Posted on 02/15/2025 4:35:54 PM PST by ransomnote
Some need to win a coin flip to use a desk. Others say they’re killing time when workstations aren’t available.
As the Federal Emergency Management Agency prepared for its full workforce to report in person this month, it faced a situation many agencies are confronting as they scramble to comply with President Donald Trump’s return-to-office mandate: There weren’t enough workspaces for everyone.
As a result, employees would have to “share workstations on a rotating basis,” the agency announced in guidance shared with employees last week. The guidance, obtained by The Washington Post, stated: “Supervisors will resolve workplace availability conflicts using the following criteria in the order listed below.”
Topping the list was “full-time employment status,” followed by seniority and pay-scale criteria. But if none of those settled the conflict, supervisors were directed to turn to the sixth item on the list: “flip of a coin.”
This is the new reality some government employees are facing as they seek something as basic as a desk to work at.
SNIP
With the administration also working to terminate leases on federal offices nationwide, some agencies are already requiring most workers back.
SNIP
Her office has 14 working desks for 40 people, he said, so they take turns at the desks and spend the rest of the day killing time and chatting in the halls.
SNIP
To deal with overcrowding, the agency’s management barred full-time on-site contractors from using the garage. According to the employee, no exceptions were made for disabled contractors with handicap placards, many of whom are veterans.
SNIP
A DHS spokesperson said in a statement that the department’s parking policy “aligns with pre-pandemic guidelines, which did not permit contractor parking,” and that “this policy is being reintroduced to prioritize parking for federal employees.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Whoever is managing these offices has no clue. If you have 5,000 office workers you need 5,000 desks and computers. Or you work in shifts. That cuts the number of desks by 30%.
Where did their work stations go? Were they sold off? Were they ever used at all and never set up?
It seems WaPo is creating a crybaby scenario where we are supposed to feel sorry for them.
If there’s 40 work stations for 50 people, then fire 10 of them. It’s so simple, for the extra ten that never had a work station to begin with likely never did anything productive to begin with.
Now it looks like we are finding out where some of those millions of extra votes came from in 2020. At least some of the ones not taken from a tombstone.
How were they allowed to hire more people than there was space for?
The bureaucrats had questions upon going into the FEMA office:
1. “What the hell is this place?”
2. “What do people do here?”
3. “Which TV will The View be on?”
4. “DOGE isn’t scheduled to come here are they?”
“How were they allowed to hire more people than there was space for?”
Obviously they never planned to bring them into the office.
If you had a computer to work from home, you could bring that in to work on in the office.
If you don’t have a computer to use to work from home, you weren’t actually working from home, were you.
NYC congestion pricing: How much drivers will pay, exemptions, surcharges and more
Passenger vehicles would be charged $15, trucks would be charged anywhere from $24-$36 depending on size, and motorcycles would be charged $7.50
Working from home in a government job violates public records laws. Bigtime.
(But nobody seems to care....yet)
Most of the Federal offices in Washington have a Metro station within easy walking distance. DC traffic is a nightmare and the Metro is fast and affordable.
Not in my department. All the Feds in the department have to be in the office in Silver Spring, MD by Feb. 24.
(As a contractor, I don’t have to be back in the office. Yet.)
I managed parking spots for a Pentagon agency in 2010-2013 as one of my seven odd jobs. Of the 350-odd people...almost half were Metro-riders. At least in that era, there was no confusion, and no bickering about Metro (not sure about today).
Maybe we should move agencies to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Cut down on traffic, you know. Plus, maybe some yokels would want to street outlaw.
A government employee found an old brass lamp in a filing cabinet. When he dusted it off, a genie appeared and granted him three wishes.
“I’d love an ice-cold beer right now,” he told the genie.
Poof! A beer appeared.
Next, the man said, “I wish to be on an island, surrounded by beautiful and willing women.”
Poof! He was on an island with gorgeous women fawning all over him.
“Oh, man this is the life,” the guy thought. “I wish I never had to work again.”
And poof! He was back at his desk in the government office!
funny!
Musical chairs. If you are standing when the music stops, we don’t need you. Well,Bye!
RIFs might be the better solution.
I would guess some of that is gonna occur for one reason or another. I would be for that too.
I used to work at Navy DoD .. contractors used filed cabinets as desk and sharing cubicles was common. Office floor space used to be divided by CS rank believe it or not. Now it’s mandated at 150 square feet per person in New facilities.
Here’s an example of stupidity:
https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/forms/dd/dd1450.pdf
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.