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Federal News Radio
New Congress
'worst places to work' hotline: right Idea, wrong question
Tuesday - 4/21/2015
Commentary by Francis Rose
The new congressional tip line Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the chairman
of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government
Operations, launched last week offers federal employees a chance to
tell his office directly about problems that contribute to
dissatisfaction and low morale in their workplaces. Federal News
Radio's Emily Kopp reported emails to the tip line,
TellMark@mail.house.gov will be treated as anonymous resources for
congressional investigations of workplace satisfaction at agencies."
The tip line is the latest venue for feds to share problems they see at
work. But at best, Meadows may not be asking federal employees all the
right questions; at worst, he may be asking the wrong question
altogether.
I guess the good news is that, unlike most congressional efforts to
collect information on operations in the executive branch, Meadows'
effort appears sincere. The bad news is, he continues to focus on the
negatives, instead of balancing it with some — or any — positives.
And there are plenty of positives. Despite IRS Commissioner John
Koskinen's claims his agency is dramatically underfunded, another tax
season has come and gone without reports of major snafus. The National
Institutes of Health makes regular strides in its fight against a
smorgasbord of diseases and disorders that mean life and death to
citizens across the country, and around the world. Another week, month,
year and longer has gone by without an attack on the homeland, thanks
to the cooperation of myriad agencies across government, including
federal, state, local, tribal and other jurisdictions. And I could go
on and on.
Of course there are problems. Some of them are high profile, like the
Department of Veterans Affairs, Secret Service and others. Some are not
as well known, and some may not be known at all. And certainly
employees who see things going on that shouldn't be going on, should be
able to safely blow the whistle without fear of retaliation, unlike
what it appears is going on at the VA and other places.
But the focus on only the bad things the executive branch does sends an
unfortunate message to both agencies and employees. The message Meadows
sends is, "We only want you to get better by hearing what someone does
wrong and punishing them." It doesn't tell anyone he cares about the
places and people where things are working well, so others can learn
from and replicate them...
Read the rest of the article at Federal News Radio
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