Government employee thread! (Being a government employee is sweet) (3 Viewers)

[3C's]

"Staffers have been told to expect deep job cuts among the agency's approximately 12,000 employees and the closure of many of its offices around the U.S., the sources said. Those employees who remain are being warned to expect their actions to be surveilled, from their swipes into government facilities to the keystrokes they type on their computers."

This is pretty standard in the tech industry in terms of the monitoring.

I've been in the tech industry for over 40 years and it is not standard anywhere I've been.

 

[Joe Schmo]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

 

[belljr]

Scripps - Fewer government employees accepted President Donald Trump’s buyout offer than the administration had hoped. Scripps News learned on Thursday that 75,000 federal employees agreed to the buyouts, which would allow them to leave their jobs, but continue to get paid through the end of September.

The White House had originally estimated that 5% to 10% of workers would accept the buyouts. Ultimately, it was less than 4% of workers who agreed to the offer.

Fwiw, 4% is more than I expected.

My prediction is 10%+ and then victory will be claimed and the chaos will begin to recede.

Four primary sources: 1) buyouts, 2) probationary employees, 3) so-called non-performers (1/20/25 EO for "restoring merit") and 4) elimination of certain agencies (e.g. DoEd, USAID, DEI, etc).

Seems like diminishing returns after that with little upside

I hope so

 

[3C's]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

How much of that "work" is trolling on Twitt..er, X?

 

[Joe Schmo]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

How much of that "work" is trolling on Twitt..er, X?

Ha, and if his employees did same, and he found out by checking keystrokes, I can guess they'd be canned with a quickness. It's good to be king.

 

[dgreen]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

 

[djmich]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

Thats not the case at some level, right? If there are a bunch of federal employees making $125k+ of total compensation who can't by law work more than 40hrs then that's a huge disconnect vs market.

 

[Joe Schmo]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

With the downsizing taking place I'd imagine workloads may increase so something will have to give. Unless there truly was that much significant bloat and overlap in which case good for everybody but the downsized.

 

[belljr]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

Our group has options but it definitely needs to be pre-approved.....there are certain "emergency" circumstances that require additional hours but they will get approved after the fact based on the original request. There's a bunch of other stuff built into that, but that's the gist of it

 

[Bob Sacamano]

"Staffers have been told to expect deep job cuts among the agency's approximately 12,000 employees and the closure of many of its offices around the U.S., the sources said. Those employees who remain are being warned to expect their actions to be surveilled, from their swipes into government facilities to the keystrokes they type on their computers."

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/nx-s1-5293258/trump-gsa-budget-cuts-doge

We’ve been telling employees for many years to always act like their computers are being monitored. That usually is in the context of criminal or unethical behaviors but this isn’t really new. There’s no reasonable expectation of privacy. Of course the difference is whether people will monitor the precise amount of work or care if they take short breaks to check email, Facebook, etc.

Everyone should behave this way, regardless of employer.

 

[FarFromHome]

In the agencies I have worked for there is no overtime allowed. Until there is. Ha ha

 

[Sleestak]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

Thats not the case at some level, right? If there are a bunch of federal employees making $125k+ of total compensation who can't by law work more than 40hrs then that's a huge disconnect vs market.

I know lots of GS-15 Feds who work way more than 40. They just put 40 on their timecard.

 

[Joe Schmo]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

Thats not the case at some level, right? If there are a bunch of federal employees making $125k+ of total compensation who can't by law work more than 40hrs then that's a huge disconnect vs market.

I know lots of GS-15 Feds who work way more than 40. They just put 40 on their timecard.

That's nuts, why work for free??

 

[Joe Schmo]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

Thats not the case at some level, right? If there are a bunch of federal employees making $125k+ of total compensation who can't by law work more than 40hrs then that's a huge disconnect vs market.

I know lots of GS-15 Feds who work way more than 40. They just put 40 on their timecard.

Let me rephrase- Are they entitled to OT if they go over 40?

 

[belljr]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

Thats not the case at some level, right? If there are a bunch of federal employees making $125k+ of total compensation who can't by law work more than 40hrs then that's a huge disconnect vs market.

I know lots of GS-15 Feds who work way more than 40. They just put 40 on their timecard.

I think 15 is the level that they can work more than 40 uncompensated

 

[Sleestak]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

Thats not the case at some level, right? If there are a bunch of federal employees making $125k+ of total compensation who can't by law work more than 40hrs then that's a huge disconnect vs market.

I know lots of GS-15 Feds who work way more than 40. They just put 40 on their timecard.

Let me rephrase- Are they entitled to OT if they go over 40?

No. They are pay capped. The best they can do is accrue up to 24 "credit hours". Credit hours are a small slush fund. You can only earn or burn 9 hours in a pay period.

