Training Archives

Federal cybersecurity workers might not be far from being able to access top-notch training directly from their computer desktops.

Robert Hollingsworth, director of the security engineering and computer security training division at the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security Training Center, told Wired Workplace on Thursday that State and the Homeland Security Department have begun training federal cyber pros using virtual worlds, where each user has an avatar and is walked through different cyber scenarios.

The virtual worlds courses are part of the Federal Cybersecurity Training Event, or FedCTE, a joint program between State and DHS. The program started in 2008, after the Obama administration's Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative identified a need for addressing cybersecurity training and education within the federal workforce. FedCTE courses also were developed using the specific cybersecurity roles identified by the National Initiative on Cybersecurity Education, Hollingsworth said.

Thus far, the virtual worlds program has trained more than 243 students from 68 agencies on cybersecurity topics like cyber protection, response and mitigation, Hollingsworth said. "The demand is going through the roof," he said. "It's a way for these remote programs to address these cybersecurity areas and be continually modified as vulnerabilities are discovered and new security practices are identified. Even previously trained people can address new concerns in a timely fashion."

Still, Hollingsworth noted that one challenge for government is simply defining the roles, requirements and job tasks needed for federal cybersecurity work. But a goal of the virtual training is to help overcome that hurdle, he added. "We're finding there are a lot of roles and responsibilities that may be unique to a department, and we can go in and customize those portions and touch those individual job descriptions and tweak it," he said. "That would be too hard to do in a real classroom every time, but it's not too hard to adjust these virtual modules."

Going forward, Hollingsworth said the program will continue to expand to include more cybersecurity workers, particularly as it gets more popular through word of mouth. "It's in the ground floor now, but we feel it's going to be mainstreamed and that this form of training will become more of a normal activity for federal security workers," he said. "It will be on their desktops at some point and they can train as needed. It's another tool in their toolbox."

Another minor snowstorm is expected to hit the Washington, D.C., area this evening. The Office of Personnel Management has authorized feds to take unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework in order to get off the roads early and avoid potential traffic delays.

This adds to the conversation about federal telework and whether agencies are better prepared this year to enable continuity of operations through weather disruptions thanks to the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act. I wrote last week that while many agencies are embracing telework as a result of the 2010 law, some are having difficulty determining what roles and jobs can be completed while working remotely, while other agencies are challenged by quantifying telework's return on investment.

Tom Simmons, vice president for federal systems at Citrix, told Wired Workplace that while agencies are certainly making progress, many are challenged by the fact that the 2010 mandate came with no funding. "One of the big challenges for agencies to implement telework is 'how do I pay for it?' " he said. "How do I support the infrastructure for remote work in time of planned telework? Or how do I support unplanned telework?"

The cultural issues are still there as well, though not the same degree as they used to be, Simmons added. "As folks are being asked to do more away from the office, those kinds of things are being refined," he said. "There's a new generation of workers coming into the government workforce who are brought up working from anywhere, and they're demanding that kind of work style in their work environment. All of that has a positive impact on the adoption of telework."

What are your plans for today? Must you take unscheduled leave to get an early start against the traffic, or do you have the option to telework? Has the 2010 telework law made this possible?

Mobile computing is becoming more common for federal employees, and many agencies are beginning to allow employees to use their own personal devices for work, according to a new survey.

The survey of 414 federal employees and IT staff by CDW Government found that more than half of federal employees use at least one mobile device at work. Nearly all (99 percent) of IT professionals have deployed mobile devices to agency employees.

In addtion, 62 percent of agencies are allowing employees to BYOD, or bring your own device, to work. Forty-four percent of federal employees using a mobile device are using their own. That strategy appears to be working, as nearly all federal employees who use a mobile device for work believe it makes them more productive, and the majority say increased mobility will improve citizen service, the survey found.

"Mobility is the 'new normal' for Federal employees," said Bob Kirby, vice president of federal government for CDW-G. "Employees increasingly expect to be able to work anywhere and at any time. Agencies responded first by deploying mobile devices, and now they are enabling use of personal devices."

Kirby added that the BYOD trend is likely to continue, particularly following the Obama administration's November 2011 executive order asking agencies to limit the number of IT devices they issue to employees to reduce costs.

