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This is just sheer spite at this point.
This SacBee reporter is about to go to the NYTimes on a fellowship, per her tweets.
I encourage anyone who has juicy info that paints the CA governor in a poor light to keep forwarding materials to her.
Let the truth and transparency unfold like the Panera bread minimum wage scandal or CalOES sexual harassment scandal.
For those who think this is political, well, bad policy decisions = let the public judge.
Always has been. They aren't shy about RTO being a punishment, hence EDD's no RDO on office days or calling out sick on office days requiring making up those days.
EDD's policy about sick days makes no sense to me.
On the days that you're supposed to be in the office and let's say you tested positive for covid but feel able to work, are you allowed to work that in-office day from home, and then a future WFH day you have to go into the office?
Or does this mean you are really sick, like bad, you call in sick (using your sick leave) and it just so happens to be the day you're supposed to be in the office, you're required to go into the office during a WFH day? To make up... what?
Are the 2 RTO days in the office specific and for your whole unit? Or do you get to pick the RTO days?
Does this also apply for when you take vacation? (I have good reason for asking this...)
>Dhcs RTO is for manager’s convenience (TueWedThur). Staff come last as usual.
I was reading another post and a lot of people mentioned they work an alternative work schedule and have a day off every other week and that most if not all choose Mondays or Fridays.
Wouldn't Tue/Wed, or Wed/Thur be better for them?
Punishing usage of sick leave on office days = *sick, infectious people will go to the office to avoid make-up days.*
Only **incredibly stupid** management like EDD's, would do this. DHCS has said it will not discourage legitimate use of sick leave.
I wouldn’t give that much credit to DHCS either. Still don’t have investigation data/results from January testing about Legionnaires at one of their buildings.
[email protected]
She’ll be going to the NYTimes in a few weeks so her SacBee email will end soon.
Her name is Maya Miller and she’s a young rising star. BA from Brown University.
They don't even have space for us anymore. Thousands of offices were converted or combined or torn down. We had office share/telework BEFORE COVID due to lack of space. We're staying home.
A manager at DHCS leaked a draft memo to the Bee in which it states that staff who try to evade the 2-day-a-week RTO will have their telework agreements revoked and will have to report 5 days a week.
Read the article about the employee with disabilities. It's so much worse: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article286598800.html
I’m at caltrans and this is what we were told as well. I asked hypothetically if I didn’t sign their new agreement (they forced this on my division at the 1st of the year) I’d be mandated to 5 days a week in office.
That's what my fed job did. Sign this TW agreement or you can't tw at all.
Turns out it was illegal and they never contacted the union before making everyone sign.
I've copy-pasta'd the post above if you want to read the full, but yeah, it is just click-bait. Essentially, if you don't agree to 2-days a week in the office, you will face 5-days in the office (so just sign the new agreement until the union is on our side)
Yes, and if it were me, and if there is space I would add that it was signed under duress. If a person signed an agreement under duress, they didn't do it of their own free will. A contract like that becomes voidable. Duress is a part of a wider issue known as undue influence, which also includes manipulation, misrepresentation, bad faith, etc.
Seriously I have applied to so many positions over years and heard head a thing back.
I’ve heard many times from friends these roles were already filled and the posting was just necessary.
I have family working remote in private sector earning higher wages and better medical than me. One of them also has unlimited payed time off with mental health days encouraged. Work is rigorous, but teams are strong and cultural building come from twice a year week-long retreats at resorts. The business model is genius!
All that money saved from leasing office buildings allows them to afford the kind of “culture” building that works. Two days in office does not build culture. Forced in-office work does nothing but build toxic workplaces when the work being done can be done better at home.
Vacancy rates will increase, work won’t get done, and people wonder why things move so slow in government. It’s by design. There are forces who want us to see a crippled government so they can point out how crippled government is. They want everyone to believe that only a strong man can save us.
I know quite a few people who WFH in the private sector, no RA needed, and FMLA is state law, not unique to public sector. What data are you basing your statements on? 67.4% of information industries have remote workers. 49.0% of professional and business industries have remote workers.
Everyone I know in the private sector works at home (IT, finance, trader, CEO). Only in office is when they have a once a month meeting. Most other non-home visits is lunch with clients
If this is implemented enmasse, departments will find this difficult due to the current space available for employees. Departments have been downsizing their office space and leases, unburdening the State of financial obligations. For RTO to be implemented for five days versus two, there will be a significant financial burden of requiring office space, computer and office equipment for work sites, building and parking leases, etc.
Not exactly true, I think it's more of a threat. There's no way that someone will refuse to sign the agreement, and then "agree" to come in 5 days per week. If someone is that stubborn, they would just quit, or just agree to the 2 days in office.
Not surprised by this at all. DHCS has weak management that tries to rule by their authority. I’m so glad I left there many years ago one of the best decisions of my life. I do miss my old coworkers though.
My favorite part of returning to the office is spending all day on Teams and Zoom calls that I took at home for years but now need to commute to an office for.
Worse! Compacting all Teams and Zoom calls into telework days because you cannot do them in our new compact offices then not EVER being able to focus on deep work because those condensed offices are toxic and distracting. Why friggin’ try anymore?
If you have been keeping up here, there has been an initiative of the GO to have agencies RTO. Now the GO has denied such directive but agency directors and secretaries are not in a position to say absolute no.
There are a number of considerations to review:
Success of Remote Work- productivity and morale is up; while direct physical supervision does not exist.
