Presidential memorandum on return to in-person work: Implications for the federal workforce

This study was designed to find out the influence of workers’ attitude towards time and work on perceived job performance in private and public sectors. One hundred and eighty (180) workers drawn from five (5) different organizations, three (3) from private sector and two (2) from public sector in Ado-Ekiti and Ibadan metropolis were used as samples. Three instruments were used namely Time Attitude Scale (TAS) to measure the attitude of workers toward time; Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) to measure job satisfaction which represents workers attitude towards work; and the perceived Job Performance Scale (JPS) to measure workers characteristic, tendencies to work long and hard as means of achieving success rather than their activity during a specific period. T-test for independent groups and regression analysis were employed in analyzing the data collected. Five hypotheses were tested and results shows that there is no significant difference in the attitude of workers towards time in private and public sectors; that there is a significant difference in the attitude of workers towards work in private and public sectors; that there is no significant difference in workers perceived job performance in both private and public sectors; that there is a significant joint influence of workers’ attitude towards time and work on perceived job performance in the private sector, there is also a significant independent influence of workers attitude towards time on perceived job performance in the private sector but there is no significant independent influence of workers attitude towards work on perceived job performance in the private sector. It was also found that there is no significant joint and independent influence of workers’ attitude towards time and work on perceived job performance in the public sector.

The growing acceptance of digital technology along with the need to understand complex data sets has resulted in a significant increase in the number of Dashboards being used across the federal government. However, it can be difficult for practitioners to bridge the gap between what is proposed in theory and how these methods can be applied in practice. In this perspective piece, as a Personnel Psychologist with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), I present my assessment of how Dashboards are being used and their potential as social media tools within this agency and across the federal government. My office leads and manages government-wide diversity and inclusion (D&I) efforts within OPM. Known around the office as the “data guru,” I am responsible for developing government-wide D&I data metrics. I speak regularly with federal employees about the importance of measureable outcomes for diversity and inclusion programs and firmly believe that D&I metrics must be accessible not only to analysts but also to senior leadership through effective analysis and data visualization. In an effort to help practitioners bridge the gap between theory and practice, this piece provides a mix of insights and suggested best practices taken from my experience working with Dashboards. While all government employees have their own individual and unique experiences that influence their work style and preferred tools, it is useful to be aware of others’ experience to avoid some of their missteps and build on their successes. I hope this experience working with Dashboards can provide such insight into a practitioner’s perspective on Dashboards as social media tools.

It is difficult to comprehend that a century ago, the public service was almost exclusively a male domain. When a member of the Civil Service Commission in 1894 asked the Secretary of the Interior whether a woman who had successfully passed the examination could be appointed to the high-paid position of pension examiner, the answer was a curt No (Aron, 1987). Of course, overt discrimination in the federal government has been Illegal since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The progress made by women in terms of representation has been impressive: women now hold nearly half of the white-collar jobs in the executive branch. Meanwhile, the focus of those opposed to gender discrimination has shifted to jobs in the upper levels of government, since only about one in four supervisors and one in ten executives in the federal bureaucracy are women (Office of Personnel Management, 1991). Such statistics suggest that while employment may no longer be denied to women based on sex alone, some form of discrimination continues to prevent women from moving into supervisory and management positions. During the 1980s, the term was coined to describe the subtle barriers that block the advancement of women (and minorities). Two dimensions of the glass ceiling in the federal government have come to light: the nature of barriers that limit women's advancement, and women's own perception of their treatment in the workplace. The former must be understood before steps can be taken to achieve the full representation of women in senior level jobs. The latter must also be understood because even perceptions of disparate treatment can have an adverse impact on women and the organizations for which they work. My analysis will be based on a unique set compiled during 1991 and 1992 by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Under its statutory authority to oversee merit systems and ensure that federal employees, among other things, are being promoted based on merit alone, MSPB undertook a study to determine whether a glass ceiling does exist in the federal government. The analysis was based on three sources of information: hard data collected on federal employees and maintained in a Central Personnel Data File (CPDF) by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM); focus groups of mid- and senior-level federal employees; and a written governmentwide survey of federal employees (Merit Systems Protection Board, 1992). The MSPB study was sensitive to the complexities of the issues inherent in identifying barriers to the advancement of women. Any single statistic may be interpreted in more than one way. For example, is the poor representation of women in senior level jobs a result of fewer qualified women, less ambition on the part of women, or have women indeed faced discriminatory treatment? The creation of a large set that included both quantitative and qualitative about men's and women's career advancement in the federal civil service was designed to create as comprehensive a research base as possible to assess the glass ceiling at the federal level. The use of multiple sources of had also proven successful for a Canadian task force that was charged by the Canadian Public Service Commission with identifying barriers to the advancement of women in that country's civil service (Beneath the Veneer, 1990). Previous Research Most of the previous academic research related to career advancement in the federal sector has focused on either factors such as age, education, and length of service or on the differences in the attitudes and experiences of men and women. The former analyses have generally relied on from the Central Personnel Data File (CPDF) on federal employees in order to determine the extent to which salary or promotion rate differences between women and men can be explained by differences in the human capital. Generally, these studies have not ruled out the existence of discrimination, because they did not find that the differences in human capital fully explained the variance in men's and women's advancement (Long, 1976; Borjas, 1978; Taylor, 1979; Lewis, 1986a, 1986b, 1986c, 1987). …

