News Briefs

THE DAILY FED

News Briefs

The following news summaries are from OPM AM, the daily newsletter of the Office of Personnel Management. OPM AM is available on OPM Mainstreet, the agency's electronic bulletin board, at 202-606-4800.

THE FEDERAL DIARY--"Although it is billed as a government-wide buyout, the surprise new authority approved by Congress may turn out to be very narrow....Under the new plan, buyouts will be selective. It will not be like the good old days (two years ago), when thousands of retirement-age employees got the maximum $25,000 payments to retire. General buyout authority, covering all agencies, has been approved through December 1997. But that doesn't mean agencies can simply start offering buyouts now. They must first make their case for buyouts to Congress. If Congress sticks to its guns, many agencies that request permission to offer buyouts will be turned down" (The Washington Post).

MALE VS. FEMALE MANAGERS--"The Foundation for Future Leadership says women score better than men on 28 of 31 management characteristics, such as meeting deadlines, generating ideas and boosting productivity. Men do better coping with frustration and handling pressure" (Moneyline, USA Today).

QUALITY OF CARE FOR POOR AND ELDERLY AT HMOs IS QUESTIONED IN NEW STUDY--"A new four-year study raises questions about how well health maintenance organizations serve some of their neediest members: elderly and poor people with chronic diseases. HMO executives disputes some of the study's findings. Nonetheless, the report commanded instant attention--and a promise of further inquiry--from Health and Human Service Secretary Donna Shalala. While most of the data were gathered from 1986 to 1990, the study is likely to intensify debate about the quality of care at HMOs, even as membership in such health plans keeps growing at a rate of more than 150,000 people a week" (The Wall Street Journal).

COMPANY MEMO TO STRESSED-OUT EMPLOYEES: DEAL WITH IT'--"Corporate America seems to be trying harder than ever to reduce employee stress. Nearly 40% of employers offer some type of help for handling stress, up from 27% in 1985, according to a government survey....Not surprisingly then, more people report they are frazzled and emotionally exhausted at work. The percentage of employees who believe their workload is excessive' climbed to 44% in 1995; it has risen six out of the past seven years, according to the annual survey by International Survey Research Corp., a Chicago opinion-research firm....But even when the corporations do offer such services, some employees are reluctant to ask for them--especially when one source of their stress is job insecurity. There's still somewhat of a stigma attached to stress--that you can't cope effectively if you say you're stressed out,' says Camille Haltom, a disease-management specialist at Hewitt Associates, an employee-benefits consulting concern in Lincolnshire, Ill" (The Wall Street Journal).

REINVENTION REPORT HIGHLIGHTS JOB CUTS--"Job cuts still take the spotlight in the administration's reinventing government' initiative. In a report laced with testimonials from satisfied customers, Vice President Al Gore said reinvention is on track, but he also admitted that agencies are flatly refusing to adhere to some of the job-cutting goals the administration set....In fiscal 1996, the average federal worker costs more than $44,000, not including office space and supplies but including benefits, Gore wrote. Cutting a quarter of a million jobs can save more than $10 billion annually" (The Federal Times).

NO DOUBLE HOLIDAY--"Attention, all employees in the Washington, D.C., area: No, you can't have a second holiday because Inauguration Day falls on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. That sums up the office of Personnel Management's guidance on the unusual two-in-one holiday Jan.20" (The Federal Times).