Digital Government
Beat the Commute
Telework Exchange and HP are inviting Washington-area commuters to beat the heck out of their commutes on Nov. 10.
Digital Government
Berry on Pay Reform, Telework
Alyssa Rosenberg writes at Government Executive that Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry is considering some significant changes to the federal pay system as well as the federal government's definition of a work day. In a speech at Syracuse University's Maxwell School, Berry emphasized the importance of recognizing, rewarding and promoting merit within the federal workforce, noting that "the cracks are showing" in the General Schedule pay system.
Digital Government
Training and Social Media Mind Meld
My former beat partner, Alyssa Rosenberg, <a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?filepath=/dailyfed/0909/091109ar1.htm&oref=search">highlighted</a> back in September a new effort by the Agriculture Department to incorporate social media tools into employee training. OhMyGov has an <a href="http://ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/archive/2009/11/02/usda-to-incorporate-social-media-into-online-training.aspx">update</a> on where the program - called AgLearn - stands.
Digital Government
OPM Touts Info-Sharing Culture
Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry on Friday sent a <a href="http://www.chcoc.gov/Transmittals/TransmittalDetails.aspx?TransmittalId=2585">memo</a> to agency chief human capital officers, highlighting a new training effort that will focus on the importance of information-sharing and collaboration between federal agencies and state, local, tribal and private sector partners. In the near future, Berry said, the information-sharing program manager would present its "Culture of Sharing" training and incentive initiatives to the Chief Human Capital Officers Council.
Digital Government
Call for More Cyber Expertise
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., on Friday outlined five basic principles he hopes will be included in cybersecurity legislation he expects to introduce later this year with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. One of those principles involves addressing challenges in hiring, retaining and training cybersecurity personnel in the federal government. For example, legislation should help develop a cybersecurity career path in the federal government and lay out new training programs to help retain cyber experts, he said.
Digital Government
IT Job Simulations
A new <a href="http://www.mspb.gov/netsearch/viewdocs.aspx?docnumber=452039&version=453207&application=ACROBAT">report</a> by the Merit Systems Protection Board touts the use of job simulations in helping certain agencies select the best candidates for federal jobs. The report also notes that such simulations are being used by agencies to identify top candidates for information technology positions and/or to pinpoint specific technical skills. In these simulations, agencies present applicants with realistic, job-related situations and document their behaviors to help determine their qualifications for the job.
Digital Government
Making Healthy Choices
The annual open season for making decisions on your federal health plan begins Nov. 9, and Tammy Flanagan's <a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?filepath=/dailyfed/1009/103009rp.htm&oref=search">Retirement Planning column</a> has some useful tips to consider when selecting a plan for next year. With employee premium contributions rising an average of 8.8 percent this year, it might be wise to weigh alternatives to your current plan.
Digital Government
DHS Expands IdeaFactory
The Homeland Security Department is expanding the Transportation Security Administration's interactive <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/innovations/IdeaFactory/">IdeaFactory</a> across the entire department, an agency spokesman said Thursday. Larry Orluskie, a DHS spokesman and project manager for the departmentwide rollout of the IdeaFactory, told Wired Workplace that the new Web 2.0 platform will enable DHS' large and dispersed workforce to submit and collaborate on innovative ideas to improve the agency.
Digital Government
Moving Beyond NSPS
President Obama on Wednesday signed into law the fiscal 2010 Defense Authorization Act, a bill that includes <a href="http://wiredworkplace.nextgov.com/2009/10/senate_approves_federal_retirement_changes.php">several federal workforce provisions</a>. One provision fully repeals the Defense's Department's controversial National Security Personnel System, meaning the thousands of employees who are currently hired, evaluated and paid based on the system will move back to the decades-old General Schedule by 2012.
Digital Government
Who's Leading the Change?
Younger employees are leading the way when it comes to adopting social media and other technologies at companies, <em>The Wall Street Journal</em> <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/10/28/is-your-office-youngster-the-social-media-whiz/">reports</a>. Twenty-something staffers, for example, are mentoring their bosses on how to import e-mail contacts into a LinkedIn account, creating fan pages on Facebook, or finding applications that can be used to market a company, the article states.
