Workforce

‘Neutral competence,’ partisanship and efforts to overhaul the civil service

COMMENTARY | One scholar argues that a radical movement to shift powers to the president would be disastrous for the federal workforce.

Workforce

Regulations aimed at derailing a Schedule F revival proposed by OPM

An effort to insulate the federal workforce from future efforts to strip them of their removal protections could accelerate an “existential” debate over the nonpartisan civil service system, experts said.

Workforce

Deconstructing the administrative state: At what cost?

COMMENTARY | Americans should be frightened by the prospect of a return to the spoils system, argue two scholars.

Workforce

Retiring NTEU president reflects on three decades in organized labor

Tony Reardon on Thursday handed the reins of the National Treasury Employees Union to newly elected national president Doreen Greenwald.

Workforce

What the United States can learn from Australia’s recent catastrophic failure to listen to career government experts

COMMENTARY | A hastily launched 2016 program to reduce overpayment of government benefits was plagued by “unfairness, probable illegality and cruelty,” an Australian commission later found.

Workforce

Sen. Kaine revives effort to ban Schedule F through the defense policy bill

This marks the second straight year that the Virginia Democrat has sought to attach a measure requiring congressional approval for new federal job classifications to the National Defense Authorization Act.

Workforce

Schedule F architects say the plan’s critics are ‘hyperbolic’

Officials behind the Trump administration’s abortive effort to strip tens of thousands of federal workers in policy positions of their civil service protections called concerns of politicization overblown, but espoused making all federal employees at-will.

Workforce

Feds Could Be Fired at Any Time for Any Reason, Under a Bill That Was Just Reintroduced

The bill also would abolish the Merit Systems Protection Board and threatens to reduce former federal employees’ retirement benefits if they file “frivolous” appeals of adverse personnel actions.

Workforce

There Are Many Threats to 'the Future of the Public Service Itself'

Donald F. Kettl joins the podcast to discuss the future of the civil service.

Management

The Gathering Storm Threatening the Civil Service

Conservatives are gearing up for a big debate and attacks that could upend the civil service as we know it. 

Management

Let’s Rethink the Management of Our Civil Service

In this op-ed, the executive vice president of the Partnership for Public Service posits that we should build up public servants and hold them accountable to improve government performance.

Workforce

Biden Is Officially Running For Reelection. What Has He Done For Public Servants?

Courtney Bublé joins the podcast to discuss the president's announcement.

Workforce

Conservative Think Tanks Are Preparing a List of 20K Potential Political Appointees in Hopes of Reviving Schedule F

A coalition led by the Heritage Foundation has launched a massive recruitment effort that would grow the ranks of federal political appointees from 4,000 to 20,000 in the next Republican presidential administration.

Workforce

Should Feds Be Afraid of a Second Trump Term?

Stuart Shapiro joins the podcast to discuss the effects of the former president's attacks on the civil service.

Workforce

DeSantis Endorses Schedule F Ahead of Possible Presidential Run

The Florida governor, widely expected to run for president in 2024, called for “cleaning out” science agencies like the CDC, NIH and FDA.

Oversight

The Spoils System Still Threatens the Civil Service

Donald F. Kettl and Daniel Chenok join the podcast to discuss merit systems and modernization.

Management

Say No to Politicizing the Civil Service, But Yes to More Flexibility

Banning exceptions to standard federal personnel rules could make agency-specific reforms more difficult.

Management

A Broken Civil Service System Could Break Government

Jeffrey Neal joins the podcast again to talk about the pace of change in modernizing the federal workforce.

Workforce

Lawmakers Are Doubling Down on the Effort to Prevent the Next Schedule F

The latest legislative proposal to block presidents from unilaterally stripping federal workers of their civil service protections creates additional barriers to reclassifying employees.