News Briefs

THE DAILY FED

News Briefs

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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.

THE FEDERAL DIARY--"Thanks to lawsuits, legislation and changing attitudes, most potential employers--federal or private--no longer dare ask job applicants questions that once were standard" (The Washington Post, Monday)..."To sidestep the mandatory switch to electronic transfer, next year the Postal Service will write and issue its own paychecks, moving away from the familiar U.S. Treasury checks" (The Washington Post, Sunday).

THE FEDERAL TIMES--"Agencies must take care that getting on board the administration's welfare-to-work train doesn't derail relations with current employees"....Republicans in Congress are close to an agreement with the administration that will cut civil service benefits to reach a balanced budget....Child care may become ore affordable for lower-graded employees if federally run child cafe centers adopt proposed sliding fee scales....Agencies are letting employees know they now are entitled to an extra 24 hours of unpaid leave for family activities. But employees and administrators suspect that because the government already offers an array of leave provisions, the new benefit may not be widely used (The Federal Times, April 28).

WELFARE-TO-WORK--South Carolina appears to have hired more people through its welfare-to-work program than any other public or private employer in the country. Trying to overcome long-held bias, South Carolina moved 442 from the welfare to its payroll in a single year (The Washington Post).

OF INTEREST--Instead of making the workday easier, for many communications technology has made for more crowded hours (The Washington Post)...Use your resume to grab the reader's attention and show results (The Washington Times).