Workforce
How a pair of executive orders and a memo could fast track the civil service’s politicization
Good government experts warn that President Trump’s revival of Schedule F, inserting new criteria into the hiring process and demand for a list of all feds who are still on their probationary period portend a mass firing of career workers as the new administration seeks to reshape the federal bureaucracy.
Management
Government’s top career execs face new political oversight as Trump vows to get ‘rid of all the cancer’
New memo could boost transfer of senior executives, as the president did on a limited basis in his first term.
Workforce
The civil service system is a barrier to effective talent management
COMMENTARY | Government needs to adopt overhaul recommendations and “tailor employment policies toward specific occupations or labor markets.”
Management
Trump nominees offer praise to career feds, but promise efficiencies
The president-elect's picks to lead EPA, State and other agencies struck a different tone toward civil servants than some former Trump officials, suggesting the administration would lean on their expertise.
Pay & Benefits
Congressional Republicans dial up multiple bills to cull telework flexibility
The 119th Congress has started early on reintroducing or debuting new plans to reduce telework capabilities at federal agencies.
Management
OPM officials tout agency’s transformation under Biden
Leaders at the federal government’s dedicated HR agency said the organization has come a long way since being targeted for elimination by the first Trump administration.
Workforce
See where and how Biden grew the federal workforce
Trump slashed rolls at most agencies and is pledging to do so again after Biden boosted the civil service.
Breaking News
Management
Jimmy Carter, architect of the last major civil service reform, dies at 100
During his one-term presidency, Carter devoted considerable attention to federal management.
Workforce
Last-ditch effort to block Schedule F’s return thwarted by Senate Republicans
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., sought unanimous consent on the Senate floor to pass the Saving the Civil Service Act, but his motion was opposed by Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo.
Management
Will civil service protections hold up against RFK Jr.’s threats to the federal public health workforce?
Kennedy, Trump’s pick to lead HHS, has talked openly about removing swaths of civil servants at FDA and NIH.
Tech
Protecting the civil service and tech upgrades are top priorities for Virginia's new House Democrat
Virginia’s first Indian-American congressman-elect will bring some tech policy chops to Capitol Hill.
Management
Government efficiency vs. performance: How federal employees can drive change from within
COMMENTARY | An important constituency for better government performance is actually among civil servants themselves.
Updated
Workforce
Politics vs. Policy: Building partnerships with new appointees
COMMENTARY | A survival guide for career civil servants from two longtime civil servants.
Workforce
Schedule F 2.0...can it be that bad?
COMMENTARY | "Is it the 'end of democracy as we know it' bad?" asks one former federal official.
Workforce
Key lawmakers back Trump's plans to remove federal workers
GOP leaders say they will back the president-elect's efforts to strip civil-service protections.
Management
Could a new Trump administration push for another federal hiring freeze?
The president-elect's previous experience with a governmentwide 79-day halt to agency hiring could inform his new approach to the federal workforce, if those lessons still apply.
Workforce
Employee group urges centralized response to increase in doxxing and threats against federal workers
The Department of Justice Gender Equality Network urged department leadership to create a centralized “triage” team to better tackle instances where members of the public doxx or threaten employees online.
Workforce
OPM issues guidance for agencies to implement anti-Schedule F regulations
The effort to insulate the federal civil service from former President Trump’s plan to replace potentially tens of thousands of career employees in “policy-related” position with loyalists could be short lived if the Republican nominee wins the election next month.
Management
‘Put them in trauma’: Inside a key MAGA leader’s plans for a new Trump agenda
As OMB director, Russell Vought sought to use Trump’s 2020 Schedule F executive order to strip away job protections for nonpartisan government workers.
Workforce