Meanwhile, agencies are providing a good security baseline for mobile devices, with the majority establishing data security policies (85 percent) and requiring data security training for mobile device users (84 percent), the study found. Other areas of security could be improved, however, as fewer IT professionals said their agency protects mobile devices with multi-factor authentication (54 percent), remote lock and wipe (45 percent) and data loss prevention software (39 percent), CDW-G found.

Are you using your own personal device for work? What factors are behind this trend at your agency?

Federal agencies are going to face steep competition when it comes to recruiting and retaining information technology and other in-demand workers, as only 3 percent of college students in such fields say they intend to work for the federal government following graduation.

The Partnership for Public Service analysis of the 2011 National Association of Colleges and Employers student survey found that federal agencies will encounter tough competition going forward in filling jobs that require skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Of the 6,868 STEM majors surveyed, 36.7 percent said they plan to enter the private sector, 33.9 percent said they plan to go to graduate school, while only 3 percent said they intend to work for the federal government. The remainder plan to go to non-profits, teach or pursue other endeavors, the study found.

Overall, just 6 percent of all college students surveyed said they plan to work in government at the state, local or federal level, the lowest number expressing an interest in public service since NACE first asked the question in 2008. More specifically, only 2.3 percent of all respondents indicated that they plan to work for the federal government following graduation.

"While the overall portrait suggests that the federal government faces a tough road attracting the top college graduates, it presents an opportunity for managers to better understand students' expectations and desires, and illustrated the need to accentuate the desirable aspects of public service in their recruitment initiatives," the Partnership report states.

Students also were asked what they wanted most in a first job. The opportunity for personal growth was the number one attribute, followed by job security, good benefits, a high starting salary and improving the community. For STEM majors, however, high starting salaries were one of their highest priorities, with 30.5 percent expecting to make more than $60,000 per year.

"Starting salaries for new federal employees with undergraduate degrees frequently are not competitive with many private sector employers," the report states, noting that students can generally anticipate making between $34,075 and $42,209 in the Washington, D.C., area and slightly more or less in other parts of the country depending on local labor costs.

Meanwhile, most students are worried about the impact the tough economy will have on their job search. A majority of students (67 percent) worry about finding a job after graduation, and just over half (53 percent) believe the troubled economy will affect their job search.

Next month marks Telework Exchange's annual Telework Week event, and many agencies are planning to use the event to test their business continuity plans.

Cindy Auten, general manager of Telework Exchange, told Wired Workplace on Friday that more than 9,000 federal employees have pledged to telework during the annual Telework Week, which runs March 5-9.

"Agencies are really getting behind this program to test their business continuity and really understand why it's important to do drills using Telework Week to get more people involved," Auten said. "And I think that this will be a good test for agencies to see how prepared they are without having the next Snowmageddon."

Last year, the Telework Week program had nearly 40,000 pledges, with more than 86 percent of those pledges coming from federal workers. Those workers collectively saved $2.7 million in commuting costs and saved employees an average two hours from their commutes for each day teleworked, according to Telework Exchange estimates.

Auten said a report on the results of this year's Telework Week would be released at the organization's town hall meeting in May. "It will be interesting to compare year over year and see how well agencies have done and how prepared they were," she said. "I think we will see some really good movement between the two years."

Still, Auten said one major challenge for agencies going forward -- particularly for those agencies that recently kicked off their telework programs as a result of the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act -- is quantifying telework's return on investment. Some agencies like the Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security departments -- which were called out in a recent letter to Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry for having high numbers of positions deemed ineligible for telework - may have a difficult time beginning to track and provide accurate data, she said.

"Capturing the data is really important and not just necessarily whose teleworking and the frequency but also how telework is coming back to meet the agency mission," Auten said. "Agencies have to quantify the savings, and developing that telework ROI model is going to be very critical."

Going forward, Auten said a major trend for 2012 will be a move to enterprisewide tech solutions for both teleworkers and non-teleworkers, which is part of Federal CIO Steven Van Roekel's new mobility strategy to make agencies more agile and flexible. "The goal is for one enterprisewide solution that can enable the mobile workforce," she said. "So if you use collaborative tools for teleworkers, the people in the office are using the same tools."

