The Week in Comments: Confronting the oil spill and oily bosses
The best in reader reaction to recent articles.
A roundup of some of the comments received this week in the GovExec.com Mailbag. All comments are presented in their original, unedited form.
On Burning Question: What's the worst thing to say in a meeting?
How about "That's what your wife said last night"?
The worse thing I have absolutely EVER heard in a meeting with a government employed manager was, "...and if you do not like it here, feel free to apply for other opportunities via USA Jobs!" Talk about surprised looks around the table, we were ALL in SHOCK! Well, out the window went the rest of the employee morale, which was already lacking tremendously!
On Slow economy hinders refugee resettlement in U.S.
WOW. How can my daughter become a refugee? She is unemployed, compensation ran out. She has to pay for COBRA health insurance and no one is giving her $1100 for living expenses. She never once thought about public assistance, but I will now certainly tell her to head on down afterall I this great country of ours is so willing to hand out to immigrants there is no shame in a citizen taking a handout.
Dee - Please research what someone has to go through to become a refugee; you might change your mind when you find out what atrocities your daughter would have to endure in order to get that welfare.
There are not enough jobs here for our natural born citizens! How can we afford to let thousands of refugees come into our country and give them money? I know too many natural born citizens without jobs and they can not even get government assistance if they were to try!
On DHS expands drone flights on Mexico border
Now if CBP could add some armament to those drones, a few missles, gatlin guns, what an impact those would have on the problem.
I agree: the drones need to be armed. The border states need to be protected from ILLEGAL infiltration. Once this is complete, the inner states will see relief from illegal activity, too.
Armed with missiles and gatling guns? What type of person - I guess there are 2 here - would propose murdering people merely for crossing the border? Do you have no conscience?
Five drones and 1500 hours is really not much coverage for the length of the border covering multiple states. Somebody should get real. Arming drones--nice touch if we were at war with Mexico.
On Lawmakers criticize growth of federal workforce
Typical rhetoric...big government bad..business good...what a load! If it weren't for the government jobs, we would have more people on welfare. American business has demonstrated that it is not concerned with domestic employment matters..it only looks to its own bottom line. Most of the job that our businesses create are in China, Mexico, India, Morocco, etc... Now, with the American workers in a tight, a trend toward using only part-time workers is growing (which offer no benefits like health insurance, retirement, etc..). American business are exploiting the hard times and getting as much from it as they can to serve their own needs. At least our government employs Americans... and the motive is public service not profit margin and CEO bonuses...
Civil Service is the only business, where its employer (the Federal Government) has made a conscious decision not to recruit for over 30 years. It's great for business to have a hobbled federal workforce, just ask the SEC and MMS. Getting government off of business's back has been great for business, but not so good for the taxpayer. Keep up the good work.
Who cares if government works?
Perhaps both of these lawmakers could do their jobs with fewer staff employees (federal employees), at both their DC offices and in their ditricts. I was in Issa's office once...listening to him ranting away in an adjoining room, at one of his staffers, makes me question why anyone would to want to work for him anyway.
The government is already much bigger than the public really knows when you include all of the contractors. What does government really cost us? What could we save if we downsized on contractors?
Same old story! We heard this before and there is NO data to support the reich's point. Enough already with the 19th century thinking.
This is ridiculous. Yeah, the President makes rules to eliminate contractors and hire more federal employees, so the Republicans go after the civilians. What don't they get about hiring means employing people whether it is Wall Street, IBM, SAIC or the federal government????
What do these Republicans mean, restore goverenment to "pre-Obama Levels"? It was Bush Administration (both of them) that allowed hiring of upper management and more high salaried people who have got a clue. This truly is the "blind leading the bling". They hired leaders who are inept and unable to effectively lead, etc. But then again, if someo of them didn't work for Uncle Sam, they'd be much worse off, I'm sure. I agree that we don't necessarily need a huge government, but we do need a quality workforce, which I dare say we currently do not have. Nothing much suprises me, but we probably should begin holding personnel more stringently accountable for knowing and doing their jobs, starting from the top!
On Coast Guard seeks private sector oil spill solutions
Use the shrimp boats and their nets to contain the extent of the spill. Pump into oil tankers. Will lessen the impact.
The President should direct the secretary of the Navy to select an obsolescent warship, load the hold with an appropriate tonnage of concrete, position it precisely over the site of the subsea gusher and scuttle the ship. Engineering problems include the carefully balanced, precisely controlled descent, aided by subsea robots and surface vessels. All debris at the gusher site must be removed prior to scuttle.
The key is to reduce the pressure slowly. I have a patent in the concrete industry which uses an open flight auger which would turn as it enters the well pipe. As the auger enters the pipe it will reduce the pressure of the oil slowly. The more flights that enter the well pipe the more pressure is reduced until the last flights enter the well then the auger has solid flights. We can screw feed in mud and concrete grout to stop the flow. The motor that turns the auger shaft is operated from a robot or submarine.
