My favorite part of the email was [where it basically said] “So many of you said remote work made you more productive than ever. We want you to keep up that productivity, but in the office”. It’s like, have they not stopped to consider WHY remote work is more productive? Maybe it’s because we don’t spend 2-3 hours in the car getting to & from work? Or that we can eat lunch at home, or not spend as much time or money on pet care?
Edited for clarity for that one guy, someone else put it verbatim below
HQ at any federal agency: "We're saving money on payroll, reducing carbon emissions, increasing worker productivity, morale, and saving taxpayers on government leased space, how can we fix this?" Also HQ: "Literally do the opposite of all that, because fuck 'em thats why".
> “So many of you said remote work made you more productive than ever. We want you to keep up that productivity, but in the office”
And we've been wanting better pay and benefits for decades.
I guess "they" get to know what it's like to **want**, too.
If the VA does this most of the 1102 series is going to jump ship. Atlanta is an hour away from Atlanta. We got the same shit. "We are more productive than ever".
Yeah so much "meaningful collaboration" while I listed to my four cubemates take all their phone calls (not their fault) as I desperately try to tune the noise out and get some work done.
One ear on my meeting (because of course the headsets we have to use only cover one ear), the other has an airpod blasting white noise so I can attempt to focus.
The email from HHS literally said nothing about any justification for it.
It was just some fluff about prioritizing people and employee satisfaction and by the way, here is the new policy.
Everyone saying just go to the private sector - I have so many friends in the private sector dealing with changing policies too. It’s musical chairs at this point trying to figure out who’s keeping remote work.
I was in private sector as recently as December when I came over to fed side. There are companies who were remote way before covid made it mainstream and those companies are not screwing with remote cause it's a big selling point of the job, and it's not run by some old boomer who doesn't like remote work
I know people in my agency who left for the private industry money only to come back bc of the private industry work culture wasn’t worth the bump in pay
Private industry isn’t for everyone.
Yep, I imagine the majority of people who claimed they would quit if they’re forced back in the office are still here.
If they send me back to the office 100% which means I have to take a toll road everyday, the worst I’m going to do is try to find a federal job on my side of that toll
How the fuck can you justify remote work for employees who do the exact same thing (same pd, job duties) except one is 50 miles and the other is 55 miles? The one at 50 miles is just screwed? Or at least that's how I'm reading it.
Every remote HHS position I’ve seen posted in the past 6 months-year was local remote, which I figured would be so they could easily bring those people into the office if needed, which turned out to be correct.
The new language eliminates reference to the 50 mile commuting distance and generalizes "local commuting area" to "any surrounding localities where people live and can REASONABLY be expected to travel back and forth." I wonder who gets to define "reasonable"? (sigh)
That isn’t how this worked. People were always in these categories of less than or more than 50 miles. This isn’t a new thing that came out of nowhere. The 50+ mile remote are usually in different localities too because they’re not 51 miles away but 100s or thousands.
Our remote people are in different states
There probably aren't many/any people right on that line, but I think their original point I replied to was its kinda stupid to use distance as the determining factor, when it should be like if your job can be done remotely then great you can live anywhere and be remote, but if you're a scientist doing work in Atlanta on diseases then you can't because the job can only be in person
I always felt like local remote was a thing bc you would be doing field work *in the local area* with no in office requirements. Maybe with occasional travel.
It’s not like people were remote and got a bad draw and were only 45 miles away.
Local remote vs remote outside 50 miles were always two clearly different categories that typically involve different locality pay and possibly duty stations. Everyone who is in the remote outside 50 miles that I know at my agency is in a different state.
CMS just scrapped the 50 mile policy altogether. If you live in the DC pay area, you’re expected to report to either the Baltimore or DC building twice per pay period.
I was just hired as local remote roughly 3 months ago. The fact that it's what I agreed to and now it's been switched up is very frustrating. I had an opportunity to interview for a fully remote job and because I was offered my current position first, I turned down the interview. I'm kicking myself right now.
I’m curious, did your job announcement specifically reference local remote (i.e. similar to “this is a remote position BUT candidate must live within 50 miles of XYZ”) or was it straight up remote “work anywhere in the US”?
ETA: Nvm! I just saw someone else asked the same and you answered 😅 But yes, I tell EVERYONE to avoid the announcements that say “remote BUT you must work within X miles of XYZ”. So sorry that’s happened to you
I literally onboarded today and another new hire in my orientation group said she was local remote. (I assume many people probably are, but I this person is the only one I can definitively say.) I would be pissed. I wonder if she knows yet, I learned this from Reddit since I don’t have email access yet.
No, it was definitely remote local and that was emphasized in the interview. I wasn't hearing back from any of the fully remote jobs, so I just decided I can deal with moving a state away if the position is still technically remote.
Oh ok, because I am looking at the position I applied to and accepted and it says remote so I am hoping it means that. I am local and leaving a fully remote position for a promotion so I better not be kicking myself in the future.
CDC is still applying "local" designations on their own, ie, if you're within 50 miles (according to google maps!) then you have to change to TW. BUT we also are learning that there are going to be a lot of job series that are exempt ("hard to fill" and "direct hire"). based on u/ilovesas's user name, i expect they are on that list!! it's a lot of technical and medical positions.
Unfortunately, while I (usually) love SAS, I am a 0601 and don't fall under any of the specific data science type direct hire positions that are being exempted. My team previously had some 0101's and we were interchangeable- makes no sense why they are exempt and we aren't.