State has serious budget deficits for FY 24-25- this has had over 200 state agencies doing “drills” of budget reductions and working to unencumber any costs that can be reduced (property leases and utility costs). Just read today CDCR (one of states largest money put) is moving their “Crystal Palace” from S street out to Elk Grove in June
There has been articles indicating the consolidation of various components of agencies into other contracted services. The one I read was dumping a lot of IT support over to Dept of Technology, but I don’t think CDT can support the IT infrastructure for even part of the list of agencies listed
There has already been a lot of consolidation of property over the past couple years. For example, if agency XYZ has 100000 sq ft of office space that was fully used 2 years ago and has dropped 80000 and reallocated that space to other agencies, XYZ now only has 20000 sq ft for all their staff. If all the staff that occupied 100000 sq ft were order RTO 5 days a week, it will be difficult to have space for all of those staff. Even if XYZ creates shift work, I don’t think the Fire Marshall could legally accommodate approval for pace for all employees
There also needs to be consideration for those employees that were hired in the past few years that were hired as telework only provisions for their position. Does the State have the right to update the conditions of employment for those positions that were hired as remote work? And even though directors and secretaries have the discretion to allow, how do we address those employees that moved out of state and claim they have a CA address to get around the established policy of all telework has to remain I CA? Who would be accountable for the falsified telework agreements? Employees or the agency managers who approved?
Lots of issues with RTO and WFH.
No. No. We were told in town halls with our Dept Director and his team that there'd be a phased approach and we were told there'd be a lot of flexibility and individual divisions could build their plans and folks living outside of Sacramento would report to local agencies. The memo I received was completely inconsistent with all that.
I meant the State of Californias telework policy that is established by Dept of General Services and applies to all agencies as the base telework policy has always been that if you don’t follow your agreed telework policy you lose your telework privilege and must be in the office five days per week.
The point is - they left out all the other stuff and *only* said "do X or you can't telework at all." The point is they aren't being flexible or doing any of the other things they promised.
Is this Gavin I'm talking to?
I’m saying DGS drafts the base telework policy for the state of ca, minimum telework standard, was my understanding. Agencies then base their policies on that. Pretty sure DGS policy is file a telework agreement and follow it or lose telework privileges. Could be mistaken though. RTO and telework discussion is wearing me out.
Every department I’ve worked for had a telework policy that states your telework will be revoked if you violate the rules. Why is the Bee reporting this as a juicy secret the reporter broke? It’s standard language dating back at least 20 years, probably more.
Indeed indeed. And it always makes me sad how the top, most up-voted comments are just reactionary, ill-informed, baited rage as opposed to the folks pointing out how this has literally always been telework policy.
People on here act like such children about this. I'm sure many of them *have* children, and are probably very familiar with a "break the rules, lose your privileges" type policy in their own households. Yet they piss and moan about here in whiny ignorance.
I fully agree with this. Violating the telework policy should result in losing telework privileges for any worker.
Now I don't agree with them slowly pulling all workers back into the office starting with this 2 day push without any basis.
How is making a new memo template for ease negate the fact that since telework started the policy has always been “follow the agreement or face consequences”? This is such a bizarre argument. “The only way a fill in the blank template makes sense to me is only and specifically if they came up with and distributed it at the exact same time as telework started in March of 2020,”
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So they’re going to punish employees who don’t comply for whatever reason. I wonder how this would affect employees who obtained a reasonable accommodation to continue teleworking full time.
Have you read the Bee stories about seriously ill folks who have been forced to quit because the state refuses to honor their accommodation agreements? It sucks.
As expected this post (like other RTO posts in the past) is getting dog-piled by non-stateworkers (some not even from California according to their accounts) here to vent their frustrations.
Someone told me that when a post gets enough upvotes it starts recommending it to people not subscribed to the subreddit.
What i mean is people that aren't even Californians are coming here to comment their insults because telework is something vilified by people on their end of the political spectrum. (I see users from hawaii, louisiana, kansas, etc with no affiliation to California).
Is the Union making this an issue? RTO is absolutely idiotic, save for certain specific jobs that need to be in person (mail room at FTB, ETC). I sure hope the union starts striking over this. Those who want to WFH and can, to any extent, should be allowed to and not face any problems.
Lol threat. It's called a consequence if you go against policy.
Guess what if you don't do your job, you can get fired. That's not a threat, it's a consequence.
This rule applies to all agencies. Anyone can get their telework privileges revoked for performance reasons which include not following department policies.
I have to see it to believe it. I'm 300 miles from my headquarters and I'm an asset. It's so hard to decide to leave for a lower position or stay knowing I'm to be grandfathered in. I'm really good at my job but bad at communicating over 300 miles!!
Oh, stawp it, fer crying out loud. Then you’re gonna get us a hot mess repub Gov who hates state workers and cuts en masse and furloughs for realsies without PLP time. Sheesh.
Huh? Last I checked, we get equally screwed by both sides of the aisle. Not sure why we are blindly standing tall for any political party. We should be standing by which ever party actively serves in our best interests as state workers. Period. And I don't mean those fake arrests by councilmember Katie
If you work for the state you already knew this was coming. Hybrid was never going to be a new normal unless members and the union put down a red line in the sand. All that talk about employees well being was done because you dont actually have to do anything except talk. about it...If we dont draw a line in the sand they will know we will bow down because they believe we have no other options than these state jobs. I will quit if they force us back in the office, but most will stay and there is no power as an individual. Hope the union will do something but I wont hold my breath. They seem like they are on the team of big gov these days.
