Letters

LETTERS

'Government Girl' Gratitude and Gripes

As a secretary of more than 20 years (13 with the civil service), it was with interest that I read Jerry Hagstrom's article about the lack of clerical help due to cutbacks ("Goodbye Government Girl," October). I guess it really is true, you only miss something when it is gone. Thanks for the outstanding, insightful article. It is a must-read for every secretary as well as her supervisor.

Lynn M. Richardson

Thank you for the article regarding federal agency cuts in the clerical area. I am a mid-level professional working as a contracting officer. Our overall staffing levels have dropped from seven in 1992 to two in 1998. Two of these positions included our clerical support -a secretary who retired, and a secretary/mail clerk who accepted a job in another office.

Consequently, the other contracting officer and I must perform many time-consuming tasks formerly performed by the secretaries, in addition to our ongoing duties. The result has been decreased efficiency and diminished customer satisfaction. There have been times when my facsimiles and mail were not looked at for over a week and telephone voicemails were not answered because I did not have time to look up simple information contained in contract and agreement files. Our pleas for clerical assistance have gone unheeded by management, which still has two secretaries in an office serving three managers.

Unfortunately, most agency heads and leaders think of administrative and clerical personnel as an expense, rather than an asset. With this attitude, "streamlined" offices may continue to operate inefficiently while the support staff continues to leave and not be replaced.

Mark P. Christians
Agriculture Department

As a "government girl" I have some comments on the subject. True, we are underpaid and overworked, and true, downsizing has affected the lower grades immensely.

Our personnel specialists believe that if a person can type, then that person can become a secretary. They don't realize that secretaries do a lot more than just type. Secretaries are also expected to put together farewell and retirement parties, ceremonies, etc. We are expected to know more about the operation of the Air Force and our particular place of work than anybody else, including the boss.

Secretaries pick up the odd jobs that are left over from people who leave and aren't replaced. I now order supplies, train, and perform safety and security inspections as well as all the paperwork that accompanies these additional duties. I do reports that used to be accomplished by second lieutenants, or senior noncommissioned officers.

We also do personnel work that used to be done by personnel specialists, and we are expected to know about the flight budgets. Other secretaries have taken over the duties that civilian pay staff used to handle (i.e. civilian time cards, allotments, changes of insurance, etc.).

As it is also true that promotions are nearly nonexistent for secretaries. Perhaps the government would be better off without secretaries. Maybe our title should be office manager. Then perhaps we could be given a promotion to at least a GS-7 and be slightly compensated for all the work we have inherited.

M. Connie Moffitt

It is acceptable to provide the history of government secretaries and to mention "government girl" as a part of history, since at one time government secretaries were probably all women. However, there are male secretaries. I used to work with one years ago. Using "Goodbye Government Girl" as a title for an article that is focused on the diminishing need for secretaries is purely sexist.

J. J. Dippel

I have been a federal employee since 1991. I began my career as a co-op performing secretarial duties but was never referred to as a "government girl." In a professional work environment, to refer to any adult female as a girl is offensive. But to categorize an entire working sector as such and then to add insult to injury with the outdated and condescending graphics is reprehensible.

Pamela Ingram

Thank you so much for your article "Goodbye Government Girl." We didn't think anyone noticed or cared. Great research.

Toni M. Hunt
Administrative Assistant
U.S. Coast Guard

Overlooked Talent

For shame! Your September article about the illusory "Leadership Void" was one of the more shockingly offensive displays of cultural myopia. I am insulted by the notion that the middle ranks of the civil service do not have more than enough people capable of easily moving in to fill all of these executive vacancies. The author implies, without the benefit of any evidence, that academic performance equates to executive capability. The data may suggest a correlation between academic performance and promotion success, but this is a self-maintaining cycle of people focused on academic performance who reward others of the same ilk.

Wake up. The federal civilian workforce is teeming with thousands of overly talented individuals who are more than capable of filling any position left by departing high-grade employees. In my 20-plus years of public service, I have worked directly with dozens of individuals who easily demonstrated executive leadership and management skills far beyond what was seen from their supposed superiors. Many of these talented GS-12s, GS-13s and GS-14s will remain in career ruts until they too retire, because our civil service executive culture values "club conformance," personal loyalty, academic focus and political savvy above real executive talent.

Steve Kaniuga
Computer specialist
U.S. Air Force

Best of Breed

I applaud *Government Executive and Technology Editor Nancy Ferris for the in-depth discussion of ERP *("ERP: Sizzling or Stumbling?" Managing Technology, July). However, I found the article missed the mark when it provided even a lukewarm endorsement that the ERP is "probably" worthwhile. An enterprise solution is worthwhile. The ERP approach to achieving this solution is not.

At American Management Systems (AMS), we promote a best-of-breed enterprise solution, which involves integrating different enterprise software applications that are designed specifically to meet the unique tasks faced by government. For instance, Momentum, our enterprise software for federal financial management, is an open, scalable system developed specifically for government.

Like the ERP vendors, AMS believes in applying best business practices for government. Over 60 percent of our own business is geared toward helping commercial organizations achieve greater efficiency through the use of enterprise technologies. However, we also understand that best business practices are not the same as merely tweaking commercial software for the public sector. The business of government is truly like no other business.

Ferris identifies that, "ERP has been marketed as a total solution for an agency's management needs, but few, if any, federal agencies have opted for a complete software replacement from [them]." That's because many decision-makers in government have also recognized the best-of-breed approach is the way to go.

Harry Barschdorf
Vice President
American Management Systems

Pressure to Improve

In Dick Kirschten's article "Overlooking Management" *(Congress, June), he quoted retired Rep. William F. Clinger Jr. as noting that "no one is beating on Congress to improve management."

I would like to suggest that the staff and readership of *Government Executive are the perfect entities to initiate pressure on all branches of government to encourage management improvement. As the Consumer's Union does for product safety through it's *Consumer Report magazine, you at *Government Executive should bring your expertise to bear on the management improvement problem. I support any efforts made to improve the operations of the government-my employer-and will gladly assist in spreading the word.

James T. O'Connell
Realty Specialist
Naval Facilities Engineering Command
Naples, Italy