News Briefs

THE DAILY FED

News Briefs

Virtual Government '97 Conference

This conference for federal, state and local information technology executives, managers, practitioners, and supporting industry will be held February 11-13 in McLean, VA. Speakers include Vice President Al Gore, John A. Koskinen (Deputy Director for Management, OMB), as well as Congressmen, senior business leaders, and other cabinet officials.

Some topics include the internet & intranet, wireless, universal service, certificate authorities, key recovery, data mining, year 2000, privacy & security, and more.

Please visit the conference Web site for more information.

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--"While officials at many U.S. government agencies are tying to figure out if they can and should offer buyouts over the next couple of months, a little more than 10,000 federal workers already are in the buyout pipeline . . . The changes of getting a buyout under the new authority, which covers most non-Defense agencies, decrease daily" (The Washington Post).

FLEXIBILITY--"Republican leaders say one of their top priorities this year is to pass laws that give workers and employers more flexibility to schedule the workweek. President Clinton has signaled that he's also interested. But unions are opposed" (The Sun).

STATE DEPARTMENT--"The new secretary of state is choosing experienced, high-powered figures for top posts rather than personal favorites." She is also said to be stressing competence (The Washington Times).

WORK & FAMILY--Corporate recruiters are seeing a surprising trend this season on undergraduate campuses. Questions about work-life balance are surfacing in first-round talks with employers (The Wall Street Journal).

FBI--"A senior FBI official who helped supervise the crime scenes after the bombings of the Oklahoma City federal building and New York's World Trade Center was among those removed from their positions following an unusual Justice Department report that criticizes the work of the bureau's laboratory" (The Washington Post).

PETS ON THE JOB--"While laughable to some, the notion of allowing pets at work and other pet-oriented benefits reflects a logical next step in corporations' growing commitment to helping employees balance work and home" (The Washington Times).

OTHER VIEWS--51 percent of Asian federal workers hold degrees (Tarrant Business, January 13)...OPM attends regional development meeting (Greater Washington Board of Trade News, Washington, DC, Dec./Jan)...College degree a plus for U.S. jobs (San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego, CA, Dec. 23),.