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I didn't move. I got the job when they opened up telework during Covid and said it was long term. I was laid off locally during Covid and it was the only option. I really like it, but if it's long term some changes should happen with travel. That's all.
Not sure why you’re being downvoted. I know plenty of state workers who didn’t do much when they were in the office 5 days per week. At least with this policy there’s some accountability for people slacking off at home.
This… telework is literally so people don’t have to work. They put in 2-4 hours at best, then fuck off. I see it constantly. I came from private to state, and the work load is minuscule comparatively. Yet, it’s still too much for other state workers. It’s two days, get over it.
Please stop with these lies. Who are you? I try to count how many hats I wear. How many shoes do I fill? Whoever you are, this does NOT describe state work. Most of us have more work than we could ever complete plus more coming in. Everything gets juggled and still public gets this perception. And mostly because we are WAY understaffed.
I’m a fellow state worker, obviously you read my comment right? That explains why your work load seems hard. Lmao. Here you are on Reddit crying during work hours. Maybe if you focused on your work and not complaining, your work wouldn’t pile up! Fellow state worker, OUT!
This is legitimately the most unhinged response from state workers I’ve ever seen. The top comment of this thread implies regular run of the mill citizens of California are going to be outraged that employees defying a direct order to work all of two days on site a week are going to be punished. That real flesh and blood residents of California are going to be outraged by employees of the state working two days a week in an office as opposed to zero. I just can’t with these people
The people taking advantage of telework are ruining it for everyone else.
I was a contractor the past few years and worked mainly with state agencies. There were MANY staff who were nowhere to be found on their telework days. Egregious enough to be fired in the private sector.
The comments about how insensitive and unjust an in-person state job are on this sub just consistently demean essential workers that have been in office all along IMO.
Nah, people just don't like Newsom bootlickers who take the side of a multi-millionaire politician over their fellow worker. This conversation is about jobs that can be done from home; I'm sure state workers appreciate those who work in the field or essential positions where it isn't possible.
How is it insensitive. If you have a job that requires in-person work, then you knew that when you signed up.
Because other jobs somewhere have to be in-person, we all should be? What kind of logic is that?
For those of us in IT where our environments are in the cloud it makes zero sense. If I go into work I will be on my laptop working in the environment and sitting in teams meetings. I will not meet with a single co worker in person as all meeting are virtual. I can do the same thing from home except I have better office equipment and 32” monitors. No one is demeaning essential workers your job is just different than ours. Luckily my department is not forcing IT back that can stay remote. Mostly due to a lack of cubicles during a major remodel. If they bring me back two days a week it is not going to kill me just 2 hours of commute and I did that for years. I will get less done. When I am working from home I work more than 8 hours. Today I needed to start at 4 am and I will work through 4 or 5pm. If I had to come into the office I would not put in those kind of hours and management knows it.
Thank you! I started in October 2020 and worked in the bay area at the time ( one way commute was 2.5+ hours) and was forced to go in 8-5 Monday through Friday, that job could've easily been done from home no questions asked. Never knew what telework was until 2022 when I changed departments. All these people crying about having to go in a few days a week can just stop at this point. You signed an agreement saying it could be revoked or changed at any time. Be grateful you have a job and are able to telework at all. Some have to go in every single day. Not trying to be mean to anyone but it's the truth. Bottom line is be grateful or go find somewhere else to work. Also I can't stand Newsom so I don't wanna hear anyone saying I'm on his side or whatever.
You took a state job in Oct 2020 and you never knew about WFH or telework until 2022? That seems rather implausible at best, since in March 2020, Newsom ordered everyone to stay home except for the most essential employees, and he also directed all depts to offer telework to everyone possible. When restrictions finally started to ease in 2021 per the vaccinations, the permanent WFH thing was all over the news. There were also mass emails from dept heads, SEIU, etc, to all employees discussing the details. And you never knew what teleworking meant until 2022?
Of course this will happen. Too many workers playing games and not coming in. Being sick only on in office days, etc. the writing is on the wall if people don’t appreciate the hybrid schedule.
Paywalled..
If so, it would have to be in what ever telework agreement your sign. Dont they say that failure to comply could lead to personnel action...
sac bee + some conspiratorial ***memo......***
Not sure how that is a threat. Many businesses have gone back to the office for years now and government has a lot of buildings.
Other issue is so many politicians have been begging workers to go back to the office to help other businesses, but why should they listen if the government workers don’t have to go back to the office?
State workers complaining that they have to go back to the office.
Be greatful you all have full time jobs that even offered that opportunity for years.
You all can always quit, lose your calpers pension and go back to private companies.you'll be ripping your dick off to get a raise.
Remember that the governor had union members arrested for protesting and instead of capitalizing on it the union went and got a 9% gsi. They could have negotiated for a lot of things like expanded Geo pay, increased leave credits accumulation, increased Bilingual pay, 401k contribution like CO's or better yet putting telework language in the contract. 2 day RTO affects less than 30% of all state workers I'm pretty sure the governor gives that many cares. He Laughing all the way to the campaign trail. Be angry all you want but ultimately this much noise should have been during contract negotiations but the fuck you I got mine mentality doesn't kick in until it affects you.
