FEDERAL WORKERS MATTER
The federal workforce, including the postal service is said to represent a population of about 2.1 million strong, the largest workforce in the world. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that approximately 30% of the federal workforce would be eligible for retirement in 3 years. Federal employees can retire at age 62 with five years of service. They can retire even earlier with 20 years of service.
According the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) during the first four months of 2013, 60,000 federal workers filed for federal retirement benefits, signaling a 43% increase from 2012. OPM also reports that the jump in application filings is also due to postal workers taking early retirement buyouts.
We are all aware of attempts to trim the budget and right-size government. The trend in baby boomers leaving the federal workforce is also highlighting the institutional knowledge that is leaving with them across every discipline.
Retooling succession planning strategies and employing tag-along protocol (pairing new employees with seasoned employees to safeguard continuity of institutional knowledge) will help to plug the gaping hole and run off of critical institutional knowledge so necessary in moving the nation’s business forward.
That being said, too many federal workers leave the service with the stigma hanging over their heads that they are lazy and do not make significant contributions to the goals of our society. They are often mistakenly labeled as ‘takers’ and not ‘givers’.
This conversation alone should be a great dispeller of the erroneous myths about federal workers. The conversation should also cause federal workers to lift their heads high and applaud the contributions they have made and continue to make to promote the goals of the nation’s business.
Federal workers do matter because if we didn’t have the hugest workforce in the world willing to be a part of that force, the country would not be able to fulfill some of its most important goals. Work objectives seem to always gain steam from collaboration and input from diverse sources. The coming together of ideas from the public and private sector makes good business sense. The private sector can never outnumber public sector resources, but together they can bring variety to the table and build upon the goals of the nation’s business.
As federal and postal employees leave the workforce in great numbers, we join the nation in applauding their work for staying the course. Federal workers matter!!!!
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