50 days into the spill, and we are just turning to the private sector! I guess that really irked Obama, Mr. Govenment can do it better. What a shame!
Amazing how swiftly the bureaucracy moves on this crisis.
Call me stupid, I was under the impression the gulf oil spill was a private sector event. When did it become property of the US taxpayers? Learn something new every day.
On White House asks agencies to trim budgets 5 percent
Is this an intelligent thing to do? The government is already lacking in many areas. This is the kind of thinking that created the mess the country is in. Unless you tell them how to cut or where to cut, they will cut the necessary parts and keep an excessive amount of administrative overhead. OMB should do its own factfinding instead of relying on others if they want the unvarnished truth.
Start with the first lady's "personal staff" of, what it is, 115?
Sheesh, even Hilary Clinton only had 3.
A reduction to the manager/worker ratio is a great option! However, a competent manager is needed to replace the existing inventory of managers. The political tactic of providing opportunity to move up the career ladder to improve the feeling of self-worth and stimulate the beltway economy has not paid off in a productive sense. It is just saddling the economy with non- productive costs. I worked in DoD-IG Audit and it was a mystery what most GS-14/15s did to fill the day with productive work.
I would suggest that ALL agencies look at their discretionary costs such as travel. This should include meetings as well as individual employee travel. The use of Cell phones, black berries, and other nice to have gadgets should also be looked at. Grade creep was out of control when I retired and there was little or no attention paid to FTE usage.
On Agency officials, employee groups set to discuss pay transition
The transition from NSPS back to the General Schedule will cause me to retire earlier than expected. Effective 12/31/2010, my high-three salary has essentially been capped. If I were to receive the 50% COLA for CY 2011, then my salary would increase by less than $1,000 for the entire year. Please ensure that there are enough OPM personnel to manage the retirement wave from the roles of DOD agencies. Thank You for your considerations.
This is facinating. The unions did everything they could do to keep the rank and file (bargining unit employees) out of NSPS. Now they are speaking for the employees who are coming out of NSPS...none of whom they represent.
Seriously???? This is a waste of taxpayer money. If someone is working at a higher grade than the position requires, they are being overpaid. Why in the world would new steps be created to continue to overpay these folks. In actuality, they should be required to repay to the Treasury the money they received over the fair wage they earned.
In regard to Mr. Petrons retirement, if he is willing to leave due to missing half of a less than 2% raise he should go. I hope there are enough HR people to process the hundreds of applications of those who want his job.
I saw that many who received huge awards and increases under NSPS were the favored children. Now we are told it is not fair that because they are paid more then their position calls for we are to have pitty on them? Get real- don't let the door hit you on the backside on the way out- oops- on second thought go ahead and let it.
On Burning Question: Are you a horrible boss?
Some of the worst managers I can remember are those who are promoted from the ranks and then never obtain the capability to manage.
One of our managers has an issue with an employee's cleavage, so she's trying to impose a dress code on the entire installation. There isn't a dress code in the entire agency, but she's still pursuing it. She also makes threats and belittles people publicly. She was the "hatchet man" for her previous boss and he let her get away with this unprofessional behavior because she took care of his problems.
i think the worst too, are the ones that come into federal service with no prior work experience, and management promotes them to managers because they can't think for themselves, they do whatever management tells them to hide behind their stupidness.
Knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do. It takes intestinal fortitude to lead, dealing with the inevitable mistakes from both your employees and yourself. It's the ability to listen, see the difference between mistake and habit, and salvage what is salvageable while cutting loose deadwood that separates the good from the bad managers. BTW, cleavage belongs in the nightclub not the office. If you are showing cleavage at work and people are complaining, then you are in the wrong profession.
On Pentagon tries to break from past on pay, personnel reform
As a DoD employee, I recommend that we give personnel changes a rest for now. Being jerked in and out of NSPS has been unsettling. The prevailing attitude in the workforce now is that any change in personnel administration is for the benefit for the government and for the detriment of the employee. It all started with FERS and its been downhill ever since.
How many times is DoD going to beat the dead pay for performance horse?
Master of Business Administration
The critical buy in has to be not only from Unions but from all levels of Management. NSPS was not only an administrative nightmare, but under the table phone calls were made arm twisting managers to lowers ratings. It is generally believed that Headquarters Activites awarded most of the money to themselves. Resulting in low morale at the primary and tertiary activities. Full disclosure including detailed award distribution tables must be included in any new system. Any systen that is more complicated than the current GS system will also be opposed across the board.
The main problem with the NSPS was due process regardind the grievance process not providing an arbitration level of decision making.Managegement was the decision making vehicle not providing impartial views. The new sytem should remove the grade cap of step 10 and allowing salary increase based on performance rating. GS-12 is a perfect example where you are capped even with exellent performance ratings year after year. That is absolutely unacceptable. The management response is that the system does not allow advancement except prom promo promotion
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