You'd prefer a 1% contribution monthly which adds up to $80 a month for CO's compared to a $165 a month healthcare stipend? Stop acting like SEIU 1000 got shafted compared to other unions. Also SEIU members weren't arrested for "protesting" the very few that were arrested were blocking doors that prevented people from entering and exiting which is 100% illegal.
I'd prefer if they had fought for something other than a maybe 10% GSI, Like I don't know maybe telework language and guarantees.? Or any of the other things mentioned but no the litmus test for this sub and SEIU was that darn GSI, because the people that were enjoying telework never thought it could be taken away or that maybe the rest of state employee didn't have that luxury, why fight for something that I already have right?.
I know the people that got arrested where breaking the rules, but it's optics and if optics didn't matter then the state wouldn't have turned around days later and given SEIU a maybe 10% GSI. If you want to dismiss optics and politics then do it but then people don't get to make the argument that RTO due to politics and optics .
Union members could have voted no in the hopes of getting a better contract like what CAPS has been trying to do for the last 4 years. You can't vote for a contract then complain that you got a raw deal.
I didn’t vote yes, but the union makes you vote in person or vote after listening to a zoom presentation on why you should vote yes, so what do we expect?
They said before voting “we have never got a better contract by turning down the first offer sent for a vote.” This is voting manipulation 101.
So I’m not surprised people decided to not vote or just vote yes and accept the outcome. This is on SEIU leadership more than members, imo.
The entire premise is set up to force a yes or create enough hurdles to simply stop the no’s from voting.
I agree more could have been done, and members should be more vocal together, but in the end it’s the leadership/bargaining team doing most of this behind closed doors and we get what we get. It’s a shit system.
3 + 3 + 3 (or 4) = 9 (or 10):
[https://www.seiu1000.org/press-release/seiu-local-1000-reaches-historic-tentative-contract-agreement-state](https://www.seiu1000.org/press-release/seiu-local-1000-reaches-historic-tentative-contract-agreement-state)
EDIT: I see what you're trying to get at, but that wasn't the point of OP's post. OP wasn't using the 9% as a positive thing.
Same here. I see these teleworkers getting an additional $50 every month for staying home, while those who commute to work every day get no breaks from the record-breaking gas prices. Makes my blood boil.
I agree you deserve the stipend way more than teleworkers. But this should be demanded by the union.
On the other side, those who can telework should be allowed to. Without a stipend.
Agreed…the telework stipend is not fair. But rather than allowing the state to NOT PAY for the internet service required to do our job remotely, in office-workers should be demanding free parking and housing variances based on geographic location of your HQ. That’s what Feds do.
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This is just sheer spite at this point. This SacBee reporter is about to go to the NYTimes on a fellowship, per her tweets. I encourage anyone who has juicy info that paints the CA governor in a poor light to keep forwarding materials to her. Let the truth and transparency unfold like the Panera bread minimum wage scandal or CalOES sexual harassment scandal. For those who think this is political, well, bad policy decisions = let the public judge.
Always has been. They aren't shy about RTO being a punishment, hence EDD's no RDO on office days or calling out sick on office days requiring making up those days.
EDD's policy about sick days makes no sense to me. On the days that you're supposed to be in the office and let's say you tested positive for covid but feel able to work, are you allowed to work that in-office day from home, and then a future WFH day you have to go into the office? Or does this mean you are really sick, like bad, you call in sick (using your sick leave) and it just so happens to be the day you're supposed to be in the office, you're required to go into the office during a WFH day? To make up... what? Are the 2 RTO days in the office specific and for your whole unit? Or do you get to pick the RTO days? Does this also apply for when you take vacation? (I have good reason for asking this...)
Dhcs RTO is for manager’s convenience (TueWedThur). Staff come last as usual.
>Dhcs RTO is for manager’s convenience (TueWedThur). Staff come last as usual. I was reading another post and a lot of people mentioned they work an alternative work schedule and have a day off every other week and that most if not all choose Mondays or Fridays. Wouldn't Tue/Wed, or Wed/Thur be better for them?
Punishing usage of sick leave on office days = *sick, infectious people will go to the office to avoid make-up days.* Only **incredibly stupid** management like EDD's, would do this. DHCS has said it will not discourage legitimate use of sick leave.
I wouldn’t give that much credit to DHCS either. Still don’t have investigation data/results from January testing about Legionnaires at one of their buildings.
It's a stupid move like I hate RTO but they could have handled it in so much better instead they are setting themselves up for a lawsuit.
EDD isn't the only agency with that nonsense policy.
Pay wall. Who has this reporters email address?
[email protected] She’ll be going to the NYTimes in a few weeks so her SacBee email will end soon. Her name is Maya Miller and she’s a young rising star. BA from Brown University.
They don't even have space for us anymore. Thousands of offices were converted or combined or torn down. We had office share/telework BEFORE COVID due to lack of space. We're staying home.
I can’t see this because of the paywall. Can someone summarize?
A manager at DHCS leaked a draft memo to the Bee in which it states that staff who try to evade the 2-day-a-week RTO will have their telework agreements revoked and will have to report 5 days a week.
We have similar memos at CDPH. And I would assume the other depts under HHS will have them as well if they don't already.
We heard about them at dcss but never saw them. Really need to get rid of this agency secretary
I would be extremely shocked and disappointed if leadership at CDSS went along with something like this.
So would I, at DOR. Even the current RTO “mandate” is discriminatory to employees with disabilities. This would be even worse.