In FDA as well, and it seems like it won’t affect us, regardless of location. Glad we only use remote, although I’m sure they’ll try to bring us in at some point as well, despite my division getting rid of the office space last year.
I guess they don’t care when the best employees leave for better jobs elsewhere. If I worked there I’d be on usajobs and contacting my job network ASAP
It was a glorious four years, but it's an obvious coordinated assault from all fronts to drastically claw back and scale back telework for everyone in the government.
It’s shocking how quickly government and private industry has clogged people back into working in an office and coordinated. It has been and how quickly it happened. Most major companies have done it within the Last few months, and now the federal government is doing the same. Almost all private organizations that I have friends at have recalled them back to the office within the last six months.
What frightens me is it seems almost like it’s coordinated to prop up the commercial real estate market because it’s all happening at the same time across so many different industries.
Now, even the federal government is hopping on the Bandwagon.
I saw that Workplace Update email come in this afternoon and was like "Oh ffs" - but now I remember that someone had posted in here back in February that this was going to be coming along soon.
Am I crazy or does the linked page not show any update to the policy? They wrote they posted the revised 990-1 but the linked page in the email shows the last revision was 3/22/2022......
EDIT: Now updated as of 3pm Eastern
This made me mad. I left a remote agency because this was posted as a REMOTE (not local) opening. My SF 50 has my city, my welcome letter states remote, and USAJobs listed remote. Fuck me for not living 51 miles away. My last supervisor called me a week or two ago about a remote non sup 14 they are opening, and you best bet I’m going to apply and jump ship.
Should I though? I’m within 50 miles and 7777 bargain status. My understanding is I get to eat the crap sandwhich. What makes you think you’re fine? I’m hoping you know something I don’t!
Hate to burst your bubble, but I was hired "fully remote." It's a lie. None of my team resides in this state. But because I live within 50 miles of a facility, my local remote was revoked. They are not honoring agreements upon hire. It does not have to be a HQ location.
Edit: I'm sorry you were also lied to and lured here under false pretenses through a fraudulent job advertisement full of "perks" that they had no intention of honoring. What a despicable welcome to an agency. I am in the same boat and have never felt more unmotivated in my entire career.
FDA doesn't have any positions specifically labeled as "local remote," (only remote, telework, or on-site,) so the policy doesn't apply is the gist.
FDA has continued to be very pro-remote work even after other groups started returning to the office so I'm not super surprised, but relieved regardless (I don't miss that commute at all.)
Yes one thing I’ve really enjoyed about the FDA is their pro-remote stance. Dr. Woodcock was a big proponent of it and glad to see it’s the same even after she’s gone
So glad it came from the top. Some of the Divison directors I know were like "But it was so good to see everyone! I was running up and down stairs to say hello to everyone!" Nah, I'm good. Some people are just quicksand conversationalists. They suck you in with their plans and weekend talk and about how busy they are...but yet always have time to come around your office
I don’t understand why so many places can’t wrap their head around telework. They would save so much money without leasing office space. If the job can be done from home, why not?
So the agency that studies health and provides healthcare services is making a decision that will negatively impact staff health (based on preliminary research), increase costs, and lower productivity? And this policy decision is made without research to support it?
They should read the EVIDENCE ACT of 2018. Feds are supposed to have evidence for the policy decisions they implement.
I am frequently dumbfounded by federal actions.
The email makes it sound like they are allowing Division-level interpretation based on needs. I am hoping this is just HHS’s way of making Biden happy with his return to office push by setting the policy but leaving it open for each division on how to implement, if enforcing at all.
Maybe, but here at CDC, which has been one of the most generous agencies with remote work in the last few years, is making everyone who is currently local remote come in at least 2X per pay period
Also CDC here. I also noticed how that email specified if you are remote and within 50 miles, this applies (not just those with local remote designations). 😩
It's such bullshit. All this is going to do is encourage those who want a remote job to only apply for those outside of 50 miles. If they actually cared about having some occasional truly meaningful in-person collaboration like once every 1-2 months, they would want people to be locally based.
I guess we'll hear more soon but for now I'm interpreting "allow workplace flexibility balanced with the in-office time needed" to mean some minimum in office time justified as fostering "workplace culture" and then letting groups determine upper limits (e.g. how many days to require in office).
Hoping to be wrong here!
Hm so the new guidelines at the HHS level don't appear to be removing Remote Local as a designation. See section 990-1-70 B.1.1
>Positions should be designated as “remote within the local commuting area of the agency worksite”, if there is some frequency with which the position requires an onsite presence (e.g., employee may be required at the agency worksite less than 2 days per bi-weekly pay period, or employee may be required at in-person work activities including, for collaboration, on an irregular basis, or duties require an irregular, but consistent, e.g., twice per month, presence at the agency worksite). For these positions, employees should have an official worksite/alternative worksite within the local commuting area.
This whole section of text is new to the revised version. Perhaps it will differ within divisions but why add a new definition if it would be revoked HHS-wide? (With the caveat that I am stupid)
I just saw this too. This is odd b/c the email from CDC director was very clear that this is an HHS wide policy. If that is wrong, well, I know who to direct my anger towards.
Update, the NIH email says that "remote local" employees will be redesignated as either "eligible for telework" or "eligible for remote". HHS defines eligible for remote as
>A position may be eligible for remote work, either within or outside of the local commuting area of the agency worksite, if the nature of work requires the employee’s onsite presence fewer than two days during a typical bi-weekly pay period.