Have you made your pledge for this year's Telework Week? If not, click here.

The legislation passed by the House on Wednesday that would extend the current two-year pay freeze for federal workers through 2013 is premised on a selective understanding of federal pay data.

The bill (H.R. 3835), introduced by Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., would extend the salary freeze for federal employees and members of Congress, eliminating cost of living adjustments until the end of 2013.

House Republicans defended the measure on the House floor, citing a recent Congressional Budget Office report that found federal workers made 16 percent more in average pay and benefits than private sector employees. But the CBO also found that those with professional and doctorate-level degrees actually earn about 23 percent less than those with the same degrees in the private sector.

More specifically, federal IT workers also fall behind their private sector counterparts on pay. A survey released last week by IT jobs website Dice.com found that salaries for government IT workers were slightly below the national average. Salaries for government tech workers averaged $79,605 in 2011, while the average salary for tech workers in all industries was $81,327, Dice found.

Federal unions voiced their opposition to the bill, noting that extending the pay freeze could have a significant impact on federal recruitment and retention.

"At a time when our nation faces threats both foreign and domestic, military and monetary, we cannot afford a second rate federal workforce defending our borders, supporting our troops overseas and ensuring the safety of our food supply," said William Dougan, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees. "We cannot afford to undermine pay and retirement benefits for middle class workers with increasingly precarious economic situations."

A major hurdle for federal agencies in implementing a 2010 telework law is simply making the determination on what roles and jobs can be completed while working remotely, according to a recent survey by the Congressional Research Service.

The survey, which was requested by Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and John Sarbanes, D-Md., found that even while some agencies have a high percentage of desk jobs, many have a fairly prohibitive telework eligibility and low rates of telework participation. The Veterans Affairs Department, for example, has classified 87.5 percent of employees as ineligible to telework, and failed to provide CRS any detailed information to justify having such high rates of ineligibility. The Homeland Security Department also has classified 70 percent of employees as ineligible for remote work, with an average of just 0.016 percent of employees teleworking during the average pay period, CRS found.

"This abysmal telework performance in inexplicable in light of the large number of DHS office positions and could prove to be a threat to national security if DHS is unable to implement a continuity of operations plan because its employees are unaccustomed to telework," Connolly and Sarbanes stated in a letter to OPM Director John Berry.

Under the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act, agencies were required to establish a policy on working outside the office, identify eligible employees and inform them of the option. The law also required agencies to name an official to manage telework programs, and incorporate the policy into plans for continuing essential services during natural disasters or other emergencies.

Meanwhile, other agencies, like the Health and Human Services and Education departments, have classified a high percentage of employees as eligible to telework, but only a small percentage of total work hours are completed remotely, CRS noted. "This suggests that while some agencies are doing good work to improve eligibility, many also need to ensure that telework is routine," the letter states.

Still, some agencies stood out as leaders on federal telework, most notably the Agriculture Department, the Patent and Trademark Office and the General Services Administration, CRS found. USDA has high telework participation, despite the fact that many employees spend a lot of time in the field, and PTO employees completed 40 percent of all work hours under a telework arrangement, the survey found.

Agencies also reported difficulty in quantifying energy and real estate cost savings from telework, and CRS recommended looking to agencies like PTO and GSA for methods of quantifying cost savings. "Considering that PTO has saved $4.36 million in real estate costs by avoiding construction of individual offices for 3,464 employees, savings governmentwide could be substantial and should be quantified," the letter states.

The Transportation, Justice and Housing and Urban Development departments did not respond to CRS's survey.

Federal employees with professional or doctorate degrees earn about 23 percent less than those with the same degrees in the private sector, according to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office.

The report, released Monday, found that overall, federal employees are paid an average of 16 percent more in pay and benefits than their private sector counterparts. Federal employees with a high school diploma, for example, earned 21 percent more than private sector employees with similar education levels, while federal workers with a bachelors degree earned about the same as those in the private sector. Federal workers in those two groups also enjoyed better benefits than those in the private sector, with benefits 72 percent higher for federal employees with a high school diploma and 46 percent higher for federal employees with a bachelor's degree.

