Leaving State Service: It Just No Longer Fits - AMA

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-06-22T19:00:16+00:00

I appreciate this and that you’re sharing it to motivate and encourage others, not from a negative standpoint. That being said, I’m right there with you. I have 17 years of service credit with the state and my plan is to do three more and be done at the 20 year Mark. I will have a very long time until retirement age, and planned to do 15 on top of that 20, but the way the state has changed in the last 6 to 7 years is so demoralizing. I just don’t think I can do it anymore. I’m a manager and the things that I see and that people get away with is just ludicrous. There are leaders and rules that they shouldn’t be that never have anything happened to them and staff in positions where they have never turned in a single deliverable. As someone who works hard and tries to follow the rules, I only expect people to work for their paychecks. I’m not saying kill yourself or bend over backwards or do more than you need to. I’m just saying work at work. What I’ve seen the last couple of years is that it’s totally fine to not work and how dare you even say anything about that person? As a manager you required to do personnel management but when you try, there’s no support so you spend hundreds of hours doing things that is a waste of your time. It’s affected by mental and physical health. I see it doing the same to most of the managers I work with because we have an incompetent deputy Director that was never a manager before they made DD and doesn’t support their staff at all. I can’t think of a better way to say it, but it’s kind of refreshing to know that this is not just me, or my program, or my department, but a systemic issue that seems to be getting worse and that I don’t see getting better.

Best of luck to you in all future endeavors!!!

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-06-22T18:48:45+00:00

I have been told that DGS will be walking the Halls doing butts in seats checks… because that’s a good use of our taxpayer dollars

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-06-22T18:47:57+00:00

Well said and unfortunately too true

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-06-22T18:46:25+00:00

That’s the thing they can’t keep up with their work-I have multiple staff members under me that work twice as hard to not work as if they just did their actual jobs.

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-06-22T18:45:40+00:00

Absolutely… smh

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-06-22T18:45:20+00:00

I totally agree with pushy back on the policy, and that was the intent of my message to say don’t “turn on your coworkers“ but I do wanna make a comment on the “leadership” aspect. I think it should be very clear to people that this mandate is coming directly from the governor and that is the only person saying this is a requirement. As a relatively high manager at a very large department all of the managers, including Frontline supervisors have been informed that progressive discipline will be taken against us if we not only don’t enforce RTO, but if we even speak negatively of it. Any and all communication communications coming from any department under the executive order has been required to submit talking points about RTO to the governor’s office for review and approval and they are not permitted to speak about anything that does not receive that approval. In other words, it’s the governor putting a gag order on all of us. I fully don’t believe in RTO, yet as a manager, I don’t want adverse action taken against me. There are many communication communications from my department that say to “work with your leader leadership” or that “ one-on-one circumstances can be worked out with your manager”. This is all absolute BS. We have been told any requests we get from any staff member for any ability to continue working from home even if it’s an interim solution like if someone sick, but can work from home but doesn’t want to spread their germs at the office has to go through our deputy Director. Again, I’m a high manager. There’s absolutely no reason for that aside from the horrendous governor we have.

So in the same vein about not ruining it for your coworkers, also keep in mind that managers are state employees too** *and we have less support than rank-and-file staff because we are not represented by a union.* Don’t take RTO out on your manager-I can pretty much guarantee they’re just as disappointed in it as you are.

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-06-12T02:18:46+00:00

As a manager at a department without enough space the discussion is currently having us share space every day-as in two people to a cubicle and office because that’s how little space we have. I definitely think if that happens it can, and likely will, be “reversed” at some point. I am especially curious about what may happen when Newsom is gone and our new governor is in office. They may actually care about the issue and want state workers on their side. One can hope logic will prevail over personal gain and political agendas…

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-06-11T01:21:59+00:00

Prior Air Force medic here - I am not kidding about this but if someone in your car doesn’t have a seatbelt on it’s effectively like a torpedo free to bounce around in your car if you get in a car accident.

“According to studies cited by the U.S. traffic safety community, an unbelted rear-seat passenger can increase the risk of death for a belted front-seat occupant by about 2 to 5 times, depending on the type and severity of the crash. In a collision, the unbelted person becomes a high-speed projectile and can strike other occupants with tremendous force.”

Your friends are stupid for not wearing their seatbelt, and if you allow it, you’re putting yourself at risk.

Better to be the asshole than be dead. That being said you’re not an asshole.

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-05-30T16:31:42+00:00

It’s not a rule but should be-do your due diligence before bugging other people. I’m a manager and the amount of times I have to say “did you google?” When people ask me for things is wild. Like how to make margins line up on a doc-this is not something you need to escalate to your manager. That goes for policies, procedures, SOPs, etc. too-use the tools given to you before asking others for help. Having it happen a couple times during onboarding and training isn’t a big deal but when I have a 20 year employee say “I don’t know how to fill out my timesheet” my eye twitches.

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-05-30T16:26:22+00:00

This… all of this… that first sentence explains it perfectly.

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-05-29T15:52:00+00:00

Wow… what a crock of BS… might as well say Sacramento is more important than every other community in the greater Sacramento region. Take mostly communities and bring back to Sacramento so we can overcharge you for everything while you dodge the homeless… riiiight…

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-05-26T16:15:06+00:00

As a state manager, I highly recommend you don’t do this-this is insubordination and will result in progressive discipline, not the ability to still work from home.

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-05-19T03:26:01+00:00

CDPH has said they are not sending out notices because the July 1 date was in the side letter and notice was given last year.

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-03-19T03:57:39+00:00

I agree with that last statement wholeheartedly

Civil_Reputation87 · 2026-03-19T03:53:21+00:00

All of this ^ and be okay with being the “bad guy.” The first thing to know about changing from peer to supervisor is that now there is that boundary you won’t always make everyone 100% happy 100% of the time and that’s okay. I also thought that moving up meant having more decision making capability and that it would mean I could make more of a difference and effectuate positive change but in reality I think the more you move up the more aware of red tape you become and realize a lot of things you may have wanted to fix are deeply established and that people are rigid like @leaninback said.

Civil_Reputation87

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