FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2010
KLMNO
EZ SU THE FEDERAL WORKER “They see you on your route. You’re hot, exhausted,
and they bring you lemonade. They watch you. If you’re having issues, they call in help. It’s a two-way thing. I don’t hesitate. I don’t think anyone would. It’s just helping our fellow citizens.” —Jim Dupont, letter carrier
OnLeadership:TheFederalCoach 6Excerpt
fromviews.washingtonpost.com/leadership/fedcoach
The nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and The Washington
Post’s On Leadership site produce the Federal Coach, hosted by Tom Fox, director of the partnership’s Center for Government Leadership. The goal is to “engage, inspire and learn from you, the federal
worker, whether you are a new hire, a contractor or a manager at the highest level.”
Job schedules,
idea sharing Questions from federal man-
agers at the Food and Drug Ad- ministration and theDepartment of Health and Human Services. Please continue sharing your ideas and questions by e-mailing me at fedcoach@ourpublicser-
vice.org.
I want tomove up inmy agency, but I’mconcerned thatmy flexi- ble schedulemay holdme back. What should I do? —Federalmanager (GS-15),Depart- ment ofHealth andHuman Services
MICHAEL SHEA/NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS
TheNationalAssociation of Letter Carriers honored its heroes of the year Thursday at theHyatt RegencyWashington hotel. Some of them are, in the front row, from left, Debbie Czarny and Penny Bell ofMuskegon,Mich., Jim Dupont of Rogers, Ark., Larry Gunkel of Wichita, Kan., and JeffreyVollmar of Freehold,N.J.; and, in the back row, J.D. Stewart and JackHayes of Seattle and SalliHislop of Salt Lake City.
Letter carriers honor heroes and sendmessage toUSPS
WHATYOUSAID Q.
How concerned are you that health-insurance costs are rising for fed- eral workers? What’s
your plan for dealing with the 7.2 percent increase? Does it offer any comfort that the increase is low- er than what many private-sector workers will face?
Department of the Interior Virginia It’s been a big question every
year for us. Last year, I signed up for the family, which doubled in the costs of premiums per pay pe- riod and the annual deductible. Some of the benefits are great— maternity care is covered, al- though there are some issues that I had to parse withmy health-care provider. Meanwhile, dental is not [great], and even though I added dental tomy plan, I still have to wait for claims to go throughmy primary provider before they go throughmy dental provider. The bureaucracy in the health-
care industry is what I truly take offense to. Costs rise every year, and hon-
estly, our pay raise that people claim is [so] horrible is eaten up by these costs. It’s the lesser of two evils—do I live with an extra $300 a pay period, or do I sleep better at night knowing thatmy family is covered? I don’t think I could manage
without health care—I have an in- fant and one on the way—the per cost of medical treatment is ridic- ulous without health care.
Mary Evans Arlington, FDA retiree Last year our premium went up
about $50; seems like this year will be about the same. No increase in pay last year or
this year, for retirees. Current workers are supposed to get a lit- tle raise, but it won’t even make a dent in the increase. I am con- cerned, but the plan is to pay any bills I am responsible for while try- ing to save a little more, after in- creased taxes, gas and food pric- es. Isn’t that what everyone is sup- posed to do? Sorry private-sector people, but
it does not comfort me that you face higher increases. Last time I checked, those people made a lot more money than we did in the equivalent government job. The benefits of working for the fed were stability, pension and health care; we took that over private sal- aries. I still say we need the option of employee/retiree, plus one. The premium would be more than sin- gle but less than family. I don’t think the OPM has the best inter- ests of current workers or retirees in mind when negotiating with health-care companies. Hold on to your wallets middle-class; health- care reform has its hand in your back pocket.
Frank USDA,Woodbridge You can forget about the aver-
age increase for me. Last year, it was 18 percent, this year it’s 12 percent. I’m single, rarely go to the doctor, and it’s anHMO. I don’t have much faith in our health-care system. OPM is doing a lousy job of bargaining with these vampires.
