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

Individual Learning Account Pilot Initiative

A Learning Tool for the 21^st Century

ON THE HORIZON

From the vantage point of a comprehensive review of all the ILA pilots, it is clear that ILAs have great untapped potential. Of particular importance is the fact that two pilot agencies did not use funding as a resource to implement ILAs. These agencies' pilots demonstrated how official time and learning activities requiring no additional funding were used to address specific agency needs. There are also other possible resources not requiring additional funds that were not investigated in this pilot initiative such as employee use of surplus Government personal computer (PC) equipment at home to complete online programs or agency developed programs accessible through remote access or by compact disc (CD).

The recommendations of the participating agencies leave little doubt that ILAs are a viable Federal workforce development tool for the 21^st Century. Yet the creativity and versatility of the ILA pilot plans implemented by this group are only a small sample of the flexibility available to agencies Governmentwide. The capability to shape ILA use to the specific needs of each agency provides extensive possibilities as a workforce development and learning tool.We believe if used widely and effectively, a learning account for individuals (ILA) can significantly help in our struggle to attract and retain skilled workers.

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