Digital Government
Generational Views on Leadership
The 2009 <a href="http://www.iaconline.org/events/ExecutiveLeadership/ELC%202009/Pages/default.aspx">Executive Leadership Conference</a> is currently taking place in Williamsburg, Va., and this year, it's focusing on a new era of innovation in government. Wired Workplace tuned in this morning to a Webinar from the event that focused on generational issues, social media and leadership in government.
Digital Government
Civil Service 2.0
Adriel Hampton, a San Francisco public servant and host of Gov 2.0 Radio, <a href="http://adrielhampton.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/civil-service-2-0-you-wont-need-a-resume/">tackles an interesting question</a> on his blog: in the new "reputation economy," will the government still require a résumé to fill a job? "Potential business partners will find you on Google or a networking site, read your great bio, do a little independent noodling around into your background and decide to give you that killer contract," he writes.
Digital Government
Twitterers Getting Younger
Twitter usage is increasing among teenagers and young adults, according to a new <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/17-Twitter-and-Status-Updating-Fall-2009.aspx?r=1">survey</a> by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The survey found that 37 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds now use the microblogging Web site, compared with just 19 percent in December 2008. Still, the median age of a Twitter user is 31, a figure that has remained stable over the past year, the survey found.
Digital Government
Shaping the Federal Workforce
The Office of Personnel Management in coordination with the Harvard Kennedy School and the Maryland School of Public Policy will hold a roundtable meeting on Oct. 28 to discuss the future of the federal workforce, <em>The Washington Post</em> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/22/AR2009102204539_2.html">reports</a>. The event, which will be off-the-record and closed to the press, will include administration leaders, unions, congress and members of the private and nonprofit sector. Participants in the meeting plan to tackle issues including: the vision for the federal workforce in five to 10 years, filling mission-critical jobs, transforming the broken federal recruiting and hiring process, and reforming the federal pay system.
Digital Government
Senate Approves Federal Retirement Changes
Legislation that includes several key retirement provisions for federal employees is heading to the president's desk. The Senate on Thursday approved the final version of the fiscal 2010 Defense Authorization bill (<a href="http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h.r.02647:">H.R. 2647</a>), which includes a provision that would allow employees in the Federal Employees Retirement System to credit their unused, accumulated sick leave toward retirement. The bill also would allow CSRS workers to shift to part-time status at the end of their careers without reducing their final annuities, and would enable FERS employees who decide to return to civil service from the private sector the ability to recoup their full retirement annuity without losing credit for previous years of federal service.
Digital Government
Competing for IT Skills
Hiring federal IT workers could become slightly more competitive with the private sector in 2010, a <a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MzU0MzM5fENoaWxkSUQ9MzQ0OTUwfFR5cGU9MQ==&t=1">new poll suggests</a>.
Digital Government
Feds Get Fit
The Office of Personnel Management is encouraging federal workers to step away from their computers on Oct. 27 to participate in a noontime rally and fitness walk to launch the new Feds Get Fit wellness awareness campaign.
Digital Government
Federal Pay Gap Rises In 2009
Alyssa Rosenberg <a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=43832&dcn=todaysnews">reports</a> at <em>Government Executive</em> that the gap between average pay for federal and private sector workers rose 1.25 percent in 2009, according to the Federal Salary Council. The pay gap increased from 25.71 percent in 2008 to 26.42 percent in 2009, with the largest gaps occurring in Cincinatti (4.52 percent); Sacramento, Calif., (2.82 percent); Washington (2.8 percent); Hartford, Conn., (2.63 percent); and New York City (2.61 percent).
Digital Government
Perspective on Future of Federal IT
Navy Department Chief Information Officer Robert Carey <a href="http://www.doncio.navy.mil/Blog.aspx?ID=1380">writes</a> at the Navy CIO Blog about the future of the federal cybersecurity and IT workforce. Carey offers some perspective on how to move the workforce into the information age and deliver more effective IT in support of mission needs.
Digital Government
GreenGov Challenge
The White House on Monday <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Introducing-the-GreenGov-Challenge-A-Bottom-Up-Approach-to-Greening-Government/#TB_inline?height=220&width=370&inlineId=tb_external&linkId=2">announced a new online program that challenges federal and military personnel</a> to submit their own clean energy ideas and suggestions and vote on others. The new GreenGov challenge is running in coordination with National Energy Awareness Month, and any federal employee or military member can submit a clean energy idea from Oct. 19 through Oct. 31.
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