Discuss at least two areas, or policy changes, discussed in this course that you believe will have a significant effect on the field of public personnel management in the next 10 years.

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Two areas in this course to effect public personnel management in the next 10 years are actually already happening and these are: unions and pensions. The Trump Administration argues that too much official time is allocated to federal employees for attending union meetings. OPM is providing metrics showing that the cost of official time is steadily increasing, which is paid for by the taxpayer (OPM, 2018).

Pensions are turning out to be broken promises that the states are challenged to keep, especially since there is a threat of the “silver tsunami” when the baby boomers overwhelm the retirement system (Phillips, 2012). Some states are so stretched in their budgets that it’s becoming hard to find budget cuts without compromising their vital programs such as public safety. Also, federal workers’ benefits are being proposed as cutbacks which affects them currently (NTEU, 2018). Reduced pension benefits will be the ripple effect of reduced benefits from changes being made now, if Congress approves the administration’s proposals.

References:

NTEU. (2018, May 16). President’s Management Agenda Attacks Civil Servants, Weakens Government Services. Retrieved from Natiional Treasury Employees Union : https://www.nteu.org/media-center/news-releases/20…

OPM. (2018, May 17). FY 2016 Official Time Report Highlighting Taxpayer Funded Union Time Released by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved from opm.gov: https://www.opm.gov/news/releases/2018/05/fy-2016-…

Phillips, S. (2012, July 30). Surfing the Silver Tsunami. Retrieved from You Tube :