They just care about the work, and work until it is done. They don't charge.

Personally, I don't "donate" at nearly their level. But I do/have in the past. Not currently.

 

[belljr]

a GS-15 federal employee is generally not eligible for overtime pay because they are considered exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA),

 

[dgreen]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

Thats not the case at some level, right? If there are a bunch of federal employees making $125k+ of total compensation who can't by law work more than 40hrs then that's a huge disconnect vs market.

Right. At some level, OT isn’t a thing and people can go over 40 without approval and without compensation.

 

[Judge Smails]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

Thats not the case at some level, right? If there are a bunch of federal employees making $125k+ of total compensation who can't by law work more than 40hrs then that's a huge disconnect vs market.

I know lots of GS-15 Feds who work way more than 40. They just put 40 on their timecard.

That's nuts, why work for free??

This mindset is the huge difference between govt and private workers.

 

[Joe Schmo]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

Thats not the case at some level, right? If there are a bunch of federal employees making $125k+ of total compensation who can't by law work more than 40hrs then that's a huge disconnect vs market.

I know lots of GS-15 Feds who work way more than 40. They just put 40 on their timecard.

That's nuts, why work for free??

This mindset is the huge difference between govt and private workers.

Depends, if any employee is entitled to oT then damn straight they should log their full hours and get paid for them. If, however, they are straight salaried and compensated for their position then do what needs to get done no matter how long it takes. My comment refers to the former.

 

[Joe Schmo]

I will never donate my time to my employer if I am owed for my work, that's not happening.

 

[Capella]

Scripps - Fewer government employees accepted President Donald Trump’s buyout offer than the administration had hoped. Scripps News learned on Thursday that 75,000 federal employees agreed to the buyouts, which would allow them to leave their jobs, but continue to get paid through the end of September.

The White House had originally estimated that 5% to 10% of workers would accept the buyouts. Ultimately, it was less than 4% of workers who agreed to the offer.

Fwiw, 4% is more than I expected.

My prediction is 10%+ and then victory will be claimed and the chaos will begin to recede.

Four primary sources: 1) buyouts, 2) probationary employees, 3) so-called non-performers (1/20/25 EO for "restoring merit") and 4) elimination of certain agencies (e.g. DoEd, USAID, DEI, etc).

Seems like diminishing returns after that with little upside

I hope so, but have to admit that sounds optimistic to me. Weren’t they saying they wanted 40-50% gone? Or do you just think that’s bluster?

 

[djmich]

Scripps - Fewer government employees accepted President Donald Trump’s buyout offer than the administration had hoped. Scripps News learned on Thursday that 75,000 federal employees agreed to the buyouts, which would allow them to leave their jobs, but continue to get paid through the end of September.

The White House had originally estimated that 5% to 10% of workers would accept the buyouts. Ultimately, it was less than 4% of workers who agreed to the offer.

Fwiw, 4% is more than I expected.

My prediction is 10%+ and then victory will be claimed and the chaos will begin to recede.

Four primary sources: 1) buyouts, 2) probationary employees, 3) so-called non-performers (1/20/25 EO for "restoring merit") and 4) elimination of certain agencies (e.g. DoEd, USAID, DEI, etc).

Seems like diminishing returns after that with little upside

I hope so, but have to admit that sounds optimistic to me. Weren’t they saying they wanted 40-50% gone? Or do you just think that’s bluster?

They may "want" it, but imo it was always bluster, certainly in the short term.

 

[djmich]

I will never donate my time to my employer if I am owed for my work, that's not happening.

For sure, why not get paid for something you're entitled to. I think whats confusing to private sector folks like me is at what level public employees get paid for "extra" that wouldn't be paid for in the private sector. So, if you're a marketing manager at a private company making $125k...you're not on a clock and a lot of employers aren't looking for someone who checks in and out 9-5 every day.

 

[Dr_Zaius]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

Thats not the case at some level, right? If there are a bunch of federal employees making $125k+ of total compensation who can't by law work more than 40hrs then that's a huge disconnect vs market.

I know lots of GS-15 Feds who work way more than 40. They just put 40 on their timecard.

That's nuts, why work for free??

This mindset is the huge difference between govt and private workers.

Yeah, I find the conversation odd as everywhere I've worked post college in industry all of the engineers, managers and other "professionals" are in the "exempt" category, meaning they only get paid for 40 hours regardless of how many they work. Depending on the place people are generally in the 40-45 per week or some places 45-60. The thing you don't want if you value work-life balance is to have a workaholic manager who puts in 50+, because in general they are going to expect their reports to put in as many hours as they do. Which is why I'd never take a job reporting to somebody like Musk, personally.

