Management
FEMA Is Deploying Employees Ill-Prepared for Disaster Response, Report Finds
The agency is also dealing with severe shortfalls in its on-call and reservist workforce.
Route Fifty
Public Transit Systems Adapt to Plummeting Ridership
Cities are struggling with concerns about safety and low ridership. In some places, officials are taking advantage of the situation to finish long awaited transportation projects.
Management
Coronavirus Roundup: A Case That Telework Has Made Some Feds More Productive During the Pandemic
There's a lot to keep track of. Here’s today’s list of news updates and stories you may have missed.
Route Fifty
Americans Fearful of Virus, Wary of Reopening Businesses, Poll Finds
Nearly three-quarters of respondents were unsupportive of allowing dine-in restaurants to open up in their states.
Employee Policy
Government still faces challenges attracting students to public service
A new report sets an ambitious goal of revising the public sector workforce by 2031, but engagement remains a sticking point.
Employee Policy
DOD’s Esper outlines DOD pandemic response
The Pentagon is eyeing a phased reopen and possibly more coronavirus stimulus funds restock medical supplies and equipment used to fight the pandemic.
Management
Especially Now, Find a Way to Recognize Employee Milestones
This Public Service Recognition Week, it’s more important than ever to honor landmark events.
Nextgov
US, UK Cyber Authorities Warn State-Backed Hackers Are After COVID-19 Treatment Data
Attackers use password spraying tools to target pharmaceutical and research organizations.
Defense
State Dept. Reroutes Peacekeeping Gear To Coronavirus Fight In Africa
The move shows how the virus has refocused U.S. security policy.
Workforce
Work From Home Is Here to Stay
What might emerge is a future in which results-oriented introverts prevail while those who thrive on face-to-face interactions and office politics fumble.
Defense
Esper Says Pentagon Is Bracing for a 'New Normal' That Lasts 'An Extended Period of Time'
"What do we do over the next 6, 12, 18 months?" the defense secretary asked at a Monday virtual event.
Nextgov
Critical Update: How State Department IT Was Set Up to Deal with COVID-19
State Department CIO Stuart McGuigan joins Critical Update to talk about his vision for the agency and how the department’s decentralized nature made for an easy transition to mass telework.
Employee Policy
Lawmakers pledge support for hazard pay, PPE, telework at VA facilities
Union leaders and activists working at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities asked members of Congress for help with the lack of personal protective equipment, hazard pay and telework.
Employee Policy
FEMA, HHS move to end PPE shortage in fed workplace
FEMA will provide N95 masks, gloves and other PPE to help federal employees protect themselves from COVID-19 in their work at the departments of Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs and other agencies.
Management
To Safely Reopen, Make the Workweek Shorter. Then Keep It Shorter.
This crisis is the ideal time to make radical changes to how we work in America.
Workforce
Protect the Workers Who Protect Us
The pandemic has laid bare the inherent risk federal employees face when duty to serve the public conflicts with the right to health and safety.
Workforce
GovExec Daily: The State of the Postal Service
Eric Katz joins the podcast to discuss the future and funding of USPS in the time of the pandemic.
Route Fifty
Amid Pandemic, A Call to Rebalance State and Local Power
As flare ups between states and localities over the coronavirus response get attention, one scholar says it may be a good time to reexamine the relationship between the two levels of government.
Workforce
As TSA's Screeners Work Significantly Reduced Schedules, Agency's N95 Stockpile Goes Unused
Agency is planning for reduced demand on its workforce for 18 months into the future.
Nextgov