Federal Manager's Daily Report Wednesday, September 22, 2004 Published by FEDweek, the federal government's largest information resource with now over one million weekly readers to its electronic newsletters. *********************************************************** Federal Manager's Daily Report is a brand new FREE daily electronic report for all federal managers and supervisors featuring the day's top stories on management and workforce issues. Please pass this information on to your fellow colleagues. You can sign up for this free daily report at http://www.fedweek.com/subscribepopup.htm. *********************************************************** In Today's Issue: 1. In Face of Worker Losses, SSA Revamps Hiring Strategy 2. OPM Announces Inspection, Enforcement Merger 3. Union Survey Raises Doubts About �One Face at the Border� Initiative 4. Save $40 on Your Next Getaway *********************************************************** 1. In Face of Worker Losses, SSA Revamps Hiring Strategy Facing the prospect of loosing over half of its workforce in the next ten years -- up to 38,000 employees -- the Social Security Administration estimated it needed to hire 3,000 workers yearly through the next several years and launched an aggressive recruitment campaign aimed at both reshaping its workforce and compensating for retirement waves, according to a case study from the Partnership for Public Service�s online "solutions center." It said the new strategy has enabled it to hire more than 3,400 employees per year for the past three years, with 2003 bringing in 4,700 new hires. In 2002, SSA launched its campaign with the theme of making a difference -- personally and for other people -- and emphasizing careers rather than merely jobs. It tailored its message to veterans, persons with disabilities and Hispanics, initially focusing on three critical occupations: claims representatives, teleservice center representatives and information technology specialists. "SSA also constructed a resource-rich intranet that provides materials and support for the approximately 1,500 SSA managers, human resources specialists and new employees who serve in the SSA recruitment cadre," said the study. It said SSA has attempted to remain on message by ensuring that recruiters speak with "one voice" and are equipped with the latest materials by posting them to the internal recruitment site -- and that the use of automated systems have helped it cut its hiring time in half. It has also attempted to leverage its employees� personal connections, encouraging workers to recruit friends and acquaintances and providing yet another internal site to help them do so. "SSA has been a leader in using a full range of competitive and excepted service appointments, including the outstanding scholar program and Spanish bilingual and bicultural appointing authorities, the federal career intern program, temporary and term appointments, reinstatement of former federal employees and preference for veterans with compensable disabilities," said the report. It said SSA has also tailored compensation flexibilities for vacant positions such as "paying for interviews, above-minimum starting salary and or travel to first duty station, recruitment bonuses and special pay rates." 2. OPM Announces Inspection, Enforcement Merger The Office of Personnel Management has issued a new occupational series and a related qualification standard that brings several inspection and enforcement functions at the Department of Homeland Security under a single series. OPM called the "one face on the border" series -- covering 18,000 employees - an improvement of the overall DHS business plan and said the new series and standard reflect "the real-life duties of federal employees who serve on the front-lines." It said the creation of the customs and border protection officer position -- series 1895 -- brings former immigration inspectors from the Immigration and Naturalization Service -- series1816 -- Department of Customs inspectors -- series 1890 -- and Department of Agriculture inspectors -- 436 -- under one occupational series. These positions were transferred to DHS in March 2003 and OPM says the new series will integrate the functions they serve as well as create cross-training opportunities. 3. Union Survey Raises Doubts About �One Face at the Border� Initiative Customs and border protection inspectors and border patrol agents have raised doubts about the Department of Homeland Security�s "one face at the border" initiative, according to a telephone survey conducted by Hart Research on behalf of the National Border Patrol Council and National Homeland Security Council of the American Federation of Government Employees. Roughly half -- 53 percent -- of the 500 respondents say the initiative has had a negative impact while 17 percent said it has been a positive development. One CBP inspector complained that after 9/11, meeting and greeting has taken priority over law enforcement and that DHS is trying to "mesh three jobs into one," according to AFGE. "Front-line border protection personnel believe that reforming pay and personnel rules will make it harder for them to accomplish their mission," said the survey in which 63 percent said a DHS hiring freeze would have a negative effect on countering terrorism while 9 percent said the effect would be positive. Again, nearly half of respondents -- 52 percent -- felt that efforts to consolidate employee unions and change personnel regulations would make it harder to accomplish their mission of protecting the country, versus 8 percent that said consolidation would make easier. The survey said 60 percent of border protection personnel felt that "morale is low among the people they work with," and that 45 percent said they considered leaving their jobs at some point in the past two years, with 33 percent of those citing poor management as the reason.
4. JUST NEED TO GET AWAY? Escape now for the weekend and we'll put $40 in your pocket! >From now until September 30th, you can save $40 on every Last Minute Travel Deal booked on Fedweek.com! http://fedweek.sparklist.com/t/294948454/821889/255/0/ Choose from hundreds of constantly updated last minute packages including airfare, hotel, rental car (when needed) and often additional add-ons such as hot event tickets, walking tours of the city's hidden gems or pre-paid dinners at the best restaurants in town. all for one great price! Simply click on Last Minute Travel Deals and choose your destination. After you enter in your information and payment type, enter in your information and payment type, enter the promo code GOV40 in the "Discounts" category. http://fedweek.sparklist.com/t/294948454/821889/255/0/ FEDweek's Newest Alliance Brings FEDweek Readers Substantial Discounts on Travel Rates http://fedweek.sparklist.com/t/294948454/821889/255/0/ Trading Places International, a leading edge vacation services company with more than 30 years of experience in vacation offerings. Committed to Quality, Service and Value for all your vacation needs, Trading Places International has set up a unique and state of the art search engine for all FEDweek readers to help you find the best rates available. Here's just a few examples of what you can save on: Airfare Hotel Accommodations Car Rentals Golf Packages Cruises Last Minute Getaways And more. It's easy, to use. Just go to http://fedweek.sparklist.com/t/294948454/821889/255/0/ look under hot deals, select your dates and pack your bags! There are 1,000's of deals at http://fedweek.sparklist.com/t/294948454/821889/255/0/ these are just a few--give yourself the vacation that you have been dreaming about! Please feel free to pass this information on to your fellow colleagues. Published by FEDweek LLC 11551 Nuckols Rd. Suite L Glen Allen, VA 23059 (804) 288-5321 Website: http://www.fedweek.com A 100% Veteran-Owned Business [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are subscribed to federalmanagersdailyreport as [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
