Author Archives: jbmiller

About jbmiller

Jeanne Miller is an Instructional Designer and HR Curriculum Manager with the Graduate School USA Curriculum and Learning Solutions. Jeanne is a former federal HR Officer and HR program evaluator and has had extensive experience and education in both federal HR and the instructional design arena, including the development, design, and/or writing of an extensive array of both classroom and online courses for adult learners.

MSPB: Improving Federal Hiring through Better Assessment

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The Federal Government has spent extensive time and resources trying to reform the overall competitive hiring process. However, little attention has been paid specifically to how agencies assess their applicants. Past research by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) indicates that agencies often use assessment tools that are not the best predictors of future performance. In addition, recent hiring reforms have made it easier for applicants to apply, increasing the volume of applicants. MSPB has long recommended that agencies improve their applicant assessment processes and that Congress appropriate funding for Governmentwide assessments. This perspectives brief summarizes MSPB research on applicant assessment and identifies 10 factors for agencies to consider when investing in better assessment:

  • Consider how to improve the process more than merely automate it
  • Aim for a high return on investment rather than the cheapest assessments
  • Ensure assessments are valid, reliable, fair, and appropriate to the situation
  • Develop processes that are applicant friendly, easy to understand, and related to the job
  • Use a combination of assessments that provide a comprehensive evaluation of applicants’ knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors necessary to successfully perform the job
  • Use a set of assessments successively to manage and narrow the candidate pool, thereby making efficient use of agency resources
  • Ensure the agency has assessments that cover a wide variety of positions and grade levels
  • Determine the mode of delivery (e.g., computer-based, pan and paper, interactive) that best meets the agency’s needs
  • Determine whether proctored assessments, or a combination of the two are most appropriate’Ensure assessments easily integrate with the agency’s recruitment and staffing system

This brief also reiterates the business case for Congress to appropriate funds to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for the development, validation, and administration of Governmentwide applicant assessments… [For the rest of the report, click here]

Which of the ten factors do you think would be most helpful when it comes to improving the overall competitive hiring process? Why?

Data: Public Servants Are Older Than Almost Everyone in the American Workforce

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As many of our readers have complained, the stereotypes of civil servants run the gamut from “slow” to “lazy” to, increasingly, “old.” Unfortunately, that third stereotype seems to be rooted in truth.

According to an analysis by data scientist and blogger Randal Olson, the oldest profession in the U.S. workforce is funeral home employee and the youngest is shoe salesperson. Olson looked at 2017 Bureau of Labor Statistics data and found that the average age of someone working in shoe sales is 25.6 years old and the average age of a funeral home worker is 53.1.

What does this have to do with the government workforce getting older? Public servants’ median age (45.6) is closer to the embalming and casket industry than it is to the boot and sandal industry and public finance employees have the eighth-oldest median age of all workers in the labor force.

With the caveat that BLS doesn’t break down public administration into state, local and federal, the statistics show that no category of public administration job notches a median age younger than 42.6 (“Justice, public order, and safety activities”). In addition to quinquagenarian public finance employees, “administration of economic programs and space research” workers have a median age of 48.8.  [For the rest of this article, click here.]

How do you think your agency measures up as related to age of federal workers? Does your agency have programs in place to recruit and hire younger workers? What are the advantages/disadvantages of a workforce of older workers?

Report Suggests Improvements for Handling Federal Employee Misconduct

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A new report from the Government Accountability Office discusses ways that federal agencies can more effectively address employee misconduct.

GAO said that an average of less than 1 percent (17,000) of the federal government’s 2.1 million employees are formally disciplined for misconduct annually. While this is a very small number, GAO notes that even a few cases of employee misconduct can have significant impacts on workplace morale and impede an agency’s efforts to achieve its mission.

Based on data from the Office of Personnel Management, federal agencies.. [click here for rest of article]

Were you aware of the required process illustrated in the graphic from the GAO report? Does your agency utilize the actions GAO recommends for better prevention and addressing of employee misconduct?

OPM Reports 4 Percent Increase in Use of Official Time Over Two Years

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The Office of Personnel Management released a report Thursday on the use of official time at federal agencies in fiscal 2016, stating that the amount of paid time used by union officials for representational duties had increased by 4.12 percent since fiscal 2014.

In a press release accompanying the report, OPM officials assailed the practice, in which federal employees are compensated for their work on behalf of the union for representational matters, calling it “taxpayer funded union time” that does not serve the public interest.

