Tandem couples are growing in numbers and seniority. In the spring, we will inaugurate Family Member Appointments to give our spouses employed overseas access to retirement and health benefits. This will further professionalize this essential part of our workforce. We must do better at keeping our FSN salaries and benefits up to date. The Office of Overseas Employment, which suffered in previous rounds of cutbacks, has been beefed up with both permanent and temporary positions.
Posts can expect more rapid turnaround of their submissions of wage survey data.
We also anticipate that we will soon be able, through a private contractor, to offer an offshore retirement program for many FSNs who do not have access to a reliable pension system in their home country. Although there are many questions still to be resolved, Undersecretary Cohen and I share a commitment to exploring every possible avenue to instituting a Metro subsidy for State workers in Washington. I have instructed my staff to think creatively as it looks for solutions to help our families juggle responsibilities at work and at home. You may want to consider this column my list of New Year's resolutions. I encourage you to save it and measure our progress at the end of 1998.