 

[-OZ-]

a GS-15 federal employee is generally not eligible for overtime pay because they are considered exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA),

We’re exempt but take copious comp time and credit hours.

 

[belljr]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

Well here is the rub with that. By law we can't work more than 40. I'll work more if I'll be paid for it

We are actually instructed to take disciplinary action against employees who work extra hours without supervisory approval. We are to pay them OT and tell them not to do that again. The government isn’t allowed to receive free services, from what I understand.

Thats not the case at some level, right? If there are a bunch of federal employees making $125k+ of total compensation who can't by law work more than 40hrs then that's a huge disconnect vs market.

I know lots of GS-15 Feds who work way more than 40. They just put 40 on their timecard.

That's nuts, why work for free??

This mindset is the huge difference between govt and private workers.

I've worked both private and public. I took less money for the work life balance as I got older. That's the basic difference.
I'm not opposed to working extra if need be but we aren't salaried

 

[-OZ-]

I will never donate my time to my employer if I am owed for my work, that's not happening.

I’ve done it, but also surf here during business hours so

 

[belljr]

I will never donate my time to my employer if I am owed for my work, that's not happening.

I’ve done it, but also surf here during business hours so

The funny thing is I've worked more then 40 hours when wfh. I'll pop on at night or a random weekend morning for a couple hours if something needs to be done and not think twice about it. When our computers had to be left in the facility is when that happens way less

 

[belljr]

All right. I got a bunch of work to do. I've said too much. Good luck

 

[Gally]

I will never donate my time to my employer if I am owed for my work, that's not happening.

I’ve done it, but also surf here during business hours so

The funny thing is I've worked more then 40 hours when wfh. I'll pop on at night or a random weekend morning for a couple hours if something needs to be done and not think twice about it. When our computers had to be left in the facility is when that happens way less

For me, my philosophy has always been do what gets the job done. Some weeks it may take 50 hours some may take 30 hours. Sometimes there is a deadline and sometimes things are going smoothly. As a salaried employee there should be schedule flexibility that hinges on getting your job responsibilities completed as required.

When I supervised people that was my expectation and gave them lots of flexibility. But I also expected them to put in extra time if needed to meet a deadline or solve an emergency problem. It worked well if you have quality workers. Problems arise when you don't have quality people. But then you get rid of them.

 

[Stoneworker]

Scripps - Fewer government employees accepted President Donald Trump’s buyout offer than the administration had hoped. Scripps News learned on Thursday that 75,000 federal employees agreed to the buyouts, which would allow them to leave their jobs, but continue to get paid through the end of September.

The White House had originally estimated that 5% to 10% of workers would accept the buyouts. Ultimately, it was less than 4% of workers who agreed to the offer.

Fwiw, 4% is more than I expected.

My prediction is 10%+ and then victory will be claimed and the chaos will begin to recede.

Four primary sources: 1) buyouts, 2) probationary employees, 3) so-called non-performers (1/20/25 EO for "restoring merit") and 4) elimination of certain agencies (e.g. DoEd, USAID, DEI, etc).

Seems like diminishing returns after that with little upside

I hope so, but have to admit that sounds optimistic to me. Weren’t they saying they wanted 40-50% gone? Or do you just think that’s bluster?

Bluster.

There's got to be a payoff (either dollar-wise or public perception) and I'm just not seeing it much past 10%. That's a number that most could claim as "significant." Plus there is far more currency in high-profile names like DoEd than the actual numbers involved (4,200 employees).

There will already be some short-term disruption due to the indiscriminate shotgun approach but at a certain point it goes beyond fat and into bone and muscle affecting essential services and that would make the general public quite unhappy.

Just my personal opinion, of course

 

[the moops]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

He doesn't work 120 hours. That's silly.

 

[Stoneworker]

Interesting article with a table listing number of employees at major gov't agencies

NPR - Where Federal Employees Work

 

[-OZ-]

I will never donate my time to my employer if I am owed for my work, that's not happening.

I’ve done it, but also surf here during business hours so

The funny thing is I've worked more then 40 hours when wfh. I'll pop on at night or a random weekend morning for a couple hours if something needs to be done and not think twice about it. When our computers had to be left in the facility is when that happens way less

Yep. An extra half to hour in the evening was easy and I didn’t mind. But I’m not taking my computer home and I’m leaving at closing.

 

[-OZ-]

Elon Musk lives in his office and works 120 hours a week, expectations are set. He's done this throughout his career.

He doesn't work 120 hours. That's silly.

He might, but work for some people includes golfing.

 

[CGRdrJoe]

our main HR/Pay system got hacked and peoples account routing was comprised. They had to take our main HR system offline overnight to stop whatever was going on and trouble shoot all of those affected. crazy days once again in the CG.

