Starting in 2013 newly hired FERS employee’s retirement contributions will increase from .8 percent to 3.1 percent of salary. Originally this was intended to apply to all FERS employees. There is another vote pending in the house that proposes increasing all employees’ contributions by 1.5 percent that will be phased in over a three yearRead… Read more »
Have you been wondering if attending a job fair is worth your time? Or worse, have you been to one and felt it was useless? Job Fairs have a place in your job search plan – but only if you know how to work them effectively. And far too many attendees do not, they justRead… Read more »
A few years ago a colleague I had met through social media asked me to be part of an initial group of recruiters who were putting on an event here in DC. The event was to be geared for recruiters by recruiters talking about the challenges here in the Washington DC area. Many of usRead… Read more »
I’m quoted in this AOL Government article on citizen participation. The story makes the point that you can have a much bigger impact in your community than at the federal level. I’ve seen that in DC (the city, not the metaphor), where local issues are frequently debated to death. For example, the ten-year long struggleRead… Read more »
To have a healthy work environment, a culture of mutual respect must be maintained. For a manager, maintaining a healthy work environment can be a daunting task. About 6 months ago Keith Zakheim, President at a New Jersey PR firm, attempted to do just that, when he threatened to fire the next employee that doesn’tRead… Read more »
[If you do not wish to receive my free writings, email [email protected]] Agenda: 1) Link to an Internet Radio Interview with the Stress Doc Click here: The Stress Doc Mark Gorkin MSW LICSW 03/09 by H2O Netwo | Blog Talk Radio or http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theh2onetwork/2012/03/10/the-stress-doc-mark-gorkin-msw-licsw and 2) New essay: Burn-in, Burnout, and Workplace Griefbusting: Part I DiscoveringRead… Read more »
A garment worker in India, who is working in an urban factory, thinks “I’ve moved to the city to work here and earn a living for my family, and now I can’t survive on these wages.” The worker’s employer, a garment manufacturer, thinks, “I’m getting pinched by my buyer. My profit margins are absurdly thinRead… Read more »
Check out my new article at OhMyGov on writing performance standards: http://ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/archive/2012/03/15/improving-government-performance-part-four.aspx
Here’s an interesting article on productivity and overtime that I think is worthwhile reading. . . Only if I could convince my boss that this is true. “Why We Have to Go Back to a 40-Hour Work Week to Keep Our Sanity” by Sara Robinson
In government, we are the masters of overcomplication. We setup committees, author manuals, and track changes until we’re blue in the face. We write information memoranda, action memoranda, and seek an endless list of clearances for the back pages of each. You would think our routinized collaboration would yield an organizational ethos of communication, mutualRead… Read more »