Employees yearn for appreciation for their hard work. Good leaders understand this and always strive to prioritize, support, and thank their employees for going above and beyond. Thus, to urge all leaders to do the same, we have curated a list of the best employee recognition quotes.

We know that employee recognition doesn't come easy. But, with the right mix of rewards and recognition, you might be able to win half of the battle.

But the question is how? How can you express your gratitude and appreciate your employees, and increase engagement? Nothing, in our opinion, can be more meaningful than some good old words.

Even if you lack the funds for a conventional recognition program, the simple act of praising your coworkers may make a big difference in their happiness and boost their joy to work.

You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on life. ~ Zig Ziglar

It's very inexpensive to give a compliment. ~ Joyce Meyer

Keep your eyes open and try to catch people in your company doing something right, then praise them for it. ~ Tom Hopkins

Feedback is the breakfast of champions. ~ Ken Blanchard

Nothing is more effective than sincere, accurate praise, and nothing is more lame than a cookie-cutter compliment. ~ Bill Walsh

I have always believed that the way you treat your employees is the way will treat your customers and that people flourish when they are praised. ~ Richard Branson

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle

A brave man acknowledges the strength of others. ~ Veronica Roth

Employees who report receiving recognition and praise within the last seven days show increased productivity, get higher scores from customers, and have better safety records. They're just more engaged at work. ~ Tom Rath

I think you need to love giving compliments as much as you love receiving them. ~ Yami Gautam

What gets recognized gets reinforced, and what gets reinforced gets repeated. ~ Anonymous

Brains, like hearts, go where they are appreciated. ~ Robert McNamara

Recognize and affirm people when they contribute to the mission you share. Do this, and you will ignite their purpose and potential. ~ Mike Byam

Take time to appreciate employees, and they will reciprocate in a thousand ways. ~ Bob Nelson

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~ G.K. Chesteron

A culture of gratitude helps people realize how truly fortunate they are and instills a desire to pay that forward. ~ Karl Sun

If you don't create a great, rewarding place for people to work, they won't do great work. ~ Ari Weinzweig

Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person - not just an employee - are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability. ~ Anne M. Mulcahy

The way to develop the best that is in a person is by appreciation and encouragement. ~ Charles Schwab

People work for money but go the extra mile for recognition, praise and rewards. ~ Dale Carnegie

Good work requires an appreciation of the value of routine, ordinary, mundane rhythms of doing what needs to be done, each day and each week, thoroughly and with care. ~ Gordon T. Smith

You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins. ~ Jim Stovall

You become strong by lifting others up, not pulling them down. ~ Matshona Dhliwayo

Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. ~ Voltaire

Treat your employees like an investment, not a cost. ~ Dan Sullivan

Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don't keep it a secret. ~ Mary Kay Ash

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ~ Maya Angelou

A boss wants to pay for results, an employee wants recognition for effort. If a boss recognizes effort, they will get even better results. ~ Simon Sinek

When an employee truly understands the meaning of his work and gets recognition for his efforts, he performs the best. ~ Abhishek Ratna

A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better. ~ Jim Rohn

Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen. ~ Michael Jordan.

To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace. ~ Doug Conant

Recognition is not a scarce resource. You can't use it up or run out of it. ~ Susan M. Heathfield

If you do not treat people with the respect they deserve, do not expect any kind of commitment to your productivity goals and target. ~ Ian Fuhr

There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread. ~ Mother Teresa

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. ~ Aristotle

Mary Kay knew that when you put people first and then surround them with processes and disciplines that recognize their efforts, performance will soar. ~ David C. Novak

I have always believed that the way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers, and that people flourish when they are praised. ~ Sir Richard Branson

Youve got to get your team to not only understand your company brand, but also to understand their personal brand. ~ Amber Hurdle

Realize that employees and the customers both have to be engaged, at the same time, to move your business forward for sustainable success. ~ Robert G. Thompson

In behavioral economic terms, when we offer recognition we are acknowledging that the recipients have met a social ideal. They are behaving in a certain manner because they believe is the right thing to do. If we then recognize that behavior with praise or appreciation, we offer a confirmation that their behavior is desirable, and do so in a manner that recipients find meaningful. ~ Cindy Ventrice

When a manager recognizes an employees behavior, personally and sincerely, both feel proud, gratified, and happy. Theres a human connection that transcends the immediate culture to create a shared bond. The power of this bond is stronger than you might think; indeed, its the power that holds together great organizational cultures. ~ Erik Mosley and Derek Irvine

