Federal Daily - July 16, 2008
GAO: PBGC Needs to Explore Retention Alternatives
The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) needs to more fully explore available compensation
options to retain key agency personnel in the coming years, said a Government Accountability Office
(GAO) report. GAO looked at recruitment, retention, succession and strategic personnel policies at
PBGC, which employs 800 federal employees and about 1,500 private-sector employees. In recent years,
PBGC’s projected financial liabilities and workloads have increased greatly due to a large number
of pension plan terminations, said the report, released July 14. Although PBGC is making progress in
its human capital management, the corporation lacks a formal, comprehensive human capital plan that
integrates several critical components, such as work force planning and retention, GAO said. Furthermore,
PBGC should better explore compensation options as a way to retain senior leadership, the report said.
Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., urged PBGC to plug the staffing
holes. “The retirement of key staff over the next several years is a significant hurdle for PBGC,
especially at this time when the agency is on its way to reducing the $14 billion deficit,” Enzi
said. As of Sept. 30, 2007, PBGC projected an accumulated deficit of $14.1 billion for both its single-employer
and multi-employer insurance programs. PBGC is a federal corporation created under the 1974 Employee
Retirement Income Security Act. To see more, go to: www.senate.gov/~finance/press/Bpress/2008press/prb071408.pdf.
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OPM Urges Use of Telework, Alternate Work Schedules
In light of $4-a-gallon gasoline, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has begun urging federal
agencies to exercise employment flexibilities—including telework and alternative work schedules—to
cut down on employee commuting. “Many employees can perform at least some of their work functions
at their homes or at alternate worksites closer to their homes, eliminating or reducing the need to
commute,” said the July 7 memo by Nancy H. Kichak, associate director of the OPM Strategic Human
Resources Policy Division. “This will make a significant contribution toward helping employees
deal with the increased gasoline prices.” Flexible Work Schedules (FWS) consist of workdays with
core hours and flexible hours. Core hours are the designated period of the day when all employees must
be at work, OPM notes, while flexible hours are the part of the workday when employees may choose their
time of arrival and departure. FWS includes Flexitour, under which an employee is allowed to select
starting and stopping times within the flexible hours, and a gliding schedule in which an employee
may select a starting and stopping time each day, and may change starting and stopping times daily
within the established flexible hours. To see more, go to: www.chcoc.gov/Transmittals/TransmittalDetails.aspx?TransmittalId=1393.
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VA Announces 55 Awards to Bolster Homeless Assistance
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on July 14 announced it had made 55 awards to public and private
nonprofit organizations that assist homeless veterans. The awards, made under the VA’s Grant
and Per Diem Program (GPDP), went to 55 community-based organizations in 24 states. The awards will
pay for the addition of more than 1,000 transitional housing beds to the 9,400 beds already available
for homeless veterans via the GPDP, said VA Secretary James Peake. “These awards provide needed
resources to hard working, caring and compassionate people who provide one-on-one care and services
to our veterans every day in their own communities,” Peake said. VA has provided more than $350
million in grants and per diem payments since it initiated the GPDP in 1994. To see more, go to:
http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1527.
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