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March 28, 2024

Federal Employee Retirement and Benefits News

Tag: federal

Federal

How to Submit Your ‘Healthy’ and Complete Federal Retirement Application. Sponsored By: Jeff Boettcher

How to Submit Your ‘Healthy’ and Complete Federal Retirement Application, by Jeff Boettcher

If you are currently going through the process of planning your retirement, you will need to submit a complete federal retirement application, but the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) suggests making it ‘healthy’. For example, this describes a form that is complete from the very top while containing the right signatures and dates. With all the questions asked on the form, you should provide full answers as well as check the appropriate boxes.

Avoiding Common Problems with Retirement Applications

According to OPM, there are some common issues that arise when completing a federal retirement application.  For many, this includes issues with the survivor election chapter, which needs to be filled regardless of your relationship status. For example, consent must be given by the spouse if a married applicant were to elect less than a full survivor annuity. Furthermore, the section regarding court orders must still be addressed even if there is no order.

Elsewhere, you’ll also need to list all periods of creditable civilian and military service; for the latter, you’ll need a Form DD-214. If you happen to be taking early retirement or perhaps even discontinued service retirement, there will be additional documentation to complete. Finally, the forms require you to provide information regarding your FEHB status and whether any of your policies will continue into retirement. For example, individuals need to have worked in federal employment for five years before their retirement date. If you also want to remain eligible for FEGLI, you need to prove your coverage for the previous five years here too.

As you can see, a healthy retirement application can be difficult to achieve so take your time, don’t feel the need to rush the process, and don’t be afraid to ask for assistance if you feel your application would benefit.  Oftentimes a qualified financial professional is the best solution to your lack of knowledge.  But make sure you find a highly-trained and knowledgeable federal employee financial planner.

 

The Hated Federal Performance Appraisal-About to Change?

Outstanding EvaluationIf you are a federal employee, most likely you have been through or given a dreaded Federal performance appraisal. They are similar to performance reviews or assessments given in the private sector, however, they are becoming less-used in the private sector. With them required by law for federal employees do not expect them to go away any time soon. Yet are they hated enough for OPM to consider changing the entire system?

Federal Performance Appraisals

These appraisals are used in assessing federal employees in their current position and have a bearing on promotions, discipline, awards and even in firing. If you are looking for a promotion or transfer these can have a big impact on whether you get it or not. Yet, many feel that they are not effective and simply create work and stress disproportionately to what their worth is.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has as recently as January 2016 told federal agencies to include employees in these appraisals more. The OPM is not willing to abandon the system yet, especially since they are legally obligated to conduct and administer the program. But they are calling on managers to add a plus to the system. They want employee engagement on these appraisals to be more involved. With recent surveys of the system, both by the OPM and private surveys calling into question their validity and concerns of favoritism, this change should be welcomed by employees.

Recent Surveys

A recent FedSmith survey showed that an overwhelming majority of respondents do not get feedback on performance throughout the year at 63%. Only half felt their most recent appraisal was accurate and 50% felt that the criteria for the review were subjective. Even more worrisome is that 62% felt that management was grading on a curve and that there was some sort of quota system. This specifically is against OPM rules for these appraisals even if you are on a performance for pay type employment.

This survey, although not a scientific study shows that although employment contracts are changing, remuneration is changing even within government contracts, but the appraisal system is either not trusted, not effective or grading on a curve, which is strictly prohibitive. Although these are respondents ‘opinions’ there are enough of them to be concerning and warrant further investigation.

Federal Performance Appraisals Changing?

The OPM has decided engagement with employees is needed, and this is definitely a step in the right direction. In a recent revelation before a Senate sub-committee, the OBM’s (Office of Management and Budget) Chief Performance Officer testified that they were looking at a new performance management system.

Will this system be implemented through all agencies? Probably not anytime soon, but it is obvious that performance appraisals have both fallen behind the times and fallen off its own mandated objective criteria for evaluation. If you are a current federal employee, be sure to ask for performance feedback, before and after an appraisal. These still have a bearing on the future of your career even if they are lacking of late.

Can retirement be postponed by inefficient federal training system

The federal training system has always been the subject of loads of criticism the recent past and their system is, if not anything else, very ineffective and inefficient, as indicated by many surveys.