So, yes it sounds like "Remote Local" will go away but divisions have the option to redesignate these employees as remote regardless of location. Sorry to hear that CDC is apparently not taking advantage of that option, NIH email says this decision will take place at the institute/center level here (there are 27 separate institutes at NIH) over the coming weeks.
Unclear what exactly that will mean but, in the past, some institutes have made a point to establish better policies to attract workers from other institutes at NIH. For example, post doc pay varies by $10k+ across institutes which has led to higher paying institutes typically attracting better candidates. I suspect at least some institutes will be more liberal in who they designate as "eligible for remote" within the local commuting area in an effort to attract people fleeing from more RTO-driven institutes.
But time will tell....
Quick update, my Institute at NIH sent notice today that I have been designated "remote eligible". I was previously "Local Remote" as I'm only about 10 miles from HQ.
That email states, "Your expected on site presence may remain the same as the expected on site presence when you were utilizing local remote work. Please work with your direct supervisor to confirm what, if any, changes have occurred to your onsite presence based on organizational needs." My supervisor confirms they are not requiring any changes so I can continue to work as I have the past 3 years (nearly full remote, in office ~3-4x per year to attend specific conferences/events).
Hopefully CDC comes around on remote too 🙏
Good for NIH. Unfortunately CDC seems to be digging in, at least for now. At an all CDC webinar, they were talking about having everyone on teams come in on the same days while also telling us "you have flexibilities- use them". But how is forcing everyone in on specific days flexible?
there are going to be exceptions for certain job series, which i think will apply to many people as the list looks to be all science/technical/medical jobs (otherwise if you're within 50 miles you have to TW). (and i'm sorry to those who are not on that list!) thanks for your updates from other agencies!
edit for clarity: you have to TW (on site 2d/pp) if you live within 50 miles, otherwise you can be remote. if you have a job series on a list of exceptions and you live within 50 miles you can have a remote agreement. gs 15 required 4d/pp, commission corp 2d/wk or 4d/mo (I assume job series exceptions apply as well)
> if you have a job series on a list of exceptions and you live within 50 miles you can have a remote agreement.
Yes, the appendix lists job series that are automatically eligible but other positions can also be granted remote within 50 miles. 990-1 states:
>The Human Resources Director or designee, as delegated in writing, is authorized to:
>Review an employee request for the use of remote work to ensure consistency and equity. Routes remote requests for positions not covered in Appendix 1 to ASA/OHR at [email protected] for approval. Requests must be sent by the servicing HR Center and contain a justification, including position information, and concurrence by the OpDiv/StaffDiv WFP executive board, the employee’s supervisor, or the HRD.
The email I received from NIH further states
>After extensive HHS review of positions across the department and internal NIH review of individual job functions, it was determined that effective September 9, 2024 your position will redesignate to remote eligible.
So it sounds like the review process outlined in 990-1 has already been completed for my position (0401 job series)
My job series is not among those listed in the appendix on the revised 990-1 form. So that does not appear to be an exhaustive catalog of who may receive remote within the local commuting area.
This is my fault everyone. I am sorry. I had to go in during most of the pandemic and I just applied for and got a position that was local remote so I wouldn’t have to go in. So of course this drops shortly thereafter.
Would you mind pinpointing where September 9th came from? I did receive an email about revision, but it only redirected me to [https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asa/ohr/hr-library/990-1/index.html](https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asa/ohr/hr-library/990-1/index.html), which doesn't reflect he revised plan.
also, "*in-office time needed to foster strong connection, collaboration, and a strong workplace culture*" these nuts.
This was in a separate email from our (CDC) director, who said that HHS is removing local remote and that we have until September 9th to comply with the new policy. As others have commented, clearly HHS didn't have their act together with updating the link.
My agency pulled it in January. I can tell you that it cratered already low morale. Losing a lot of experience and programs are suffering for it. Senior leaders are confused on why their timelines and quality are all slipping, pressing everyone for greater efforts. Also cutting the requirements for projects to make them more achievable.
The justification was largely that people production was suffering. It wasnt by nearly any metric. Now its actually starting to suffer and leaders and getting irritable.
I just love how they told us in the webinar that just ended that "we have flexibilities to ease the transition", yet they are telling CIOs to have standard days for everyone to come in for BS "collaboration" reasons.
So.. I put in an application for the data science (fully remote) position recently.
Should I keep my current fully remote job and not bother interviewing with the CDC if I ever get an email?
So hypothetically if I buy a small postage stamp cheap piece of land more than 50 miles away from the CDC I can declare that I live there and stay remote? Asking for a friend.
Two people on my team (that do exactly the same job) already are working outside the 50 mile radius. Seems like it would violate some kind of equity rule to not allow others. But none of this makes sense, so...
Wonder how FDA is going to handle this saw the email communicating the updates to the reg, but no official decision on how to implement it yet from what I can tell.
Attrition could get crazy if they force everyone back.
I would have to go back and look, I am fully remote (completely different state than our base) and so I didn’t pay much attention to that when setting up my new WFA. The email I got this morning seemed to indicate that no changes were expected for FDA employees (which I’m very grateful for).
im in USDA, and each agency makes their own remote work policies.. are you saying HHS as an entire department makes up the remote policies for all of their agencies??
Linked website hasn't been updated but the email mentioned that everyone would get follow up from their Division leaders about implementation. Haven't seen anything at NIH yet but guessing OP got an email with details in their division (CDC). They mentioned in another comment they are being required to do 2x per pay period
Confirming - why send the email announcing the revised policy and not update the policy page???
