Public assistance programs, while technically accessible to those who need them, are often confusing, demanding, and stressful to access. Administrative burdens, including time and paperwork commitments, can be overwhelming and disparate for those who may be least-equipped to handle them. In a new paper, our guests today explore the discrepancies across programs. Last month, the Urban Institute published Customer Service Experiences and Enrollment Difficulties Vary Widely across Safety Net Progr...
Feb 27, 2023•38 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Human capital management has changed a lot in the last few years. A new generation entering the workforce, a presidential transition and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic have made the job that much harder. Representation, performance management and other aspects of workforce management are changing, forcing government’s HR officials to keep up. As part of Government Executive Media Group’s Workforce Summit event recently, GovExec Daily host Ross Gianfortune spoke to two senior human capital lea...
Feb 24, 2023•24 min•Season 4Ep. 2
A third of all American workers are over the age of 50. But as much as the broader workforce is aging, the federal workforce is surpassing it, with more than 43 percent of federal employees over the age of 50. The retirement wave that hangs over the federal workforce has been slow going, but attrition without replacing those workers with younger workers means a loss of institutional knowledge, professional experience and, ultimately, mission delivery. Anthony Fauci spent more than 50 years in go...
Feb 23, 2023•30 min•Season 4Ep. 1
More than one hundred people have held the colloquial title of “czar” in the U.S. federal government, from the commonly-known drug czars to the COVID-19 czars of recent vintage. The proliferation of czars has ebbed and flowed over the years, with Barack Obama being accused of having more than three dozen czars by his political opponents. Since, the term has fallen off a bit. Tom Shoop is editor at large and the former executive vice president and editor in chief at GovExec Media. He is also the ...
Feb 22, 2023•22 min•Season 3Ep. 238
In 2019, the Office of Management and Budget and the National Archives and Records Administration brought forward the government-wide directive M-19-21 as a way to move forward how government records are managed. In moving toward going paperless in recordkeeping, modernization remains a priority, but agencies are still behind on the process. Melissa Carson is Vice President and General Manager of Iron Mountain Government Solutions where she leads a portfolio for the public sector. She joined the...
Feb 21, 2023•21 min•Season 3Ep. 237
Every presidential administration is different, but many issues that American leaders face are similar or influenced by the ones that came before. Nationalism, immigration and a deeply divided electorate are a few of the issues that presidents going back to George Washington have faced in their terms. Ronald Gruner founded and served as chief executive of three technology firms and is the author of We The Presidents: How American Presidents Shaped the Last Century , a book examining presidents’ ...
Feb 19, 2023•13 min
Nearly everyone in the public administration world says that the civil service system is far from perfect and needs to be fixed. The rules governing the system have not been updated in decades, leaving the federal government’s workforce systems in the proverbial stone age. The bifurcated political landscape has not helped, with more elected officials proposing more so-called solutions that would cut, degrade or otherwise hamstring the professional civil service. Jeffrey Neal is former chief huma...
Feb 17, 2023•24 min•Season 3Ep. 236
The federal government depends on its workforce to serve the public. The civil service system relies on its merit-based foundation to bring in hire, retain and engage its highly-skilled workforce. But, the last major changes to this system came decades ago in 1978. Since then, the world has changed a lot, and modernization of the civil service system is overdue. Over the coming months, the National Academy of Public Administration will release a series of white papers that address the challenges...
Feb 16, 2023•25 min•Season 3Ep. 235
Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced that the national public health emergency will expire on May 11. Enacted in early 2020, the cessation of the declaration will also sunset many of the policies designed to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus that has killed 1.1 million Americans in three years. GovExec reporter Courtney Bublé has been covering the pandemic since it began in 2020. She joined the podcast to discuss the end of the emergency declaration. *** Follow GovExec on L...
Feb 15, 2023•15 min•Season 3Ep. 234
When a disaster hits a community, the people affected have to get trustworthy information quickly. Whether it’s an earthquake, a pandemic or some other crisis, people have questions about finding shelter, how to stay safe or where to get medical care. Government agencies are among the first to help out in a crisis, so providing good communication is paramount for government. Marc Mancher is a principal at Deloitte Consulting, where he founded and continues to lead the federal, state, local, and ...