The inefficient federal training system:

retirement

The current training system is guilty of possessing a lot of flaws. First of all, it doesn’t provide any timely or substantial guidance that the federal employees are often desperate to get their hands on. The feds that are naïve are left to prepare and manage on their own while making important decisions that can affect their post-retirement life significantly.

This leads to great problems. Most of the federal employees don’t even know where to begin. The federal training system is supposed to make them familiar with all the comprehensive retirement planning procedures, the TSP selections and all the other related affairs.

There have been a lot of question marks being raised by the critics about the efficacy of the system and all of them are comprising of some valid point of views. It’s high time that the system be rejuvenated somehow to support the aid of the federal employees more rigorously. It’s expected that with the start of the new year and with the raising of a lot of voices about this matter, things might be on the course of getting better.

No further action against General David Petraeus

MTE5NTU2MzE1OTMxOTAzNDk5Ashton Carter who is the Defense Secretary has made the decision regarding the case of David Petraeus. He has indicated that there will not be any further actions taken by the Department against the retired General. This was indicated by a letter that was received by CNN this past week.

No more actions against David Petraeus:

The letter was meant to be received by Senator John McCain who is an Arizona Republican and also the Senate Armed Service Committee chairman.

The options that were available at Carter’s disposal were the following:

  1. Demote Petraeus to a 3-star general from a 4-star general. This would of course have also affected his retirement salary.
  2. Not make the demotion decision and allow David to enjoy the complete list of retirement benefits that he will now be set to achieve.

The letter’s credibility was confirmed by an official of the Defense department but there were no further elaborations made in this regard.

The whole situation developed when David acknowledged whilst in court proceedings that he provided Paula Broadwell access to classified material. Along with this, he also mentioned that he was in a personal relationship with the author. David Petraeus will still remain responsible for any wrongdoing that he might have done while being an active servant of the department.

 

New coal leases halted on Federal land

coal leases
Ivanpah Solar Power Facility

The coal program was reviewed for the first time in three decades this last week and the government has ordered to put a pause on issuing coal leases on the federal land. This order is part of some of the other executive actions that have been taken with the sole purpose to fight climatic disorders.

No more coal leases on federal land:

This halt is something that was long coming. The coal leases were not stopped already because the previous governments didn’t see it to review the coal mining program and Obama finally decided that this needed looking in to. The halt could last around 3 years, as indicated by Sally Jewell, who is the Interior Secretary of the US. The officials are during this tenure going to find out how they can protect the stake of the tax paying community in coal sales that occur from public lands and how the burning of fuels actually worsens the climatic change.

This step is one taken in the right direction when you consider the fact that the federal land encompasses around 40 percent of the whole coal production of the country. The majority of the leases are on public lands in the Western states primarily Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico.

This review might be something very good in the longer run in the bid to fight climate change but sadly for the industry it has come at a time where they could have done well without it. Around 50 coal companies since 2012 have gone bankrupt after facing competition from natural gas and the regulations for clean air that have eventually led to the increased prices of fossil fuel burning.

All in all, we don’t believe that the government is going to cut back on its decision of making it last 3 years and it is a very calculated decision.

Fed might increase interest rates again courtesy job growth

jobs-growthThere has been a stark increase in the job growth rate in the country and this might end up paving the way for the Federal Reserve to increase the interest rates again. This is a great sign for the economy of the country as it promises to get better.

Job Growth rate to increase the interest rates:

The central bank also increased its rates for the first time in a tenure of over a decade and is probably going to continually increase the rates throughout the year.

The data released in this regard might indicate that there have been 200,000 new jobs added in the country only in the month of December.

The job growth rate is also not confined to one domain or one occupation; there has been significant advancements in almost all the fields of work. Janet Yellen, who is the chairman of the Central bank insists that the bank is going to keep increasing the rates periodically throughout the year.

It’s worth mentioning that the main of the indexes, the S&P 500 ended up at a lower closing rate for the year; economists have said that this is not attributable to the move by the Fed. The federal rates in this regard are also expected to grow with the passage of time.

All in all, the economy is expected to gain more solidarity through the New Year as more and more increases in the rates are being reported. The job growth looks like an ongoing process as well with the government making it abundantly clear that it wants to keep providing people with opportunities to make a profitable living. It’s hoped that whatever transpires through the fiscal year benefits the majority of the population in every way.

 

Do You Know About Federal Government’s Pension Heist?

