Due to expected inclement weather in the Washington, D.C., area Monday morning, the Office of Personnel Management announced a delayed arrival schedule for federal employees. According to OPM Director John Berry, federal employees are being asked to stay off the roads until 10 a.m. Their offices will be open for them when they arrive. Feds can also take unscheduled leave and unscheduled telework.
Jenny Mattingley hosts a roundtable discussion of the Pathways Program. January 25, 2013
If you want to be secretary of the Interior, the first thing you do is make sure you are born west of the Mississippi, preferably in California, Arizona, New Mexico or Colorado, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. So what does that do to the job chances of Maryland-born, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry who is said to be on the short-list for the Interior job?
For the second day in a row, federal offices in the D.C. area will be open with unscheduled leave and telework available for eligible employees.
OPM's Angela Bailey discusses how agencies are struggling to fill critical skill gaps in the hard sciences. Procurement attorney Joe Petrillo fills us in on what to expect with the new defense authorization law. Jacque Simon of AFGE says her union is frustrated with the lack of attention being paid to federal workers' concerns over sequestration. John Palguta of the Partnership for Public Service discusses possible changes agencies may face in President Obama's second term.
At the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations meeting, several employee representatives said the time has come for the committee to put more pressure on agencies to have more of the collaborative forums up and running well. During a time of budget reductions, possible furloughs and a government shutdown, the unions say the forums provide a way for agencies to better manage all of these fiscal challenges.
Federal workers in the Washington D.C. region can take unscheduled leave or telework Thursday, the Office of Personnel Management announced. A Winter Storm Watch will remain in effect for the D.C. region through much of the day Thursday.
Fewer federal employees filed for retirement in December than in any other month in 2012, according to the Office of Personnel Management. Even with the fewer than expected number of claims, however, the agency failed to meet its goal of processing 11,500 claims, instead clocking in just 10,454.
John Kamensky from the IBM Center for The Business of Government talks about two decades of a results-oriented federal performance management system. Allan Holmes of Bloomberg Government discusses the top technology issues facing the government in 2013. Jeffrey Neal of ICF International sheds light on OPM's new guide to executive development. Jacque Simon of AFGE discusses legislation that could freeze federal pay to the end of the year.
OPM published a guide providing agency human-resources officials with more information about "administrative furloughs," which are different from those stemming from government shutdowns because agencies typically have more time to plan their spending reductions. The Obama administration has reassured reassured federal agencies that sequestration won't have an immediate impact on the federal workforce or day-to-day government operations.
The agency issued the Federal Supervisory Training Framework that details three levels of competencies for new or existing managers. The guidance is one of several initiatives OPM put forward over the past few years to improve employee leadership skills.
The Obama administration offered agencies new guidance on sequestration, telling agency leaders and federal-employee unions that sequestration won't have an immediate impact on the federal workforce or government operations even if the automatic budget cuts go into effect Jan. 2.
Defense analyst Jim McAleese reviews the Defense Authorization Bill agreed on by both the Senate and the House yesterday. OPM Director John Berry says proposed rules to implement phased retirement are on the fast track. Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) discusses changes that will make it easier for feds to telework. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) talks about benefits that will help retain federal employees. Vivian Reifberg of McKinsey & Co. talks about why the current administrative transition is so important. Alex Bolton of The Hill discusses the fiscal cliff negotiations.
Director John Berry said the agency's Innovation Lab is helping to take a different, more rapid approach to developing the proposed rule to implement the new program. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) also is suggesting the creation of a "leave bank" for workers who leave federal service but plan to return. Berry said that's an innovative idea OPM may look at.
Several departments are seeing the benefits from governmentwide collaboration. The interagency National Intellectual Property Coordination Center used its relationships to get the word out more quickly about counterfeit air bags that potentially could explode on impact. HR University absorbed millions of dollars in performance management training courses from an agency who on the CHCO Council.