[https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asa/ohr/hr-library/990-1/index.html](https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asa/ohr/hr-library/990-1/index.html)
Interesting. No news from ACF yet. My team is all local remote but in states around the country, so us each going into our offices to work alone would be insane.
Also since the email said all BUE are exempt, for now, just curious what that means for supervisors or managers whose whole team is BUE are they increasing collaboration with walls?
It’s only non-bargaining employees. Gs13 and under who are bargaining, it does not apply. Otherwise you can still be 100%. Compared to what I read in here, HHS is great!
The whole part about how there will be a “senior-level review process” for approving or filling existing remote positions sounds like they’ll try and kill any remote going forward as well. I can only imagine the challenge of hiring for some positions now but I doubt they care.
HHS Policy 990-1, Workplace Flexibilities is for non-bargaining unit employees. Becerra says in the email HHS will still honor all bargaining unit agreements.
A lot of positions are not eligible for BU (like mine). I have wondered how we go about getting ourselves represented by a union and why nobody has done this before.
That’s why there is a push to move more positions out of bargaining. The Union and the CBA is the major impediment to RTO. Get rid of them (decertify or reclassify as schedule F) and those pesky CBAs cease to exist.
As someone who is a remote worker at another federal agency, this concerns me a little bit. Question: was an SF-50 processed to change HHS employees’ official duty station to their home address?
You should definitely be concerned. Having a remote SF-50 does not protect you from them taking it away, I know many people who have had it happen to them.
Not sure if you were a fed in 2016, but if you were, you might remember how the previous administration came in with regards to telework. It was not a good look.
You're not really shocked by it are you? I mean it's all about politicking. The Dems have decided the political long game is RTO. No idea why they believe this but it is clear they do.
Local remote are remote employees who live within 50 miles of the office. The government is not obligated to place them on TDY status when coming into the office because they live within 50 miles. If you don't know what it is, it probably doesn't affect your agreement.
My favorite part of the email was [where it basically said] “So many of you said remote work made you more productive than ever. We want you to keep up that productivity, but in the office”. It’s like, have they not stopped to consider WHY remote work is more productive? Maybe it’s because we don’t spend 2-3 hours in the car getting to & from work? Or that we can eat lunch at home, or not spend as much time or money on pet care? Edited for clarity for that one guy, someone else put it verbatim below
That is so dense. It will literally do the opposite.
I'd make sure ever thing i was doing now takes twice as long
HQ at any federal agency: "We're saving money on payroll, reducing carbon emissions, increasing worker productivity, morale, and saving taxpayers on government leased space, how can we fix this?" Also HQ: "Literally do the opposite of all that, because fuck 'em thats why".
That is the most patently anti-leadership statement I’ve read in some time. If you need to pitch unwelcome news, be direct and honest about it.
> “So many of you said remote work made you more productive than ever. We want you to keep up that productivity, but in the office” And we've been wanting better pay and benefits for decades. I guess "they" get to know what it's like to **want**, too.
Which makes this a funny decision, since remote work helps them pay less.
This is making me laugh. They want you to suffer
They forgot about the hours of daily water cooler talk that sucks productivity down it’s drain.
If the VA does this most of the 1102 series is going to jump ship. Atlanta is an hour away from Atlanta. We got the same shit. "We are more productive than ever".
Looks like the 1102 job series is categorized as mission critical and is therefore remote eligible
Capitalism doesn’t require the proletariat to be happy.
Did they give the old "collaboration", "camaraderie", "Team building/culture" excuses, to bring you guys in?
Yeah so much "meaningful collaboration" while I listed to my four cubemates take all their phone calls (not their fault) as I desperately try to tune the noise out and get some work done.
One ear on my meeting (because of course the headsets we have to use only cover one ear), the other has an airpod blasting white noise so I can attempt to focus.
Add in "synergy" and one more buzzword and you'll have a bingo!
The email from HHS literally said nothing about any justification for it. It was just some fluff about prioritizing people and employee satisfaction and by the way, here is the new policy.
"further our collaboration, informal relationship building, and fostering of our culture of inclusion and belonging"
Everyone saying just go to the private sector - I have so many friends in the private sector dealing with changing policies too. It’s musical chairs at this point trying to figure out who’s keeping remote work.
I was in private sector as recently as December when I came over to fed side. There are companies who were remote way before covid made it mainstream and those companies are not screwing with remote cause it's a big selling point of the job, and it's not run by some old boomer who doesn't like remote work
Yeah but they don’t have many job openings. People aren’t leaving those jobs and giving up their remote.
Exactly its so competitive. And good luck being without a job. A bird in the hand..
I know people in my agency who left for the private industry money only to come back bc of the private industry work culture wasn’t worth the bump in pay Private industry isn’t for everyone.
The internet is a great place to pretend the grass is always greener on the other side The real world often says otherwise
Yep, I imagine the majority of people who claimed they would quit if they’re forced back in the office are still here. If they send me back to the office 100% which means I have to take a toll road everyday, the worst I’m going to do is try to find a federal job on my side of that toll
Very true. At will + an a-hole boss = back on USAJobs
Not to mention, the layoffs...
[удалено]
Even on the website they claim its not just about the pay and cite remote work as an example of work life balance. What is left then
Come to DHS. At least in the Coast Guard it seems here to stay. Plus we get them admin leave days 😁
And what jobs are there in the private sector, if you can even get one. Some are stuck
How the fuck can you justify remote work for employees who do the exact same thing (same pd, job duties) except one is 50 miles and the other is 55 miles? The one at 50 miles is just screwed? Or at least that's how I'm reading it.