Thrift Savings Plan government
Image Credits

When banks reach the stage where they can sense a collateral collapse, Congress usually gets them out of their predicament. On the other hand, if the union pension funds approach death, Congress alters the law to let them hurt the retirees. What?

Federal government and the pension heist:

Nothing you knew? Well it’s not just you. Around 410 thousand teamsters who were mainly ex-federal government truck drivers who were told in October whether or not their pension will receive cuts or not. It’s tragic that around 65 percent of all these ex-employees got the red signal. The CSP fund has claimed that it will be making some serious reductions to the amount that goes on the pay checks of these employees by a staggering amount that is close to 23%. Some Union members and activists are claiming that this figure is not authentic and the rates can go as high as 60 percent.

What does this decision entail? More troubles for people who have served the federal government all their lives and received depleted compensations in the hope that they will be getting pensions when they retire. Bills will remain unpaid, collaterals will be lost and what’s the worst part? It’s not their fault and the government is getting greedy.

Another interesting fact in this regard is that it was completely illegal for the government to even think about making pension cuts. It stayed that way until around December 2014 when Congress made some alterations and some exceptions were added. There was no debate in this regard. This law was passed and allowed all the pension plans that are constituted by multiple employers to send their applications to the Treasury department in the hope of reducing benefits. Guess what, that is exactly what the Central states decided to do and their requests got approved.

While the dynamics of this matter still remain unknown and could be diverse, it can but only mean harm to the majority of the truck drivers that already find it hard to make ends meet.

Energy Consumption of federal Government Decreases

energy consumptionFederal Energy Management Program or FEMP is the main program that governs and analyses the energy consumption and usage by major players in the country these days. Recently they have reported that the energy consumption by the federal government of the country has fallen down to 0.94 quadrillion Btu during the fiscal year of 2014. This is the lowest the rate has ever gone since this scheme started, way back in 1975. While there were other factors, the decrease in the US department of defence’s jet fuel consumption can be considered the biggest catalyst in the decline.

Federal government sees energy consumption decline:

78 percent of the total energy used by the federal government was comprising of the energy consumed by the department of defence during the 2014 fiscal year. The US postal, service, the US department of Veterans’ affairs, the US department of energy among other civilian agencies were responsible for the rest of the energy consumption. They accounted for 5 percent, 3 percent and 3 percent respectively.

According to Energy independence act that was passed in 2007, the energy reduction goals for federal agencies included targets for the reduction of energy intensity and the consumption of fossil fuels during the construction of buildings. The reduction of petroleum usage in the transportation of fleets and in the rise of alternative fuels’ usage was also included in the act. During March of this year, a few more goals were added in the urge of reducing the energy consumption.

News like these can only bring smiles on the faces of fellow Americans because with the ever increasing global warming and pollution, the lesser there is waste in the air, the better it’s for the atmosphere. Here’s hoping that these reductions don’t cease to rise and soon we reach the limits that are desirable.

Construction Spending Beats 8 Year Records

A Non Existent Retirement Wave

emotionally ready retirementThere have always been some warnings that have been made regarding a federal retirement wave in the country since the very beginning. This is the process which involves a large amount of people that were born during the two decades between 1940 and 1960. As a part of this phenomenon, all these people will approach retirement eligibility within a very small tenure and will be taking a really substantial amount of institutional information out with them too.

Is the retirement wave of harm?

This idea has made the government think a lot and there have been hundreds of personnel policies and laws that have been designed to meet this retirement wave when it takes place. This also led the government to take initiatives that are going to force (or entice) employees to stay on their office tables and not just call it a quits. Surprisingly though, this all-anticipated wave is just passing by quietly and not causing any expected disruption.

This has been made possible by excellent efforts made by the office of personnel management. The latest data revealed by the organization depicts that there were over 68 thousand retirements made during the year 2014 (that reached an end last September). This meant that there was a rise of around 3 thousand from the fiscal year 2013 but a little bit below the level of 2012 by around 600.

This increase in retirements during the last four years represents the declined decisions made by officers that could have retired earlier but didn’t because of the 2008 economic downturn. The numbers are going to keep rising and it’s expected that there might be some issues that would be need to get dealt with in the years to come. Here’s hoping that things turn out the way we expect them to and this feared wave passes by without causing much disruption.

