Management

OPM guidance details when agencies can ask about applicants' criminal history

Though the federal government had already implemented a form of “ban the box” administratively, the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act necessitated an update of the policy.

Workforce

How transforming federal workforce culture can enhance safety and productivity

COMMENTARY | It takes more than annual check-the-box training and motivational posters to bring about change.

Management

Top women officials say there’s more work to do on gender balance in government tech

Women seem to be far more common in government’s top tech leadership positions than they used to be, but “we are far from done,” one such leader warns.

Management

Biden administration finalizes first demographics data standards update in nearly 30 years

No longer will “race” and “ethnicity” be bifurcated into separate questions in federal datasets and questionnaires such as the U.S. Census, and people of Middle Eastern or North African ancestry will have their own distinct category.

Management

Biden just signed the largest executive order focused on women’s health

From maternal health to menopause, federal agencies will study the health issues that emerge across a woman’s lifespan.

Pay & Benefits

How diverse candidates can better navigate the security clearance process

COMMENTARY | Simple steps can make the security clearance process less of a barrier to keeping diverse candidates out of government careers.

Management

USDA's equity commission urges 'sweeping and generational change'

The independent commission’s report also included some to-do items for lawmakers.

Oversight

Agencies need to beef up sexual harassment training for employees, GAO says

Selected federal agencies and components of the Defense Department have only partially implemented an array of training practices aimed at preventing sexual harassment and do not sufficiently evaluate the effectiveness of their existing training programs, the watchdog found.

Management

The new FAFSA was supposed to be easier to use. Technical glitches have made it anything but

Marginalized students may have the most to lose as the Education Department’s rollout of the new college financial aid application has hit several bumps.

Workforce

OPM’s 2024 equity goals aim to expand data-based approach

The federal government’s HR agency plans to expand the use of data to analyze recruitment barriers for underserved communities as well as outreach at minority-serving educational institutions in the coming year.

Workforce

OPM offers guidance for agencies implementing salary history ban

Federal agencies will have until October to excise the solicitation and use of job candidates’ past compensation when setting pay for new hires.

Pay & Benefits

Biden administration to extend salary history ban to federal contractors

Officials said that new proposed regulations, released in conjunction with a final rule barring federal agencies from soliciting job applicants’ salary histories, will reduce pay disparities and improve the effectiveness of the federal contract workforce.

Pay & Benefits

OPM: Federal salaries won't be tied to private sector pay histories

Agencies can’t use non-federal salaries to help set pay for new or returning federal employees, under a new rule from the Office of Personnel Management. 

Pay & Benefits

Trans veterans were promised access to gender-affirming surgeries — but it never happened

The Transgender American Veterans Association filed a lawsuit on Thursday over the Veterans Affairs Deparment’s failure to act after years of inaction.

Management

Biden’s chief diversity officer is headed to the private sector

Janice Underwood, who serves as the governmentwide chief diversity officer and as director of the Office of Personnel Management’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility office, will be vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion talent outreach and development at Disney.

Workforce

USPS’ workforce is very diverse. Its management is less so.

Historically disadvantaged groups fare worse than white colleagues in getting promoted to higher-level positions, new audit finds.

Oversight

Diversity in the federal workforce has improved slightly over the last decade

But Latino representation among federal employees continues to lag behind a nationwide benchmark.

Workforce

Scientific federal agencies have restaffed to pre-Trump levels

While the Biden administration is finding success in its hiring efforts, a report finds diversity efforts are lagging.

Management

Legacy programs stymie Biden's efforts to boost equity in infrastructure spending

Communities of color benefit when federal agencies pick transportation projects, but most infrastructure money is doled out using old rules that favor whiter areas, according to a new report from the Urban Institute.