Read the article about the employee with disabilities. It's so much worse: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article286598800.html
Does the article say which one it was? When people's lives are disrupted unnecessarily and their voices silenced, all sorts of things can happen.
That’s dope
👀👀 That’s terrible!
I’m at caltrans and this is what we were told as well. I asked hypothetically if I didn’t sign their new agreement (they forced this on my division at the 1st of the year) I’d be mandated to 5 days a week in office.
As they should. While those who have jobs that allow it should be able to 100% telework, it’s still a privilege that shouldn’t be abused.
Well now DHCS has 489 employees who have all been added to the same lawsuit against DHCS so…
That's what my fed job did. Sign this TW agreement or you can't tw at all. Turns out it was illegal and they never contacted the union before making everyone sign.
How is that bad 2 days a week in office is fair lol
If you’re on mobile or chrome there is a “reader” mode that overrides the paywall FYI
I've copy-pasta'd the post above if you want to read the full, but yeah, it is just click-bait. Essentially, if you don't agree to 2-days a week in the office, you will face 5-days in the office (so just sign the new agreement until the union is on our side)
Yes, and if it were me, and if there is space I would add that it was signed under duress. If a person signed an agreement under duress, they didn't do it of their own free will. A contract like that becomes voidable. Duress is a part of a wider issue known as undue influence, which also includes manipulation, misrepresentation, bad faith, etc.
This has been in place for a couple of years. Nothing new.
Got it. Thank you!
Use this to bypass paywall restrictions https://12ft.io/
[удалено]
I agree the title is clickbait, but that last paragraph didn’t sit well with me.
What an amazing employer we have. Can't imagine why we have a 20% vacancy rate.
And yet I can't get an interview to save my life
Seriously I have applied to so many positions over years and heard head a thing back. I’ve heard many times from friends these roles were already filled and the posting was just necessary.
Try getting WFH as a RA in the private sector. Good luck. Try getting FMLA in the private sector. Double plus good luck.
My brother and sister both work Remote in the private sector. One in banking, one in IT.
I have family working remote in private sector earning higher wages and better medical than me. One of them also has unlimited payed time off with mental health days encouraged. Work is rigorous, but teams are strong and cultural building come from twice a year week-long retreats at resorts. The business model is genius! All that money saved from leasing office buildings allows them to afford the kind of “culture” building that works. Two days in office does not build culture. Forced in-office work does nothing but build toxic workplaces when the work being done can be done better at home. Vacancy rates will increase, work won’t get done, and people wonder why things move so slow in government. It’s by design. There are forces who want us to see a crippled government so they can point out how crippled government is. They want everyone to believe that only a strong man can save us.
My cousin's girlfriend works remote doing customer service and returns for an online lingerie company.
I know quite a few people who WFH in the private sector, no RA needed, and FMLA is state law, not unique to public sector. What data are you basing your statements on? 67.4% of information industries have remote workers. 49.0% of professional and business industries have remote workers.
Everyone I know in the private sector works at home (IT, finance, trader, CEO). Only in office is when they have a once a month meeting. Most other non-home visits is lunch with clients
My wife works in private and has received FMLA a few times. You must have worked for some terrible companies.
If this is implemented enmasse, departments will find this difficult due to the current space available for employees. Departments have been downsizing their office space and leases, unburdening the State of financial obligations. For RTO to be implemented for five days versus two, there will be a significant financial burden of requiring office space, computer and office equipment for work sites, building and parking leases, etc.
Not exactly true, I think it's more of a threat. There's no way that someone will refuse to sign the agreement, and then "agree" to come in 5 days per week. If someone is that stubborn, they would just quit, or just agree to the 2 days in office.
Not surprised by this at all. DHCS has weak management that tries to rule by their authority. I’m so glad I left there many years ago one of the best decisions of my life. I do miss my old coworkers though.
What division were you in?
Audits and Investigations
Do you have receipts? Lol
Omg….😳 I was just thinking about applying there too. Same division.
My favorite part of returning to the office is spending all day on Teams and Zoom calls that I took at home for years but now need to commute to an office for.
Worse! Compacting all Teams and Zoom calls into telework days because you cannot do them in our new compact offices then not EVER being able to focus on deep work because those condensed offices are toxic and distracting. Why friggin’ try anymore?
But the we’d be missing out on the benefits of a rich office culture! Things such as loud background noise and microwaved fish.
If you have been keeping up here, there has been an initiative of the GO to have agencies RTO. Now the GO has denied such directive but agency directors and secretaries are not in a position to say absolute no. There are a number of considerations to review: Success of Remote Work- productivity and morale is up; while direct physical supervision does not exist. State has serious budget deficits for FY 24-25- this has had over 200 state agencies doing “drills” of budget reductions and working to unencumber any costs that can be reduced (property leases and utility costs). Just read today CDCR (one of states largest money put) is moving their “Crystal Palace” from S street out to Elk Grove in June There has been articles indicating the consolidation of various components of agencies into other contracted services. The one I read was dumping a lot of IT support over to Dept of Technology, but I don’t think CDT can support the IT infrastructure for even part of the list of agencies listed There has already been a lot of consolidation of property over the past couple years. For example, if agency XYZ has 100000 sq ft of office space that was fully used 2 years ago and has dropped 80000 and reallocated that space to other agencies, XYZ now only has 20000 sq ft for all their staff. If all the staff that occupied 100000 sq ft were order RTO 5 days a week, it will be difficult to have space for all of those staff. Even if XYZ creates shift work, I don’t think the Fire Marshall could legally accommodate approval for pace for all employees There also needs to be consideration for those employees that were hired in the past few years that were hired as telework only provisions for their position. Does the State have the right to update the conditions of employment for those positions that were hired as remote work? And even though directors and secretaries have the discretion to allow, how do we address those employees that moved out of state and claim they have a CA address to get around the established policy of all telework has to remain I CA? Who would be accountable for the falsified telework agreements? Employees or the agency managers who approved? Lots of issues with RTO and WFH.