Wilson’s Search For Retirement Benefits Sees Reaction

brian wilson retirement benefitsMayor Jim Ferrell’s Chief of staff Brian Wilson is one of the talking points in the newspapers these days and it’s no secret that he is the city’s highest paid federal employee. He garnered some newspaper fame when he made public that he was looking to get his hands on some retirement benefits that he naturally deserves. He got hit by a barricade of criticism when it was found that he was trying to complement his 147,888 dollars salary by a figure that’s close to 80 grand of retirement salary.

This is something that could be considered surprising for the normal public or for some of the other federal officers but as critics have spoken: The city council should have been aware of this because Mr Wilson had already been receiving two handsome retirement benefits from the city; both accumulating to be around 25000 dollars in future allotment.

Wilson’s retirement benefits’ search a problem for City hall?

The problem currently faced by City Hall is of great significance. It is more political than it’s anything else and this can lead the general public to conclude that this demand by the highest paid city employee is against the norms and standards of city hall. Having said this, it becomes evident that this will cause serious problems when Mayor Jim steps up for the re-election in 2017 along with other members from the city council.

Wilson’s request was turned down and there was a mentionable reason for that. His request was made as a retiring chief of police. The state made the rejection because technically he wasn’t retiring at all. All he was doing was changing jobs to now become a chief of staff. The state’s verdict was simple: these benefits are solely meant to help the retirees and there is no reason why people that are making changes in their job description should be getting these.

Employee Express Couldn’t Bear The Load; Customer Services of OPM Fail

office of personnel management opm
Image Credits

OPM and its cyber security has always been critiqued heavily by the federal employees and other experts of the game but there are not going to be many feds out there that will hold it against OPM because they have been taking as many steps to improve the infrastructure as they can. Although there have been made some serious alterations to the Employee Express platform and this has caused a wave a frustration to develop in the federal employees. This incident is another instance for other institutions that customer service is something that needs to be really uptight at all times.

IF you aren’t aware of EE, then it’s an online web portal that’s operated by the office of personnel management and it allows the feds to monitor and assess their personal data and salary information as well. They can even make changes in their personal details like address and saving plans directly into the OPM database through the website.

Why Employee Express caused OPM Customer Service to fail.

OPM had to face some serious threats from hackers and their system was made very vulnerable to cyber-attacks. This led them to make some changes to their networks and because they had to add some security measures, this cause the whole system to get slow. More and more people had to call the customer service desk and nobody got the response that they were looking for and the whole system metaphorically collapsed.

The management of OPM thinks that it’s only a matter of time till they can fix all the issues and the EE website will once again be made available for use like nothing was wrong. They believe that these steps are of substantial importance and they expect the employees to cooperate. The feds though are enraged and are demanding immediate repair of the web portal. Here’s hoping that things get worked out soon.

BEST CITIES TO LIVE IN – by Dianna Tafazoli

best cities

Alexandria is one of the best cities!

Federal employees have lots of decisions to make when it comes to retirement.  They must make sure their benefits align with their needs in retirement.  They look for safety and security not only relevant to whether they will have enough money in retirement but where they will live for safety and peace of mind.  A study conducted by 24/7 Wall Street, LLC, a Delaware Corporation that runs financial news and opinions surveyed 550 U.S. cities with populations of 65,000 or more as determined by the U.S. Census Bureau, to determine America’s Best Cities to Live In.

The survey looked at crime rates, employment growth, access to restaurants and attractions, educational attainment and housing affordability.  Federal retirees are often the victims of scams and other crimes due to the perception that Federal workers make good salaries and therefore have good retirement checks.  Federal employees make up the largest population of retirees in the country and by the same token represent the most vulnerable group for scams and crimes.

The survey chose Alexandria, Virginia as the best place to live based on the metrics selected by 24/7 Wall Street.  Some years back in another survey not conducted by 24/7 Wall Street, Alexandria was chosen as the BEST READ city.  The city of Alexandria is doing something right it seems.  By the way, another city within the Washington Metropolitan Area made up of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, was among the Best Places to live – Gaithersburg.  Congratulations to the States of Virginia and Maryland for making the list.

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

Dianna Tafazoli

Survivors Wait Years for Federal Death Benefits

Every year, hundreds of families wait a year or more to receive death benefits following the loss of their spouse or other family member in the line of duty. In 1976, the government introduced the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program. This program provides benefits to individuals and/or family members following death or debilitating injury that occurred in the line of duty.