Feb 14, 2023•19 min•Season 3Ep. 233
Data presented at a meeting of the Federal Salary Council in November Indicates that the gap between the wages of federal employees and their private sector counterparts is once again widening. With this as a backdrop, it’s easy to wonder what, if not pay, keeps public servants in their jobs. Dr. Gordon Abner is an assistant professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He has a post on our site headlined “What Keeps Public Employees In Their Jobs? It’s Not ...
Feb 13, 2023•16 min•Season 3Ep. 232
The federal government, through a variety of grants, purchases and other avenues, spends trillions of dollars each year. Oversight of that spending can be spotty, whether from agencies themselves, from oversight bodies like inspector general offices or from Congress. The Project on Government Oversight recently posted a report outlining 13 issues that policymakers can tackle to increase efficacy and oversight in government. Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette is a Government Affairs Manager at the Project on...
Feb 10, 2023•23 min•Season 3Ep. 231
The digital revolution of the last few decades has moved and evolved at a pace unseen. As such, the workforce has had to evolve with the pace of tech. Many hiring managers need to find candidates with specific digital skills that may not be available. Jeff Campbell is Senior Vice President & Chief Government Strategy Officer for Government Affairs and Public Policy at Cisco. He joined the podcast to discuss the digital skills shortage in the U.S.
Feb 09, 2023•13 min•Season 3Ep. 230
President Joe Biden gave his Second State of the Union address on Tuesday night , touting his economic record as president, proposing programs supporting veterans and mental health and declaring that “Today, COVID no longer controls our lives.” On Tuesday night after the speech, GovExec Daily recorded live with GovExec reporter Courtney Bublé, GovExec Daily's Adam Butler and GovExec editor at large Tom Shoop to discuss Biden’s address. *** Follow GovExec on Twitter! https://twitter.com/govexec...
Feb 08, 2023•35 min•Season 3Ep. 229
Wait times for government customer service is an issue nearly all Americans can relate to. The Biden administration has made improving the customer experience a part of its agenda, so using new technologies like artificial intelligence can be part of the solution. James Isaacs is President of Cyara, a customer service assurance platform. He joined the podcast to discuss how government can use artificial intelligence to improve customer service. *** Follow GovExec on Twitter! https://twitter.com/...
Feb 07, 2023•21 min•Season 3Ep. 228
Millions of federal employees, military members and retirees are enrolled in the Thrift Savings Plan. This past June, the TSP moved to the new recordkeeper vendor Accenture, touting better security and functionality for these users. Those same users reported many problems with the recordkeeper transition, including excessive customer service wait times and issues with usability. While there have been improvements, the transition was a slog and there are still outstanding issues. Abraham Grungold...
Feb 06, 2023•19 min•Season 3Ep. 227
Not every work situation is perfect, for sure, but there is a lot that we can do to improve our own situations. Toxic managers and toxic systems can affect employees negatively and make the work experience far worse. There are tactics and strategies, however, that people can use to improve their own experiences, even in bad situations at work. Dr. Richard Orbé-Austin is one of the authors of the workbook Y our Unstoppable Greatness: Break Free from Impostor Syndrome, Cultivate Your Agency, and A...
Feb 03, 2023•18 min•Season 3Ep. 226
During a conference last week in Texas, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, said in her remarks that over-classification is a problem that ”undermines critical democratic objectives.” Her comments come as two special counsels have been assigned by the Justice Department to examine the mishandling of classified documents by President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. GovExec reporter Courtney Bublé is covering the classification story and Haines’ comments regarding classifi...
Feb 02, 2023•19 min•Season 3Ep. 225
The federal government is expecting to run up against a default on its debt as soon as this spring, as Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress in January. While Congress has not yet raised the debt limit, as has been customary, some federal employees are understandably asking how this situation might affect their pay and benefits. Eric Katz is covering the debt ceiling story. He joined the podcast to talk about the negotiations and how the debt limit will affect federal employee...
Feb 01, 2023•23 min•Season 3Ep. 224
The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted much of the government workforce to a remote work reality over the last few years. Agency officials need to learn how to balance remote work in whatever constitutes the new normal that the U.S. work culture is settling into. Workers love working remotely, so how can that be leveraged for human capital strategy? Bob Westbrooks is the former Executive Director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, an independent committee within the Council of the Ins...