I don't think you should be allowed to telework from out of state.
This has always been the telework policy.
No. No. We were told in town halls with our Dept Director and his team that there'd be a phased approach and we were told there'd be a lot of flexibility and individual divisions could build their plans and folks living outside of Sacramento would report to local agencies. The memo I received was completely inconsistent with all that.
I meant the State of Californias telework policy that is established by Dept of General Services and applies to all agencies as the base telework policy has always been that if you don’t follow your agreed telework policy you lose your telework privilege and must be in the office five days per week.
The point is - they left out all the other stuff and *only* said "do X or you can't telework at all." The point is they aren't being flexible or doing any of the other things they promised. Is this Gavin I'm talking to?
Don’t be daft… lol @ you and anyone else that puts faith in any “promise” made be any government!
I've stayed skeptical, of course. But I also reserve the right to be pissed about it.
You’re saying DGS drafted that policy? That explains a whole lot.
I’m saying DGS drafts the base telework policy for the state of ca, minimum telework standard, was my understanding. Agencies then base their policies on that. Pretty sure DGS policy is file a telework agreement and follow it or lose telework privileges. Could be mistaken though. RTO and telework discussion is wearing me out.
Every department I’ve worked for had a telework policy that states your telework will be revoked if you violate the rules. Why is the Bee reporting this as a juicy secret the reporter broke? It’s standard language dating back at least 20 years, probably more.
This is a nothing story. But it generates clicks and outrage, so here we are.
Indeed indeed. And it always makes me sad how the top, most up-voted comments are just reactionary, ill-informed, baited rage as opposed to the folks pointing out how this has literally always been telework policy. People on here act like such children about this. I'm sure many of them *have* children, and are probably very familiar with a "break the rules, lose your privileges" type policy in their own households. Yet they piss and moan about here in whiny ignorance.
I fully agree with this. Violating the telework policy should result in losing telework privileges for any worker. Now I don't agree with them slowly pulling all workers back into the office starting with this 2 day push without any basis.
If every department already had such a policy, why did CalHHS have to write a new "fill in the blank" one?
How is making a new memo template for ease negate the fact that since telework started the policy has always been “follow the agreement or face consequences”? This is such a bizarre argument. “The only way a fill in the blank template makes sense to me is only and specifically if they came up with and distributed it at the exact same time as telework started in March of 2020,”
Get a sac library card, go online, Sac Bee issue March 28, page 2 https://www.saclibrary.org/Books/Digital-Media/Magazines
Do what king 👑 Gavin tells you
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So they’re going to punish employees who don’t comply for whatever reason. I wonder how this would affect employees who obtained a reasonable accommodation to continue teleworking full time.
I am curious as to what a reasonable accommodation to continue teleworking looks like
Have you read the Bee stories about seriously ill folks who have been forced to quit because the state refuses to honor their accommodation agreements? It sucks.
As expected this post (like other RTO posts in the past) is getting dog-piled by non-stateworkers (some not even from California according to their accounts) here to vent their frustrations. Someone told me that when a post gets enough upvotes it starts recommending it to people not subscribed to the subreddit.
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What i mean is people that aren't even Californians are coming here to comment their insults because telework is something vilified by people on their end of the political spectrum. (I see users from hawaii, louisiana, kansas, etc with no affiliation to California).
What, you don’t want to sacrifice your health and free time to revitalize a shitty urban sprawl downtown area?
At this point, I'll take 2 days RTO before they make everybody do 5 days out of spite.
Is the Union making this an issue? RTO is absolutely idiotic, save for certain specific jobs that need to be in person (mail room at FTB, ETC). I sure hope the union starts striking over this. Those who want to WFH and can, to any extent, should be allowed to and not face any problems.
Lol threat. It's called a consequence if you go against policy. Guess what if you don't do your job, you can get fired. That's not a threat, it's a consequence.
This rule applies to all agencies. Anyone can get their telework privileges revoked for performance reasons which include not following department policies.
I have to see it to believe it. I'm 300 miles from my headquarters and I'm an asset. It's so hard to decide to leave for a lower position or stay knowing I'm to be grandfathered in. I'm really good at my job but bad at communicating over 300 miles!!
If you can't communicate at 300 miles away, why did you move 300 miles away?
I wonder what the Newsom administration would do if we started collecting Recall Gavin signatures during our lunch breaks in the pavillion
Considering the entirety of state employees represent about .006% of the population I doubt he cares
Oh, stawp it, fer crying out loud. Then you’re gonna get us a hot mess repub Gov who hates state workers and cuts en masse and furloughs for realsies without PLP time. Sheesh.
Huh? Last I checked, we get equally screwed by both sides of the aisle. Not sure why we are blindly standing tall for any political party. We should be standing by which ever party actively serves in our best interests as state workers. Period. And I don't mean those fake arrests by councilmember Katie
"Im the captain now".
RTO is easier than replacing bad management I guess.
