• tinkeringidiot@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    That’s a good raise, and the govvies I’ve worked with over the years deserve it.

    It’s still far too small to stop the perpetual brain drain from federal agencies to government contractors. It’s going to take a lot more than 5% to keep good people in place when they can double their salary overnight by joining a contractor.

    • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      There’s a lot more than salary that’s keeping me from taking a government job. When Biden was elected I checked for jobs in my field and they all involved moving to DC. No remote work at all.

      So even if they paid the same I’d have to move to a very high COL area, or commute some insane distance. And I’d need to buy a whole new wardrobe. But they very much didn’t pay the same. And in my current role I already work with a lot of different government agencies and contractors.

      That being said, I think giving 2 million people a 5% raise is definitely going to boost poll numbers by easing the collective pinch a bit, and as the child of a former federal worker I can appreciate how significant that is.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        There’s a lot more than salary that’s keeping me from taking a government job. When Biden was elected I checked for jobs in my field and they all involved moving to DC. No remote work at all.

        I think it’s highly dependent on your field. If you work for departments like the IRS, the FBI or the TSA, you could do your job from many possible places because the first two have a lot of field offices and the third is at every commercial airport. I believe this raise also applies to postal workers, who are in every incorporated area in the country.

        • kautau@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          This makes me curious on if those departments actually hire remote workers often. It appears it’s not often

          https://federalnewsnetwork.com/hiring-retention/2022/09/irs-pilot-considers-expanding-remote-work-amid-hiring-challenges/

          They are only just piloting remote work programs at this point.

          The IRS already has more than 500 posts of duty across the U.S., which give potentially hybrid or remote employees an opportunity to work in-person on days when necessary.

          That’s a small fry compared to their near 80k workers

          • Pips@lemmy.sdf.org
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            10 months ago

            Well, yes. Its hard to investigate something from a distance that’s not entirely online or financial. Even then, physical evidence is at a place you’d need to go to. And for police, we do want them in the jurisdictions they’re policing.

        • ZapBeebz_@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          As I understand it, it’s a 4.7% base level increase, with an additional average of 0.5% across all locality areas. So some will see an actual raise of over 5.2%, some less. But on average, it’ll be about 5.2%>

    • DrPop@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      It’s not just salary for government workers. We get great benefits and strong unions. Also you know what your going to be making

      • zigmus64@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Health insurance… mother fucking health insurance.

        The FEHB is some of the best health insurance there is…. I know folks who are only still doing their fed job to continue access to the great insurance.

        And you get to keep it for the rest of your life if you retire. I believe you pay the premium through your annuity.

      • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        Strong unions yet it’s the president that decides to give a pay raise? I don’t know how your union works but over here our raises are included in our collective agreement and the government can’t decide to not give them to us…

        • zigmus64@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          These raises that make the news are the cost of living adjustments or the COLA. They happen annually at the beginning of the calendar year and are intended to adjust salaries for year over year inflation. It’s not related to any sort of performance or merit based pay increases.

          • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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            10 months ago

            Ok but I’m talking about annual pay increases that are part of the collective agreement and negotiated with the union, not performance or merit pay increases…

      • tinkeringidiot@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Are the unions still strong? When SCOTUS ruled against mandatory membership for public employee unions a few years ago I thought they might take a hit.

        • DrPop@lemmy.ml
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          10 months ago

          The enrollment rate is pretty high, I’m pretty sure it’s close to 85% in my area.