Voices: Brittany Ballenstedt

Brittany Ballenstedt

Blogger

Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.

Results 1491-1500 of 1652

from govexec

Playing Up Performance

July 26, 2007 There seems to be a developing consensus among federal human resources executives that scrapping the decades-old General Schedule pay system is a necessity. "I fear that if we don't move forward with [a pay-for-performance system] at a brisk pace, the folks we've brought into the federal service and invested heavily ...

from govexec

House members unveil paid parental leave legislation

July 26, 2007 House lawmakers introduced a bill on Wednesday that would institute a paid parental leave policy for all federal employees. The bill (H.R. 3158), sponsored by Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., would provide all federal employees with eight weeks of paid leave for the birth ...

from govexec

Other countries share U.S. government’s workforce challenges

July 25, 2007 The U.S. government is not alone in the need to implement pay reforms and address talent gaps, according to a recent report by consulting firm KPMG. In fact, four other major countries are facing strikingly similar requirements, the report found. The report found that officials from the governments of five ...

from govexec

House appropriators approve 3.5 percent military pay raise

July 25, 2007 A House panel on Wednesday passed a bill granting members of the military a 2008 pay raise of 3.5 percent, a figure equal to the adjustment already approved by the House for civilian federal employees. The House Appropriations Committee approved the military raise during the markup of the fiscal 2008 ...

from govexec

FAA urged to improve maintenance of air traffic facilities

July 24, 2007 The Federal Aviation Administration must improve working conditions at the nation's air traffic control facilities, in part to help address staffing challenges, witnesses told members of a House subcommittee Tuesday. At a hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, lawmakers and employee representatives pointed to air traffic ...

from govexec

Panel seeks advice on boosting diversity in senior ranks

July 23, 2007 A coalition of federal employee groups met with lawmakers Monday to discuss how to increase the number of women and minorities in the upper ranks of government. The meeting, led by Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., chairman of a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on the federal workforce, brought members ...

from govexec

Pushing Parental Leave

July 19, 2007 Federal employees, like other American workers, are entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave after the birth of a child. It's just not paid leave. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is working to change that, though. And at least one of the group's members believes that legislation to establish ...

from govexec

Pay reform, recruiting cited as top personnel challenges

July 19, 2007 Pay system reform and recruiting and retaining an effective workforce are among the most critical challenges human resources leaders across the government face, according to a study released Thursday. The report from the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and the global consulting firm Grant Thornton is based on interviews with ...

from govexec

GAO, union reach agreement to hold election

July 19, 2007 The Government Accountability Office has resolved a disagreement with a federal labor union over the eligibility of certain employees to organize, paving the way for a union election process to be completed in September. Under the agreement, reached Wednesday with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, all permanent ...

from govexec

Court extends deadline for DHS decision on labor rules

July 18, 2007 A federal district court on Tuesday extended the Homeland Security Department's deadline for issuing plans to either revise or abandon proposed labor relations rules under a controversial new personnel system. Judge Rosemary Collyer from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the agency to file a status ...