Your Federal Life

Hosted by Federal News Network | Hubbard Radio

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113

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Oct 2026

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About the show

Each week, Drew Friedman and contributors to Federal News Network’s workforce coverage provide listeners with actionable information on the management of their careers and financial lives. Your Federal Life covers topics ranging from federal pay and benefits to retirement and retirement planning, hiring, career planning, and federal personnel policy. ]]>

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October 28, 202624 min

Your Federal Life -- Oct. 28, 2026

Agencies will soon get leeway to promote federal employees more quickly. That’s after the Office of Personnel Management published a final rule eliminating a longstanding “time in grade” requirement. We get more in an exclusive interview with OPM Director Scott Kupor. Plus, The Trump administration has been quietly hiring political appointees under a new employment category. But there’s been limited transparency and until just recently, virtually no public information about who’s serving in those roles. We hear from Chris Piper, the author of new analysis on Schedule G at the Partnership for Public Service. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

October 14, 202624 min

Your Federal Life -- Oct. 14, 2026

The Government Accountability Office recently made big headlines with its report on the cost of the deferred resignation program. But there's more to the story, like the other factors to consider when calculating DRP costs versus savings, and the limitations of what we actually know about the program. GAO Director of Strategic Issues Dawn Locke joins us for more. Plus, a new civil service reform proposal argues that government capacity depends on a much larger ecosystem of people who carry out public purposes. Federal News Network’s Terry Gerton sits down with the author of that proposal, Don Kettl, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland and former dean of its School of Public Policy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

September 30, 202624 min

Your Federal Life -- Sept. 30, 2026

For decades, government reform efforts have focused on accountability, oversight and reducing risk. A new blueprint argues that approach may have left agencies better at avoiding failure than achieving success. In this two-part interview, we get more from Loren DeJonge Schulman, director of government capacity at the Federation of American Scientists, and Rob Shriver, managing director of the civil service strong and good government initiatives at Democracy Forward. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

September 2, 202624 min

Your Federal Life -- Sept. 2, 2026

When federal employee accountability cases drag on, attention usually turns to rules and protections. Maureen Klovers and April Harding discuss a new report from We the Doers, looking at what happens inside the process itself — and how it could be fixed. Plus, a difficult but important conversation about navigating survivor benefits. Certified financial planner Thiago Glieger covers one of the most important acts of financial preparation: making sure a surviving spouse inherits a roadmap, not a maze of decisions, paperwork and uncertainty. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

August 12, 202624 min

Your Federal Life -- Aug. 12, 2026

As concerns about threats against judges continue to grow, members of the Supreme Court took the unusual step of personally advocating for additional security funding on Capitol Hill. Federal News Network’s Terry Gerton hears more from Isa Ulloa, founder and CEO of the Public Service Alliance. Plus, we take a closer look at recent federal workforce rule changes from the Office of Personnel Management with John Hatton, staff vice president of policy and programs at the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

July 22, 202624 min

Your Federal Life -- July 22, 2026

The public's overall view of civil servants is trending upward, along with increasing public support for a nonpartisan federal workforce. Those findings come from a recent report from the Partnership for Public Service, whose research found that close to 65 percent of Americans believe that civil servants are competent. That's up from 57 percent last year. Paul Hitlin , Senior research manager at the Partnership for Public Service joins Drew Friedman to break down the results. Also, as part of last year's sweeping federal workforce reductions, probationary employees separated from their jobs at a higher rate than federal employees overall. That's according to recent findings from the Government Accountability Office. Drew discusses the findings with GAO Director of Strategic Issues Dawn Locke . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

May 20, 202624 min

Your Federal Life -- May 20, 2026

After upheavals across the federal workforce, and hundreds of thousands of public servants leaving their jobs, grassroots organizations have been rising to meet the moment. We hear from a co-founder of one of those organizations, Karen Lee of FedsForward. Her group has building tech-enabled tools to help civil servants navigate career change. Plus, we hear from another organization that’s been fueling and feeding former public servants. WellFed has been stepping up to host events, offer resources and form a community of support to those going through a major life transition. We get more from Rebecca Ferguson-Ondrey, a co-founder of WellFed. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

April 29, 202624 min

Your Federal Life -- April 29, 2026

During 2025, more than 348,000 federal employees quit, retired, were laid off or otherwise left their jobs. The losses affected a broad swath of the federal workforce, but seem to have disproportionately affected younger and less experienced employees. We take a look back with some data analysis from Drew DeSilver, a senior writer at Pew Research Center. And after those major reductions under the Trump administration, the federal workforce is at a 15-year staffing low. But now, some agencies are reversing course and talking again about expanding recruitment opportunities. Jenny Mattingley, vice president of government affairs at the Partnership for Public Service, gives us a look at what comes next. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

March 25, 202624 min

Your Federal Life -- March 25, 2026

The federal workforce faced a tumultuous year in 2025. There was a long hiring freeze, hundreds of thousands of employees leaving their jobs, a return-to-office directive — and lots more. Navigating through these changes has been a challenge not only for employees, but for the supervisors and managers overseeing them. At ATARC’s public sector workforce summit on March 19, Federal News Network’s Drew Friedman moderated a panel of workforce leaders to hear how they are managing employees through a period of significant change. In this episode of Your Federal Life, we hear from Joanie Newhart, associate administrator of acquisition workforce programs at the Office of Management and Budget; Sarah Moffat, Senior Advisor of Innovation and Change Strategy at NASA; and Kevin Sanchez-Cherry, cyber policy, training and workforce manager at the Department of Transportation. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

February 18, 202624 min

Your Federal Life -- Feb. 18, 2026

After a year of deep disruptions to the career civil service, lawmakers have created a bicameral caucus attempting to defend federal workers and promote long-term reforms. Its goals range from protecting the nonpartisan public service to improving federal pay and retention. We hear more from a co-leader of the new Federal Workforce Caucus, Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.). Plus, we tap into the perspective of Dave Lebryk, who spent a career leading teams through both calm and crisis across government. After recently stepping away from public service, he’s now watching former colleagues shoulder one of the toughest years in recent memory. We hear his thoughts on how leaders still on the job keep themselves grounded, keep their teams motivated and keep pushing for better performance. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .