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March 28, 2024

Federal Employee Retirement and Benefits News

Category: Dianna Tafazoli

Diana Tafazoli

Diana Tafazoli is a seasoned author at our website and she has been writing compelling commentary in the federal retirement domain for over 5 years now. Such has been the proficiency with which she writes that many deem her to be the finest author in the domain. Her experience and versatility are both wide-ranging.

Visit Diana Tafazoli’s author page to read more of her work.

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Do Women Deserve Equal Pay ?!

DO WOMEN DESERVE EQUAL PAY ?!

GovernmentThere have been 15 Office of Personnel Management (OPM) directors since the agency’s formation in 1979 including present acting director, Beth Cobert – 10 have been women.  In total the agency has had 5 male directors and 10 female directors.  Human Resources appears to be a field dominated by women for now.  As the role of human resources expands and is given greater visibility at the decision-making table, we will probably see the female dominated dynamic change and salaries of course will become more competitive.

Beth Cobert articulated  a very pointed statement in July after taking over the helms from outgoing director, Katherine Archuleta.  Cobert expressed concern over pay-setting guidelines for women as women’s salaries continue to lag behind those of men in the Federal Government.  A report by the Office of Personnel Management revealed critical findings some 16 months after it was conducted.  Women still made a startling 12.7 percent less than men overall in the public sector in 2012.  Although things are improving for women, they are still not where they should be.  In 1992 women made 30 percent less than men and in 2002 they made 19.8 percent less.  While women make up only a third of the federal workforce, their representation in the STEM professions (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) is even more daunting.

Cobert has issued correspondence to hiring managers in federal agencies indicating that if a woman is qualified for a position then the salary she made outside of the government should not be a determinant as to how her government salary will be set.  If a salary range has been set for a particular position and the female has been hired then her salary should be commensurate with the set salary and not based on her earnings outside of the government.  It was also noted that agencies  employ special hiring authorities to leverage the salaries of men but fail to use those same flexibilities for women.

We don’t know how long Cobert will head up OPM since directors come and go with an average tenure of about 4 years even when appointed under a two-term President of the United States.  Women interested in the Federal government and equal pay consideration to their male counterparts might want to get their resumes and applications ready since there seems to be for now a champion of women at the helm of the Office of Personnel Management.

P. S.  Always Remember to Share What You Know.

 

Federal Retirement Related Articles

Understanding Your Social Security Benefits as a Federal Employee – by Gary Fouts

Education and the Federal Workforce by Dianna Tafazoli

EDUCATION AND THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE 

governmentThe Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has worked tirelessly to establish guidelines and strategies to supply the pipeline of talent for future leadership in the federal sector.  OPM has partnered with Champlain College to provide a quality affordable education to federal employees and their qualified family members.  The college offers degree opportunities in a number of majors that are ranked as  disciplines most like to draw and demand the greatest number of workers.  Degrees are offered from the undergraduate level, graduate level to terminal degrees in business, health care and health care administration, human resources management, cyber security, digital forensics and other high tech fields.

Champlain College is a small, not-for-profit, private college located in beautiful Burlington, Vermont.  It is ranked as 379 Best Colleges by the Princeton Review.  In the 2015 Edition and featured in the First Guide to College for 2016 Champlain is rated as one of the best and most interesting schools in the United States, Canada and Great Britain.  OPM has gone through great lengths to bring quality affordable education to the federal workforce and their family members.  At the quiet small Burlington college there are more than 30 undergraduate degree programs, 12 online undergraduate degree choices, 8 online graduate programs and an on-campus MFA program.  In addition, the college offers professional certificates in business, technology and health care.

The federal government realizes that in order to prepare the workforce to meet the changing and increasing demands of industry, education must be at the forefront of that preparation.  Obtaining an education in today’s world comes with a very hefty price tag.  Many employees and their families shy away from advanced educational pursuits due to unreachable costs.  The partnership formed between the government and Champlain is an example of the advantages and opportunities afforded via public private partnerships.

The value of the program will be seen in the next 5 to 10 years when the number of workers and their families has been calculated and weighed against the pipeline needs of the federal workforce.

P.S.  Always Remember to Share What You Know.