Correction does much, but encouragement does more. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If people did not compliment one another there would be little society. ~ Luc de Clapiers

What every genuine philosopher (every genuine man, in fact) craves most is praise although the philosophers generally call it recognition! ~ William James

Praise does wonders for our sense of hearing. ~ Arnold H. Glasow

Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. Theyre absolutely free and worth a fortune. ~ Sam Walton

Note how good you feel after you have encouraged someone else. No other argument is necessary to suggest that never miss the opportunity to give encouragement. ~ George Adams

Being told something positive about yourself, whether from someone youre close to, or a passing acquaintance, should really lift the spirits. Just the fact that someone has taken the time to let you know, should have you feeling noticed and appreciated. ~ Paul Bailey

Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers. ~ Stephen R. Covey

Appreciation is the highest form of prayer, for it acknowledges the presence of good wherever you shine the light of your thankful thoughts. ~ Alan Cohen

Also read - 152 Greatest Motivational Quotes for Work We Hand-Picked For You

Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life. ~ Northrup Christiane

Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy. ~ Jacques Maritain

It is a sign of mediocrity when you demonstrate gratitude with moderation. ~ Roberto Benigni

Feeling gratitude, and not expressing it, is like wrapping a present and not giving it. ~ William Arthur Ward

Life isnt about getting and having; its about giving and being. ~ Kevin Kruse

Even a brief interaction can change the way people think about themselves, their leaders, and the future. Each of those many connections you make has the potential to become a high point or a low point in someones day. ~ Douglas Conant

Paychecks cant buy passion. ~ Brad Federman

People want to be appreciated, cared for, loved, trusted, and respected. But they also want to be understood, and if you master the skills to achieve that, you truly become exceptional. ~ Joe Navarro

Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy. ~ Fred De Witt Van Amburgh

At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. ~ Albert Schweitzer

Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other. ~ Randy Pausch

Develop an attitude of gratitude. Say thank you to everyone you meet for everything they do for you. ~ Brian Tracy

No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks. ~ James Allen

The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest. ~ William Blake

If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share. ~ W. Clement Stone

Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary. ~ Margaret Cousins

I was very pleased with your kind letter. Until now I never dreamed of being something like a hero. But since youve given me the nomination I feel that I am one. ~ Albert Einstein

Thanks will be a worthless word until a person tells it from heart. When a person thanks someone with full heart then the word will be big and worthy word and will have full meaning to the person. Or else it will remain small and valueless word if a person says it just for saying. ~ Salman Aziz

Dont forget, a persons greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated. ~ H. Jackson Brown Jr.

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. ~ William James

It does not matter who is in your team, what matters is who they will become because of you. ~ Sunday Adelaja

Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a mans growth without destroying his roots. ~ Frank A. Clark

Everybody is looking for validation, no matter who you are, and I think that's a need of the human condition - to look for affection or recognition or validation. ~ Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

People want to be understood and respected as individuals. Years ago, an executive editor of mine said, You should count the number of times you praise somebody and then double that. Even the toughest, steeliest writer or editor often really wants to be told, Hey, that was a great piece. Early in my career as a manager, it probably took me a while to realize that everyone wants that. Its just a human need. ~ Cindi Leive

Make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, has meaningful impact and is contributing to the good of the society. ~ Larry Page

People are the most important thing. Business model and product will follow if you have the right people. ~ Adam Neumann

What we need to do is always lean into the future; when the world changes around you and when it changes against you- what used to be your tail wind is now your head wind. You have to lean into that and figure out what to do, because complaining isnt a strategy. ~ Jeff Bezos

Treat your employee right so they wont use your Internet to look for new jobs. ~ Mark Zuckerberg

The way your employees feel is the way your customers feel. And if your employees dont feel valued, neither will your customers. ~ Sybil F. Stershic

Productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager. ~ Peter F. Drucker

If I had to run a company on three measures, those measures would be customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and cash flow. ~ Jack Welch

Every employee can affect your companys brand, not just the frontline employees that are paid to talk to your customers. ~ Tony Hsieh

Motivating employees to work at their full potential is the main premise of successful management. ~ Eraldo Banovac

Good management consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people. ~ John D. Rockefeller

At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies. ~ Lawrence Bossidy

In order to build a rewarding employee experience, you need to understand what matters to your people. ~ Julie Bevacqua

Human resources isnt a thing we do. Its a thing that runs our business. ~ Steve Wynn

Treating employees benevolently shouldnt be viewed as an added cost that cuts into profit, but as a powerful energizer that can grow the enterprise into something far greater than the leader could envision. ~ Howard Schultz

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Top 102 Employee Recognition Quotes To Celebrate Their Endeavours - Vantage Circle

How much work are you getting done, and how are you performing it? Artificial intelligence is poised to answer those questions, if it isnt already. Employers such as Walmart, Starbucks, and Delta, among others, are using AI company Aware to monitor employee messages, CNBC reports.

