Human Resources

Weekly Round-up: January 20, 2012

Gadi Ben-Yehuda Department of Labor Launches App. The Department of Labor has released a smartphone app called Timesheet, reports Salon.com. The aim is to help wage-earners keep track of their own time for help in collecting the pay they are owed, and in documentation for dispute resolution. GSA Launches Social Media Class. Federal News RadioRead… Read more »

10 Ways to Turnaround a Dysfunctional Team

Eric Jackson as a regular contributor to Forbes Magazine writes some very interesting management articles. In addition to writing for Forbes, Jackson is the Founder and Managing Member of Ironfire Capital LLC and he has completed his Ph.D. in the Management Department at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York, with aRead… Read more »

VIDEO: How to Write a Federal Resume

Kathryn Troutman is the expert when it comes to writing resumes for Federal job announcements. Here’s a GREAT video she produced on “How to Write a Federal Resume”. While it’s focus is on assisting veterans, the guidance Kathryn offers is universal! She gives excellent examples of the GOOD, the BAD, and the UGLY resumes andRead… Read more »

Social media and Australian public servants – Online participation not wanted?

Hi Govloopers – How does this compare to the situation in the United States or Canada? What is your reaction to this? Read an interesting piece by Markus Manhheim, Public Service Reporter, Canberra Times – PS on notice over social media use. I know that central agencies in the public sector do not deliberately issueRead… Read more »

Proposed Discipline Letters: Is Less More?

Recently Bill Wiley wrote an article for the Federal Employment Law Training Group (FELTG, LLC) newsletter titled It’s All About Size. This article was in direct response to a question from a reader regarding the amount of detail necessary in a proposed discipline letter. Apparently, in this reader’s office, there were two distinct opinions: TeamRead… Read more »

A Tool To Improve Management Practices

Management Practices Improvement Diagnostic From: Michael VanBruaene www.advancingyourorganization.com We have developed a diagnostic tool that is an approach for assessing and improving management practices in your organization. This improvement diagnostic tool that you can use, instead of hiring a consultant, provides a comprehensive approach for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of management practices; and thenRead… Read more »

I work in HR at the Department of Global Competitiveness.

Could this be you? Keep reading. In an effort to streamline government, the White House announced Friday their intent to consolidate federal agencies and offices with interconnected missions, including: Department of Commerce’s business and trade functions Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Small Business Administration Export-Import Bank Overseas Private Investment Corporation U.S. Trade and DevelopmentRead… Read more »

Everyone Wants to Manage Us but No One Wants to Work Here!

According to the January 16th article in FedSmith titled Debating the Cost of Federal Employees, “Recent reports in the media … have sparked a debate about whether or not federal employees are overpaid at a time when the federal deficit is soaring. Federal employee unions contend that federal employees are substantially underpaid, whereas others argueRead… Read more »

Building the Better Burger: Cover Letters

We’ve done all the necessary preparation and have our philosophy of building the better burger. Here’s the structure I suggest for your cover letter (and I like using block paragraph format–saves space and looks cleaner): Your street address (notice your name is not here) Your City, State and Zip [one space] Date [one space] ContactsRead… Read more »

5 actions human services agencies should take now to make the most of the ACA

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will expand health coverage in the United States by more than 35 million people. This expansion requires states to take a fresh look at eligibility and customer service operations, and develop new business processes for interacting with stakeholders. Existing IT systems are outdated, and under-resourced state agencies are challenged byRead… Read more »