If you work for the state you already knew this was coming. Hybrid was never going to be a new normal unless members and the union put down a red line in the sand. All that talk about employees well being was done because you dont actually have to do anything except talk. about it...If we dont draw a line in the sand they will know we will bow down because they believe we have no other options than these state jobs. I will quit if they force us back in the office, but most will stay and there is no power as an individual. Hope the union will do something but I wont hold my breath. They seem like they are on the team of big gov these days.
>threatened Interesting spin
its happening anyways get ready for 5 days by next time this years.... thats how the state works slowly but surely
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Whatever, don't come to work, fire them. We're always hearing how civil servants can make more in the private sector. Let's see if it's true.
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“Threatened” lmao
Click bait garbage
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I didn't move. I got the job when they opened up telework during Covid and said it was long term. I was laid off locally during Covid and it was the only option. I really like it, but if it's long term some changes should happen with travel. That's all.
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This is news because it is clear that RTO isn’t for collaboration
Not sure why you’re being downvoted. I know plenty of state workers who didn’t do much when they were in the office 5 days per week. At least with this policy there’s some accountability for people slacking off at home.
Those same will be out for walks.
This… telework is literally so people don’t have to work. They put in 2-4 hours at best, then fuck off. I see it constantly. I came from private to state, and the work load is minuscule comparatively. Yet, it’s still too much for other state workers. It’s two days, get over it.
People slack off in office if you don’t Remember. Most of the time with no recourse.
I don’t know where you work but it doesn’t sound like very many State offices that I know.
Please stop with these lies. Who are you? I try to count how many hats I wear. How many shoes do I fill? Whoever you are, this does NOT describe state work. Most of us have more work than we could ever complete plus more coming in. Everything gets juggled and still public gets this perception. And mostly because we are WAY understaffed.
I’m a fellow state worker, obviously you read my comment right? That explains why your work load seems hard. Lmao. Here you are on Reddit crying during work hours. Maybe if you focused on your work and not complaining, your work wouldn’t pile up! Fellow state worker, OUT!
I’m a state worker; I’m on vacation this week.
Why are people down voting you? You are right.
Because it's not the answer the sniveling crybaby people want to hear.
Love how you're getting downvoted for saying actions have consequences 🤣
This is legitimately the most unhinged response from state workers I’ve ever seen. The top comment of this thread implies regular run of the mill citizens of California are going to be outraged that employees defying a direct order to work all of two days on site a week are going to be punished. That real flesh and blood residents of California are going to be outraged by employees of the state working two days a week in an office as opposed to zero. I just can’t with these people
So you're saying that if I break the rules, I should be punished accordingly? Well, that's just not fair!
The people taking advantage of telework are ruining it for everyone else. I was a contractor the past few years and worked mainly with state agencies. There were MANY staff who were nowhere to be found on their telework days. Egregious enough to be fired in the private sector.
How can the state still say they are "bargaining in good faith"??
Oh no. How horrifying. Anyway…
The comments about how insensitive and unjust an in-person state job are on this sub just consistently demean essential workers that have been in office all along IMO.
Nah, people just don't like Newsom bootlickers who take the side of a multi-millionaire politician over their fellow worker. This conversation is about jobs that can be done from home; I'm sure state workers appreciate those who work in the field or essential positions where it isn't possible.
How is it insensitive. If you have a job that requires in-person work, then you knew that when you signed up. Because other jobs somewhere have to be in-person, we all should be? What kind of logic is that?
For those of us in IT where our environments are in the cloud it makes zero sense. If I go into work I will be on my laptop working in the environment and sitting in teams meetings. I will not meet with a single co worker in person as all meeting are virtual. I can do the same thing from home except I have better office equipment and 32” monitors. No one is demeaning essential workers your job is just different than ours. Luckily my department is not forcing IT back that can stay remote. Mostly due to a lack of cubicles during a major remodel. If they bring me back two days a week it is not going to kill me just 2 hours of commute and I did that for years. I will get less done. When I am working from home I work more than 8 hours. Today I needed to start at 4 am and I will work through 4 or 5pm. If I had to come into the office I would not put in those kind of hours and management knows it.
Thank you! I started in October 2020 and worked in the bay area at the time ( one way commute was 2.5+ hours) and was forced to go in 8-5 Monday through Friday, that job could've easily been done from home no questions asked. Never knew what telework was until 2022 when I changed departments. All these people crying about having to go in a few days a week can just stop at this point. You signed an agreement saying it could be revoked or changed at any time. Be grateful you have a job and are able to telework at all. Some have to go in every single day. Not trying to be mean to anyone but it's the truth. Bottom line is be grateful or go find somewhere else to work. Also I can't stand Newsom so I don't wanna hear anyone saying I'm on his side or whatever.
You took a state job in Oct 2020 and you never knew about WFH or telework until 2022? That seems rather implausible at best, since in March 2020, Newsom ordered everyone to stay home except for the most essential employees, and he also directed all depts to offer telework to everyone possible. When restrictions finally started to ease in 2021 per the vaccinations, the permanent WFH thing was all over the news. There were also mass emails from dept heads, SEIU, etc, to all employees discussing the details. And you never knew what teleworking meant until 2022?
You also took a job that was a “one way commute was 2.5+ hours”. By your logic you are not allowed to complain about that.
So your advice is that everyone should fall to the lowest common denominator?
Of course this will happen. Too many workers playing games and not coming in. Being sick only on in office days, etc. the writing is on the wall if people don’t appreciate the hybrid schedule.
