Management

These are the 8 biggest agency and program reforms in the first FY24 spending bill

Lawmakers include budget cuts, hiring initiatives and new priorities in first of two appropriations packages.

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.

Workforce

Biden administration details strategic plan to hire military spouses

Improving the recruitment and retention of spouses of servicemembers has been a bipartisan priority in recent years, as military families report economic precarity as a reason to leave public service.

Management

OPM unveils its ‘future of work playbook’ for agencies to revamp HR processes

The federal government’s dedicated HR agency’s latest piece of guidance offers a list of concrete ways that human capital leaders can implement the Biden administration’s workforce agenda.

Management

OPM announces survey to analyze AI in government jobs

The move marks the second step in a years-long process to prep federal agencies for working with artificial intelligence.

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

Catching Zs: 4 ways to tap the incoming wave of young workplace talent

COMMENTARY | Connecting with potential hires requires agencies to offer flexible, digital work arrangements, along with an opportunity to meaningfully shape their communities and their world.

Tech

Commerce advisory committee urges government to boost startup access to talent and funding

Congress should fully fund the Economic Development Administration’s regional technology and innovation hubs program to help the U.S. tech sector maintain its global leadership, according to the committee.

Management

OPM to tweak draft dodging rules, delegate investigations to agencies

The federal HR agency said its new plan for investigating when a federal job applicant failed to register for the draft will give applicants a better—and faster—chance to explain themselves.

Workforce

Senate FAA bill drops ‘maximum hiring’ provision aimed at addressing staffing crisis

The bill would take several steps to tackle workforce issues that could cripple the national aviation system, but employee groups are warning they are insufficient.

Workforce

Senate rejects border-related federal hiring surge after Republicans turn on deal

The $118 billion personnel, border security, immigration reform and foreign aid measure collapsed just days after it came together.

Updated Workforce

Hiring and pay reforms accompany staffing surges in bipartisan border deal

After months of negotiations, Senate group unveils measure to ramp up border security, provide foreign aid and largely meet President Biden's request for thousands of new federal employees.

Workforce

The jobs boom is hitting the federal sector, too

Federal agencies added 11,000 jobs in January and hit a 20-year high for non-census years.

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.

Workforce

Interior Department taps first-ever chief digital experience officer from OMB

Andy Lewandowski, who has been a digital experience advisor to the federal CIO for over two years, is starting a new gig at the Department of Interior.

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. 

Management

Want to modernize the federal workforce? Here's how

A new nonprofit study examines how the federal government could update the civil service to both capture new talent and capitalize on its available talent. 

Workforce

Staffing growth at VA is not leading to lower wait times in some areas

The department does not expect to add a net total of health care workers this year, but hopes to boost access in key specialties.