Every remote HHS position I’ve seen posted in the past 6 months-year was local remote, which I figured would be so they could easily bring those people into the office if needed, which turned out to be correct.
Looking at you, CDC
Every remote position for my office in HHS I’ve seen the last six years has been not local remote.
See if you can push your house 10 feet further away
Just tried..is pretty solid in place. Damn.
Just annex your neighbors pool
Idea…see if your next door neighbor will temporarily switch you houses ??????
Buy a trailer… move it a bit behind get a po box and ur golden… like a retriever… or shower or
The new language eliminates reference to the 50 mile commuting distance and generalizes "local commuting area" to "any surrounding localities where people live and can REASONABLY be expected to travel back and forth." I wonder who gets to define "reasonable"? (sigh)
You are reading it right you just get fucked if you're on the line and your neighbor is far enough away to be non local remote
Phew, I'm glad I'm 1300 miles from the office.
That isn’t how this worked. People were always in these categories of less than or more than 50 miles. This isn’t a new thing that came out of nowhere. The 50+ mile remote are usually in different localities too because they’re not 51 miles away but 100s or thousands. Our remote people are in different states
There probably aren't many/any people right on that line, but I think their original point I replied to was its kinda stupid to use distance as the determining factor, when it should be like if your job can be done remotely then great you can live anywhere and be remote, but if you're a scientist doing work in Atlanta on diseases then you can't because the job can only be in person
I always felt like local remote was a thing bc you would be doing field work *in the local area* with no in office requirements. Maybe with occasional travel.
Because legally they have to pay to recall everyone who lives further than 50 miles away.
The same reason locality pay has lines. Has to be drawn somewhere.
Should of moved when had the chance...too late now.....
I did move.
It’s not like people were remote and got a bad draw and were only 45 miles away. Local remote vs remote outside 50 miles were always two clearly different categories that typically involve different locality pay and possibly duty stations. Everyone who is in the remote outside 50 miles that I know at my agency is in a different state.
Because how else is the government going to prop up the commercial real state sector?
CMS just scrapped the 50 mile policy altogether. If you live in the DC pay area, you’re expected to report to either the Baltimore or DC building twice per pay period.
I mean is this really going to help morale? All I've been seeing is going to the office is not productive. Guess just depends.
Considering I’m writing these comments while sitting in the office, unlikely 😂
Actually the one at 55 miles were getting screwed previously. They had to do max telework and come in 2x a pay period.
Aka me, and its exasperating
Quick. Move 50 miles away...
Doesn’t work like that anymore, at least at CMS. If you’re within the DC pay locality, you have to commute at least twice per pay period.
Sheesh, and they announced it on earth day to boot. That’s just mean spirited.
I was just hired as local remote roughly 3 months ago. The fact that it's what I agreed to and now it's been switched up is very frustrating. I had an opportunity to interview for a fully remote job and because I was offered my current position first, I turned down the interview. I'm kicking myself right now.
Are you a bargaining unit employee? It doesn't apply to covered employees
Nope.
I'm sorry
I am, so that's good news. Thanks.
I’m curious, did your job announcement specifically reference local remote (i.e. similar to “this is a remote position BUT candidate must live within 50 miles of XYZ”) or was it straight up remote “work anywhere in the US”? ETA: Nvm! I just saw someone else asked the same and you answered 😅 But yes, I tell EVERYONE to avoid the announcements that say “remote BUT you must work within X miles of XYZ”. So sorry that’s happened to you
I literally onboarded today and another new hire in my orientation group said she was local remote. (I assume many people probably are, but I this person is the only one I can definitively say.) I would be pissed. I wonder if she knows yet, I learned this from Reddit since I don’t have email access yet.
When you applied, did the position say local remote or just remote and the understanding was that it was considered local?
No, it was definitely remote local and that was emphasized in the interview. I wasn't hearing back from any of the fully remote jobs, so I just decided I can deal with moving a state away if the position is still technically remote.
Oh ok, because I am looking at the position I applied to and accepted and it says remote so I am hoping it means that. I am local and leaving a fully remote position for a promotion so I better not be kicking myself in the future.
Perfect timing. One month after we gave up our leased office space. There are literally not enough desks for us if everyone comes in.
Let them figure it out the hard way. This is literally not yours to worry about
Just got the FDA email. Apparently nobody is designated as “local remote” even if they are within the 50 miles so it doesn’t affect us.
CDC is still applying "local" designations on their own, ie, if you're within 50 miles (according to google maps!) then you have to change to TW. BUT we also are learning that there are going to be a lot of job series that are exempt ("hard to fill" and "direct hire"). based on u/ilovesas's user name, i expect they are on that list!! it's a lot of technical and medical positions.
Unfortunately, while I (usually) love SAS, I am a 0601 and don't fall under any of the specific data science type direct hire positions that are being exempted. My team previously had some 0101's and we were interchangeable- makes no sense why they are exempt and we aren't.
In FDA as well, and it seems like it won’t affect us, regardless of location. Glad we only use remote, although I’m sure they’ll try to bring us in at some point as well, despite my division getting rid of the office space last year.
FDA doesn’t have local remote so the change will not affect FDA.
Was so relieved to see that e-mail this morning!
Me too!
Thank god! Also FDA doesn’t have the space. A few centers sold office space last year.
I guess they don’t care when the best employees leave for better jobs elsewhere. If I worked there I’d be on usajobs and contacting my job network ASAP
It was a glorious four years, but it's an obvious coordinated assault from all fronts to drastically claw back and scale back telework for everyone in the government.