Employers have been monitoring workers long before the explosion of AI, but this technologys use in keeping tabs on employees has sparked debate. On one side, AI as an employee monitoring tool joins the ranks of other AI use cases touted as the future of work. On the other side, critics raise questions about the potential missteps and impact on employees.

How can AI be used in employee monitoring, and are there use cases that benefit both employers and employees?

Productivity tracking is at the forefront of the AI and employee monitoring conversation. Are employees working when they are on the clock? Answering this question is particularly top-of-mind for employers with people on remote or hybrid schedules.

A lot of workers are doing something called productivity theater to show that they're working when they might not be, says Sue Cantrell, vice president of products and workforce strategy at consulting firm Deloitte Consulting.

AI can be used to sift through data to identify work patterns and measure employee performance against productivity metrics. Fundamentally, the sector is about analytics and being able to process more data and understand patterns more quickly and make intelligent recommendations, Elizabeth Harz tells InformationWeek. She is CEO of Veriato, an insider risk management and employee monitoring company.

Related:Why Technology and Employee Privacy Clash

Veriatos customers most often use its AI-powered platform for insider risk management and user activity monitoring, according to Harz.

Insider risk is a significant cybersecurity concern. The Cost of Insider Risks Global Report 2023, conducted by the Ponemon Institute, found that 75% of incidents are caused by non-malicious insiders. We believe using AI to help teams get more predictive instead of reactive in cyber is critical, Harz explains.

Using AI to monitor workers can be about their own safety, as well as that of the company. People have different dynamics than they did when they went to the office Monday through Friday. It doesn't mean sexual harassment has gone away. It doesn't mean hostile work environments have gone away. It doesn't mean that things that happened previously have just stopped, but we need new tools to evaluate those things, says Harz.

Related:Data Privacy in the Age of AI Means Moving Beyond Buzzwords

AI also offers employers the opportunity to engage employees on performance quality and improvement. If you're able to align the information you're getting on how a particular employee is executing the work relative to what you consider to be best practices, you can use that to create personalized coaching tools that employees ultimately do find beneficial or helpful, Stephanie Bell, chief programs and insights officer at the nonprofit coalition Partnership on AI, tells InformationWeek.

AI-driven employee monitoring has plenty of tantalizing benefits for employers. It can tap into the massive quantities of data employers are gathering on their workforce and identity patterns in productivity, performance, and safety. GenAI really allows for language and sentiment analysis in a way that just really wasn't possible prior to LLMs, says Harz.

Measuring productivity seems like a rock-solid employer use case for AI, but productivity isnt always black and white. Yes, it's easy to collect data on whether or not workers are online or not, Cantrell points out. But is that really measuring outcomes or collecting data that can really help improve organizational value or benefits? That's open to question.

Related:Privacy, Surveillance & Tech: What FISAs Renewal Means

A more nuanced approach to measuring performance could be beneficial to both employer and employee. And enterprises are acknowledging the opportunities in moving away from traditional productivity metrics, like hours worked. Research from Deloitte Insights found that 74% of respondents recognize the importance of finding better ways to measure employee performance and value compared to traditional productivity metrics.

AI monitoring potentially has more benefits when it is used in a coaching capacity. Where we see the real value is around using AI as a coach. When [it] monitors workers, for example, on their work calls and then [provides] coaching in the background or [uses] AI to infer skills from their daily work to suggest improvements for growth or development, or you're using AI to monitor people's movements on a factory floor to [make] suggestions for well-being, says Cantrell.

This kind of coaching tool is less about if an employee is moving their mouse or keeping their webcam on and more about how they are performing their work and ways they could improve.

AI monitoring tools also can be used to make workplaces safer for people. If integrated into video monitoring, for example, it can be used to identify unsafe workplace behaviors. Employers can follow up to make the necessary changes to protect the people working for them.

