Shulkin promises problematic VA workers will be fired

migration — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 16:37:08 +0000

WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin promised to crack down on underperforming employees in his first televised interview since being sworn into the post last week.

“When you have one or two or three people who really aren’t doing their job, they bring everybody down,” he said during an appearance with Fox News host Pete Hegseth, taped Sunday.

“And so the very best thing I know from my private sector experience is you’ve got to deal with that, you’ve got to get them out of the system, because it helps not only the veterans, but the people who work in VA who are trying to do the right thing for veterans.”

The interview, which will be shown in sections on the “Fox & Friends” morning show throughout the week, is the first real public comments from Shulkin since he became the first non-veteran in American history to oversee the federal veterans agencies.

He promised to work with Congress on new accountability legislation but also to be an advocate for VA workers, calling them “the best people in health care.”

Hegseth, an Iraq War veteran who was under consideration from President Trump for the VA secretary post, in the interview accused former VA Secretary Bob McDonald of being more interested in maintaining the status quo at the department than firing troublesome employees.

Shulkin pushed back on that accusation, saying: “What I heard (McDonald) saying is that it’s very important to have a due process. You don’t want to arbitrarily fire people.”

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But he also promised different results than his predecessor.

“Watch us,” he said. “People who don’t show up to work, who do cocaine or who are watching porn at work are going to be fired, because I’m not going to tolerate it, and they’re going to be out of our system. Watch our results there.

“But remember, the vast, vast majority of our employees are dedicated. They could be working anywhere in health care, but they choose to be working at VA. And I’m going to support them, I’m going to be standing behind them.”

Shulkin was unanimously confirmed by the Senate, one of only a few non-controversial Cabinet picks by Trump. He was President Barack Obama’s pick to lead VA health programs for the last 18 months and still sees patients as part of his VA duties.

Leo Shane III covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He can be reached at lshane@militarytimes.com.

Report: Civilian hiring managers love veterans, but don’t always understand them

migration — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 17:12:01 +0000

Hiring managers see veterans as valuable recruits for civilian companies but still struggle with how to handle their concerns and professional development, according to a new survey released by the Hiring Our Heroes initiative on Wednesday.

The study, which included interviews with 400 hiring professionals and 1,000 veterans, found that business leaders have helped make their corporate culture more welcoming to transitioning troops in recent years. They’re actively looking to hire veterans, and see them as ideal employees.

Managers interviewed listed military experience as a top three recruiting priority for their firms, with 77 percent calling their skills an important addition to the work force. Eighty percent ranked finding employees with higher education degrees that same level of importance.

A new survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes program found abundant respect for veterans experience and skills among hiring managers.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Hiring Our Heroes

The survey, funded by The Merck Foundation, found human resource managers overwhelmingly see veterans as more disciplined (86 percent), collaborative (67 percent) and hard working (61 percent) than their civilian peers.

“They also express few concerns about hiring veterans,” the report states.

But more than half of the hiring managers surveyed said they had little to no understanding of military rank and structure, making it difficult to match veterans’ experience with appropriate jobs.

“There is still a civilian/military divide,” said Eric Eversole, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes program. “There is still a cultural divide … and veterans still don’t know what they don’t know about civilian jobs.”

Fewer than one in four managers think their workplaces have negative biases against veterans. But nearly half of the veterans surveyed for the report said they have faced negative attitudes and treatment in civilian jobs.

Of the 44 percent of veterans who left a job within a year of being hired, 16 percent said they had difficulty relating to colleagues, and 14 percent said they had trouble relating to their company’s operations and culture.

“To retain these veterans, employers must do more to help their non-veteran employees — especially human resources professionals and hiring managers — understand military service and structure,” the report notes.

The study also found that female veterans tend to struggle more with finding a post-military job than men.

Roughly 56 percent of male veterans said they found employment within four months of separation. Only 45 percent of female veterans said they did.

Program officials said they hope the findings can redirect veterans employment efforts to more focused results, given the success of broader initiatives in recent years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated roughly 7 percent of veterans were unemployed in 2014, but recent months’ estimates have fallen below 5 percent.

Leo Shane III covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He can be reached at lshane@militarytimes.com .

Education & Transition - Federal Times

Shulkin promises problematic VA workers will be fired

Report: Civilian hiring managers love veterans, but don’t always understand them