Time for a change
The government should take a cue from the private sector and supply each federal employee with a laptop and Internet service, a top Army official said last week.
The government should take a cue from the private sector and supply each
federal employee with a laptop and Internet service, a top Army official
said last week.
Miriam Browning, director of information management at the Army, made
the comment at the Virtual Government 2000 conference in Washington,
D.C. "If Delta and Ford can do it so should we," she said, adding that
the Army is considering giving laptops to its recruits.
Ford Motor Co. earlier this month announced it planned to give its
350,000 employees home PCs and Internet access for a nominal fee. Delta Air
Lines followed the next day with a similar promise to its employees.
Browning and others speaking on the IT digital work force panel agreed
that the government must reform the way it recruits, hires and retains
IT workers. Pay, benefits, hiring procedures and job titles for IT
workers in the government need to better reflect private-sector
practices.
"Pay for IT professionals in government needs to be re-engineered. We
have to hire people based on skills and competencies we need," Browning
said. "We need to accelerate the hiring process so we can make an offer
within a week. I have lost good people to other DOD agencies" because the
hiring process takes too long.
Agencies should relax their dress codes, support flexible work hours and
hire people with talent whether they have a high school, college or
graduate
degree, Browning said. "I think we need to make everyone welcome."
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