 

Federal Retirement Related Articles

Understanding Your Social Security Benefits as a Federal Employee – by Gary Fouts

 

TSA Finds a New Home – by Dianna Tafazoli

TSA is Moving

TSAThe Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) has several offices in the Virginia.  TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger has announced that the massive agency will be consolidating all of its locations in Virginia to Eisenhowe Avenue in Alexandria, Virginia.

The agency has been criticized in recent years over security concerns.  TSA federal employee personnel have been found sleeping on duty and other workers have missed items in luggages that could have represented a security issue.  More and more passengers have been removed from planes either because of over zealous aircraft attendants or perhaps unruly passengers.

The TSA is responsible for airport security all over the country with some of the largest airports in the world with ongoing passenger and cargo traffic that is nearly immeasurable.  The TSA’s duties and responsibilities are wide and varied.  Although the TSA is challenged by safety and security issues, Security Officers have prevented more than 181,000 dangerous items including 2,200 firearms from being carried onto planes.

They have screened an average of 6 million air passengers against the government’s screening database. The TSA has prevented known or suspected terrorists from getting on planes with unsuspecting passengers and airline personnel.  TSA federal marshals protect thousands of flights.  TSA inspectors reported that more than 1,054 airport inspections took place and more than 17,894 aircraft operator inspections with 2,959 foreign air carrier inspections to assure the public and other stakeholders that the TSA is in compliance with established rules and regulations governing air traffic.

TSA continues to be challengd to protect the nation’s transportation systems including mass transit, rail, highway and pipeline sectors.  The TSA is working to continue developing a professional and dedicated array of staff committed to protecting the nation’s total transportation concerns.  TSA will be moving to its new home in 2017.

P. S.  Always Remember to Share What You Know.

Dianna Tafazoli

Survey Time by Dianna Tafazoli

SURVEY TIME

largest employer
Students talking in classroom

Are organizations interested in the viewpoints of employees?  The federal government is.  The federal government’s interest is demonstrated via its Federal Viewpoint Survey (FEVS).  The survey provides senior leadership with pivotal information on job satisfaction and other elements essential to creating a high-performing diverse workforce.  This year’s survey results will not be available until late August, 2015.

Survey participation was respectable with 45 small agencies taking part in the survey along with 37 department and large organizations.  The survey asks a plethora of probing questions to determine collaboration or the need for more employer-employee engagement, agency inclusion, transparency and other questions to see how the workforce thinks the largest employer in the country is doing.

The surveys are done annually and serve as one of the basis for assisting senior level management with understanding the demands of the workforce and the strategies needed to build  stronger more coherent relationships between management and staff.  The federal government has approximately 46 agencies under the Executive branch, 8 under the Legislative branch and 5 under the Judicial branch each with an enormous breakdown of sub-agencies within each of the overarching agencies.  Therefore, even with the participation rate and/or numbers given by OPM, there is still a lot of room for the rest of the Federal Government to participate in the survey so that a more vivid picture can be painted to improve the federal sector’s performance.

P. S.  Always Remember to Share What You Know.

Are Hackers Smarter Than The Government’s IT Developers

Are Hackers Smarter Than The Government’s IT Developers – By Dianna Tafazoli

OPM

The Director of the Office of  Personnel Management (OPM), Katherine Archuleta, became another ‘casualty of war’ when the records of millions of Federal workers active and retired were hacked compromising their safety and security.  The Director testified on Capitol Hill and seemed to play down the severity and quantity of the data breach.  However, unions differed with Ms. Archuleta’s perspective and began filing law suits against the agency.

Ms. Archuleta vowed that she would not step down when more and more calls for her resignation filled the Washington airways.  Late Friday evening Ms. Archuleta went to the White Office and moments later, her resignation had been given and accepted by the President and an acting director was in place.  Beth Cobert, U.S.. Chief Performance Officer and Deputy Director at the Office of Management and Budget will hold the reigns at OPM until a replacement is named.

The breach was not the original 4.1 million records initially reported by Director Archuleta, but more than 22.1 million records.  Will getting rid of Katherine Archuleta fix OPM’s problems or the problem of hacking anywhere.  I don’t think so.  Criminals always seem to be smarter than the Police.  They usually have better or more sophisticated weapons.  And in this case, OPM is the police and the hackers are the criminals.  It would be a safe bet to say that the hackers know much more about IT than OPM or the rest of the government.