Increasing interest towards mutual funds has significantly attracted attentions of the researchers, investors in mutual fund scheme. Similarly, investment opportunities and interest towards mutual funds have also increased in Pakistan. Therefore, the aim of the research was to empirically analyse and understand the changes in performance of private and public sector of Pakistan Mutual fund. For conducting this research, researcher has relied on secondary quantitative information, and data has been derived from MUFAP on 1 private company (i.e. Al Meezan Investment Management Limited) and 1 public company (i.e. ABL Cash Fund). For data analysis, statistical tools including correlation, and T-test were used through using SPSS software. Findings show that there is a significance difference in performance of both private and public sector. As NAV and return in private sector is found to be statistically different from public sector. Additionally, risk in mutual fund of private sector is also found to be statistically different from public sector. Further, findings in the current research have also shows a negative association between return and risk of both private and public mutual funds. Findings in the current research can be used to fill a gap in previous studies. Further, findings in the current research can also be used in future studies through increasing sample size, and other factors. Moreover, it can also be used for cross countries, companies, and region.

In the traditional performance appraisal process at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), supervisors and subordinates develop a work plan at the beginning of the performance cycle, the subordinate carries out the work plan, the supervisor provides a midcycle review, and, at the end of the cycle, the supervisor provides feedback indicating how well the subordinate has fulfilled his or her work plan. However, with an increased emphasis on Total Quality Management (TQM), teamwork, and customer service, the supervisor may not have all of the information needed to provide complete and accurate feedback to the subordinate. If the individual is a manager who supervises others, these subordinates may be the best source of information on delegation, communication, and leadership skills. Peers may be in the best position to provide feedback on skills such as working with others, decision-making and technical capability. Finally, customers may be the best source of input on quality of work and service orientation. For these reasons, many organizations in the private and public sectors are incorporating information collected from multiple sources (supervisors, subordinates, peers, and customers) into the performance appraisal process. This fact was recognized by a group of Career Entry Group (CEG) executives within OPM who asked the Office of Personnel Research and Development (PRD) to draft a proposal for incorporating subordinate, peer, and customer feedback into CEG's performance appraisal process. This paper presents the recommendations that were made for incorporating other sources of feedback into the performance appraisal process. The goal of the project was to improve the quality of information CEG employees receive about their job performance and, ultimately, to enhance the quality culture and level of employee involvement within CEG. The next section outlines, in more detail, the research process used to develop the recommendations, and is followed by a brief description of the current performance appraisal process used in CEG. Recommendations are presented in the final section of the paper. The paper also contains two appendices that provide more detail on the information collected from the research literature and from interviews with individuals in other public and private sector organizations. Method Data were collected from multiple sources, allowing for a number of different perspectives to be taken into consideration in the development of the recommendations. The data sources examined included: * a review of the appropriate research literature. This included examining studies where subordinate, peer, or customer ratings had been used either in a research or organizational setting. Both technical articles and how-to articles were included in the review; * telephone interviews with members of private and public sector organizations that have used subordinate, peer, or customer feedback in the performance appraisal process. Personnel Research and Development (PRD) psychologists identified a list of organizations conducting programs of this sort and contacted them first. Additional contacts were identified in these initial interviews. The telephone interviews were conducted by a Personnel Research Psychologist and two managers in PRD. The interviews focused on the nature of the process in the organizations; who is providing feedback data; what areas of performance are being assessed; how data are collected, analyzed, and reported to employees; and how the feedback data are used; * an examination of the regulations and practices related to performance appraisal in the federal government; * focus groups and interviews with CEG management and employees. During the focus groups, participants were asked about the strengths and weaknesses of the current performance appraisal process, reactions to incorporating subordinate, peer, and customer feedback into the appraisal process, and, if implemented, how such a process could work best. …

