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Health and retirement benefits are a key reason why employees join and stay with the federal government, according to survey data released last week by the Office of Personnel Management. 

Specifically, more than two-thirds of those surveyed said that the availability of Federal Employees Health Benefits, the Thrift Savings Plan and the retirement annuity greatly or moderately influenced their decision to take a federal job. Similarly, more than three-quarters of employees reported that the trio of benefit programs influenced their decision to remain in a government job. 

“It is clear that these major benefit programs have an impact on both recruiting and retaining talent in the federal government, making it critical to continuously improve these benefits to meet employee needs,” the report authors wrote. 

Approximately 20,600 federal workers in 2023 completed the Federal Employee Benefits Survey, which OPM conducts every other year. The agency weighted the resulting data to ensure it is representative of the overall federal workforce. 

Ninety percent or more of respondents said that the availability of TSP, the retirement annuity, retiree health benefits and FEHB were important or extremely important to them. 

Likewise, 94% reported that FEHB meets their needs to a great or moderate extent while 90% said the same for TSP. Regarding value ratings, 66% responded that FEHB was an excellent or good value and 82% agreed for TSP. 

The report also noted that, of federal employees who reported that paid parental leave greatly influenced their decision to accept a federal job, 68% were in the millennial or Gen Z groups. 

“The Biden-Harris administration has strengthened benefits for our employees and their families and this year’s FEBS is a positive sign we’re on the right track,” said OPM Acting Director Rob Shriver in a statement. “At OPM, we will continue to support all of our workers, ensuring the federal government remains a model employer to attract and retain the nation’s top talent.”  

More respondents said they did not know if they were enrolled in the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program, 21%, than reported that they were a participant, 9%. The program helps pay for care costs when enrollees, such as those with Alzheimer’s disease, need assistance with everyday activities. 

Applications for coverage under the program were suspended in late 2022, but interestingly 51% of employees, a 10% increase from 2021, said the program’s availability was important or extremely important to them. 

Other notable findings include:

• 63% of respondents agreed that additional fertility benefits should be provided through private companies at a discounted rate if their FEHB plan doesn’t adequately cover their needs. Congressional Democrats have been pushing to expand federal employee access to in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technologies. 
• 79% said they were not aware that FEHB plans cover prescription medications to treat obesity, a requirement that took effect in 2023. 
• 72% of employees who reported that they or a family member sought gender-affirming care or services said they were able to receive it. Republicans have increasingly tried to restrict access to gender-affirming care, particularly for teenagers.

Author, consultant and speaker Andy Fry joins host Mark Amtower on this week’s Amtower Off Center for a discussion of two of Fry’s books: The Consultant’s Code and The Trust Paradigm.

Topics discussed include:

• The 4 pillars of consulting (intelligence, effort, likeability and intent) with a brief dive into each pillar.
• Why trust is key, including
• Why trust is important (more reasons than you might think)
• The components of trust
• The directions of trust

This is a wide ranging discussion that is important to anyone in business, not just consultants.

Federal Air Marshals are overworked and leaving the agency at an alarming rate, a representative for the workforce told Congress on Tuesday, and they are seeking a new agency to house them. 

The marshals are always on call and often have to work in 20-hour shifts, John Casaretti, president of the Air Marshal Association told a panel of the House Homeland Security Committee, leading to low morale throughout the workforce. Exacerbating the issue, he said, are the lack of details employees are given on why they are sent on flights and the general feeling the law enforcement personnel serve no purpose on them. 

The marshals are pushing the Transportation Security Administration, their parent agency, to use more data and intelligence for determining when to place them on flights. Casaretti cautioned, however, TSA’s mission does not align with that of the Federal Air Marshals Service. Passenger screening is more regulatory than law enforcement in nature, he argued, and therefore not well suited to oversee the marshals. 

“I think we need to be out of the bureaucratic agency we find ourselves in to just be an arm of that, and we need to be released to do the law enforcement work we all signed up to do,” Casaretti said. 