But like its many other applications, AI-driven employee monitoring requires careful consideration to actually realize its potential benefits. What data is being gathered? How is it being used? Does the use of AI have a business case? You should have a very clear business rationale for collecting data. Don't just do it because you can, Cantrell cautions.

Realizing the positive outcomes of any technology requires an understanding of its potential pitfalls. Employee monitoring, for one, can have a negative impact on employees. Nearly half of employees (45%) who are monitored using technology report that their workplaces negatively affect their mental health, according to an American Psychological Association (APA) survey.

The perception of being watched at work can decrease peoples trust in their employer. They feel like their employer is spying on them, and it can have punitive consequences, says Cantrell.

Employee monitoring can also have a physical impact on workers. In warehouse settings, workers can be expected to hit high productivity targets in fast-paced, repetitive positions. Amazon, for example, is frequently scrutinized for its worker injury rate. In 2021 employees at Amazons facilities experienced 34,000 serious injuries, an injury rate more than double that of non-Amazon warehouses, according to a study from the Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of labor unions.

Amazon has faced fines for its worker injuries from agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Washingtons Department of Labor and Industries. The musculoskeletal injuries in these citations have been linked to the surveillance-fueled pace of work in Amazon warehouses by reports from the National Employment Law Project and the Strategic Organizing Center, Gabrielle Rejouis, a distinguished fellow with the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy & Technology and a senior fellow with the Workers' Rights Institute at Georgetown Law, tells InformationWeek in an email interview.

While AI may fuel workplace surveillance systems, it does not bear the sole responsibility for outcomes like this. It's not like the AI is arbitrarily setting standards, says Bell. These are managerial decisions that are being made by company leaders, by managers to push employees to this rate. They're using the technology to enable that decision-making.

People are an important part of the equation when looking at how AI employee monitoring is used, particularly if that technology is making suggestions that impact peoples jobs.

AI tools could analyze conversations at a call center, monitoring things like emotional tone. Will AI recognize subtleties that a human easily could? Bell offers the hypothetical of a call center employee adopting a comforting tone and spending a little extra time on the phone with a customer who is closing down an account after the death of a spouse. The call is longer, and the emotional tone is not upbeat.

That's the case where you want that person to take the extra time, and you want that person to match the emotional tone of the person on the other end of the line not to maintain across the board standards, she says.

An AI monitoring system could flag that employee for failing to have an upbeat tone. Is there a person in the loop to recognize that the employee made the right choice, or will the employee be penalized?

Employee monitoring bolstered by AI capabilities also has the potential to impact the way employees interact with one another. When you have this generalized surveillance, it really chills employee activity in speech, and in the research that I've done that turns up in making it harder for employees to build trusting relationships with each other, Bell shares.

Employers could potentially use AI monitoring tools to quell workers ability to exercise their rights. One of the most concerning ways that electronic worker surveillance and automated management benefit employers is that it can obscure management union busting, says Rejouis. If surveillance can find any and every mistake a worker makes, employers can use this to provide a non-union justification for firing an organizer.

The regulatory landscape for AIs use in the workplace is still forming, but that doesnt mean employers are completely free of legal concerns when implementing AI employment monitoring tools.

Employee privacy is a paramount concern. We need to make sure that we're complying with a variety of privacy laws, Domenique Camacho Moran, a partner and leader of the employment law practice at New York law firm Farrell Fritz, tells InformationWeek.

Workers generate the data used by monitoring tools. How is their data, much of it personal, being collected? Does that collection happen only in the workplace on work devices? Does it happen on personal devices? How is that data protected?

The Federal Trade Commission is paying attention to how AI management tools are impacting privacy. As worker surveillance and AI management tools continue to permeate the workplace, the commission has made clear that it will protect Americans from potential harms stemming from these technologies, Benjamin Wiseman, associated director, division of privacy at identity protection at the FTC, said in remarks at a Harvard Law School event in February.

With the possibility of legal and regulatory scrutiny, what kind of policies should enterprises be considering?

Be clear with workers about how the data is being used. Who's going to see it? says Cantrell. Involve workers in co-creating data privacy policies to elevate trust.

