News Briefs

THE DAILY FED

News Briefs

SECTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM:

20th Annual May Training Program

The 20th annual May Training Program will be held at the Arlington [Texas] Convention Center from 8:00am to 4:00pm on Tuesday, May 13th and Wednesday, May 14, 1997. The two-day training program consists of 13 professional speakers who will present 20 different workshops on a wide variety of topics such as motivation, organizational improvement, successful writing, sexual harrassment, communication strategies, career advancement, and many more. Some workshop titles include:

• How to Manage Projects, Priorities, and Deadlines;
  
• Communicate With Clarity, Confidence, andCreditability;
  
• Technology Never Stands Still.. Neither Should Your Career;
  
• Leapfrogging Roadblocks to Organizational Harmony;
  

Conference costs are $45 per day. Complete conference details are available at http://r6ser1.r06.epa.gov:8000/dfwfeb/calfwp.htm. The registration deadline is April 11,1997. For questions, please call Cheryl Moore, FWPC President, at 817-847-3898.

Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) Seminar

This two-day seminar scheduled for May 1 and 2 at OPM [in Washington, DC], is designed to help Employee Assistance Program counselors and other mental health professionals in developing and managing a CISD team. The seminar prepares participants to provide a variety of crisis services for distressed employees after a traumatic event occurs at work. For more information call Sheila Rozier at (202) 606-1269.

Third Annual Performance Management Conference

May 13-14, 1997, in McLean, VA, at the McLean Hilton Hotel. This conference is designed to provide practical, cutting-edge information on a wide variety of topics related to performance appraisals and awards. To receive a brochure, call (202) 606-2720, or fax a request to (202) 606-2395. For additional conference information, call Digna Carballosa at (202) 606-1778 or E-Mail dmcarbal@opm.gov.

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.

TRACKING YOUR INVESTMENTS--"Most federal workers, including 80 percent of the people hired since 1983 under the new' private-sector-style pension program, are investing in the stock, bond or Treasury funds of their $47 billion thrift savings plan. The plan is the government's in-house, tax-deferred 401(k)....Moving with the times, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board has created a Web site where feds can track rates of return and even do estimates of their future account balances....The savings plan Web site is at http://www.tsp.gov" (The Federal Diary, The Washington Post).

CIA TRIMS A LITTLE OFF MIDDLE--"Unhappy about the departure of experienced analysts, the CIA has begun to cut back on middle level managers in its analytical branch to give their comparatively well-paying slots to intelligence analysts with expertise it wants to retain" (The Washington Post, A17).

BUYOUT TAKES CAN KEEP HEALTH BENEFITS--"More employees who take buyouts and retire can carry their health benefits with them into retirement under a change to health insurance rules. The rules say people must spend at least five years in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program before retirement, but the Office of Personnel Management says the five-year rule is automatically waived for many buyout takers" (Flagship-Norfolk, VA Weekly, February 1997).