even attempt in the office. I know there’s no way the people around me will shut up and let me concentrate.

    • duckCityComplex@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I would think it would also increase costs on the agency.

      This is pure old-person “butts in seats == productivity” mentality.

      • DontMakeMoreBabies@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        The amount of time people spend socializing in my office about non work is just batshit insane. It seems like an hour or two every day for a good number of folks is just ‘social monkey time.’

        I’ve learned to chit chat and play the game because otherwise you have issues but goddamn it’s an unnecessary time sink that must impact productivity.

      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I will argue that office work provides some advantages over WFH. I do NOT think those advantages outweigh the benefits of WFH, but pretending those advantages don’t exist is simply false.

        One example; I’m in the office for whatever reason, and there were a couple of others from different teams there.

        Shooting the bull with the tech support manager led me to understand a few things I didn’t know or wildly misunderstood.

        Sitting at my desk and one tech starts talking to another about $project. “Hold up guys! This is something my team has been questioning or misunderstanding!” Turns out, they were misunderstanding our take as well.

        And of course there’s much to be said about team building and camaraderie. I’ve if got 2 people wanting 2 things of equal priority from me, I’m helping the person I know first. It’s just human nature.

        Having said all that, other tech firms would poach 2/3rds of our staff if we mandated a return to office. Also, we’ve saved a pile of money, both for the company and personally.

        • divineslayer@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          For me, the only thing I’m really missing is white boarding. I have yet to find an online white boarding tool that can get close to the real deal.

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      First, they hate Federal employees on general principles. Not only are most government employees unionized, if they actually do their jobs they undermine the idea that private industry is always the better option. Next, construction companies are big donors, so they want more government buildings. And yes, more buildings and few employees seems like a dumb idea, but hey, banning Roe v. Wade has incresed abortions and no GOP is talking about that!

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      “Instead of ‘leading by example’ in the construction of sustainable buildings, [the General Services Administration] should lead by example by bringing their employees back to the office, like the private sector,”

      People who claim they don’t like government waste saying the government should be more wasteful.

      • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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        10 months ago

        People who claim they don’t like government waste saying the government should be more wasteful.

        That’s the purpose. Get people to hate wasteful government spending to make the government smaller.

  • foggy@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    WTF does Senate give a fuck about where an employee sits and why?

    Oh, right corporate real estate.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        It doesn’t.

        I presume there are banks putting pressure on corporations to lobby government right now. Government seems very detached from where I sit as an employee.

        Banks are hurting from WFH. Over 800 Billion in corporate real estate is at stake. So, if e.g. Amazon wants another server farm, Wells Fargo is saying “Here’s the price, bitch. Want that to change? You know what you gotta do.”

        Now Amazon needs to have it’s HR, legal team and lobbyists focus on creative ways to get the employees back into the offices to save as much of that 800T for big daddy banker as possible. First, the companies did their part in laying off thousands, rehiring on site only, for less money. Now theyve gotta be pulling strings for government to be joining this conversation. There’s… No other decent reason.

        Alternative: these corporations make charitable donations to the cities they have real estate in, under the condition the area be rezoned for low income housing, and that their properties be renovated for that purpose.

        😲 Almost like CEOs are supposed to be good at allocating resources.

        This would be a tax write-off, and removing a massive monthly expensive from the budget. It’d help the banks gain purpose from their failing 800T corporate real estate investments. It’d free up their (e.g. Amazon) legal teams and lobbyists. Only problem is it’d help the poors, I guess.

    • Madison420@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Because billionaires do, what’s the point of being a boss if you can’t lorde over your “lesser”.

  • Melkath@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    Telework is cheaper for all involved. Leave it to Republicans to propose something that increases expense while claiming it reduces expense.

    • Neato@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      Making workers poor, tired, and too stressed to ever consider organizing or politics is the goal. They want everyone on the brink of a breakdown. This also increases violence as people do break down. Which helps republicans push for more of a police state.

  • TheaoneAndOnly27@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    It seems to me Republicans will find any way to get people out of any sort of government funded or public positions. They know that many people from the public sector will quit and go to the private sector if they’re not allowed to work from home. This is just more and more bullshit to fuck over workers, and fuck over the American people at the same time.

    • Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Well it is a Republican held congress. I thought their motto was “It isn’t worth doing unless you are fucking some underling over.”

      • logicbomb@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I thought their motto was “It isn’t worth doing unless you are fucking some underling over.”

        “The cruelty IS the point.”

    • Alto@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      Well yeah, they want then to quit so they can replace significant parts of the government on every level with MAGA cult members

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Republicans hate government, and it’s easy to understand. Think on this; Who would you likely find more frustrating to deal with? Government or a business?

      Private enterprise will often bend the rules to make customers happy. Government doesn’t do that, can’t do that. They have laws to abide by, no matter who it pisses off.

      Conservatives see “following the rules” as an encroachment on their freedom. For example; I just got back from getting our marriage certificate. What business is my marriage to the government? Why I gotta pay $86 and fill out a bunch of paperwork, in person? Sure feels like I’m “applying” for permission to marry the women I love.

      I might talk a bank manager into reversing an overdraft fee, but there is ZERO chance of getting such a concession from a government office.

      So I get the feeling, but they’re conflating two very different groups with very different purposes.

      Ever heard 'em say government should be run like business? The frustration and ignorance regarding those two things is why they think that.