Office of Personnel Management

  • A new GAO report is recommending OMB be more specific in its guidance on grant management. The report said 5,100 employees are significantly involved in managing grants.

    July 31, 2013
  • Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) introduced a bill to eliminate official time for federal employees. Official time is the paid time that employees spend on union work.

    July 22, 2013
  • Legislators want to strengthen OPM's ability to oversee the security clearance process to thwart under-qualified candidates from obtaining and keeping security clearances.

    July 22, 2013
  • The goal of the mentoring hub is to provide a one-stop shop and standardize, in many respects, how mentoring and knowledge sharing are done across the government. The first pilot focuses on human resources and problem solving. It includes a series of group mentoring events to share techniques for solving problems.

    July 18, 2013
  • Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee members pressed Katherine Archuleta on her qualifications, how she will address the retirement claims backlog and on the use of official time. Archuleta appears headed down the path toward confirmation.

    July 17, 2013
  • President Barack Obama announced a taskforce Monday to help agencies better utilize volunteers in achieving their missions. The Corporation for National and Community Service will lead the taskforce along with representatives from 18 federal agencies and organizations.

    July 15, 2013
  • As the cybersecurity workforce gets older and closer to retirement age, the Office of Personnel Management is trying to help agencies find new talent. It's creating a new database of cyber positions that it hopes will help agencies identify the cyber skill sets needed to meet their missions. The Obama administration has made reducing critical cyber workforce gaps one of its top "cross-agency" goals.

    July 12, 2013
  • The Office of Personnel Management's proposed changes to the Combined Federal Campaign, the annual federal fundraising drive, are getting a frosty reception from local charities. OPM wants to do away with the local volunteer coordinating committees and put in place a set of more centralized regional committees established by OPM. It also wants to require charities to pay an application fee and eliminate cash and check donations in favor of electronic donations. However, some charities say the proposed changes would likely lead to fewer charities joining the program -- and fewer total donations.

    July 10, 2013
  • The Supreme Court struck down parts of DOMA on June 26. Federal managers now must decide how to recognize legal same-sex marriages. Agencies also must update their enrollment systems to include same-sex spouses and their children.

    July 08, 2013
  • Linda Rix, co-CEO of Avue Technologies will give her take on a wide range of issues affecting the federal job market. July 5, 2013 (This show originally aired June 28, 2013)

    July 05, 2013
  • OPM processed just 8,683 claims last month — about 2,800 fewer than it had initially expected to. That's the second month in a row OPM fell behind in processing monthly claims according to new OPM data. The agency was forced to eliminate overtime for employees in its Retirement Services operation at the end of April because of the automatic budget cuts.

    July 05, 2013
  • The Office of Personnel Management needs to beef up its role in helping agencies set goals for increasing telework, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a new report. Under the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act, agencies are required to take new steps to increase the number of employees who telework -- and OPM is required to report to Congress on agencies' goals for doing so. But GAO found many new mandated reporting requirements went unmet in OPM's 2012 report to Congress, the first since the telework law went into effect.

    July 02, 2013
  • In an exclusive Federal News Radio survey, agency chief human capital officers said the hiring reforms instituted by the Obama administration are working. Most respondents said it now takes their agencies 46 to 100 days, on average, to hire new employees. Hiring reforms also have improved diversity at agencies and the ability to bring on more talented employees. At the same time, CHCOs said sequestration is impacting their ability to train and complete HR projects.

    July 02, 2013
  • The No. 1 complaint people have after retiring is how long it takes them to get the first full annuity payment. Depending on a lot of things it can take anywhere from a couple of months to more than a year.

    July 02, 2013
  • The Office of Personnel Management released a statement Thursday urging agencies to still nominate executives for the Presidential Rank Awards despite the absence of bonus money. OPM said winners will receive presidential recognition.

    July 01, 2013