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.
Management
O’Malley vows to listen to frontline Social Security workers
President Biden’s pick to lead the embattled Social Security Administration said many of the agency’s challenges can be alleviated by a change in culture.
Management
A tall task awaits O’Malley at Social Security
If confirmed, the former governor faces a likely uphill battle to lobby Congress for funding and to reverse a decades-long decline in staffing to alleviate workloads for a workforce in crisis.
Pay & Benefits
TSP funds’ tumble continues into October
Once again, only one portfolio in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program finished last month in the black.
Pay & Benefits
TSP: SECURE 2.0 Act contribution limit changes coming in 2026
The federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program will use the entire two-year “transition period” to implement new rules governing how older workers can make catch-up contributions as they approach retirement.
Pay & Benefits
Senate panel advances measures to overhaul federal workers’ death benefits, agency customer service
The money families of federal workers who die while on the job receive in gratuity and funerary benefits has not been updated since 1997.
Workforce
‘There’s no fat left to trim’: FLRA chairwoman warns of possible furloughs in 2024
The agency tasked with overseeing labor-management relations in the federal government had a smaller budget in fiscal 2023 than it did in 2004.
Pay & Benefits
Lawmakers revive bill to let ex-temps make catch-up retirement contributions
Currently, Federal Employees Retirement System employees who began their careers as temporary or seasonal workers must work longer to receive their full retirement benefits.
Workforce
Impasses panel preserves telework levels for FEC bargaining unit workers
FEC officials had argued that employees need more “water cooler discussions,” despite the agency’s own assessment of a pilot program finding that increased telework improved agency operations.
Management
Senate lawmakers float plan to revamp agencies’ customer service
The Improving Government Services Act would require agencies to develop plans to implement private-sector customer experience best practices into how they interact with members of the public.
Oversight
GAO: Army Corps’ cleanup of Manhattan Project-era sites suffers from management, cost uncertainties
Although the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ cost estimate of contaminated sites associated with the early decades of nuclear weapons manufacturing sat at $2.6 billion at the end of fiscal 2022, that number could easily grow substantially over time.
Workforce
Senate bill would codify remote work, increase telework reporting
The Telework Reform Act also would authorize noncompetitive hiring of military and law enforcement spouses into remote work positions.
Pay & Benefits
COLA adjustments will slim for federal retirees in 2024
The annual announcement that some retired federal workers will receive a 3.2% increase in their annuity payments, while others will get only a 2.2% boost, has revived calls to standardize annual adjustments across retirement systems.
Pay & Benefits
President’s Pay Agent OKs another tweak to locality pay areas
The counties of Clallam and Jefferson in Washington state could be included in the Seattle-Tacoma locality pay area as early as 2025.
Pay & Benefits
The federal retirement backlog just hit another recent record low
The Office of Personnel Management’s inventory of pending retirement claims from former federal workers reached its lowest level since 2017 for the second time this year.
Management
OPM reminds agencies of new telework reporting requirements
As agencies prep to increase in-person work this fall, the federal government’s HR agency is calling on officials to collect better data on telework and remote work usage in their workplaces.
Management
OPM announces expansion of ‘continuous vetting’ security clearance process for current feds
After a successful pilot, the federal government’s HR agency and the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency set a goal of enrolling all employees in non-sensitive public trust positions in the new process for reviewing existing security clearances by the end of fiscal 2024.
Workforce