Bias in AI systems is an ongoing concern, and one that could have legal ramifications for enterprises using this technology in employee monitoring tools. The use of AI in hiring practices, and the potential for bias, is already the focus of legislation. New York, for example, passed a law regarding the use of AI and automated tools in the hiring process in attempt to combat bias. Thus far, compliance with the law has been low, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). But that does not erase the fact that bias in AI systems exists.

How do we make sure that AI monitoring is non-discriminatory? We know that was the issue with respect to AI being used to filter and sort resumes in an application process. I worry that the same issues are present in the workplace, says Camacho Moran.

Any link between the use of AI and discrimination opens enterprises to legal risk.

Employee monitoring facespushback on a number of fronts already. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union representing employees of UPS, fought for a ban on driver-facing cameras in the UPS contract, the Washington Post reports.

The federal government is also investigating the use of employee monitoring. In 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) released a memo on surveillance and automated management practices.

[NLRB] General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo announced her intention to protect employees, to the greatest extent possible, from intrusive or abusive electronic monitoring and automated management practices through vigorously enforcing current law and by urging the board to apply settled labor-law principles in a new framework, according to a NLRB press release.

While conversation about new regulatory and legal frameworks is percolating, it could be quite some time before they come to fruition. I don't think we understand enough about what it will be used for for us to have a clear path towards regulation, says Camacho Moran.

Whether it is union pushback, legal action by individual employees, or regulation, challenges to the use of AI in employee are probable. It's hard to figure out who's going to step in to say enough is enough, or if anybody will, says Camacho Moran.

That means enterprises looking to mitigate risk will need to focus on existing laws and regulations for the time being. Start with the law. We know you can't use AI to discriminate. You can't use AI to harass. It's not appropriate to use AI to write your stories. And, so we start with the law that we know, says Camacho Moran.

Employers can tackle this issue by developing internal taskforces to understand the potential business cases for the use of AI in employee monitoring and to create organization-wide policies that align with current regulatory and legal frameworks.

This is going to be a part of every workplace in the next several years. And so, for most employers, the biggest challenge is if you're not going ahead and looking at this issue, the people in your organization are, says Camacho Moran. Delay is likely to result in inconsistent usage among your team. And that's where I think the legal risk is.

What exactly is the future of work? You can argue that the proliferation of AI is that future, but the technology is evolving so quickly and so many of its uses cases are still nascent, it is hard to say what exactly that future will look like years or decades down the road.

If AI-driven employee monitoring is going to be a part of every workplace, what does responsible use look like?

The answer lies in creating a dialogue between employers and employees, according to Bell. Are employers looking for use cases that employees themselves would seek out? she asks.

For example, a 2023 Gartner survey found that 34% of digital workers would be open to monitoring if meant getting training classes and/or career development paths, and 33% were open to monitoring if it would help them access information to do their jobs.

A big part of this is just recognizing the subject matter expertise of the folks who are doing the work themselves andwhere they could use support, Bell continues. Because ultimately that's going to be a contribution back to business outcomes for the employer.

Transparency and privacy are also important facets of responsible use. Do employees know when and how their data is being collected and analyzed by AI?

Consent is an important, if tricky, element of employee monitoring. Can they workers opt out of this type of monitoring? If opting out is an option, can employees do so without the threat of losing their jobs?

Most workplaces are at-will workplaces, which means an employer does not need justification for firing an employee, Rejouis points out. This makes it harder for employees to meaningfully refuse certain changes to the workplace out of fear of losing their jobs.

When allowing employees to opt out isnt possible, say for video monitoring safety on a manufacturing floor, there are still ways to protect workers privacy. Data can be anonymized and aggregated so that we're protecting people's privacy, says Cantrell.

While AI can be implemented as a powerful monitoring tool, the technology itself needs regular monitoring. Is it measuring what is supposed to be measuring? Has any bias been introduced into the system? Is it actually providing benefits for employers and employees? We always need some human judgment involved and awareness of what the potential downsides and bias that the AI is bringing us could be, says Cantrell.

Most enterprises are not building their own AI systems for worker monitoring. They are working with third-party vendors that offer employee monitoring tools powered by AI. Part of responsible use is understanding how those vendors are managing the potential risk and downsides of their AI systems.

The way we're approaching it at Veriato is, just as you can imagine, being extremely thoughtful about what features we release in the wild and what we keep with beta customers and customer advisory panels that just really test and run things for a longer period of time than we would with some other releases to make sure that we have positive experiences for our partners, Harz shares.

