update: the federal employee wondering whether to stick it out or leave

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

Remember the federal employee wondering whether to stick it out or leave (#3 at the link)? Here’s the update.

Here’s a bit of an update from one of the federal employees who wrote in back in January. Not much has changed on my end, although it’s been a long year. I’ve gotten a resume completed, which at least is a step closer than I’ve been in over a decade to looking for another job, and have looked around, but haven’t found anything that would work for my situation. Right now is a lousy time to be looking for work; everything I’ve found has been for half my current salary, which is not financially feasible, or is for positions I have absolutely no training in or aptitude for (think nursing or engineering positions which require specific degrees). My spouse has a disability that means they haven’t been able to work for awhile (over a year), and also means that the golden handcuffs of awesome benefits are more important than they were in the past.

At the same time, things have not gotten as much worse in my job as I originally feared they would. I work for an agency that pays out benefits (think something like VA benefits [benefits for military veterans, for those not from the U.S.]), which means that we are extremely popular with the public and it’s harder for them to destroy us – not that they haven’t tried, but the push-back was extreme enough that they backed off (unlike, say, science-based agencies which have been harmed beyond words).

There have been unpleasant changes but most of them are on the level of higher workloads with fewer staff. I’m burned out on all of this but have managed to keep my sanity. I’ve taken the good advice from this website that I can’t care more about the job than the people in charge. They want to make it harder on us so we will quit or be demoralized? Good for them; I’m going to show up, do as much work as I can complete in 8 hours, and then go home. More stuff left on my plate? That’s a problem for future me to figure out when I come back in the next day. We aren’t meeting our increasingly unrealistic numbers? I guess they should have hired more people; they’ll get what they get when they get it.

So for the moment I’m in a holding pattern. I’m still keeping my eyes a little bit open for other stuff I could apply to. I’ve discussed with my spouse what changes at my work I would consider immoral enough to resign; as mentioned above, our program has been relatively unscathed, but I do not want to be the proverbial frog in a slowly boiling pot. I’m trying to get all of my medical stuff taken care of as soon as possible while I know I’ve still got the good coverage. Right now I’m 3 years away from early retirement age, and my tentative plan is to hold out until then so my spouse and I can have the health insurance benefits that will last the rest of our lives. We’ll see if I make it that far; I am feeling so burned out! And I recognize that the people in power would love to cut those benefits if at all possible, so this could be the fairy gold that turns to dried leaves in my hands. But it’s a specific, concrete goal that is feasible given the current state of affairs, and it will mean a lot to my family if I can make it there and keep that retirement insurance. And if I get the reduced pension that I’d get in 3 years, that gives more wiggle room to apply for a job that will pay less, if that’s still what’s available then.

Or who knows? Maybe my spouse will return to work; maybe the job situation will change and I’ll find something else that will pay enough for us to survive on; maybe there will be a radical shift in the powers that be at my job and things will get either better or so much worse I have to leave. At least for right now, we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and kibble in the cat dishes, and that’s what I can manage for the moment.

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