AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
For federal workers all over the country right now, there's a lot to process and a lot of questions. The Trump administration told federal employees that they would be required to work in the office five days a week, then offered deferred resignation, which a federal judge has paused until at least tomorrow. The Trump administration has also fired inspectors general, laid off employees working on diversity, equity and inclusion, and frozen or canceled funding for scientific research. Alison Green writes the Ask a Manager blog and says she's been inundated with questions from federal employees about these changes and how to navigate them. She joins us now to help answer some of these questions. Good morning.
ALISON GREEN: Thanks for having me.
RASCOE: What does your inbox look like these days?
GREEN: It's a disaster, a depressing disaster, I would say. People are really shaken up. There's a ton of uncertainty. There's a ton of fear. People's jobs are changing overnight, and they don't know if they're still going to have a job a week from now or a month from now. And it's not just federal employees. It's federal contractors. It's people who work with them. There's a lot of chaos and fear out there.
RASCOE: You said that maybe one of the biggest questions on people's mind is, should I quit now or wait to be laid off or fired. What do you tell them?
GREEN: If you can wait, wait, because if you are fired or laid off, you will be eligible for unemployment benefits. And in many cases, there is contractually obligated severance payments as well. And if you quit, you forfeit all of that. But for a lot of people, it's not just a financial question. There's ethical and moral questions too, and that's much harder to sort through. Some people are worried that if they stay, they'll be asked to do things that they're not ethically comfortable with. And so I think you have to get really clear on where your own personal lines are and what lines you're just not willing to cross.
RASCOE: And we should be clear, you're not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice, right?
GREEN: Correct.
RASCOE: And there are a lot of questions about that return-to-work order. What are people asking about that?
GREEN: Yeah. So people are being told they have to return to their offices, even if they were previously given permission to move very far away. There's literally not enough office space for people to return to. There's not enough infrastructure. So this is another way to coerce people into resigning. I would say decline to walk into that trap. It's not on you as a worker to solve the problem of there being inadequate space. That is above your pay grade. But if you don't show up at the office when you're being told you need to, you risk being fired for not complying, so show up if you have to.
RASCOE: I think it's important to remember that the federal workforce encompasses a lot of people - not just people in white-collar jobs, but the people who are cleaning the buildings. And there are people who work in public service, who are really passionate about their jobs and helping people. Do you have any advice, in general, for people who are now in the position of having to job search?
GREEN: Yeah, I think there's a couple of things that people should be doing right now before they either leave voluntarily or are made to leave. One is to download things like performance evaluations so that you have a record of your employment and your accomplishments and the kind of feedback that you got. And that can be really useful when you're talking to potential future employers. And also to exchange contact information with your coworkers so that you have a way to stay in touch if jobs go away. Share your networks with each other, too. There's so much that you can do to support each other. Maybe you have a connection who has a job that would be perfect for a colleague that isn't quite right for you.
RASCOE: What about those who ever worked in diversity, equity and inclusion, whether it was their primary job or just a part of their job? Should they leave it off their resume if they're looking for jobs elsewhere?
GREEN: I've been getting a lot of questions about that, and I think it depends on where you're applying and for what types of jobs. That's still really useful experience to a lot of organizations and in a lot of fields. But with all of your resume content, you want to tailor it toward what is going to make you the strongest candidate for this particular job and at this particular employer that you're applying to.
You know, the other thing is you might consider whether including that on your resume will serve as a screening device for you. Maybe you don't want to work for an employer that would have a problem seeing that work in your background. And realistically, not everyone has the luxury of having enough options before them that they can look at things through that lens, but it's worth factoring into your thinking as well.
RASCOE: Lastly, what are some of the resources available for people as they go through this? And what can people do to protect themselves?
GREEN: One thing that's really important to know is that the federal Office of Personnel Management - OPM - has information on how severance pay is supposed to work for federal workers who are fired or laid off. So go there and read that information. Make sure you understand what you're entitled to, shat kind of due process you're entitled to.
There's also two resources that I think are really great for federal workers right now. One is Civil Service Strong. They support civil servants, and they have a ton of resources for the current moment. And then the other one is, there's a really great newsletter by Project Democracy that is called "If You Can Keep It" that has news and resources and analysis of the administration's attacks on the Civil Service. And they're constantly being updated with what's going on and what people can do.
RASCOE: That's Alison Green. She writes the blog Ask A Manager, @askamanager.org. Thank you so much for joining us.
GREEN: Thanks for having me.
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