The public sector performance can be judged through the ability to deliver expected service to residents within the community. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of leadership style and employee-perceived service quality on perceived public health sector performance. Also, the study sought to understand whether procurement practices mediate the effect of leadership style on perceived service quality. A cross-sectional survey of 380 public health sector employees was conducted in Mashonaland central Province in Zimbabwe between September and October 2022. Structural equation modelling (SEM) in AMOS Version 25 was employed to test research hypotheses. The study established that both leadership style and perceived service quality influence public health sector performance. The study further concluded that procurement practices partially mediate the influence of leadership style on perceived service quality. Also, the study established that employee-perceived service quality partially mediate the influence of procurement practices on perceived public health sector performance. Finally, the study found out that employee-perceived service quality partially mediate the influence of leadership style on perceived public health sector performance.

The government of Bangladesh recognizes public-private partnerships (PPPs) as a strong catalyst for implementing infrastructure projects. The study conducted to assess the performance of the public sector and measure the cost of service with service quality in infrastructure projects under PPP. The survey focused on 35 government and nongovernment officials from PPP implementing agencies and academicians using a structured questionnaire. The performance of the public sector was assessed with 16 selected indicators. Among them Performances of the public sector in case of land acquisition for infrastructure, exemption of taxes and import duties, linked project, addressing socioeconomic issues were good enough. The findings of the study also revealed that the public sector’s performances in coordination, environmental relationship and communications, interorganizational trust and satisfaction level of the private sector are low. Besides this cost of providing service under PPP projects are increases but customers are satisfied with the higher paid services. Considering the views that starting PPP with weak coordination, lower inter-organizational trust, lower satisfaction level of the private sector, the Government of Bangladesh should take initiative for improving trust through open dialogue with the private sector and through developing a social audit model for PPP implementation.

Goals, organizational change, advocacy, diversity literacy, and sustainability: A checklist for diversity in cardiothoracic surgery training programs

This study aims to adopt the balanced scorecard approach to improve the measurement and evaluating of human resources performance in the USA public sector. We use a balanced scorecard approach in terms of innovation, learning and growth for employees feeling to contribute to the governmental agency ends. Innovation, learning and growth may represent constitutive elements of organizational strategies value oriented. In this study we have built a set of key performance drivers drawn by a sample of American public employees during 2010. The United States are the first country introducing public management reform programs fostering continuous attention on human resources performances. The study is a research desk. Data are collected by United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) with regard to last Federal Employees Viewpoint Survey conducted in 2010 and concern employees of every Federal agencies which responded to the survey. The results show that the employee’s perception of the organization performance seems to be positively judged.

Health care in China: The role of non-government providers

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to examine and compare the performance of architects with respect to clients' rating of importance over a set of performance criteria in Nigerian public and private sector building projects.Design/methodology/approachA survey involving clients from both public and private sectors of recently completed building projects in Nigeria was undertaken. Data analysis includes comparing similarities and differences using standardised ratio, Mann Whitney U and Wilcoxon tests.FindingsThe results show that private sector clients are likely to be more concerned with cost, while public sector clients are more concerned with buildability of design. A total of 79 per cent of the criteria were similarly selected by both sectors with respect to importance of the criteria. Architects need to improve their performance significantly in about 82 per cent of the whole set of 28 criteria. The architects performed better in the public sector than the private sector and 14 per cent of the criteria were indicated as being statistically different in terms of architects' performance.Originality/valueThe results provide feedback which can be incorporated in architects' future projects so as to ensure successful project implementation in the building delivery process.