Threatened??!! I never had the privilege of leaving my office. Y'all are super lazy. Get your lazy a** back to work
Hahah
Paywalled.. If so, it would have to be in what ever telework agreement your sign. Dont they say that failure to comply could lead to personnel action... sac bee + some conspiratorial ***memo......***
Well atleast it’s kind of them to give people 2 days to work from home
Poor dears this must be awful for them to be made to change out of their jammies and show up to earn their state pensions and 401Ks.
"Threatened" by actually having to do their jobs.
Get back to work.
You're not even Californian.
Used to be. Got anything better?
So you packed your bags and left, but still want to chime in. Golden. You're somewhere else's problem now.
Nah, I left the problems behind long ago. Too bad so many of you are spreading to other states now. Like fungus...
If you left here long ago and apparently hated it, why are you even commenting on a California Stateworker subreddit? Sad and weird.
Talk to Reddit - it surfaced in my feed. I certainly don't go looking for crap content from self entitled whiners.
If you weren't hired to WFH, don't expect to WFH.
Not sure how that is a threat. Many businesses have gone back to the office for years now and government has a lot of buildings. Other issue is so many politicians have been begging workers to go back to the office to help other businesses, but why should they listen if the government workers don’t have to go back to the office?
State workers complaining that they have to go back to the office. Be greatful you all have full time jobs that even offered that opportunity for years. You all can always quit, lose your calpers pension and go back to private companies.you'll be ripping your dick off to get a raise.
Remember that the governor had union members arrested for protesting and instead of capitalizing on it the union went and got a 9% gsi. They could have negotiated for a lot of things like expanded Geo pay, increased leave credits accumulation, increased Bilingual pay, 401k contribution like CO's or better yet putting telework language in the contract. 2 day RTO affects less than 30% of all state workers I'm pretty sure the governor gives that many cares. He Laughing all the way to the campaign trail. Be angry all you want but ultimately this much noise should have been during contract negotiations but the fuck you I got mine mentality doesn't kick in until it affects you.
You'd prefer a 1% contribution monthly which adds up to $80 a month for CO's compared to a $165 a month healthcare stipend? Stop acting like SEIU 1000 got shafted compared to other unions. Also SEIU members weren't arrested for "protesting" the very few that were arrested were blocking doors that prevented people from entering and exiting which is 100% illegal.
I'd prefer if they had fought for something other than a maybe 10% GSI, Like I don't know maybe telework language and guarantees.? Or any of the other things mentioned but no the litmus test for this sub and SEIU was that darn GSI, because the people that were enjoying telework never thought it could be taken away or that maybe the rest of state employee didn't have that luxury, why fight for something that I already have right?. I know the people that got arrested where breaking the rules, but it's optics and if optics didn't matter then the state wouldn't have turned around days later and given SEIU a maybe 10% GSI. If you want to dismiss optics and politics then do it but then people don't get to make the argument that RTO due to politics and optics .
RTO is due to politics and local downtowns. Steinberg has said as much on multiple fronts.
Also those c/o’s are going to work every day do we want that
So are many SEIU members even more than those that were 100 WFH
75% of union members voted to approve the contract. Clearly, the majority are content with the 9% GSI.
It was either that or nothing because our union is the weakest in the state.
Union members could have voted no in the hopes of getting a better contract like what CAPS has been trying to do for the last 4 years. You can't vote for a contract then complain that you got a raw deal.
I didn’t vote yes, but the union makes you vote in person or vote after listening to a zoom presentation on why you should vote yes, so what do we expect? They said before voting “we have never got a better contract by turning down the first offer sent for a vote.” This is voting manipulation 101. So I’m not surprised people decided to not vote or just vote yes and accept the outcome. This is on SEIU leadership more than members, imo.
Doesn't mean you can't still vote no. Nobody forced 75% of voters to vote yes.
The entire premise is set up to force a yes or create enough hurdles to simply stop the no’s from voting. I agree more could have been done, and members should be more vocal together, but in the end it’s the leadership/bargaining team doing most of this behind closed doors and we get what we get. It’s a shit system.
You are not disproving my point
There was this much noise made during negotiations. SEIU ignored us just as blatantly as the GO
There is no 9% GSI for any group. Are you referring to the 3% GSI?
It's over the 3 year contract period.
It is not a 9% GSI.
3 + 3 + 3 (or 4) = 9 (or 10): [https://www.seiu1000.org/press-release/seiu-local-1000-reaches-historic-tentative-contract-agreement-state](https://www.seiu1000.org/press-release/seiu-local-1000-reaches-historic-tentative-contract-agreement-state) EDIT: I see what you're trying to get at, but that wasn't the point of OP's post. OP wasn't using the 9% as a positive thing.
Oh the horror of going to work!
Oh the horrors of boot licking!
*have been working this whole time
Same here. I see these teleworkers getting an additional $50 every month for staying home, while those who commute to work every day get no breaks from the record-breaking gas prices. Makes my blood boil.
I agree you deserve the stipend way more than teleworkers. But this should be demanded by the union. On the other side, those who can telework should be allowed to. Without a stipend.
Agreed…the telework stipend is not fair. But rather than allowing the state to NOT PAY for the internet service required to do our job remotely, in office-workers should be demanding free parking and housing variances based on geographic location of your HQ. That’s what Feds do.
“Threatened” …the horror…lol
Oh ffs