Union makes a point of linking good deeds to Saturday deliveries
BY ED O'KEEFE If theU.S. Postal Service needs
a reason to keep delivering the mail on Saturdays, it should consider the story of letter carri- er JimDupont. In June 2009, he had just
finished delivering mail to the 1,192 addresses on his route in Rogers, Ark., when a car and truck collided nearby. Dupont ran to the scene, pulled out the car’s driver, helped a passenger out of the truck and then climbed through the back window to pull out the truck’s driver, who was covered in blood. All three survived the wreck,
which happened on a Saturday. Another dramatic USPS mo-
ment happened in Muskegon, Mich., where Penny Bell noticed on a Friday that mail was piling
up in the mailbox of an elderly woman. She asked her Saturday substitute, Debbie Czarny, to check the house the next day. After knocking loudly, Czarny and rescue workers found the woman disoriented on the floor, where she had been lying for four days. “Many of these most amazing
acts of bravery and heroism go unreported,” Fredric V. Rolando, president of the National Associ- ation of Letter Carriers, said Thursday at an awards banquet for Dupont, Bell, Czarny and dozens of other letter carriers who performed similar acts of bravery or community service. Salli Hislop of Salt Lake City
called for help after a dog alerted her to an elderly man having a heart attack. Larry Gunkel ofWichita, Kan.,
runs a program that provides food on weekends to more than 5,000 schoolchildren. Thomas Nehlen of
Youngstown, Ohio, ran into a burning house tomake sure that a family got out safely and later that day helped a young boy
whose bike collided with a car. Thursday’s winners are “just
the tip of the iceberg” and should remind people that NALC’s 210,000 city letter carriers often do much more than deliver the mail, Rolando said. With PostmasterGeneral John
E. Potter and other Postal Service officials in attendance, Rolando gently reminded them several times that Saturdaymail deliver- ies are still valued by NALC members, who fear ending six- daymail delivery couldmean job losses and wage cuts. But Potter—aswell asmost of
the U.S. public, according to a Washington Post poll—supports ending Saturday deliveries as USPS revenue slides and mail volume plummets. Dupont, who keeps in touch
with the accident victims, has lost thousands of dollars in pay and benefits as he recovers from injuries suffered in the rescue. Dupont said he responded be- cause his customers would have done the same for him. “They’re part of your family,”
Dupont said in an interview. “They see you on your route. You’re hot, exhausted, and they bring you lemonade. They watch you. If you’re having issues, they call in help. It’s a two-way thing. I don’t hesitate. I don’t think any- one would. It’s just helping our fellow citizens.”
ed.okeefe@washingtonpost.com
Obama administration pushing telework as bill is set for House
Option would be automatic for all who could work out of office
BY ED O’KEEFE The Obama administration is
such a strong supporter of allow- ing federal employees to work from home that it even allowed a government official to be sworn in via telephone. Because of the snowstorms
earlier this year,Martha Johnson had no choice. “I was sworn in frommy kitch-
en, because we couldn’t get out of the snow and get to Washington to do it that way,” John- son, head of theGeneral Services Administra- tion, said Thursday. She and her husband
had been shoveling snow in the driveway of their Annapolis home when she got the call, Johnson said Thursday at the Telework Ex- changeTownHallMeet- ing inWashington. “My husband looked
director of the Office of Personnel Management. “The president made it clear to
me that he doesn’t want snow, nature, or any other cause to be able to stop our government,” Berry told the conference. “Since OPM doesn’t control the weather or the plows, telework is the only way to achieve the goal that the president very clearly set,” Berry said. The wider use and acceptance
of telework is very much on the verge of reality.The Senate unani- mously passed telework legisla- tion last month and the House could do so during the lame-duck session. The bill would require federal agencies to appoint tele- work managers and incorporate the option into contin- gency operations. Once it’s passed, Ber-
like he was in his paja- mas wearing his red snow suit,” Johnson said. “What you do when you’re sworn in is you have to hold your hand up and you have to speak and you have to put your hand on the Bible. Where do you put the cellphone? So my husband was holding the phone to my mouth, and I got sworn in. And that’s another example of work from home or another unusual place.” The massive snowstorms even
inspired President Obama to is- sue stern orders to John Berry,
Martha Johnson was sworn in via a cellphone during one of this year’s snowstorms.
