Your Federal Life

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 [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

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 [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

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 [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

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 [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Your Federal Life -- Jan. 28, 2026

We the Doers is a new organization proposing a different path forward for government reform and improvements to agency performance. In our last episode, we featured the first part of this conversation. Now, we dive into the final piece of Federal News Network executive editor Jason Miller’s discussion with the co-founders of We the Doers, April Harding and Maureen Klovers. Plus, the Office of Personnel Management is out with more details on how agencies should implement the new “rule of many” in federal hiring. OPM says it will streamline the recruitment process. But implementation also depends on agencies’ resources and staffing levels. We get more from Jenny Mattingley, the vice president of government affairs at the Partnership for Public Service. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].