Sen. Akaka's bill to require management training for federal supervisors and managers cleared a Senate committee. (Dennis Brack - Bloomberg News)

By Stephen Barr

Friday, June 15, 2007; Page D04

A Senate committee has approved a bill that would require federal supervisors and managers to undergo training in communicating, setting performance goals and motivating employees.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), would direct agencies to conduct management training every three years. It could be done online or in a classroom so long as it included question-and-answer sessions.

But the measure, approved Wednesday on a voice vote by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has been put on hold by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), his spokesman said. Coburn said in a letter to the committee that he is concerned the bill does not provide money for the training, thus masking the cost.

Akaka's bill also would direct agencies to train supervisors on employee rights and set up mentoring programs for new supervisors.

By most accounts, large parts of the government lag behind the private sector in providing cutting-edge workforce training. Most government supervisors have been promoted because of their technical skills, and there appear to be gaps in people-skills training.

The Defense Department, for example, has said it will step up training as it converts civil service employees to a new personnel system, in large part because that system will hinge on how well supervisors and employees communicate with each other on work goals and measure progress toward the goals.

Almost half of federal employees think they need more training to improve job performance, according to a 2005 survey by the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent agency that works to protect federal employee rights.

The Government Accountability Office has said training funds are usually the first to be cut when agencies must trim their budgets. Coburn said that passing the bill would only pressure agencies to request more funding and that the cost of the training should be offset with decreased spending elsewhere.

In other action, the committee approved a bill by Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) that would allow about 930 senior level and senior scientific and professional employees across government to earn up to $168,000 a year if their work is evaluated under a new system. The system would mirror a pay-for-performance program established for federal executives in 2003.

A separate bill sponsored by Akaka and Sen. Susan M. Collins (R-Maine) that would strengthen protections for federal employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse also was reported out of the committee. The House has approved its version, which has drawn a veto threat from the White House.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR2007061401951.html

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