Accentuate the Positive

Earlier this week, President Obama released his fiscal 2012 budget, which contains a 1.6 percent pay raise for military service members and allocates an overall $8.3 billion for education, housing, and other quality of life programs for troops and their families.

You can almost hear the collective groan from the civilian workforce. Not necessarily because they're begrudging their colleagues improved pay and benefits, but because they're feeling a little unloved at the moment. With a two-year civilian pay freeze in the offing and legislative proposals that would take that even further, it's no surprise some feds feel as though they are staring at a glass half empty.

But it's not all bad. Federal employees still receive some generous benefits rivaling those of the private sector. So while you can't always eliminate the negative, it's worthwhile to accentuate the positive when and where you can. Here's a look at some valuable benefits available to most federal employees:

Family support. Federal employees have access to several resources to ease the cost of caring for their families. Flexible spending accounts, elected during open season, allow participants to make pretax contributions to a savings account to pay for dependent care, such summer day camp, after-school care, or baby-sitting, along with an adult dependent's day care or a housekeeper whose duties include caring for an eligible dependent. Federal agencies also offer funding to assist lower-income employees with child care costs.

Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Government workers have access to more than 200 options for health insurance coverage. FEHBP plans this year will cover preventive services and screenings without requiring co-insurance, offer smoking cessation programs, eliminate dollar limits on medication and treatment, and extend coverage to adult dependent children up to age 26. Though the average premium cost for employees increased by 7.2 percent for 2011, the growth falls below anticipated private sector spikes of up to 10.5 percent.

Student loan repayment. The Office of Personnel Management has reported that agencies are growing more generous with student loan repayment benefits, as the decade-old incentive matures. Agencies' overall financial investment in the program rose from $51.6 million in 2008 to $61.8 million in 2009, an increase of 20 percent. Employees at 36 agencies got help with their loans in 2009, with the average repayment valued at $7,317.

Telework. Thanks to legislation passed late last year, all federal agencies are required to get their telework programs up and running this spring. Managers will identify eligible employees and coordinate with them the guidelines and requirements for working outside the office. The initiative gives employees additional flexibility and slashes commuting time and costs.

Thrift Savings Plan. Remember the great economic crash of 2008? That was the sound of 401(k) plans emptying out nationwide. While the TSP certainly experienced its share of losses, particularly in the international (I) fund and the common stocks of large companies on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index represented in the C Fund, government workers didn't lose their shirts -- or their well-funded retirements -- the same way folks in the private sector did. Many private sector workers close to retirement had to postpone it to recoup their losses. The TSP, while perhaps not as lucrative as other retirement plans, makes up for it in reliability.

Work-life balance. The federal government, now more than ever, wants healthy and happy employees. As a result, agencies are offering an array of benefits ranging from yoga classes to financial counseling to help federal workers juggle their busy and increasingly complicated lives. Flexible work schedules, on-site day care facilities and fitness rooms at many agencies are much rarer in the private sector.