Agency leaders decry 'cheap shots' against feds

Federal employees too often are the victims of negative public feedback and deserve additional support from their agencies, top government leaders said on Tuesday.

At a Public Service Recognition Week town hall hosted by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, officials expressed frustration over the negative perception members of Congress and the public have toward federal employees. Managers must be held responsible for making the tough choices necessary to single out and reward high performers, they said, and agencies must encourage innovation, improve communication, and assist employees with career development.

"Government has an extraordinary opportunity to be helpful to people," said Transportation Department Secretary Ray LaHood. "This idea that politicians want to take pot shots at government workers -- I don't like that. If we want good people to serve in government, we have to encourage them, and we do that with the people we already have."

According to John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management, the good work civil servants did in support of the Osama bin Laden operation is a chance to change public perception.

"The facts haven't changed, the truth hasn't changed, but maybe the receptivity of the public has changed, and that's a window of opportunity," he told reporters after the event. "We can take advantage of that while the public is listening."

Several event attendees questioned how agencies plan to improve employee experience, boost collaboration and share institutional knowledge as more federal workers become eligible to retire.

Housing and Urban Development Department Secretary Shaun Donovan said his agency has doubled the funding available for manager training and mentoring. Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, said government should allow employees to take detail assignments at other agencies and bring back expertise from that experience to their home office.

A part-time retirement option also is under consideration, said Berry. Under this program, retirees would be eligible to work part-time without any penalty to their annuity benefits, but in exchange would be required to mentor younger employees. OPM is looking for opportunities to work with Congress on related legislation, he told reporters.

In addition, regulations for implementing the new Pathways Program, which streamlines hiring for students and recent graduates, are in the final stages, Berry told reporters. The initiative, created through a December 2010 executive order, consolidates a number of disparate government internship programs into a single system targeted to students enrolled in a variety of educational institutions and expands eligibility for participating in the Presidential Management Fellows Program, a three-decades-old leadership development program for advanced-degree candidates. The newly formed Recent Graduates Program will place successful applicants in a two-year career development track.