 

[belljr]

our main HR/Pay system got hacked and peoples account routing was comprised. They had to take our main HR system offline overnight to stop whatever was going on and trouble shoot all of those affected. crazy days once again in the CG.

That sucks.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

I will never donate my time to my employer if I am owed for my work, that's not happening.

I’ll never work for the public sector

 

[CGRdrJoe]

our main HR/Pay system got hacked and peoples account routing was comprised. They had to take our main HR system offline overnight to stop whatever was going on and trouble shoot all of those affected. crazy days once again in the CG.

That sucks.

I got paid this morning and I didn't get the compromise email but there are plenty that did and who knows what other information they got out of there

 

[-OZ-]

our main HR/Pay system got hacked and peoples account routing was comprised. They had to take our main HR system offline overnight to stop whatever was going on and trouble shoot all of those affected. crazy days once again in the CG.

That sucks.

I got paid this morning and I didn't get the compromise email but there are plenty that did and who knows what other information they got out of there

We’re apparently on different systems, as we got paid last week. No compromise email here either. Not that that means much.

 

[needanap]

Seems like the purge of probationary employees with less than a year of employment has begun.

 

[FarFromHome]

Seems like the purge of probationary employees with less than a year of employment has begun.

Maybe, but they are cheaper to employ then stepped out on the pay scale employees with years of service. I think from a payroll standpoint, having a federal workforce of 10 years or less would be a happy end game for them. Imo

 

[Orange&Blue]

Seems like the purge of probationary employees with less than a year of employment has begun.

2 years for some agencies

 

[Sand]

Interesting article with a table listing number of employees at major gov't agencies

NPR - Where Federal Employees Work

Cool chart. Never would have guessed the VA at the top.

 

[fatness]

"Staffers have been told to expect deep job cuts among the agency's approximately 12,000 employees and the closure of many of its offices around the U.S., the sources said. Those employees who remain are being warned to expect their actions to be surveilled, from their swipes into government facilities to the keystrokes they type on their computers."

This is pretty standard in the tech industry in terms of the monitoring.

Pretty standard everywhere now I think. I work in a hospital and they monitor us. Don’t see that as some big smoking gun.

We’ve always had the ability, but it isn’t actively monitored and used. It has been something to use if you have an underperforming employee or someone you suspect is lying on their timesheet. Other than that, nobody really cares.

Thanks, everyone informing me that this is pretty much standard and expected. I've never worked in government and never worked for a company with over 20 employees, have run a small business for a long time, and have never experienced it and certainly have never inflicted it on my employees. I just did not know it was so accepted these days.

 

[Riffraff]

Seems like the purge of probationary employees with less than a year of employment has begun.

https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-dismisses-more-than-1000-employees/

 

[Buckna]

Seems like the purge of probationary employees with less than a year of employment has begun.

https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-dismisses-more-than-1000-employees/

Per reddit:
Confirmed list of agencies with mass layoffs to probationary employees:

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Department of Education
Department of Energy
General Services Administration
Office of Personnel Management
Small Business Administration
US Forest Service
Veterans Affairs
National Nuclear Security Administration

Sources:

CFPB: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ma...in-trump-musk-purge-us-government-2025-02-13/
Dept of Ed: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ma...in-trump-musk-purge-us-government-2025-02-13/
Dept of Energy: https://www.eenews.net/articles/doe-to-lay-off-probationary-staff-today/
GSA: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ma...in-trump-musk-purge-us-government-2025-02-13/
OPM: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mu...-en-masse-conference-call-sources-2025-02-13/
SBA: https://www.businessinsider.com/federal-workers-fired-not-fired-then-terminated-sba-2025-2
VA: https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-dismisses-more-than-1000-employees/
NNSA https://www.npr.org/2025/02/13/nx-s1-5296928/layoffs-trump-doge-education-energy

 

[fatness]

Interesting article with a table listing number of employees at major gov't agencies

NPR - Where Federal Employees Work

Cool chart. Never would have guessed the VA at the top.

Speaking of the VA, I learned that they do a lot more work than I ever knew they did. And they also seem to be headed for difficult times.
Long article ahead:

Trump's executive orders cause 'chaos' at the VA, some staffers say

About a dozen Department of Veterans Affairs employees described the far-reaching effects of President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[fatness]

Per reddit:
Confirmed list of agencies with mass layoffs to probationary employees:

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Department of Education
Department of Energy
General Services Administration
Office of Personnel Management
Small Business Administration
US Forest Service
Veterans Affairs
National Nuclear Security Administration

Aren't some of those agencies already understaffed (before the purges)?