GovExec Daily

The beginning of the novel coronavirus pandemic forced organizations to rethink the way work is done, from things as complicated as collaboration to things as simple as VPN licenses. Public sector organizations have been no different during the COVID-19 crisis and have had to find new ways to accomplish mission critical work.

Libby Bacon leads Deloitte's Organizational Transformation practice across Government and Public Services. She joined the podcast to discuss Deloitte's new report titled 2021 Human Capital Trends: Innovating with Intent, A Public Sector Perspective.

President Joe Biden released the first budget blueprint of his presidency last week, calling for a 16% increase in non-defense discretionary spending from fiscal 2021 and a 1.7% increase for defense spending. The document claims that Biden's $6 trillion plan is a way to recommit to good government.

GovExec reporter Eric Katz is covering the budget. He joined the show to discuss some big takeaways from the Biden plan.

Last week, President Biden sent Congress a $6 trillion budget request for fiscal 2022 in which he said he is "recommitting to good government" partially through re-empowering the federal workforce. The full budget request follows April's release of Biden's so-called skinny budget.

Erich Wagner covers the federal workforce for us here at GovExec. He joined the show to discuss the budget request and how it will affect federal employees.

President Joe Biden's administration has promised to make the environment a major part of its agenda. The administration has brought in officials specifically to address climate change, has brought the U.S. back to the Paris Climate Accords and has directed agencies to employ "green" considerations in their procurements and strategies. But, there are other ways to further the climate agenda

Kathleen Sifer, Managing Director, and Phil Kangas, Principal, are with Grant Thornton Public Sector LLC, where they focus on federal financial and regulatory issues. They are authors of a post on GovExec.com headlined "How a National 'Green Bank' Could Help Advance Biden's Climate Agenda." They joined the show to discuss their post and how a green bank could further Biden's environmental agenda.

Outside of government, most workers don't know how much money their coworkers' make. While such secrecy can create mistrust and turnover, an Academy of Management Journal article also finds that greater pay transparency can help boost retention in the situations where employees have a general feeling that they are being paid fairly.

Dr. Peter A. Bamberger is a professor of Organizational Management at Tel Aviv University's Coller School of Management. He's one of the authors of the Academy of Management Journal paper "Best not to Know: Pay Secrecy, Employee Voluntary Turnover, and the Conditioning Effect of Distributive Justice." He joined the show to talk about pay secrecy and its impacts in organizations.

It's been one year since the murder of George Floyd. Since his untimely death, the United States has seen a resurgence of a focus on civil rights and coming to grips with its history of racial injustice. One of the most polarizing topics is whether or not to teach critical race theory in public schools across America. But what is critical race theory? How does teaching critical race theory in schools or including it in sensitivity trainings for federal employees important for understanding deeper disparities like, housing, education and healthcare?

Atiba Madyun is a political analyst, an author and the former deputy executive director of the National Black Caucus of Black legislators. He joined the podcast to discuss the definition, history, and misunderstandings of critical race theory.

Government work is often criticized in the popular imagination and in the political discourse. Civil servants are derided as paper pushers or bureaucrats or, worse, nefarious agents of the deep state. The Government Hall of Fame and the Theodore Roosevelt Government Leadership Awards were started in 2019 to honor those who have achieved great things as federal officials and industry leaders.

Nominations for the 2021 Government Hall of Fame and Theodore Roosevelt Government Leadership Awards close Friday, May 28. Tom Shoop is executive vice president and editor in chief at GovExec Media. He joined the show to discuss the Government Hall of Fame and the Teddies.

There are 10 American military bases named after Confederates who fought against the United States during the Civil War. And according to the annual defense bill passed at the start of the year, those bases will have different names soon. Perhaps, a base might be renamed after the woman who led the Combahee River raid, the very first U.S. military operation to be organized and led by a woman.

Ben Watson is News Editor at GovExec sibling site Defense One and the host of the Defense One Radio podcast. He previously worked at NPR and served for five years in the U.S. Army, where he was an award-winning combat cameraman and media advisor. He joined the show to discuss base renaming, the latest Defense One Radio episode and Harriet Tubman's role in leading the Combahee River raid.

According to reports, hate crimes against Asian Americans have been on the rise during the coronavirus pandemic. The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University reported that while overall hate crimes dropped 7% in 2020, anti-Asian hate crimes increased by 149%. Last week, President Joe Biden signed a bill in response to the rise of violence and hate crimes during the pandemic.

Courtney Bublé writes the coronavirus roundup for us here at GovExec. She joined the show to discuss the hate crimes bill and other COVID-19-related stories.

President Joe Biden came into office a few months ago with a fairly large agenda. At the forefront is combatting the novel coronavirus pandemic and the trillions of dollars in programs that come with administration plans. Someone will have to implement that policy and that someone will be the two million civilian federal employees.

Mark Abramson is the President, Leadership Inc. He was the first Executive Director of the IBM Center for the Business of Government and is the author of Government for the Future with Dan Chenok and John Kamensky. He has a post on GovExec.com headlined "Big Government Is Back. Is the Civil Service Ready?" He joined the show to discuss his post and how well-equipped the civil service is for the challenges of this era.