ry, Johnson and others plan tomake the option automatic for all feder- al employeeswhocould do their jobs away from the office. (Zookeepers, park rangers, law en- forcement officers, doc- tors, and officials with access to sensitive data couldn’t telework.) “It will boost morale,
I would argue, it de- creases distractions and it reduces time and the environmental im-
pact of commuting,” Berry said. “In example after example, it leads to happier, more productive employees. Newer workers want to take a laptop or iPadhomeor to a cafe.” Younger workers also want al-
most constant feedback from su- pervisors, “and they’re happy to get that online,” Berry said. GSA is already working to de- termine which workers are eligi-
ble and ready to telework as renovations to its F Street NW headquarters will force most em- ployees to move to D.C.’s NoMa district. “We’re dramatically shifting
geography and for some people it’s really a question of whether they want to battle all the way from Virginia all the way across the District or if teleworking is a good option for them,” Johnson said in an interview. As for the critics, Johnson said
the option is an environmentally- friendly, cost-conscious option. “The amount of money that we
can save on this is a strong argu- ment to the taxpayers that there is a larger business case here than is understood,” Johnson said.
ed.okeefe@washingtonpost.com
LUCA BRUNO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Also in the news and In the Loop: an actor named Clooney.
First, I suggest talking directly
with your supervisor about your alternative work schedule and whether it affects your ability to be promoted to the Senior Execu- tive Service (SES). Here’swhatwill be key to your
conversation. The regulations give agency leaders broad leeway to establish or terminate employ- ees’ alternative work schedules based on their impact on three criteria: (1) anagency’sproductiv- ity; (2) the level of services fur- nished to the public; and (3) the cost of agency operations. If you want to maintain your
alternative work schedule, do your homework before the con- versation. Find quantitative and qualita-
tive ways that demonstrate how your schedule improves produc- tivity and service delivery while keeping costs contained. You might also try to bolster
your case by examining private- sector data. In the 1990s, the federal government set the pace for flexible work arrangements, including the use of teleworking, compressed workweeks, flextime and part-time schedules. However, in recent years, the
private sector has surpassed the federal government in its use of these arrangements. Evenonce cutthroat industries
are finding it beneficial to give their folksmore flexibility. That being said, it’s important
that you realize many SES posi- tions require a different lifestyle andworking schedule—one that might not be appropriate for you now. Be open to this possibility
when you have that honest dia- loguewith your supervisor.
Are there cross-agency organi- zations for promoting idea ex- changes among federal employ- ees fromsimilar business func- tions/interests (for example,
The Fed Page
Public officials and private schools
Among a certain set in Washington, the first images that came to mind with Rahm Emanuel’s departure were of open slots for their kids. In the Loop, A16
FAA proposes new rules for medical helicopters
Onboard safety equipment and training are among the recommendations as the industry experiences a spike in deaths. A16
Joe Davidson is away. The Federal Diary will resume when he returns.
human resources, information technology, leadershipdevelop- ment)? —Federalmanager (GS-14), Food andDrug Administration
With a greater emphasis being
placed on agencies working to- gether outside their traditional stovepipes, a question about pro- moting idea exchanges among federal agencies’ business func- tions is very timely. Let’s use the federal IT com-
munity as one example of a busi- ness function usingmultiple ave- nues to support networking. First, there are the officially sanc- tioned communities such as the Chief Information Officers Coun- cil. The CIO Council performs a variety of activities, including promoting information-sharing across government and explain- ing the strategic and effective use of IT to serve and protect Ameri- cans. Second, there are online plat-
forms such as the Office of Man- agementandBudget’sMAXInfor- mationSystem,whichis designed tocollect,validate,analyze,model and publish information related to government-wide best practic- es and activities. Finally, there are networking opportunities with external groups such as the Part- nership for Public Service’s Stra- tegic Advisors toGovernment Ex- ecutives program, which con- nects senior-level IT executives in government with their predeces- sors in the private sector. Beyond the IT community,
there are active efforts underway through other councils such as the ChiefHuman Capital Officers Council and the Performance Im- provement Council, as well as associations such as the Associa- tion of Government Accountants that bring together similar busi- ness functions. Although these organizations
are not often publicized, I bet you can find a community to meet your networking needs if you ask around. Youmight even find that you have an opportunity to help lead one of these communities moving forward.
Visit On Leadership at views.wash-
ingtonpost.com/leadership/fed- coach. There are three weekly installments. Mondays: “Getting Ahead”—advice on “leading up.” Wednesdays: “View Fromthe Top Floor”—interviews with federal lead- ers. Fridays: Answering questions about navigating the federal workforce ter- rain.
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