“In other words, official time is treated as work time, thus is funded by the American taxpayers while no service to the taxpayer is performed,” OPM wrote.

The report found that in fiscal 2016, union employees… [for more, click here]

Do you agree with OPM officials that ” official time is treated as work time, thus is funded by the American taxpayers while no service to the taxpayer is performed”? Why or why not? Use examples from your agency to support your opinion.

$174,789,810 for Official Time in FY 2016

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The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued its latest report on “official time.” Official time is a term used to describe time spent by federal employee union representatives who receive their government salary and benefits while performing duties as a union official.

According to a press release from OPM: “Official time, more accurately referred to as ‘Taxpayer Funded Union Time’ is paid time spent by Federal employees performing representational work for a bargaining unit in lieu of their regularly assigned work. In other words, official time is treated as work time, thus is funded by the American taxpayers while no service to the taxpayer is performed.

According to the OPM report, the cost for this use of paid leave by federal employees acting on behalf of a union increased by 7.55 percent from Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 to FY 2016. The cost increased from… [for more, click here].

What of the information in this article surprised you? What confirmed any previous assumptions? How does this information apply to your agency?

Union Official Time: Why a Basic Change is Needed

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In this article, the author, a former federal agency labor and employee relations director, currently working with and training federal agencies to resolve employee problems at all levels, discusses the use of official time in federal labor relations. He focuses on the key question:

  • Did the Congress of the United States intend to eliminate any labor dollar cost of negotiations to an employee union and place the entire cost of the time spent by union employee representatives on the American taxpayer?

and addresses five problems with the way administrative bodies such as the FLRA and EEOC have interpreted federal labor relations law.

To read this article, click here.

Which of the five problems and discussion did you agree with? Didn’t agree with? Do you have other questions? What are they?

How Guilt Can Hold Back Good Employees

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People with a tendency to feel guilty for disappointing their coworkers are among the most ethical and hard-working people to work with. However, these highly guilt-prone people may be the most reticent to enter into partnerships.

By understanding this phenomenon, managers can make the best decisions about team-building and increase productivity. (For more, click here.)

As a supervisor, how can you use the research discussed in this article to create effective workplace dynamics and increase productivity? As an employee, how can you put to use this research in your work life?

Reduce Your Stress In Two Minutes a Day

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Bill Rielly had it all: a degree from West Point, an executive position at Microsoft, strong faith, a great family life, and plenty of money.  He even got along well with his in-laws!  So why did he have so much stress and anxiety that he could barely sleep at night? I have worked with Bill for several years now and we both believe his experience could be useful for other capable, driven individuals.

At one time, no level of success seemed enough for Bill. He learned at West Point that the way to solve problems was to persevere through any pain. But this approach didn’t seem to work with reducing his stress. When he finished his second marathon a few minutes slower than his goal, he felt he had failed. So to make things “right” he ran another marathon just five weeks later. His body rejected this idea, and he finished an hour slower than before. Finally, his wife convinced him to figure out what was really driving his stress. He spent the next several years searching for ways to find more joy in the journey. In the process he found five tools. Each was ordinary enough, but together they proved life-changing and enabled his later success as an Apple executive. (For more, click here.)

Have you used any of these techniques to manage your stress? Will you put any of these into practice now, after reading this article?

How to Keep Work Stress from Taking Over Your Life

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Unless you’re a robot, it’s all but impossible to avoid having work stress(don’t worry, robots, your time will come!). But it’s not impossible to avoid taking those feelings home with you at the end of the day. True leisure time, in which anxiety and frustration over work can be set aside until you’re next at the office, is essential to staying mentally in check. Here are five ways to keep work stress, rage, and anxiety where they belong. (For more, click here.)

Do you use any of these techniques? Which are you going to put into practice now?

When It Comes to Making Good Decisions, Bad Options Can Help

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Think of the worst idea ever for a new business venture, one that is guaranteed to fail. Or try to imagine a truly terrible, good-for-nobody new government policy. Or even, as a class of grade school kids I know recently did, the worst idea for a birthday party. (For the record, some of those terrible party ideas included holding the event in a sewer, a joint birthday party/funeral, and, worst of all, a party with no cake.)

My guess is that this exercise, which I often run with my students and clients, was easier for you than it would have been had I asked you to come up with a great idea instead.

Many of us are in search of the elusive good idea … (For more, click here.)

Would you use this bad-ideas exercise? When and how would you do so?