The Impact of Veterans' Preference on the Composition and Quality of the Federal Civil Service

On March 8, 1997, President Clinton announced the federal government's Welfare‐to‐Work Initiative, a major effort to provide job opportunities for welfare recipients in federal agencies. Using data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's Central Personnel Data File, the authors compare differences in job‐retention outcomes for Welfare‐to‐Work employees and similar non–Welfare‐to‐Work employees in federal agencies. This approach provides an innovative way to measure job‐retention by comparing job‐retention outcomes of Welfare‐to‐Work employees against non–Welfare‐to‐Work employees. The findings suggest that Welfare‐to‐Work employees have greater odds of retaining their jobs than non–Welfare‐to‐Work employees. The results provide useful insights into the dynamics of job retention among welfare recipients who are hired into federal‐sector employment.

Our increasingly diverse work force struggles to manage child care, elder care, emergencies, and other personal commitments, while working conditions become ever more important. The federal government must maintain its status and keep the workplace a humane and healthy place (National Performance Review, 1993; 84). The current bipartisan concern for the changing work needs of the American is reflected in Vice-President Gore's National Performance Review. In particular, the increasing presence of mothers in the work force challenges both organizations and employees to find new ways to balance work and nonwork priorities. In 1960, fewer than 19 percent of women with children under 6 years old, and 39 percent of women with children between 6 and 17 years were in the work force. By 1990, the numbers had dramatically risen to 60 percent and 75 percent, respectively (General Accounting Office, 1992; 10). The federal government faces an especially difficult challenge in striking a balance between work and nonwork responsibilities because women's share of the federal work force increased faster than women's share of the private sector work force between 1976 and 1990 (Guy, 1993; 279). Because many women have heavy responsibilities home once the work day is through (Hochschild, 1989), want changes on the job that allow them an acceptable balance between work and life. In addition, because the federal government is the largest employer in the United States, it often serves as a model for private and other public sector employers. A growing number of employers have responded to the changing nature of the work force by offering flexible work schedules, on-site child care, more flexible leave policies, and other benefits. In the past, most employees did not need (or expect) help from employers to enable them to meet their responsibilities. Most workers were men who could concentrate on work because they had support systems home, usually a wife and family (Romzek, 1991; 228). With an increase in the number of two-career families, responsibilities have begun to overlap with work responsibilities. To adjust to these changes, personnel managers will need to rethink how approach their jobs generally and how approach recruitment and retention in particular. Personnel managers will need to change the expectations that have about employees adjusting to the work setting and vice versa. And will have to increase the flexibility of the organization's structure to accommodate new expectations employees have regarding work and nonwork (Romzek, 1991; 232). This article analyzes a large survey of federal employees to assess the impact of government-provided accommodations on federal employees' satisfaction with their work/family balance and their jobs. Our study addresses the following questions. First, do the federal service's family-friendly policies, such as on-site child and flexible work schedules, make for a happier work force? Do these policies affect some employees more than others? Second, which employees are more satisfied with their work/family balance? Third, how important is satisfaction with work/family balance to job satisfaction? Child Care in the Federal Government Although the federal government has more child facilities today than ever before, at present the U.S. has no general policy on child care (Suntrup, 1989; 55). Before 1985, on-site child facilities were not readily available in the federal government. In 1985, Congress passed the Trible amendment(1) which allows agencies to spend appropriated funds to provide space and services for child facilities for federal employees (General Accounting Office, 1992; 86). While the child situation was improved, the costs were still too high for many federal workers to afford (General Accounting Office, 1992; 87). Thus, in 1987, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) alerted agencies to the need for affordable child and dependent in the federal government. …

Social capital, citizen participation in public administration, and public sector performance in Thailand