Any innovation boom, AI or otherwise, comes with a period of trial and error. Enterprise leadership teams are going to find out what does and does not work.

Bell emphasizes the importance of keeping employees involved in the process. While many organizations are rushing to implement the buzziest tools, they could benefit from slowing down and identifying use cases first. Start with the problem statement rather than the tool, she says. Starting with the problem statement, I think, is almost always going to be the fastest way to identify where something is going to deliver anyone value and be embraced by the employees who would be using it.

Cantrell considers the use of AI in employee monitoring a goldmine or a landmine. It can bring dramatic benefits for both workers and organizations if done right. But if not done right and not done responsibly, workforce trust can really diminish and it can be a what I call a landmine, she says.

Read the original post:

What is the Future of AI-Driven Employee Monitoring? - InformationWeek

Updated at 5:37 p.m. ET

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday advanced legislation aimed at preventing improper payments in the employer-sponsored health insurance program for federal workers, as well as to ensure roughly 1,200 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers receive the enhanced retirement benefits they were promised.

In 2022, the Government Accountability Office issued a report finding that the federal government needs to do more to ensure enrollees in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which provides health insurance to roughly 8 million federal employees, retirees and their families, are eligible for the benefits.

Although the Office of Personnel Management in recent years has issued guidance instructing agencies and insurance carriers to verify the eligibility of family members, GAO argued that the agency should do more, such as its own monitoring program or audit, something OPM has argued is too cost-prohibitive with its current resources. The OPM inspector general has speculated that FEHBP could be improperly providing benefits within the range of $500 million to $3 billion annually.

The FEHB Protection Act (H.R. 7868), introduced by Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., requires federal agencies to verify the eligibility of family members of federal workers for the program, i.e. that spouses are married to the employee and children are under the age of 26. It also requires OPM to conduct an audit of the current insure rolls to ensure their continued eligibility, as well as for OPM to incorporate a review of the issue as part of its fraud risk assessment of FEHBP.

It is unfortunate that OPM is still unable to ensure that employing offices are executing basic verification requirements, and its unacceptable, Waltz said Wednesday. The American people deserve to know that the tax dollars they earn are spent appropriately and free from fraud and waste.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the committees ranking member, sought unsuccessfully to amend the bill to include language that would authorize additional funding go to OPM to cover the cost of the audit, but Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., expressed a willingness to amend the bill before it reaches the House floor authorizing a specific dollar figure, based on analysis from the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO does not score legislation until it has advanced out of committee.

In a statement, OPM said that it is committed to ensuring FEHBP is administered efficiently and preventing improper payments.

"OPM remains committed to address improper enrollments in the FEHB program and finding solutions within our current resources," an agency spokesperson said. "We continue to emphasize to Congress that additional investment is required to support our efforts to reduce waste, fraud and abuse within the FEHB program and hte critical role that agencies and carriers play in this effort."

The bill advanced by a 37-6 vote.

Fixing a CBP Retirement Foul-up

The panel also voted unanimously to advance legislation aimed at fixing a more than decade-old mistake by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that misled around 1,200 CBP officers about their retirement benefits.

In 2008, CBP implemented a law making CBP officers eligible for enhanced retirement benefits to make up for the fact that they are required to retire at age 57, provided that they have 20 years of service and make larger retirement contributions. The law set up a transitional system for those hired before July 6, 2008, which provides the enhanced retirement annuity rate despite the fact that they would not have reached 20 years of service before their mandatory retirement rate.

But the agency mistakenly told officers who were given job offers before July 6, 2008 but did not start work until afterward that they also would be eligible for the enhanced benefits. It wasnt until 2020 that CBP realized its mistake and rescinded those enhanced benefits, despite the fact that those 1,200 employees had paid more from their paychecks toward their Federal Employees Retirement System annuity than they otherwise would have for over a decade.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Retirement Corrections Act (H.R. 7869), introduced by Rep. Ryan Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., would restore those enhanced benefits to CBP officers affected by their agencys mistake.

Since these officers planned their retirement, their lives and careers around incorrect guidance given to them by CBP, this bill corrects the misunderstanding by providing the enhanced benefits to this small group in the same way as existing officers, as they were told at the time, Comer said. It also directs GAO to report on the proper management of this benefit to prevent similar mistakes from occurring in the future.

Both bills may now head to the floor for consideration by the full House.

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House panel advances bills to improve FEHBP oversight and fix CBP retirement snafu - Government Executive