November 2009 Archives
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/30/09 01:14 pm ET
Alyssa Rosenberg writes in the December issue of Government Executive about how the Defense Department may move forward on dismantling its controversial personnel overhaul - the National Security Personnel System. The system was fully repealed in the fiscal 2010 Defense Authorization Act, meaning the thousands of employees who are currently hired, evaluated and paid based on the system must convert back to the decades-old General Schedule by Jan. 1, 2012. But that introduces a number of challenges, Alyssa writes, including how to shift employees back into the GS without a decrease in pay, and implement a performance management system to cover the entire department.>>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/25/09 10:10 am ET
Dice.com reports on the top certified and non-certified skills that employers will be seeking in 2010. According to IT consulting firm Foote Partners, the top skills that will command the highest pay premiums in 2010 are:>>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/25/09 11:07 am ET
There's an interesting conversation going on at GovLoop about whether it's OK for an agency's official Twitter account to follow the personal Twitter accounts of its employees. Some private sector companies follow their own employees' accounts, which can help promote the idea of being more transparent and open. But it also could raise some concern for employee privacy as well as an agency's public affairs strategy.>>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/24/09 10:55 am ET
Dice.com reports that while there has been much speculation that technology jobs in the Washington, D.C., area would boom in the past year, mostly due to new federal health care regulations, overall unemployment in the location stands at 11.4 percent, up from 7.4 percent a year earlier.>>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/23/09 01:26 pm ET
The federal government could save an estimated $50 million in recruitment and retention costs by putting in place a paid parent leave benefit, according to a new study by the Institute for Women's Policy Research. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/20/09 12:24 pm ET
The Office of Personnel Management is looking to create a new framework for classifying, selecting, developing and evaluating federal cybersecurity workers.>>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/19/09 01:07 pm ET
The looming retirement wave and subsequent efforts to replace retiring workers brings an opportunity for how organizations can function better, according to a new report by the Merit Systems Protection Board. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/19/09 12:32 pm ET
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday passed legislation that would provide health care and other benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian federal employees. Approval of domestic partner benefits would bring the government in line with the majority of Fortune 100 companies, including several major technology companies. Alyssa Rosenberg has the complete details of the markup here. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/18/09 12:23 pm ET
A bill introduced on Tuesday would create a scholarship program to fund education in mission-critical fields in exchange for a federal service commitment. The bill (S.2789), introduced by Sens. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., would create a civilian counterpart to the military's Reserve Officer Training Corps by offering scholarships in mission-critical fields like information technology, science, engineering, public health and law, in exchange for a commitment to work for the government.>>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/17/09 12:22 pm ET
The majority of Fortune 100 companies are not using Twitter effectively, according to a new study released on Tuesday by public relations firm Weber Shandwick.>>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/17/09 09:20 am ET
Jonathan Breul and John Kamensky of the IBM Center for Business of Government tackle the top 10 challenges that keep public managers up at night. Among the issues is a divide in the way different generations in the federal workforce view work, information overload brought on by new technologies like instant messaging and Twitter, and a move towards less bureaucracy and more collaborative networking. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/16/09 11:16 am ET
Seven federal labor unions sent a letter to Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry on Nov. 10, requesting a seat at the table as the government develops new policies that would expand federal telework opportunities. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/16/09 10:11 am ET
November's issue of the Dice Report suggests some subtle signs that jobs in the technology sector are on the upswing.>>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/13/09 11:54 am ET
Guided Insights has some useful advice on the characteristics that make for a successful virtual collaborator, and those that may cause problems for some remote workers. Virtual collaborators, for example, tend to be social butterflies in the office; have excellent organizational, time-management, listening and communication skills; show a willingness to use a variety of tech tools with ease; and have the ability to move ahead without a lot of direction or guidance, the article states. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/12/09 04:41 pm ET
Want to contribute to the good government community while also giving something back to the community at large? The leaders at social networking site GovLoop on Thursday launched the AwesomeGov Fund, an effort to help raise awareness about government-related initiatives or people that aim to make government better.>>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/12/09 02:17 pm ET
Congress has yet to pass a pay raise for federal employees in 2010, but Government Executive's Alyssa Rosenberg writes that the Federal Salary Council has already made its recommendations for locality pay in 2011. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/11/09 10:14 am ET
Information technology professionals are looking to security-themed certifications as they plot their next career moves, according to a new study by trade group CompTIA.>>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/10/09 05:40 pm ET
As the debate over health care continues, one top technology company announced last week that it will begin providing employees with 100 percent primary health care coverage and a special wellness rebate. Beginning in 2010, IBM will become one of the first U.S. companies to cover primary care at 100 percent. The company also announced a new wellness incentive that provides a $150 healthy living rebate to all full-time employees who make lifestyle changes to improve their health and build energy. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/10/09 09:54 am ET
A new report by CDW-G calls for more training of federal employees as a means to confront and combat cybersecurity threats. The report, which is based on a survey of 150 federal civilian and 150 Defense Department information technology professionals, found that more than half of all federal agencies experience a cybersecurity incident at least weekly, with the number and severity of these incidents staying the same or increasing over the past year. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/09/09 01:10 pm ET
Current trends to restrict access to social networks like Facebook and Twitter at work need to be rethought in light of their business value, according to a new survey by Business.com. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/09/09 12:57 pm ET
The New York Times has some advice on how to bridge the generation gap at work, mostly by encouraging older workers to get up to speed, whether technologically or in other ways. The key, the article states, is not to try to look young or even to act it, but to be open to the fact that times have changed. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/06/09 12:26 pm ET
The Office of Personnel Management has created a new page on Facebook to keep participants in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program informed of news and updates during the annual Open Season, which runs Nov. 9 through Dec. 14. Click here to become a fan, or visit OPM's Open Season Web site for more information on 2010 plan offerings and changes. >>
By Allan Holmes
11/05/09 05:11 pm ET
If the Obama administration still hasn't issued its directive on how agencies should pursue transparency, collaboration and participation with the public, but it may want to first encourage federal managers to use these tools.>>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/04/09 01:21 pm ET
NetworkWorld tackles an interesting question on whether the younger generation's tendencies to use technology to collaborate will actually increase the amount of collaboration in the workplace. The writers contend that tools such as text messaging, instant messaging and Twitter facilitate collaboration, but only low level forms of it, especially given that the younger generation often prefers such methods over face-to-face communication. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/04/09 12:57 pm ET
Telework Exchange and HP are inviting Washington-area commuters to beat the heck out of their commutes on Nov. 10. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/03/09 01:02 pm ET
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. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/03/09 12:49 pm ET
My former beat partner, Alyssa Rosenberg, highlighted back in September a new effort by the Agriculture Department to incorporate social media tools into employee training. OhMyGov has an update on where the program - called AgLearn - stands.>>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/02/09 12:06 pm ET
Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry on Friday sent a memo 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. >>
By Brittany Ballenstedt
11/02/09 11:52 am ET
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.>>
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