In This Election Year, Federal Families Matter

EXECUTIVE MEMO

In This Election Year, Federal Families Matter

ederal employees have learned to expect a beating from politicians during election years. But this summer, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, and officials in the Clinton Administration, seemed in competition to see who could be friendliest to feds and their families.

It started on June 20, when Office of Personnel Management Director James B. King announced that three federal agencies had been chosen to receive awards for outstanding work-and-family programs. The four winners-the National Security Agency, Fort Meade in Maryland, the Centers for Disease Control and the Naval Air Station in Lemoore, Calif.-were cited by the OPM chief for showing "a strong commitment to helping their employees effectively balance their professional and personal lives."

The next day, President Clinton issued a memorandum instructing agency heads to work toward providing employees with more help in securing child care and elder care, flexible work schedules and telecommuting opportunities. Such policies, said Clinton, would result in "greater cost efficiency, increased worker commitment and productivity, better customer service and improved family life."

Republicans in Congress got into the act in July. A House subcommittee approved a measure that would allow agencies to help spouses of employees transferred look for new jobs. Advocates of the measure hoped to attach it to the Defense Department authorization bill.

Not to be outdone, the Office of Personnel Management issued new regulations for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program in July that would provide immediate coverage under FEHBP for federal employees covered under a spouse's private health insurance plan if the spouse loses his or her job.