10 thoughts on “FS All Employee Budget Call Hiring Update Recording”
The agency for a long time has been noted for “budget Virga”…..regardless of what the budget is, very little funding makes it to the ground. I asking once whether Districts could be base financed to perform essential tasks, the answer was resounding silence. Every new emphasis generates additional staffing at the WO, RO, Forests leaving the Districts to “perhaps you can find more volunteers”. For every permanent “leader” on the payroll the agency could fund several temporaries. Even to finance District staff often means sending on the first fire to partially cover their salaries. Sounds like business as usual….just different mouthpiece.
It would certainly be interesting to compare exactly what positions have been added at ROs and the WO over the last 15 years or so. I wonder whether these kinds of self-improvement efforts are still going on at the FS?
Additionally, when new high-level jobs are created (in order to more efficiently spend the extra money), they are filled with promotions from below. With them moving up, their old jobs need to be filled, with more promotions (and so on, down the line). I guess that is how this version of the ‘trickle-down’ theory works.
I really like the term “budget virga”, we used to say the same about senior leadership….🤣🤣🤣
I wonder how many 1039’s are/were a typical years hiring? I couldn’t find it so what i was doing, is trying to figure how 1300-1400 conversions could equal all other 1039’s. Of course someone screwed the pooch to be that far overspent; I’ve heard 750 million to a billion. I personally like the billion figure.
This old forest service is sure spiraling down, faster than a fat tick on a poor hound……
Almost always, they would work me the full 1039 hours, sending me home an hour early on the last day of my appointment. We called ourselves “Disposables”, instead of Temps or seasonals.
We need leadership as much as people on the ground, so focusing on RO or WO positions seems like the wrong tree to bark up. To me it’s about the programs, and how far the agency has strayed from its core mission. How many communications positions are out there? WEPO? Partnership positions? Fleet managers? A lot more than we need, IMHO.
So, my lived experience. In a Regional Office, a Chief of Staff can and did do many useful things. At time, however, they might usurp the role of the DRFs (who conceivably should be giving the RF advice in their areas). All in all, I’d say for an RF it can be very helpful, with some risks.
I’d also say that introducing one where there wasn’t one before can cause more angst than being hired as a DRF into a place that already has one.
Others?
Thanks Sharon —This is all new since my time -was wondering if it fit the rumor mill of the administration putting their people in strategic position to insure that folks like chiefs and RF’s didn’t get out of line
The agency for a long time has been noted for “budget Virga”…..regardless of what the budget is, very little funding makes it to the ground. I asking once whether Districts could be base financed to perform essential tasks, the answer was resounding silence. Every new emphasis generates additional staffing at the WO, RO, Forests leaving the Districts to “perhaps you can find more volunteers”. For every permanent “leader” on the payroll the agency could fund several temporaries. Even to finance District staff often means sending on the first fire to partially cover their salaries. Sounds like business as usual….just different mouthpiece.
It would certainly be interesting to compare exactly what positions have been added at ROs and the WO over the last 15 years or so. I wonder whether these kinds of self-improvement efforts are still going on at the FS?
Additionally, when new high-level jobs are created (in order to more efficiently spend the extra money), they are filled with promotions from below. With them moving up, their old jobs need to be filled, with more promotions (and so on, down the line). I guess that is how this version of the ‘trickle-down’ theory works.
I really like the term “budget virga”, we used to say the same about senior leadership….🤣🤣🤣
I wonder how many 1039’s are/were a typical years hiring? I couldn’t find it so what i was doing, is trying to figure how 1300-1400 conversions could equal all other 1039’s. Of course someone screwed the pooch to be that far overspent; I’ve heard 750 million to a billion. I personally like the billion figure.
This old forest service is sure spiraling down, faster than a fat tick on a poor hound……
Almost always, they would work me the full 1039 hours, sending me home an hour early on the last day of my appointment. We called ourselves “Disposables”, instead of Temps or seasonals.
We need leadership as much as people on the ground, so focusing on RO or WO positions seems like the wrong tree to bark up. To me it’s about the programs, and how far the agency has strayed from its core mission. How many communications positions are out there? WEPO? Partnership positions? Fleet managers? A lot more than we need, IMHO.
What is the role of chief of staff
I looked it up and here’s the Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2020/05/the-case-for-a-chief-of-staff
So, my lived experience. In a Regional Office, a Chief of Staff can and did do many useful things. At time, however, they might usurp the role of the DRFs (who conceivably should be giving the RF advice in their areas). All in all, I’d say for an RF it can be very helpful, with some risks.
I’d also say that introducing one where there wasn’t one before can cause more angst than being hired as a DRF into a place that already has one.
Others?
Thanks Sharon —This is all new since my time -was wondering if it fit the rumor mill of the administration putting their people in strategic position to insure that folks like chiefs and RF’s didn’t get out of line
That may also be true, my direct experience is only from one region, over 12 years ago.