The budget cuts that hit next week, if President Obama and Congress don’t make a deal, are not just numbers. They’ll impact people and the places they work. Rick Kiernan, a retired Army Colonel who served in Vietnam and was Pentagon spokesman during The First Gulf War, joins In Depth to discuss the human impact of sequestration.

Furloughs could be right around the corner if sequestration happens. But a furlough isn’t an unpaid vacation. You need to plan ahead of time what to do if your agency tells you to stay home. Tammy Flanagan, senior benefits director for the National Institute of Transition Planning, joins In Depth to discuss what federal employees need to know to plan for a furlough.

Your agency loses some of the red tape that comes with hiring people with disabilities. The Office of Personnel Management lifts a requirement for hiring more disabled employees. John Salamone, vice president of FMP Consulting and the former executive director of the Chief Human Capital Officers Council, joins In Depth to discuss the new rules.

OPM eases burden to hire people with disabilities (related story)

Employees at the Defense Department are upset about the potential for a longer and more expensive daily commute. The Fairfax County Department of Transportation is looking at cutting nonstop bus service from Reston to the Pentagon. Ari Ashe, reporter for Federal News Radio’s sister station, WTOP, joins In Depth with more.

Some agency executives don’t like the term “big data.” They say the term tricks employees into focusing more on collecting the data to make it big. Bryan Jones, director of the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General’s Counter Measures and Performance Evalution, tells In Depth it’s hard to change the “big data” mindset because it requires an overall culture change.