According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance website, the program reviews some 900 claims each year for public servants who were “catastrophically disabled” or killed while on duty. The total benefit for death and disabilities is currently $339,210, in addition to a one-month stipend of $1,018.

What Did the Investigation Reveal?

USA Today conducted an investigation of roughly 1500 claims filed since 2008 and discovered that the program is full of delays. These delays come in spite of millions of dollars spend on outside audits and efforts by the program to hire more help to reduce delays in processing claims. The latest numbers (from last month) indicated that roughly 750 families were still waiting for the BJA to process their claims.

The investigation by USA Today included access to tracking records from the Justice Department. Findings included data from over 5 years and nearly 1,500 claims.

Tracking records showed that the PSOB spent an average of 391 days processing and reaching a decision on federal employee claims. This average falls short of the agency’s goal of a one-year maximum turnaround time. Further study of the fed benefits documents showed that 42 percent of cases take more than a year, while 100 families waited over two years and another 25 families waited three or more years for a decision.

The study also revealed that 71 percent of cases listed as pending earlier this spring had already been waiting for over a year, Some 200 families had been waiting for two years and about 50 families had been waiting four or more years for a benefit decision.

Family Member Frustration

Rightfully frustrated, loved ones of the deceased (or disabled) federal employees did not receive much insight as to why the wait has been so long. The agency claimed that the cases are “complex” and suffer from family members or agencies failing to provide enough documentation.

Family members are not the only parties expressing frustration at the delays. Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, has routinely pushed the government to proceed with investigations to determine why the program is taking so long to help families. Grassley told reporters, “Excuses at this point don’t meet the smell test. The families of these fallen officers deserve timely answers. And… the office doesn’t have a legitimate answer for why it allows so many of these cases to languish.”

Research shows that the Justice Department has known about the delay in these federal benefits for more than a decade. Despite a directive from U.S. Attorney General, John Ashcroft in 2004, to make decisions within 90 days, the PSOB has never even come anywhere near that goal.

While the agency claims that improvements are coming and that they have changed claim instructions to ensure completion of appropriate documents, waiting families say they do not expect a resolution to happen quickly.

 

4 Cornerstones for Federal Achievement by Meiko Patton

In order to succeed in business and in life, you have to be willing to change. Without change, there can be no growth. In order to get what you’ve never had, you have to become someone you’ve never been.

Many of us see change as threatening. In the minds of some, it is the destroyer of what is familiar and comfortable rather than the creator of what is new and exciting.

Unfortunately, comfort is the enemy of excellence.

Motivational Speaker Nido Qubein says in his book, Stairway to Success: The Complete Blueprint for Personal and Professional Achievement, “For the timid, change is frightening, for the comfortable, change is threatening, but for the confident, change is opportunity.”

What will you do with your current opportunity?

In order to grow and achieve new heights in your career, you must make a commitment to change. Change leads to growth. Focus your attention on growing in areas that will add value to you personally and professionally.

In your career, ask what gives you the greatest return. What activity do you do in your work that outshines others? We all have areas of strength. Get excellent in those areas. Don’t let your comfort zone kill the excellence within your reach.

In five years you will be somewhere. Where you end up will be determined by what you do every day up till then. If you truly desire to get paid more and promoted faster you have to improve a little bit every day. It’s the decisions we make every day that either get is us a little closer to our goals or farther away.

New York Times Best-Selling Author Brendon Burchard, The Charge: Activating the 10 Human Drives That Make You Feel Alive says there are four cornerstones to achievement. If you truly want to succeed in your career, you need to develop these four attributes:

The 4 Cornerstones for Federal Achievement

  • Desire
  • Direction
  • Discipline
  • Distraction Radar

Desire – You have to really want it. You should be enthusiastic about this new endeavor. It should make you feel alive. It might even keep you up at night. Your desire to develop greater KSAs (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) will lead to you becoming a better person in the process because the challenges you will encounter will stretch you as a person which will lead to your growth. When you become a better person in your own life, you automatically become a better person in your career.

Direction – Desire is one thing, but you need to harness it by learning to stretch your competency. You have to be willing to:

  1. Take a class
  2. Read a new biography
  3. Attend that seminar
  4. Listen to that webinar
  5. Ask for help
  6. Seek out mentors

In order to have federal success, you have to be willing to learn how other people have done something, model it and mimic the strategies they followed. Be a student of life. Look at the road that others have travelled and carve out your own way. Continue to read and expose yourself to new ideas. Never stop learning.

