Hiring/Retention
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New analysis from the Partnership for Public Service of the Office of Personnel Management's Employee Viewpoint Survey shows that low employee satisfaction negatively impacts an agency's ability to hire and retain employees.
August 05, 2015 -
Katrina McFarland, the assistant secretary of Defense for acquisition, said a new report is in the final approval stages that will detail changes to the Defense FAR. The goal is to save the military and industry money from unnecessary procurement rules.
July 29, 2015 -
The House has a number of bills on its calendar this week that, if enacted, could have significant impacts on federal employees and their dependents.
July 28, 2015 -
Gen. Mark Milley said at his confirmation hearing to become the new Army chief of staff that his service still could meet the demand signal for Army forces, despite recent budget cuts. That could change, though, if demands continue to increase and if budgets continue to decrease.
July 22, 2015 -
A bill that makes it easier for the Veterans Affairs Secretary to fire senior executives could extend to all other employees at the department. The probationary period for new employees would also get longer -- from 12 to 18 months. House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller says too few people at the department have been held accountable for the patient wait time scandal that emerged into public view last year -- nor for other management failings at VA. The VA Accountability Act of 2015 cleared the committee earlier this week. It will likely go to a full House vote during the last week in July. Carol Bonosaro is the president of the Senior Executives Association, which drafted a letter to Congress this week raising several objections to the bill. She tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu about the differences between this bill, and a similar one introduced in Congress last year.
July 17, 2015 -
Federal executives say they worry about the capacity of their workforce and how it impacts their agencies’ performance in a recent “Future of Government Service” survey released this month.
July 17, 2015 -
Recruiting new talent at the National Cemetery Administration is getting faster now because the agency has focused on streamlining its hiring process. NCA is using data analytics to help it hire the right people quickly. 80 percent of NCA's recruitment gets done in about 60 days. Dissatisfaction with traditional outlets like USAJobs.gov means some agencies often look for other approaches to the hiring process. Tim McManus is vice president for education and outreach at the Partnership for Public Service. He tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu that other agencies can learn from these best practices -- mainly by making better use of data.
July 16, 2015 -
The State Department dispatches people to countries all over the world, but now it's trying something new — employing student interns who stay at their universities while working on projects abroad. They're part of a virtual foreign service that has grown exponentially under the management of Bridget Roddy, the Virtual Student Foreign Service program manager. For her work, she's one of the 33 finalists for this year's Service to America Medals. She joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain more about the program.
July 14, 2015 -
Ensuring effective office space accommodations for people with disabilities necessitates increased understanding of what accommodations really are, says the Labor Department's Jennifer Sheehy. And that starts with the words we use.
July 14, 2015 -
The House on Tuesday passed a bill making it easier for part-time federal land management employees to become full-time.
July 08, 2015 -
More than 200,000 men and women leave the military every year. Many of them discover finding a job and transitioning to a civilian life can be difficult. DOD's newly redesigned Transition to Veterans Program aims to help former service members adjust to their new roles. Susan Kelly is the program director and spearheaded the program overhaul. For that, she was named one of the 33 Service to America Medal finalists. She joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on the program redesign.
July 07, 2015 -
Federal News Radio’s fourth annual survey of chief acquisition officers and senior procurement executives found training, recruitment and retaining acquisition workers continues to be their highest priority. But the survey found CAOs believe finding efficiencies in their contracts is becoming more important. Commerce's Barry Berkowitz said his agency’s spend analysis showed possible consolidation and reduction opportunities in $800 million in procurement spending.
July 05, 2015 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission celebrates its 50th anniversary today. And while it's made a lot of progress since 1965, there's still a lot of work to do to achieve across-the-board equality of opportunity in today's workplace. Jenny Yang is the chairwoman of the EEOC. She joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on the celebration and the work the agency still has to accomplish.
July 02, 2015-
A House bill passed last week would give the Veterans Affairs Secretary much more flexibility to fire corrupt or poor-performing employees — not just top officials. The 2015 VA Accountability Act would expand on the authority of last year's Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, which made it easier to get rid of senior executives engaged in wrongdoing. In this week's Legal Loop, employment attorney Lynne Bernabei, a partner at the law firm Bernabei and Watchel, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss more of the act's implications.
July 02, 2015 -
The White House is launching a leadership development program so small the participants could easily fit around a single conference table. Yet if successful, they could revolutionize the way the government tackles its most complex problems.
July 01, 2015