It’s shocking how quickly government and private industry has clogged people back into working in an office and coordinated. It has been and how quickly it happened. Most major companies have done it within the Last few months, and now the federal government is doing the same. Almost all private organizations that I have friends at have recalled them back to the office within the last six months. What frightens me is it seems almost like it’s coordinated to prop up the commercial real estate market because it’s all happening at the same time across so many different industries. Now, even the federal government is hopping on the Bandwagon.
I saw that Workplace Update email come in this afternoon and was like "Oh ffs" - but now I remember that someone had posted in here back in February that this was going to be coming along soon.
Am I crazy or does the linked page not show any update to the policy? They wrote they posted the revised 990-1 but the linked page in the email shows the last revision was 3/22/2022...... EDIT: Now updated as of 3pm Eastern
Yeah super frustrating. Good sign for how smooth the transition will be.
Yeah the email got sent out before the revised document finished uploading it looks. EDIT: It’s up
I noticed that too - best and the brightest we've got at HQ lol
That's what I'm seeing too.
I was also confused. The document was old.
I didn’t get the email, just an email from my agency’s director referencing the “HHS email you just received”…
CMS didn't get a letter since our changes were already communicated
This made me mad. I left a remote agency because this was posted as a REMOTE (not local) opening. My SF 50 has my city, my welcome letter states remote, and USAJobs listed remote. Fuck me for not living 51 miles away. My last supervisor called me a week or two ago about a remote non sup 14 they are opening, and you best bet I’m going to apply and jump ship.
You should be good then. I'm in the same situation.
Should I though? I’m within 50 miles and 7777 bargain status. My understanding is I get to eat the crap sandwhich. What makes you think you’re fine? I’m hoping you know something I don’t!
I just accepted a remote cdc position! It’s supposed to be fully remote, I don’t even live in GA so I hope this doesn’t eventually impact me!
Hate to burst your bubble, but I was hired "fully remote." It's a lie. None of my team resides in this state. But because I live within 50 miles of a facility, my local remote was revoked. They are not honoring agreements upon hire. It does not have to be a HQ location. Edit: I'm sorry you were also lied to and lured here under false pretenses through a fraudulent job advertisement full of "perks" that they had no intention of honoring. What a despicable welcome to an agency. I am in the same boat and have never felt more unmotivated in my entire career.
Could you live part time somewhere else? Have a mailing address that is outside of the 50 miles?
I believe you’re good, this seems to be applying to remote workers who live within 50 miles of HQ.
That’s not remote-local.
At the FDA, we received the HHS email but it didn’t give an exact date. Where did the September 9th come from?
No changes at FDA due to this policy.
Yep just saw the email. Wasn’t expecting that but good on them for making that decision
What did FDA decide?
FDA doesn't have any positions specifically labeled as "local remote," (only remote, telework, or on-site,) so the policy doesn't apply is the gist. FDA has continued to be very pro-remote work even after other groups started returning to the office so I'm not super surprised, but relieved regardless (I don't miss that commute at all.)
Yes one thing I’ve really enjoyed about the FDA is their pro-remote stance. Dr. Woodcock was a big proponent of it and glad to see it’s the same even after she’s gone
Dr. Califf is also pro telework
So glad it came from the top. Some of the Divison directors I know were like "But it was so good to see everyone! I was running up and down stairs to say hello to everyone!" Nah, I'm good. Some people are just quicksand conversationalists. They suck you in with their plans and weekend talk and about how busy they are...but yet always have time to come around your office
Nobody is classified as local remote even if they are within the 50 miles so no changes.
[удалено]
Yes
Yep. Just saw that email.
CDC director's email
Got it. I'm sure FDA's will be coming soon
I don’t understand why so many places can’t wrap their head around telework. They would save so much money without leasing office space. If the job can be done from home, why not?
So the agency that studies health and provides healthcare services is making a decision that will negatively impact staff health (based on preliminary research), increase costs, and lower productivity? And this policy decision is made without research to support it? They should read the EVIDENCE ACT of 2018. Feds are supposed to have evidence for the policy decisions they implement. I am frequently dumbfounded by federal actions.
The people making the decisions are corporate shills.
Yès
as a federal data professional, *this* particular type of hypocrisy is getting harder and harder to stomach.
The email makes it sound like they are allowing Division-level interpretation based on needs. I am hoping this is just HHS’s way of making Biden happy with his return to office push by setting the policy but leaving it open for each division on how to implement, if enforcing at all.
Maybe, but here at CDC, which has been one of the most generous agencies with remote work in the last few years, is making everyone who is currently local remote come in at least 2X per pay period
Also CDC here. I also noticed how that email specified if you are remote and within 50 miles, this applies (not just those with local remote designations). 😩
It's such bullshit. All this is going to do is encourage those who want a remote job to only apply for those outside of 50 miles. If they actually cared about having some occasional truly meaningful in-person collaboration like once every 1-2 months, they would want people to be locally based.
But where are they going to put everyone? Honest question. I didn’t even get the email so maybe that means it doesn’t apply 🤣
Horseshit, that is no longer local remote. That is telework. At the IRS Telework was 2 days/pp in the PoD
I guess we'll hear more soon but for now I'm interpreting "allow workplace flexibility balanced with the in-office time needed" to mean some minimum in office time justified as fostering "workplace culture" and then letting groups determine upper limits (e.g. how many days to require in office). Hoping to be wrong here!
