U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Message from the Director | Strategic Management of Human Capital

Message from the Director

This past August I reported on the progress we are making Governmentwide implementing the Strategic Management of Human Capital Initiative of the President's Management Agenda. In that report I discussed steps OPM is taking to lead the way in transforming workplaces and the successes that agencies have already achieved in critical areas such as succession planning, performance management, and closing skill and competency gaps.

Looking back on the entire fiscal year, I am encouraged more than ever by the impact human capital strategies are having on the Federal workforce. When the President directed OPM to lead the first initiative of the President's reform agenda, words such as "high risk," "deficient," and "weak" were used to describe the state of the Federal workforce. Today, 1.8 million employees are part of a workforce that is truly citizen-centered, results-oriented, and market-based. As the President stated in his introductory message to Congress on his reform agenda. "…[T]here are few items more urgent than ensuring that the Federal Government is well run and results-oriented." I am proud to say that we, as a Government, are meeting the President's challenge. The achievement of Federal agencies in the strategic management of human capital is an important element of our success.

Looking forward to the next four years, I expect that our achievements to date will form a strong foundation for the next generation of breakthrough accomplishments. Initiatives in identifying skills and competency gaps will result in better talent for the Federal Government, especially in mission critical occupations and in management. Performance management systems will link pay with performance Governmentwide. Federal managers will be fully prepared through effective succession planning and competency development to lead in the new results-driven culture. A lean, fast, effective and competitive hiring process, using all the right flexibilities, will continue to assure that the right people are in the right jobs at the right time.

To underscore our commitment to the next generation of Human Capital accomplishment, OPM is adding two expectations to the scorecard for Strategic Management of Human Capital. Beginning in the first quarter of FY 2005, the scorecard will include:

• Clarification that performance appraisal systems need to have multiple ratings to adequately distinguish among performance levels; and
• A new requirement that agencies establish goals to accelerate their hiring timeframes, monitor progress, and implement needed improvements.

At the same time that we attend to these core Human Capital commitments, I know all agencies join OPM in focusing on emergency preparedness, our overarching challenge in the post-September 11 world. We must be vigilant and steadfast in providing for the safety of our employees and their families with two goals in mind: assuring that essential Federal operations can continue to serve the American people in the face of any emergency; and assuring our employees that they can count on the Federal Government to prepare them and care for them in emergencies.

On the same front, I want to reaffirm our commitment to those in our Nation's armed forces on active duty. As our troops return from their deployments, the Federal Government is prepared to support their transition to civilian life by being receptive, accessible, and accommodating in meeting their life needs.

Our full report on Human Capital progress is at http://apps.opm.gov/humancapital/stories/. Please take time to review it, and join me in taking a bow for all that we have achieved together.

Presidential Management Agenda (PMA)

 President George W. Bush set forth a bold plan to reform the management and performance of the Federal Government, holding that Government should not be about making promises, but making good on promises. The President's plan included five Governmentwide initiatives selected to help achieve this reform: strategic management of human capital, competitive sourcing, improved financial performance, expanded electronic government, and budget and performance integration.

Advancing the Strategic Management of Human Capital: Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

OPM works with the President, Congress, departments and agencies, and other stakeholders to implement human capital policies that assist Federal agencies in meeting their strategic goals. OPM is proud to accept the President's charge to lead the human capital effort Governmentwide and will lead by providing the best possible tools, resources and expertise available.

Governmentwide Progress

The chart reviewing PMA status scores for Federal agencies and the summary data chart below reflect the progress that has been made over the last four fiscal years in Strategic Management of Human Capital.

Of the 22 agencies that had a "red" status score in FY 2001, only 3 agencies (or 12 percent of all agencies) still hold the "red" status score in FY 2004.

Agencies continue to meet the challenge of transforming their workforce. Seventy-six percent or 1.3 million of the total number of Federal employees in scored agencies are at status score "yellow" and 15 percent or 263,019 are in agencies with a status score "green."

Agency Progress
FY 2004 Year End Report

For FY 2004, OPM can report that agencies continued progress on the whole. Year end achievements as reported by OPM's Human Capital Officers indicate continued accomplishments in producing results in the Human Capital Standards for Success. Three agencies improved their status score from the third quarter. The Department of Health and Human Services moved to a status score of "green" and the Department of Treasury and the Department of Justice moved to a status score of "yellow."

Agency Success Stories

OPM is proud to share some significant accomplishments in three areas of our Human Capital Standards for Success - Leadership & Knowledge Management, Results-Oriented Performance Culture, and Talent. Agencies discussed are those agencies that have progressed in their status score from the third quarter FY 2004.