Jan 31, 2023•24 min•Season 3Ep. 223
Most Americans and most elected officials agree that waste, fraud and abuse of government programs are bad things. But, agreement on defining and measuring these common problems does not come as easily. With COVID-19 relief money moving around via the levels of government over the last three years, fraud has once again come into the public consciousness. As such, the Government Accountability Office recently released two reports on fraud measurement and, specifically, unemployment fraud numbers ...
Jan 30, 2023•22 min•Season 3Ep. 222
The United States Treasury Department reached the $31.3 trillion debt ceiling last week, prompting the department to implement “extraordinary measures” to buy more time until a default on the government’s obligations. The new Republican-led House of Representatives has vowed to cut spending in connection to the debt limit, but has not committed yet to raise the debt limit, as has been standard. Doug Criscitello is a former official with the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Managemen...
Jan 26, 2023•20 min•Season 3Ep. 221
The three years of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the United States’ scant public health infrastructure. The federal system’s flaws have been on display, with inconsistent guidelines and lawsuits between federal, state and local governments, all aided by a media environment that is deeply divided by tribalism. The Center for Strategic and International Studies recently put forward a report titled Building the CDC the Country Needs with recommendations for modernizing the agency, but the repor...
Jan 25, 2023•40 min•Season 3Ep. 220
Six years ago, the election of Donald Trump as president sparked a wave of federal employees becoming dues-paying union members. In the years of Trump’s presidency, the White House brought forward a plan to merge OPM and GSA, stepped up rhetoric about “deep state bureaucrats” and rolled out a series of executive orders making it easier to fire federal workers and clamping down on unions’ role at federal agencies. It has been, in short, a roller coaster. Senior reporter Erich Wagner is the report...
Jan 24, 2023•19 min•Season 3Ep. 219
Another year of the COVID-19 pandemic has come and gone, with a healthy dollop of inflation and economic uncertainty added. Women continue to be affected by the economic atmosphere in the United States and the world. In the wake of this, the National Women’s Business Council, a nonpartisan federal advisory council, recently released its annual report. As women business owners and entrepreneurs move with the economic changes, the report has recommendations for 2023 and the years ahead. Jaime Glos...
Jan 23, 2023•31 min•Season 3Ep. 218
Hiring and retaining workers are challenges every organization has to face, but a new proposed rule may further complicate the process. Recently, the Federal Trade Commission has proposed a rule that would ban noncompete provisions as well as some training repayment agreements. While such a ban could expand the pool of potential employees to hire, it could also severely hurt retention. Michael Fallings is the Managing Partner of Tully Rinckey PLLC’s Austin office, where focuses on federal sector...
Jan 20, 2023•11 min•Season 3Ep. 217
As its first legislative act in the 118th Congress, the House approved a repeal of $71 billion in IRS funding. Money and staffing for the tax agency have been key points of contention in Congress over the last few decades, resulting in longer wait times for anyone seeking customer service from the agency. After last year's funding promises and a recent bill introduced to defund the IRS entirely, the question of the efficacy of the tax agency is once again at the front of the national conversatio...
Jan 19, 2023•20 min•Season 3Ep. 216
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into the spotlight like it has not been before. The agency’s role in messaging, guidance and research has been criticized across the political spectrum and across academia, politics and analysis. Recently, the Center for Strategic and International Studies released a report titled Building the CDC the Country Needs with recommendations for modernizing the agency. Courtney Bublé is a reporter here at GovExec. She join...
Jan 18, 2023•13 min•Season 3Ep. 15
Modernization has been a keyword for agencies throughout government in the 21st century. Paper records are a big part of the digitization effort, but what if your agency’s role is to be a steward of the preservation and documentation of government and historical records? In the case of the national archives and records administration, it means that the agency has an extra responsibility to make its work accessible to the public and be responsible in its digital record preservation of records. As...
Jan 17, 2023•26 min•Season 3Ep. 214
While critics allege that federal civil service protections exist to protect lazy or useless bureaucrats, the professional civil service does the actual work of administration of public policy programs. In recent years, rhetoric that focuses on the deconstruction of the administrative state has had a deleterious effect on the civil service and government. But, the Biden administration has used its time to rebuild government and confidence in governing, perhaps leaving room for optimism. In the s...
Jan 13, 2023•18 min•Season 3Ep. 213
