In remarks at a press conference announcing the white paper, SEA President Carol A. Bonosaro said, "We recognize that the paper we are releasing today will join a hefty set of documents from a number of good government groups, all seeking to advise the next Administration on how best to govern. We believe that our advice is critical - because it provides a foundation for success that is rooted in how to best utilize the critical human resource represented by the career Federal executive service.

"As the Senior Executives Association looked ahead to this year, we were focused on two major issues - restoring career leadership and reforming the Senior Executive Service pay and performance management system. The latter is especially important in view of the large number of career executives eligible to retire and the persistent reports of many talented and able potential applicants being dissuaded from aspiring to the SES positions which will be vacated.

"The foundation of this paper, however, rests on the cardinal role of the career Senior Executive - that of serving any and every Administration to the very best of his or her ability without regard to personal political beliefs. Put another way, the career executive is essential to the success of the political appointee(s) with whom he or she works.

"Therefore, we believe it important to also outline the steps which should be taken to facilitate the transition and contribute to the Obama Administration's ability to achieve its objectives. While the career executive/political appointee interface typically functions well, a substantial amount of time can elapse before that occurs in a given relationship or in a new Administration. It is in everyone's interest to minimize the time required for the career-political team to function successfully.

"At the time we started this project, few could imagine the huge challenges that would be faced by the next Administration. These challenges have made the message of this paper even more urgent. The Association looks forward to the 44th President and his Administration considering our recommendations carefully. We would also welcome an opportunity to work together to develop an effective partnership with the career executive corps, one that will better enable effectively addressing the issues confronting the nation."

Among the recommendations for action during the transition are:

• Placing knowledgeable former career executives on the transition teams assembled for departments and agencies;
• Naming high-performing career executives to jobs that have become the province of political appointees, namely Assistant Secretaries for Administration and other key positions that require experience and longevity to accomplish long term agendas such as energy policy;
• Cutting the number of appointed positions substantially and reducing the political layers which have multiplied over the years; and
• Developing a plan for a single, clear focus on the government's most valuable human resource, the career executive corps.

Recommendations for action once in office include:

•  Meeting early in the first months with the career executive corps to send a signal of the Administration's view of the career corps as partners in meeting its key goals;
• Ensuring that political appointees are fully briefed on the value and operation of the career executive corps; and
• Directing agency political leadership to schedule, early in the term, focused, intensive meetings with their career executives to establish working relations and share policy and management goals.

Finally, recommendations for action during the term of the Administration include:

• To enhance communication and recognition, scheduling an annual Presidential address to career executive leaders at Constitution Hall, as well as the appearance of the President or the Vice President at the SEA banquet held each April in honor of the Presidential Distinguished Rank Executives;
• A series of administrative actions to restore career leadership, including requiring a pre-appointment review for all appointments of Schedule C and noncareer SES employees to competitive service positions (in contrast to the current requirement for such review commencing June 1 of an election year); and
• Support for legislation 1) to improve the SES "pay for performance" system and address pay compression, 2) to restore career leadership, and 3) to authorize part-time employment for retired executives with no reduction in annuity to offset the impending massive loss of experience and institutional knowledge.

Review the white paper, titled "A Message to the 44th President, Meeting Your Objectives Through Partnership with the Career Executive Service."

Under the Federal Workforce Flexibility Act of 2004, several significant changes were made in the law governing the training and development of federal employees, supervisors, managers, and executives. One major change requires agencies, in consultation with OPM, to provide training to managers on mentoring employees.

In collaboration with several agencies, which are noted for their innovative and effective mentoring program and best practices, OPM developed the report as a tool to assist agencies in creating a business case for mentoring and as an outline of the critical steps in developing and implementing a formal mentoring program.

Read the Report

The PMF Program is a premier program for leadership development in the federal government and serves as a cornerstone of agency succession planning efforts to address pending human capital challenges. The PMF Program attracts outstanding graduate, law, and doctoral-level students from all academic disciplines in top ranked schools across the country and around the world. More than 400 PMFs enter the federal leadership pipeline every year, and OPM says the quality of the candidates, as rated by the agencies, remains exceptionally high.

Agencies are also being reminded that Presidential Management Fellows are available for hire year round, providing a constant stream of available talent. Currently, there are more than 300 PMFs available who are eligible for immediate placement with graduate degrees in Business, Finance, Environmental Science, Health Administration, Physical Science, Public Administration and more from top graduate schools such as Georgetown, Yale, Columbia University, Princeton, and Harvard. Agency PMF Coordinators have access to the list of PMFs currently available.

For more information, go to the PMF website at https://www.pmf.opm.gov/.

Two current United States Postal Service employees have been charged in federal court with conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone. Kevin L. Lane, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration - Boston Field Division, United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, and Joseph Finn, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, Northeast Area Field Office, have announced that Gerald J. Sadkowski, age 30, and Brian M. Faulkner, age 37, both of Massachusetts, were charged in a Complaint with one count of conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone.

The Complaint alleges that between July and October 2008, Sadkowski and Faulkner conspired to distribute Oxycodone while employees of the U.S. Postal Service. The Complaint alleges that the pair sold Oxycodone on postal property and while on-duty as postal employees.

If convicted of the charges, Sadkowski and Faulkner face up to 20 years imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and a $1,000,000 fine.