Department of the Treasury (DOT)

Treasury has achieved status score "yellow" by progressively assuming greater influence over bureau activities.  DOT is leveraging the good work of the bureaus and ensuring that it promotes Departmental goals.  For example, to narrow mission-critical skill gaps, bureaus have been using the voluntary early retirement authority (VERA) and voluntary separation incentive payments (VSIP), allowing employees with outdated skills to leave, thus making room for employees with needed skills.  Examples of how evolving mission and developing technology have altered competency needs include the Financial Management Service's move from transaction processing to highly complex analytical reviews of data.  Work at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Mint is moving beyond production, requiring a workforce that is more technologically adept and versatile.  The Department has taken a lead role in guiding bureaus through such transitions, promoting the use of hiring flexibilities to fill critical vacancies, contracting out processing operations to focus on mission-critical occupations, and developing learning management systems to promote competency management.

Department of Justice (DOJ)

The Department of Justice worked in partnership with Resource Consultants, Inc., (RCI) to develop an automated comprehensive assessment survey tool that facilitates Department-wide strategic workforce analyses. It allows identification of positions by core job series by component. Additional capabilities of the tool include supervisor/nonsupervisory reporting and SES career track reporting.

In developing the survey, RCI identified the core skills for each of the 298 active job series across DOJ components. Five skills were highly rated across all job series: reading, writing, interpersonal skills, integrity/honesty, and teamwork. A Skills Library for all DOJ job series contains 318 skills and their definitions. Each job series contains a minimum of 19 skills.

DOJ administered the survey to all supervisors, managers and team leaders in all DOJ components for all occupations from March to June 2004. Each supervisor assessed the skills of his or her direct reports on current skill levels, current needed skill levels and estimated skill levels needed five years into the future. These data are being used to examine core job series for each component to learn of the most significant skills and staffing gaps; to determine the level of deficiency, prioritize the deficiency and to create interventions. The results of the skills gap analysis have been paired with workforce planning reports. The workforce planning reports look at the number of on-board employees, by component and core job series, expected separations over the next five years, a projection of the workforce requirements in year five of the projection and the gaps that will exist in year five.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

To ensure that HHS is properly aligned to meet current and future mission requirements, the Department undertook a major restructuring over the past four years. The number one goal of the Department has been to transform a stove-piped organization into a cohesive and efficient "One HHS" that was positioned to deliver on its role as the principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and for providing essential human services.

At the beginning of the President's Management Agenda, HHS was decentralized to the point of submitting 13 Government Performance Result Act plans with over 900 performance measures. The Department had more than 2,000 websites with approximately 1 billion pages of information. Each Operating Division within HHS had its own personnel office totaling more than 40 human resource offices delivering duplicative service.

As a result of a commitment to removing stovepipes, building common platforms and leveraging human resources in a strategic fashion, HHS is yielding impressive results. Consolidation of administrative functions is generating savings by reducing duplication and allowing staff to be redeployed to more citizen-focused programs. A Departmental approach to talent has afforded HHS to be more strategic in recruiting mission critical talent across the Department, and focusing on ensuring leaders in the years ahead. In fact, the Department's SES Candidate Development Program and the Emerging Leaders Program has assisted HHS in ensuring a healthy pipeline of new leaders throughout all levels of the Department.

Proud To Be II

Beginning October 1, 2004, OPM amended the scorecard Standards for Success in the Strategic Management of Human Capital to include:

• Clarify that performance appraisal systems need to have multiple ratings to adequately distinguish among performance levels; and
• Establishment of goals to accelerate Federal hiring.

Agency performance appraisal plans that make meaningful distinctions through multiple rating levels are a critical element in ensuring that the Federal workforce is ready to delivery results. We expect agencies to build, sustain, and deploy a skilled, knowledgeable, and high-performing workforce set to meet the needs of government and its citizens. In order to achieve this end, we need to understand the competencies, skills, and readiness of the workforce. An effective, meaningful performance appraisal program will assist in accomplishing this end.

OPM has implemented initiatives over the past several years to make the Federal Government more competitive in the race to hire talent. Despite accomplishments, we continue to see evidence that hiring practices remain slow and cumbersome. By adding the standard for aggressive hiring timeline goals, OPM believes that the Federal Government will achieve a new level of hiring effectiveness, one that is lean, fast, and results driven.

More Information

For more information on how OPM is leading the way, please visit opm.gov and click on "Strategic Management of Human Capital." You will find excellent information resources, as well as our Human Capital Update FY 2001 to FY 2004 3^rd Quarter. This publication offers a comprehensive look at OPM's role in the President's Management Agenda. Just click on "HC Stories" found under the "In Focus" Section).