Federal Governments Around the World Are the Beast of Revelation
Is Federal Pay Fair? That Depends on How You Count
March 10, 2011Federal Computer Week - The debate about the fairness of federal employee pay reached a fever pitch this week when House Republicans attempted to make their case that feds are overcompensated.
At a March 9 hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Federal Workforce Subcommittee, witnesses and lawmakers cited figures galore to back their arguments about pay.
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) went so far as to hang a sign behind his chair that said federal employees on average earned $101,628 in total compensation (including benefits) in 2010, while the average private sector worker earned $50,462.
The purpose of the hearing was to determine whether feds are compensated fairly, but, in the end, there was no clear answer. That’s because it depends on who you’re asking and how they're counting.
Telework Option Makes for Happier Federal Employees
March 8, 2011Federal Computer Week - Like most employees, federal employees want choices. And it turns out that employees who have the choice to telework, regardless of whether they do so, are more satisfied at their jobs than those who don't have that choice, according to an analysis by the Partnership for Public Service.
The partnership used the analytical framework from its 2010 Best Places to Work rankings to put together a telework snapshot released March 7.
Data in the snapshot reveals that when compared to those not permitted to telework, teleworkers are more satisfied with the recognition they receive for doing a good job and more satisfied with the involvement in decisions that affect their work.
These findings suggest that flexible work arrangements are a “powerful and low-cost performance reward,” as the partnership stated, but they also confirm that giving feds choices makes them feel empowered.
MoreReduce Contractor Use, Cut Federal Managers to Lower Costs, Readers Advise
March 4, 2011Federal Computer Week - In the last Workforce Wonk entry, I posed the question of whether a targeted increase in the number of federal employees could more effectively reduce the deficit than across-the-board workforce cuts. A number of Federal Computer Week readers responded with their thoughts about how to drive down government spending, generally disregarding the notion of slashing the number of feds as a “highly symbolic” and “wrong-headed” gesture.
Reader suggestions included hiring fewer contractors, improving IT systems or changing the supervisor to employee ratio.
“As someone who has been both a government employee, and, as the result of an outsourcing effort, a contractor, I can definitely state that it is costing the government more to have me working for them now than it did when I was an employee,” one wrote.
Another added, “I’ve said it many times, contractors are ideal for short-term fixed contracts that have an end state. Long-term indefinite projects require civilians that have the experience and knowledge to do the job and train the younger folks. Few contractors can fit this bill and the ones that can, should be hired as 'civilian' employees."
MoreAdvice: Hire More Feds to Shrink the Deficit
March 2, 2011Federal Computer Week - Shrinking the size of the federal workforce doesn’t seem like it would actually do much to lessen the nation’s budget problems, but could hiring more feds present a potential solution to the government's money woes?
John Gravois, an editor at Washington Monthly, thinks so. In a lengthy article published in this month's issue, he argues that a targeted increase in federal staffing – as opposed to the workforce cuts called for by GOP members of Congress – would improve government and effectively cap spending.
Republicans have introduced legislative proposals to reduce the federal workforce by 10 percent or 15 percent as a way to drive down the deficit, but here’s the catch Gravois points out: the government would still have to provide mandated services, regardless of the number of employees it had to carry them out. And, as in the past, the burdensome workload might spur agencies to hire contractors – ultimately driving up overhead costs.
PolitiFact: Boehner 'Cherry-picking' in Estimate of Workforce Increase
February 17, 2011
Federal Computer Week - According to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), President Barack Obama has added 200,000 new federal jobs since taking office two years ago. But according to a fact-checking website, figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics don't bear out Boehner’s calculation.
PolitiFact.com deemed Boehner’s Feb.15 comment “false” after checking into the number of new federal jobs.
“We turned, as we always do, to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the official statistician for the United States labor force,” PolitiFact, a project of the St. Petersburg Times, stated.
PolitiFact found that the overall rise in federal employees between January 2009 and January 2011 was 58,000, according to BLS. It also found that over that same two-year period, the number of federal employees – not counting U.S. Postal Service workers – was 140,800.
MoreWhite House Wants More Feds in Fiscal 2012
February 15, 2011
Federal Computer Week - Although there's been much talk in recent weeks about scaling back the size of government and making it more efficient, the Obama administration’s fiscal 2012 budget proposal would add about 15,000 new federal civilian employees.
The increase can be seen when you compare the number of feds in the current fiscal year to the estimated number of employees in 2012. But the number of government employees would decrease when you compare the 2012 request to the 2010 budget, according to the Washington Post.
The White House’s 2012 budget proposes a federal workforce of about 2.1 million.
“Consistent with the overall recent trends, personnel increases focus on providing greater security and economic opportunity for the American people,” the administration states in an analysis of the budget.
Proposed increases in the 2012 federal workforce would be in departments such as Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, Justice and State.
MoreFederal Retirees Like John Palguta Often Double Dip, Collecting a Federal Pension Then Working as a Federal Contractor
February 8, 2011
Federal Computer Week - In tight budgetary times, federal managers play an important role in keeping their workforce happy and productive. And some experts say that the duties of a manager have become even more critical in the current age of a two-year government pay freeze and proposed federal workforce cuts.
I recently met with John Palguta, vice president of policy for the Partnership for Public Service, to discuss what federal managers can do in tough times to maintain a thriving work environment.
Palguta, a former fed with more than 30 years of federal human resources management and public policy experience, said many of the things he has learned about being a good manager have come through observing the people he worked for in government.
He shared the following story with me about one federal manager that stood out from the rest.
“I had one manager who came in new to the organization and sat down with all of us,” Palguta explained. “She said, ‘I’m new to the organization. You guys have been here. What is it that I can do as your new director to make this place better?’”
MorePay System Reform: An Idea Whose Time is Now
February 4, 2011
Federal Computer Week - While a two-year pay freeze for federal civilian employees is under way, the debate about whether federal workers are overcompensated continues.
Republicans and conservative think tanks have been especially critical of federal employees’ salaries. In a public opinion poll conducted by the Washington Post last year, 83 percent of Republican respondents said they believed feds get better pay and benefits than other workers, and almost two-thirds said they thought feds are overpaid.
But John O’ Leary, a research fellow at the Ash Center of the Harvard Kennedy School, argues in a recent Governing magazine blog entry that the government doesn’t just overpay, it underpays as well.
“Fair pay is often in the eye of the beholder,” O’Leary writes in the Feb. 2 blog post. “Anti-government types will loudly complain about the New Jersey turnpike worker who made $321,985 or the Boston police lieutenant who made $271,882. On the other hand, public-sector sector managers know how hard it is to attract capable lawyers, accountants and IT professionals who being offered more money in the private sector.”
MoreAttacking Workforce Rumors: Union Creates 'Truth Squad'
February 10, 2011
Federal Computer Week - There’s a lot being said about the federal workforce these days, and some of it is not entirely accurate. Or at least, the American Federation of Government Employees doesn't think so. Now AFGE is trying to clear up the misinformation in a new “Truth Squad” blog.
“Federal workers are under attack,” the labor union wrote in the blog’s first entry. “Lawmakers looking to score points with voters are trying to scapegoat federal employees by going after our wages, our benefits and even our jobs.”
The entry continues by stating that the federal workers didn’t cause the nation’s economic woes. “For every lie that is spread about federal employees, you can count on the AFGE Truth Squad to set the facts straight,” the union concluded.
The most recent claim the blog addresses is the belief that federal workers are overpaid. “Private-sector employers earn 24% more than federal employees performing comparable jobs, according to objective salary surveys by the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” AFGE stated in the Feb. 9 entry.
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