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Federal Shutdown May Send Millennial Workers To Exits (techtarget.com)
dcblogs writes: The federal government measures the "engagement" of its federal workforce once a year with a massive survey of 1.5 million employees. And what it has found is that most federal workers are very dedicated to their work. Its most recent survey -- the 2018 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey -- asked employees if they are "willing to put in extra effort to get their job done," 96% of the survey takers responded affirmatively. Moreover, 91% agreed with the statement that they "look for ways to do their jobs better," and 90% "believe their work is important." But this job dedication is being tested by the U.S. government shutdown, and most at risk of leaving are Millennial-age workers. Less than 6% of federal employees are under the age of 30 and represent half of all people who leave an agency within the first two years. The best employees have options, and "a major concern is that the brightest, hardest-working, and most capable, dedicated government employees may opt out of government service and take jobs in the private sector," Talya Bauer, professor of management at Portland State University in Oregon and president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, said. The shutdown could hurt the reputation of the government as a good place to work, she said.
How credulous do you have to be to think a survey like this means anything? Might as well ask, "Who here doesn't want to get fired?" Damn.
-Dave
Didn't Trump say he wanted a smaller government? Seems like a quick way to achieve that.
Yes, this. I bet most of the Republican party are on cloud 9 right now, dreaming about their libertarian, small gubbermint ideologies. Meanwhile, millions of not so ideological people suffer from a lack of government services. In practice, Libertarians are just a bunch of sadistic perverts.
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
If you think workers are concerned about politics resulting in a government shutdown, consider this:
If you work in private industry, you can be a victim of a mass-layoff, and you never know its coming, so you should have emergency $$$ savings to prepare for that possibility, just as you should if you work for government - in case of political issues causing funding shortfall come the end of the fiscal year.
With this US government shutdown... employees had more than 60 days' warning that this was extremely likely to happen, essentially; the coming political clash was evident from miles away immediately after the election --- this eventuality became almost certain. Unlike a mass layoff; its presumably going to be temporary, and many furloughed employees will be entitled to automatic back pay - full wages for the time they didn't work, when the deficiency is resolved.
So, not only do they have ample warning to plan and make sure to reign in unnecessary spending: nearly 60 days warning is plenty of time for the best employees to have arranged some kind of alternate work or gig for earning money while on furlough, And after the shutdown's over, they come back on, and get paid double ---- making the whole thing essentially a 20+ day paid vacation where they could amplify their pay
or avail themselves of other opportunities.
The Republicans win by getting a smaller gubbermint. They win again by dragging the gubbermint through the mud thus tainting it for the future as a place to do good work. And they'll win again after they've fucked up the gubbermint operations by campaigning under the slogan that the gubbermint doesn't work well, so elect them to fix it.
I live near DC and never hear the end of all the moaning and whining when government does a shut-down. I mean, it really does reach the absurd at times. I remember last time there was a shutdown, I was at a full service car wash in Gaithersburg, MD. This lady in front of me rolls in with a high-end luxury full size SUV, and asks to have it fully detailed and waxed. While we're standing in line, she proceeds to tell me how the government shutdown has made everything so stressful for her.... and she just decided to get the car all cleaned up since she had all this time to kill now.
It only took about 2 days of this shut-down before people were on all the news stations, talking about their struggle. (None of them were even close to missing 1 paycheck yet!)
I really do get that the younger people, who just got a first "real job" doing something for Federal govt., would be far more impacted ... But hey, I *never* accepted a government job for this reason. Always felt like the private sector made more sense. I don't like knowing my paycheck is covered by tax revenue they forcibly take from everybody else who works, and everything is subject to voters voting people in or out of office, legislation changing what government plans to do next, etc. Federal govt. jobs have different sets of perks, too, though. It's very difficult to get fired from most government jobs, for example. Even the idiots trying to watch porn while on the job often just got a slap on the wrist and kept their employment.... If you're a real screw up, you sometimes even get a promotion, because it's the only easy way for your superior to get rid of having to deal with you.
I have a family member who is a federal agent. He has to work even when he is "furloughed." He just doesn't get paid until the next spending bill is passed. It's not like a paid vacation for all federal employees.
Classic GOP. Reasonable terms = "my way or the highway"
Trump didn't get his wall in 2017. He didn't get his wall in 2018. And he won't be getting his wall in 2019. This temper tantrum is the result of the "master" negotiator.
What, putting five billion unbudgeted dollars into an appropriation bill is reasonable? For a project with no corresponding authorization bill?
But you probably don't understand what any of that means, so how about this: Congress asked the president for a detailed breakdown of how he intended to spend the money and he only itemized 1.7 billion, meaning he's demanding 3.2 billion that he could spend any way he likes.
If you think government spending is out of control, wait until this becomes the new normal.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.