Asked to where FAMS should be relocated, he said Congress would have the best judgment to make that determination but floated the Transportation Department or elsewhere within the Homeland Security Department as possibilities. 

Tina Won Sherman, the Government Accountability Office’s director for homeland security and justice, noted that while TSA has addressed many of the issues GAO has raised in recent years, it still does not have a firm grasp of the efficacy of its efforts.

“It’s been challenging and difficult to understand FAMS’ and air marshals’ ability to be effective as an aviation security countermeasure,” Sherman said. 

The issues are starting to take a toll. FAMs expect a “demanding job,” Casaretti said, but do not sign up to be “on call without compensation” or to “work punishing schedules.” The compounding issues have brought some Air Marshals to a breaking point, as he noted many of his colleagues have taken their own lives or seen their families fall apart. 

“You’re working on constant sleep deprivation and your circadian rhythm is knocked out of whack,” he said. 

Members of the Transportation and Maritime Security Subcommittee that hosted Tuesday’s hearing sympathized with the issues the witnesses presented and expressed concern about the impact on employee retention. 

“This panel especially knows the nature of the job includes frequent travel and long hours, and we know that it can take a toll on the morale and mental health of our Federal Air Marshals,” said Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y. 

Casaretti noted that most of the marshals that joined the agency when TSA was stood up following the September 11th attacks have now retired. 

“We suffered an incredible brain drain,” he said, while cautioning that new hires are receiving inadequate training.

The FBI raided the Reston, Va., headquarters of IT, software and cybersecurity services provider Carahsoft Technology Corp. on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The raid was conducted sometime Tuesday morning, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified due to the matter’s sensitivity.

“We can confirm that the FBI conducted court-authorized law enforcement activity on Sunset Hills Road this morning. We decline to comment further,” an FBI spokesperson said in a statement.

Carahsoft is a privately held provider of IT services and software to the public sector. It has secured billions of dollars in contracts with agencies like the Social Security Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Treasury, according to GovTribe, a federal market intelligence platform owned by Nextgov/FCW parent company GovExec.

Carahsoft President Craig Abod and a company spokesperson did not immediately return requests for comment.

Carahsoft employees were told the agents were there “as part of an investigation into a company with which Carahsoft has done business in the past” and that the company is fully cooperating and “operating business as usual,” according to an email sent by Abod and obtained by Nextgov /FCW.

Several notes and images of what appeared to be the raid were posted in a Reddit channel purportedly used by company employees. Nextgov/FCW could not immediately verify the contents of the images, though one appeared to show a group of FBI agents dressed in uniform walking through the office. Another image obtained separately by Nextgov/FCW showed a trio of FBI agents dressed in uniform walking into a building entrance.

This story is breaking and may be updated.

Editor’s note: Carahsoft is an advertising client of GovExec360.

The Office of Personnel Management on Monday extended and modified an authority that makes it easier for federal agencies to hire STEM, acquisitions and cybersecurity personnel. 

Direct hire authority is granted when there is a shortage of job candidates or significant hiring needs and speeds up the appointment process by eliminating procedures that rate and rank applicants. 

OPM renewed the authority for these positions through Dec. 31, 2028. The agency first issued this direct hire flexibility in 2018 and extended it in 2023. 

The authority also was amended to include criminal investigators, specifically ones with cybersecurity and IT expertise. 

This direct hire flexibility covers positions in general schedule classification and pay grade levels 11 through 15, which includes senior personnel. 

OPM in 2023 began permitting agencies to appoint individuals for up to 10 years in certain STEM-related positions in order to staff long-term projects that aren’t likely to become permanent. 

And the Biden administration earlier this year started to modify job requirements for most of the federal government’s IT and cyber workforce to focus on skills capabilities instead of educational attainment. 

Agencies also have used direct hire authority to bring on many employees focused on artificial intelligence.