No USDA Furloughs
Is It Too Hard to Fire Misbehaving Feds?
Americans Still Like the Postal Service
Making Government 'Simpler'
No More Tax-Cheating Feds, Senators Say
Video: The Daily Show on Apple's Taxes
AUTHOR ARCHIVES
Brittany Ballenstedt
Blogger
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
Homeland Security launches graduate academy
June 11, 2007 The Homeland Security Department is expanding graduate education opportunities for its employees by establishing a new academy near Washington, the agency announced last week. The department launched the Homeland Security Academy on June 6 at the Office of Personnel Management's Eastern Management Development Center in Shepherdstown, W. Va. The full-time ...
Firm outlines steps to successful workforce reforms
June 8, 2007 Federal agencies must start treating employees as a critical variable as they tackle staff shortages, seek to increase job satisfaction and forge stronger links between policy and practice, according to an upcoming report from global management and technology consulting firm Accenture. The report, which will be released in July, identifies ...
Survey finds increased satisfaction with federal benefit programs
June 8, 2007 Federal employees are more pleased with their benefits, and view them as more valuable and competitive with the private sector, than they did several years ago, according to new survey results released by the Office of Personnel Management. The 2006 employee benefits survey, released Friday, indicated that employees' satisfaction with ...
Appropriators block funding for DHS personnel reforms
June 6, 2007 A House panel late Tuesday approved language that would block funding for a controversial human resources system at the Homeland Security Department. The House Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to approve a $36.2 billion fiscal 2008 DHS spending bill that would block funding for the department's personnel system - now called ...
Auditors question Pentagon projections for health care savings
June 5, 2007 The Pentagon's proposal to cut health care spending by increasing the share of costs paid by some TRICARE beneficiaries is unlikely to achieve the large savings the agency projects, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office. From 2000 to 2005, the report (GAO-07-647) noted, the Defense Department's ...
Riskier TSP funds bring greatest gains for May
June 4, 2007 Small and common stocks, two of the riskier fund options in the Thrift Savings Plan, led the pack for earnings in May, while only fixed-income bonds lost ground. The S Fund, which invests in the stocks of small- and mid-sized American companies, grew the most, at 4.40 percent last month. ...
Advocates sketch plan for public service academy
June 4, 2007 The creation of a U.S. Public Service Academy would provide opportunities different from those available through existing public administration programs at universities across the country, according to a draft blueprint created by academy lobbyists. The blueprint, released Friday, aims to highlight the unique mission of the academy compared to other ...
OPM pushes to extend locality pay to Alaska, Hawaii
June 1, 2007 Cost-of-living allowances for federal employees in Hawaii, Alaska and the U.S. territories could be replaced with locality payments under a new Bush administration proposal sent to lawmakers Wednesday. The legislative proposal seeks to correct potential disparities between locality-based comparability payments allowed under a 1990 law and nonforeign area COLAs authorized ...
GAO to challenge eligibility of employees to unionize
June 1, 2007 Government Accountability Office leaders are hiring a private law firm to assist them in responding to an employee effort to hold a union election, and plan to challenge the eligibility of more than a third of the employees who filed petitions for such an election. GAO's legal representatives were scheduled ...
FAA, union haggle over performance pay
May 31, 2007 A complicated formula used by the Federal Aviation Administration to calculate increases in pay ranges is detrimental to lower-level employees, a union leader charged Thursday. Jim Lenz, president of an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local that represents FAA employees, referenced a letter the union sent to ...
