Management
Biden’s chief diversity officer is headed to the private sector
Janice Underwood, who serves as the governmentwide chief diversity officer and as director of the Office of Personnel Management’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility office, will be vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion talent outreach and development at Disney.
Pay & Benefits
OPM reduces the retirement backlog by one-third in 2023
The federal government’s HR agency’s work on improving the retirement application process for federal workers led to the agency shattering yet another longstanding record last month.
Workforce
OPM’s latest telework report highlights productivity gains
The annual telework report covers fiscal 2022, though officials promised that recent policy changes will improve data collection and analysis moving forward.
Pay & Benefits
New OPM proposal would ensure feds detailed to temporary promotions are paid properly
Federal HR leaders said in a filing last week that a rule capping increased pay for federal workers noncompetitively selected to perform duties of a higher-graded position at 120 days penalizes employees for their agency’s mistake.
Workforce
Here are the agencies that saw the biggest shifts in employee morale in 2023
As the federal government regained its footing on employee engagement and job satisfaction, some agencies saw big swings in workplace sentiment.
Pay & Benefits
Biden signs order finalizing 5.2% pay raise for feds in 2024
The measure confirms that the federal workforce will see its largest pay increase in more than 40 years.
Oversight
Conservatives bemoan disappearance of OPM official time docs
Officials at the federal government’s HR agency said a webpage housing sporadic reports on agencies’ official time use did not survive a recent website redesign, but suggested tweaks are ongoing.
Management
OPM encourages federal supervisors to make better use of probationary periods
The federal government’s HR agency urged agency managers to remove poor performers before most removal protections kick in, as well work more closely with new employees early in their tenure to help them succeed.
Pay & Benefits
OPM retirement backlog hits six-year low for third time this year
The number of pending federal employee retirement claims fell under 16,000 for the second time since 2017 in November.
Workforce
A new rule may help land management temps get permanent federal gigs
The Office of Personnel Management is set to publish final regulations establishing a pathway for current and former temporary workers at land management agencies to apply for permanent posts through merit promotions procedures.
Workforce
OPM launches a cyber rotational program for feds
The new rotational program is an outgrowth of 2022 legislation backed by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Management
OPM unveils its latest tool to accelerate the federal hiring process
The federal government’s HR agency added new functionality to USAJOBS to allow agencies to find candidates who had already been certified for federal employment elsewhere in government.
Pay & Benefits
OPM finalizes new locality pay areas ahead of 2024 pay raise
The combination of creating four new locality pay areas and a broad update to underlying maps means that around 33,300 federal workers will see larger pay raises beginning next year.
Oversight
Diversity in the federal workforce has improved slightly over the last decade
But Latino representation among federal employees continues to lag behind a nationwide benchmark.
Pay & Benefits
OPM proposes making it easier to approve some recruitment and relocation incentives
Under proposed regulations, the federal government’s HR agency would no longer need to approve waivers of traditional incentive payment caps in advance, potentially speeding up the hiring and relocation processes.
Workforce
OPM issues guidelines on military spouse executive order
Telework, leave policies and “compassionate transfers” between agencies should all be utilized to recruit and retain spouses of members of the military and reserve services, officials said.
Workforce
Union coalition throws support behind OPM’s anti-Schedule F rules
A group of 14 labor organizations led by the National Treasury Employees Union urged the federal government’s HR agency to adopt its proposal to hamstring future efforts to strip feds’ job protections “promptly.”
Workforce
OPM: Federal workers’ morale, engagement rebounded in 2023
Preliminary data from the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey indicates that federal agencies have improved on employees’ engagement, job satisfaction, as well as issues of diversity and inclusion.
Pay & Benefits
OPM begins prep for annual retirement surge
The federal government’s centralized HR office is urging federal agencies to be proactive in ensuring federal workers’ retirement applications are submitted without errors to streamline processing during the annual spike in claims.
Workforce
Agencies have hired nearly 5,500 feds to implement Biden's bipartisan infrastructure law
The Biden administration has surpassed its infrastructure law hiring goals, and plan to bring on another 1,000 personnel next year.
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