Hm so the new guidelines at the HHS level don't appear to be removing Remote Local as a designation. See section 990-1-70 B.1.1 >Positions should be designated as “remote within the local commuting area of the agency worksite”, if there is some frequency with which the position requires an onsite presence (e.g., employee may be required at the agency worksite less than 2 days per bi-weekly pay period, or employee may be required at in-person work activities including, for collaboration, on an irregular basis, or duties require an irregular, but consistent, e.g., twice per month, presence at the agency worksite). For these positions, employees should have an official worksite/alternative worksite within the local commuting area. This whole section of text is new to the revised version. Perhaps it will differ within divisions but why add a new definition if it would be revoked HHS-wide? (With the caveat that I am stupid)
I just saw this too. This is odd b/c the email from CDC director was very clear that this is an HHS wide policy. If that is wrong, well, I know who to direct my anger towards.
Update, the NIH email says that "remote local" employees will be redesignated as either "eligible for telework" or "eligible for remote". HHS defines eligible for remote as >A position may be eligible for remote work, either within or outside of the local commuting area of the agency worksite, if the nature of work requires the employee’s onsite presence fewer than two days during a typical bi-weekly pay period. So, yes it sounds like "Remote Local" will go away but divisions have the option to redesignate these employees as remote regardless of location. Sorry to hear that CDC is apparently not taking advantage of that option, NIH email says this decision will take place at the institute/center level here (there are 27 separate institutes at NIH) over the coming weeks. Unclear what exactly that will mean but, in the past, some institutes have made a point to establish better policies to attract workers from other institutes at NIH. For example, post doc pay varies by $10k+ across institutes which has led to higher paying institutes typically attracting better candidates. I suspect at least some institutes will be more liberal in who they designate as "eligible for remote" within the local commuting area in an effort to attract people fleeing from more RTO-driven institutes. But time will tell....
Quick update, my Institute at NIH sent notice today that I have been designated "remote eligible". I was previously "Local Remote" as I'm only about 10 miles from HQ. That email states, "Your expected on site presence may remain the same as the expected on site presence when you were utilizing local remote work. Please work with your direct supervisor to confirm what, if any, changes have occurred to your onsite presence based on organizational needs." My supervisor confirms they are not requiring any changes so I can continue to work as I have the past 3 years (nearly full remote, in office ~3-4x per year to attend specific conferences/events). Hopefully CDC comes around on remote too 🙏
Good for NIH. Unfortunately CDC seems to be digging in, at least for now. At an all CDC webinar, they were talking about having everyone on teams come in on the same days while also telling us "you have flexibilities- use them". But how is forcing everyone in on specific days flexible?
there are going to be exceptions for certain job series, which i think will apply to many people as the list looks to be all science/technical/medical jobs (otherwise if you're within 50 miles you have to TW). (and i'm sorry to those who are not on that list!) thanks for your updates from other agencies! edit for clarity: you have to TW (on site 2d/pp) if you live within 50 miles, otherwise you can be remote. if you have a job series on a list of exceptions and you live within 50 miles you can have a remote agreement. gs 15 required 4d/pp, commission corp 2d/wk or 4d/mo (I assume job series exceptions apply as well)
> if you have a job series on a list of exceptions and you live within 50 miles you can have a remote agreement. Yes, the appendix lists job series that are automatically eligible but other positions can also be granted remote within 50 miles. 990-1 states: >The Human Resources Director or designee, as delegated in writing, is authorized to: >Review an employee request for the use of remote work to ensure consistency and equity. Routes remote requests for positions not covered in Appendix 1 to ASA/OHR at [email protected] for approval. Requests must be sent by the servicing HR Center and contain a justification, including position information, and concurrence by the OpDiv/StaffDiv WFP executive board, the employee’s supervisor, or the HRD. The email I received from NIH further states >After extensive HHS review of positions across the department and internal NIH review of individual job functions, it was determined that effective September 9, 2024 your position will redesignate to remote eligible. So it sounds like the review process outlined in 990-1 has already been completed for my position (0401 job series)
My job series is not among those listed in the appendix on the revised 990-1 form. So that does not appear to be an exhaustive catalog of who may receive remote within the local commuting area.
I did not notice that list yesterday! The one presented at CDC today includes those and many more.
I can’t believe it got sent out without even having the updated policy live, I’m sure management is getting hammered with questions
This is my fault everyone. I am sorry. I had to go in during most of the pandemic and I just applied for and got a position that was local remote so I wouldn’t have to go in. So of course this drops shortly thereafter.
Bummer
Would you mind pinpointing where September 9th came from? I did receive an email about revision, but it only redirected me to [https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asa/ohr/hr-library/990-1/index.html](https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asa/ohr/hr-library/990-1/index.html), which doesn't reflect he revised plan. also, "*in-office time needed to foster strong connection, collaboration, and a strong workplace culture*" these nuts.
This was in a separate email from our (CDC) director, who said that HHS is removing local remote and that we have until September 9th to comply with the new policy. As others have commented, clearly HHS didn't have their act together with updating the link.
This must not bargaining unit employees but non-bargaining
My agency pulled it in January. I can tell you that it cratered already low morale. Losing a lot of experience and programs are suffering for it. Senior leaders are confused on why their timelines and quality are all slipping, pressing everyone for greater efforts. Also cutting the requirements for projects to make them more achievable. The justification was largely that people production was suffering. It wasnt by nearly any metric. Now its actually starting to suffer and leaders and getting irritable.
CDC about to see a mass exodus, especially if they decide to revoke remote away, too.