But federal workers with professional, masters or doctorate-level degrees earned an average of about 23 percent less than their private sector counterparts, the study found. Average benefits for professional and doctorate-level employees were about the same in the two sectors.

CBO used data for 2005 through 2010 reported by a sample of households and employers to estimate differences between the cost of wages and benefits for federal employees and the cost of wages and benefits for similar private-sector employees.

CBO's study also noted that studies of federal pay like one by the American Enterprise Institute, which claimed that federal workers earn 61 percent more in pay, benefits and extra job security than their private counterparts, "overstates the differences between the cost of employing federal workers and similar private sector workers because the dispersion of wages (the range from low to high wages) differs between those two groups."

Meanwhile, the most common occupations within the Defense Department and the government at large were information technology workers as well as program analysts, program administrators and criminal investigators.

Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, agreed with the conclusion that highly-educated workers earn significantly less than their private counterparts, but cautioned against accepting other segments of the CBO report. "CBO is clearly the expert on Congressional budget scoring, but pay comparisons are not its principal expertise; that is the expertise of the Bureau of Labor Statistics," she said, noting that BLS data have shown a consistent pay gap of 26 percent in favor of the private sector when comparing similar public and private sector jobs.

Kelley also questioned the other segments of the study, and whether Congress would want to cut the salaries of the lowest paid workers by the amounts the report claims are overpaid. "That would mean cutting the salary of a clerk earning $20,000 a year by 20 percent down to $16,000 while increasing the salary of a highly-paid manager making $200,000 by 20 percent to $240,000," she said.

What are your thoughts on the study, as it compares to other studies on federal pay, including BLS data and the report by the American Enterprise Institute?

The Office of Personnel Management has created a telework training package designed to help agencies meet the mandates of a 2010 telework law.

In a letter sent last week to chief human capital officers, OPM Director John Berry said that agencies can now access new employee and manager telework training modules at telework.gov. Agencies that already use their own learning management systems will now have the capability to download the training at no cost. "This option will allow agencies to track the use and completion of the training," Berry wrote.

The 2010 Telework Enhancement Act requires federal agencies provide interactive telework training for employees who are eligible and interested in participating in telework and for their managers. The law requires such training to be completed before employees and/or managers sign a written telework agreement.

Federal employees started off this week with their first snow-related delay of the winter season, and many feds are still concerned about what winter weather will mean for their commute and their ability to perform their jobs. The good news is that many government offices have adopted teleworking policies, according to a new report by Microsoft.

The report, which is based on a survey of 250 employees, 73 percent of which worked in government, found that 67 percent of respondents work remotely at least some of the time. Surprisingly, however, only 33 percent of teleworkers indicated that their job satisfaction and productivity have increased since telework adoption.

Managers also are buying into the concept of telework, with 47 percent of respondents saying their boss was enthusiastic about telework, while 25 percent said their boss was skeptical but willing to give telework a chance.

In a time where the potential for budget cuts is forcing agencies to do more with less, respondents also indicated that telework could help achieve that goal. After streamlining the acquisition process (31 percent) and reducing travel budgets (25 percent), respondents indicated that implementing telework policies (22 percent) could help agencies save money.

Of respondents who do not telework, half reported that they would strongly consider a career move if another comparable opportunity arose that included a more robust telework policy, the survey found.

Still, many government workers face challenges in working remotely, the survey found. Approximately 30 percent of respondents said that telework gets in the way of team collaboration and that working effectively requires face time. Respondents also noted concern with not knowing how to best communicate with colleagues, difficulty accessing key work documents and difficulty in scheduling meetings.

At the same time, respondents indicated that embracing new technologies, like chat/instant messaging (27 percent), video conferencing (29 percent) and collaborative document editing (32 percent), can help to close the collaboration gap.

"Although these tools didn't unseat email and the telephone as preferred communications methods," the report states, "it's clear that there is significant demand in the government sector for collaboration capabilities that can be accessed from any location and any device."

And finally, teleworkers also indicated that they are taking advantage of another perk of working from home -- comfort. Nearly three quarters of respondents said they prefer a personal dress code of jeans and t-shirts, sweats or pajamas.