This Comment of the Day by new participant in the comment wars Dr. Blae cheers my pre-Christmas cockles more than most for two reasons: 1) I always love it when a first time commenter weighs in with a Comment of the Day. This is especially true since I spend so much time reading attempted first-time comments that read: “You suck, asshole!” 2) Genuine expertise on these topics is always a godsend. I am a pan-ethicist, meaning that I work in the ethics field regarding too many areas to count, legal ethics substantially but also business ethics, government ethics, sports ethics, academic ethics, journalism ethics, and more. I am neither a participant nor an expert in many of these fields themselves, so when ethics and one of them intersect, a specialist is especially welcome.

Here is Dr. Blae’s Comment of the Day on the post, “Critics of Federal Workers Telecommuting May Exaggerate But the Truth Is Bad Enough”:

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So let’s break this down…

• Federal agencies have been maintaining uninhabited office space in some of the most expensive real estate markets in the US.
• The majority of federal workers, that can, telework/remote work and avoid coming into the office.
• There is an assumption of a lack of efficiency due to telework/remote work, but the evidence is anecdotal or not directly relevant (e.g., office occupation).

Now for a couple of questions… prior to COVID:

• When were government employees accused of being efficient?
• What is efficiency? This is really important since the implication is a quantitative comparison, so we need some numbers.
• Are all jobs/positions the same? Is there a single solution?
• Where do most federal employees (in the DC area) come from?
• How do you “drain the swamp” by reconcentrating employees in the swamp?
• What is a comparison of costs between an employee doing telework/remote work v. being physically in the office?
• Why do federal agencies continue to rent unoccupied spaces when according to GSA regulations/policies they are supposed to “right size” office space?

Ok let’s take into consideration a few points…

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