Accountability is mandatory at every level of management and non-management as well.  However, I am not certain that hackers can be stopped anymore than we can stop many of the other ills we struggle with in this country.  There are too many to name.  The remedy for hacking might rest squarely with what kind of information is placed in data banks, not whether the data can be hacked or not.  The system needs to be revamped.  It is too easy perhaps for hackers when databases use social security numbers, names and addresses.  Data that is not easily deciphered is the key to controlling data breaches.

The world has gotten smaller and the world has changed so significantly from what it used to be 30, 40, 50, 60 or even 70 years ago.  Yet, when applications are completed and information is requested, it is the same ‘old’ thing – name, social security number, address, phone number and on and on.  If programmers are still dancing the same waltz with no new steps added to make it not rote to learn, then the hacker’s job is probably relatively easy.

The government cannot continue using the same ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies and expect to get Swiss banana pecan chocolate potato chips as a result.  Stop data breaches, stop the hackers – change what goes into the data set.  A change as small but as significant as what goes into the data set will confuse the hackers long enough so that by the time they unravel the system, you are two steps ahead changing the data input yet again.  Security protection means constant change to stay ahead of the criminals.

Dianna Tafazoli

P.S.  Always Remember to Share What You Know.

 

More OPM Data Breach Related Articles

Cyber ID Theft…How Are You Protecting Yourself? by Gary Fouts

Largest Federal Employee Union AFGE Files Class Action Lawsuit Against OPM

OPM Cyberattack Update – 21.5 Million Social Security Numbers Compromised

How Can The Average American Help Save Social Security

How can the average American help to save Social Security for future generations? 

Social SecuritySince 1935 the Social Security Administration (SSA)  has been a resource during old age Americans have come to depend on.  According to the Social Security Administration’s Acting Commissioner, Carolyn W. Colvin, the Social Security Administration is in deep trouble.  SSA is said to be facing very serious financial problems putting the fund at-risk of being able to  provide the same level of benefits it has provided for generations.

Ms. Colvin estimates that without serious changes by 2033 the Social Security Trust Fund will only be able to pay approximately 77 cents for each dollar of scheduled benefits.  Ms. Colvin also states that we need to resolve these issues to make certain Social Security is sound and viable for generations to come.  We keep hearing about the demise of the Social Security Administration, but what can average citizens do to prevent the derailing of this freight train that carries precious cargo for too many Americans to fail.

What is the real problem?  Social Security taxes are still being withheld from paychecks and organizations are still matching those contributions and we assume that proper and safe investments are being made.  What is the real drain on the system?  Are there individuals benefiting from the system who have never made contributions to the system?  If that is the case, those individuals are not to blame.  Apparently the system is set up to address such issues and if it is not so structured to provide for those individuals, then that kind of structural/operational amendment should not be so difficult.  I believe we are still a nation who believes that the strong shall bear the infirmities of the weak.

I can imagine that there are a number of disabled persons receiving Social Security benefits who have not made a contribution to the system in terms of work because they were unable to hold down a job.  I cannot think right off what the average citizen could do to help sustain the Social Security benefit to Americans upon reaching the appropriate age or becoming disabled.  They cannot pay more into the Fund because what they pay is by statue.  If the 6.2 percent tax on individuals were increased, would that solve the problem?  I would rather think not.  Also, putting another responsibility on the backs of average Americans would not leave a palatable taste in their mouths.

There are a number of very, very wealthy people in America.  Is there something they could do to help?  I am not sure.  Warren Buffett said that his secretary pays more in taxes than he does as a billionaire.  Well, that sounds sort of quirky anyway – the lower earner pays more in taxes than a billionaire.  Since Mr. Buffett was so honest and straight-forward about the status of his finances and also said he was willing to pay more taxes, speaks volumes.  I don’t know the answer to the proposed question, but I sure would like to know what Mr. Buffett thinks about the issue.  Did anybody ask Warren?  Why don’t we ask him?

P. S.  Always Remember to Share What You Know.

Dianna Tafazoli

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