Discipline – Success is within your reach if you are willing to be more consistent than you have ever been in your life. You will need to set up repeated habits and be willing to do them each and every day. Ask yourself, “What discipline could I setup in my life that I’m going to do consistently to get me where I want to be in my career?” The achievement of anything in life comes only to those who are disciplined. Don’t think of discipline in a negative way.

Think of discipline as the joyous pursuit of your dreams.

Distraction Radar – Inevitably, you will be distracted from your goals. There are emails, phone calls, social media, television and the list goes on. The world will toss in front of you its agenda; you have to be savvy enough to not let this distraction get in your way. Your distraction radar must sound when you see these things trying to sap away your time and energy.

Tomorrow morning, ask yourself:

  • What do I desire today?
  • What direction am I going to take today?
  • What area will I be disciplined in today?
  • What distractions will I not succumb to today?

-Meiko Patton

TSP Related Articles

Are You Thinking About a “Deferred” Retirement? by Gary Fouts

What Are Your TSP Options With the New Phased Retirement Program? by June Kirby

Understanding The Thrift Savings Plan, By Todd Carmack

Can Women Crack the Federal Glass Ceiling

FederalThe Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has released information revealing that about a third of managers in the Federal Service are women. That figure compares to only 15% of women in private industry. Although the Feds might outpace female managers in private industry there remains a significant gap between women and men in the upper echelons of government.

The elite cadre of federal employees are those designated as Senior Executive Service (SES) members where the perks and pay are superior to the rest of the Federal service. The glass ceiling remains impenetrable for the majority of women in the Federal service. The SES continues to be dominated by men.

 

Woman and Federal Service

 

What is the Federal service doing to change that dynamic? The Veteran’s Administration (VA) commissioned the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) to conduct an exhaustive study in 2008 to look at the issue of diversity and inclusion. How to diversify the top levels of government from an all-white male presence to a picture that resembles the demographics of the nation continues to be one of the government’s greatest challenges.

Perhaps OPM will get rid of the age-old path to the SES level – responding to Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and Technical Qualifications (TQs). Granted effective writing and oral communication skills are essential in any profession, government must look to other ways to change the face of career SES.

The SES is not the only area of government with an impenetrable glass ceiling, but grade levels above the GS-13 are also not representative of the demographics of the nation. Women and minorities face difficult challenges trying to reach the level of a GS-15. If something is not done at the GS-15 level to increase the presence of women and minorities, getting to the SES will be a virtual impossibility. The Federal Government’s personnel policies and guidelines generally require that one has functioned at the grade level immediately below the grade where they are seeking a promotion. If you want to achieve the rank of a GS-13 you must have held a position equivalent to the GS-12 level.

Many of the federal hiring and promotion policies and procedures are outdated and fail to give fair and equal opportunities to the masses. The Federal Government continues to push for diversity and inclusion, yet it remains an entity that seemingly has blinders on when it comes to making that goal a realty. As mentioned previously, the VA’s study was exhaustive. It would be interesting to compare the demographics of the VA workforce today to what it was in 2008 when the study was commissioned.

 

Federal Agency Diversity Goals

What happens to agencies when they don’t meet diversity and inclusion goals. Obviously not much, because diversity and inclusion goals are still not being met all over the Federal Government. Diversity and inclusion goals are not being met across the country in both the private and public sectors. Not reaching diversity and inclusion goals is simply a matter of not knowing how to do it. Training is not appropriate and personnel specialists, directors and even Chief Human Capital Officers are plagued about how to diversify the Federal workforce.

Women can crack the federal glass ceiling if they stop agreeing that the pinnacle of leadership belongs to men. Did women strongly support Geraldine Ferraro in her run for the Vice Presidency? Is the U.S. Congress still dominated by men? Do women vote in local and national elections? Are there no suitable and qualified women available to run for Congress across the 50 contiguous United States?

It is time the Federal human resources community come together and make a real commitment to diversity and inclusion. It has been a buzz phrase far too long, now let’s make it a part of the natural order of things. That’s the way effective Government runs – by advancing equal and open opportunities to the masses – which can shatter the federal glass ceiling.

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

 

 

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