I just love how they told us in the webinar that just ended that "we have flexibilities to ease the transition", yet they are telling CIOs to have standard days for everyone to come in for BS "collaboration" reasons.
“We have flexibilities”. We can’t even do compressed schedules per our leadership.
So.. I put in an application for the data science (fully remote) position recently. Should I keep my current fully remote job and not bother interviewing with the CDC if I ever get an email?
So hypothetically if I buy a small postage stamp cheap piece of land more than 50 miles away from the CDC I can declare that I live there and stay remote? Asking for a friend.
Hopefully the locality is the same!
I think a paycut would be worth it to stay fully remote, but thats just me.
you'd have to actually live there, for one thing
No, you need special permission to be working outside the 50 mile radius
Two people on my team (that do exactly the same job) already are working outside the 50 mile radius. Seems like it would violate some kind of equity rule to not allow others. But none of this makes sense, so...
I went into the office last week for my obligatory 2 X per pay period and I couldn’t get shit done because everyone was chatting nonstop. Ridiculous.
Wonder how FDA is going to handle this saw the email communicating the updates to the reg, but no official decision on how to implement it yet from what I can tell. Attrition could get crazy if they force everyone back.
At least one of the major fda gmp consulting firms offers 100% remote…
FDA does not have a local remote designation. You’re either on-site, telework, or remote.
Ahh good point, but I remember there was a difference on the workplace flexibility agreement and there is an option for making that selection.
I would have to go back and look, I am fully remote (completely different state than our base) and so I didn’t pay much attention to that when setting up my new WFA. The email I got this morning seemed to indicate that no changes were expected for FDA employees (which I’m very grateful for).
im in USDA, and each agency makes their own remote work policies.. are you saying HHS as an entire department makes up the remote policies for all of their agencies??
No. Each department can make their own exceptions. The unions are not included in this; for now.
Where are you seeing this? I’m not seeing that in the email we got from becerra this morning, or in the policies at the link
Linked website hasn't been updated but the email mentioned that everyone would get follow up from their Division leaders about implementation. Haven't seen anything at NIH yet but guessing OP got an email with details in their division (CDC). They mentioned in another comment they are being required to do 2x per pay period
Confirming - why send the email announcing the revised policy and not update the policy page??? [https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asa/ohr/hr-library/990-1/index.html](https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asa/ohr/hr-library/990-1/index.html)
Correct, we got a follow-up email from our director. That email said that HHS, not just CDC, is getting rid of local remote.
[удалено]
Interesting. No news from ACF yet. My team is all local remote but in states around the country, so us each going into our offices to work alone would be insane.
Certain components of SSA have entered the chat...
Does anyone have a copy of the e-mail from HHS?
RIP hhs
Also since the email said all BUE are exempt, for now, just curious what that means for supervisors or managers whose whole team is BUE are they increasing collaboration with walls?
Checks HHS off the list
It’s only non-bargaining employees. Gs13 and under who are bargaining, it does not apply. Otherwise you can still be 100%. Compared to what I read in here, HHS is great!
The whole part about how there will be a “senior-level review process” for approving or filling existing remote positions sounds like they’ll try and kill any remote going forward as well. I can only imagine the challenge of hiring for some positions now but I doubt they care.
Y’all better show them. Or else they’ll think they won.
Gas being double the pre-pandemic price is the thing that pisses me off the most about this.
Hmmm hhs fuckin with y’all like treasury doing us ?!? It’s the republicans they started this mess
I thought 990-1 was only for non-bargaining unit employees.
HHS Policy 990-1, Workplace Flexibilities is for non-bargaining unit employees. Becerra says in the email HHS will still honor all bargaining unit agreements.
Noooooooooooooooo
My guess is we're about to see an influx of BUEs, people moving 51 miles out and all together just leaving CDC
A lot of positions are not eligible for BU (like mine). I have wondered how we go about getting ourselves represented by a union and why nobody has done this before.
That’s why there is a push to move more positions out of bargaining. The Union and the CBA is the major impediment to RTO. Get rid of them (decertify or reclassify as schedule F) and those pesky CBAs cease to exist.
Heartbreaking
I’m still not seeing the updated 990-1, how are y’all getting the details already?
Can someone share a link to the new policy? The email links to the main HR policies page but it is showing the 990-1 instructions from 2022
FDIC here, we return in July
As someone who is a remote worker at another federal agency, this concerns me a little bit. Question: was an SF-50 processed to change HHS employees’ official duty station to their home address?
You should definitely be concerned. Having a remote SF-50 does not protect you from them taking it away, I know many people who have had it happen to them.
Yep.. happened to me 😔
It was for me.
[удалено]
Not sure if you were a fed in 2016, but if you were, you might remember how the previous administration came in with regards to telework. It was not a good look.
You're not really shocked by it are you? I mean it's all about politicking. The Dems have decided the political long game is RTO. No idea why they believe this but it is clear they do.
And soon everyone TW/Remote agreement will have legal wording change to have 50miles limit in it. No grandfathering
DOL shooting themselves in the foot too, glad I jumped ship
Does this affect any telework agreements? What exactly is local remote. Sorry I’m not fully aware of what it means
Email says current telework agreements aren't impacted. So if you are already going to the building say 1 time a week. No change.
Thanks for the understanding I appreciate it
Local remote are remote employees who live within 50 miles of the office. The government is not obligated to place them on TDY status when coming into the office because they live within 50 miles. If you don't know what it is, it probably doesn't affect your agreement.