Projections show that approximately 60 percent of the federal employee workforce, including 90 percent of senior managers, will be eligible to retire within the next ten years. As baby boomers leave the federal government, transition and retirement planning is vital. To assist baby boomers transitioning from the federal workforce into their next phase in life, we offer a four part series on long term care insurance, an aspect of financial planning commonly associated with a well-thought out retirement plan. To start our first part of the series, we provide insight into when it is a good time to purchase long-term care insurance.

Although long term care insurance is often associated with issues of aging, this is a myth. Instead, a Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) policy can be instrumental to protect an individual's assets and allow the individual to remain financially independent should he or she need long term care services due to a mental or physical condition. Long term care insurance is insurance that helps you pay for long term care services, such as home care or care in a nursing home or assisted living facility. FLTCIP is the largest employer-sponsored long term care insurance program in the country and the only OPM sponsored long term care insurance. FLTCIP policies offer enrollees special advantages that are designed especially for the federal family, including comprehensive coverage and competitive rates.

There are two answers to the question of when a person should purchase long-term care insurance. The simple answer to this question is that a person should start looking into long-term care insurance in his or her 50's. However, this does not mean that those younger or older than 50 years old should not purchase long term care insurance.

The more complex answer to this question, Tom Bebbington, Manager of Public and Community Relations at Long Term Care Partners, LLC, which administers the FLTCIP, explained, is to "do it when it makes sense for you." Long-term care insurance is not the first item a person should opt for in his or her financial life. Bebbington explained that long term care insurance "protects retirement assets from being spent someplace you didn't expect...don't take money away from that." For instance, a person should consider whether the other aspects of his or her financial life are in order - whatever those financial priorities include - such as whether a person has fully funded his or her TSP or other retirement planning account, whether a person has the proper life insurance, paid down a mortgage or funded college for their children. These financial priorities, for the most part, are in order when a person reaches 50 years of age; for others, reaching his or her financial priorities may occur later or sooner in life. But do not wait too long, as premiums may become a psychological bar.

Threats and violence in the federal workplace - as in most workplaces - are rare. In fact, in most office type settings in the federal government, you simply don't expect that kind of behavior among co-workers. But it does occur, rarely, and not just in postal facilities like many want to believe. And when threats between co-workers or actual acts of violence do occur, it's so startling it can prevent a solid managerial response. So to deal with the unexpected, here's some advice.

If you hear or see any behavior between employees that sounds like a threat of any kind, you should take immediate action. What kind of action you take will depend on the level of interaction between the employees. Clearly if the employees appear in a heated argument and are exchanging words, and it looks like it could escalate, someone needs to break it up. Call security, FPS, or whoever else is assigned to your building security and let the employees know you've called them. Then let security or FPS deal with the immediate situation. If you overhear or someone reports to you a less heated encounter, or subtle or implicit threats, you should contact Human Resources and your legal office immediately. In either kind of situation, the employees should be dealt with and it should be immediate.

That usually means that the employee will face some kind of disciplinary action. The severity of disciplinary will depend on the severity of conduct. But ignoring or delaying a response to this kind of behavior means that you are running the risk that it escalates before you can curtail it, and no one wants that on his or her conscience. For employees who are engaged in any kind of behavior that appears threatening to other employees or poses a risk of damage to property, an OPM regulation (5 C.F.R. § 752.404(b)(3)) allows you the option of placing the employee on a paid non-duty status for such time as is necessary to effect an action.

For example, can you permanently remove an employee who walks into the office one day and says that his boss has made him so mad, "I could kill him." Regrettably, the legal answer seems complicated and requires that you go through the analysis in Metz v. Department of Treasury, 780 F.2d 1001 (Fed. Cir. 1986) to determine if the conduct was legally an "actionable" threat. Your HR department can walk you through that analysis, but don't get too caught up in the legal jargon of the "Metz"analysis. Use common sense to assess the behavior, and in the end some form of discipline should be administered. Employees in any workplace should be sent a strong and immediate message that behavior which is even remotely threatening is simply not tolerated. Stated differently, no one should go to work and be exposed to behavior that is intimidating, threatening, or downright violent.

Have a question you want answered? Suggest it as a Tip of the Week!

The radio show is this Friday, November 21st, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. You can email your questions to fedtalk@federalnewsradio.com or call in your questions during the show by dialing: 1-866-468-1050 (toll-free).

Those in the Washington, D.C. area can listen to the show on their radios by tuning in to 1500 AM. Click on Federal News Radio for more details.

The FLTCIP is the only long term care program sponsored by OPM and was authorized by Public Law 106-265, the Long Term Care Security Act of 2000. FLTCIP is underwritten by John Hancock and MetLife, which have joined forces to provide federal employees, retirees and family members with comprehensive long term care benefits through its partnership with Long Term Care Partners. Long term care insurance can be a smart way to help protect a federal employee's assets and remain financially independent should he or she need long term care services due to a mental or physical condition. The FLTCIP provides rates and options specifically designed for federal employees and their families.

During the show, Bebbington provided details on long-term care insurance specifically offered to federal employees and gave some worthy tips on how and when it fits into retirement planning. Bebbington also explained when it is a good time to purchase long-term care insurance, the different options to choose from, and how the federal long-term care insurance program differs from the private plans.

To hear more about the discussion, go to Federal News Radio at the Business of Government section and listen to the show in its entirety.