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

2004 Presidential Award for Management Excellence

Department of Labor

Strategic Management of Human Capital
Agencywide Performance

The Department of Labor (DOL) administers Federal labor laws to ensure that America’s workforce is prepared, secure, and competitive, and working in quality workplaces. DOL accomplishes this by improving working conditions, improving opportunities, securing pensions and benefits, enforcing bargaining rights, and tracking vital statistics.

But DOL itself was not the model of effective workforce management that it hoped to be. To correct this, DOL undertook a department-wide overhaul of its human capital management processes. This overhaul was so successful that DOL became the first cabinet-level agency to receive a green status rating for the Strategic Management of Human Capital initiative of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA).

DOL’s workforce consists of 17,000 employees and 2,000 contractors nationwide. To ensure a consistent, unified approach to human capital management in accord with its mission and goals, DOL created the Management Review Board (MRB) to coordinate, oversee, and integrate management processes. MRB established the Human Capital Strategic Plan: 2003-2008 to establish departmental objectives and accountability. In the last year alone MRB allocated $6.5 million for 17 high-priority PMA initiatives through special budget line items called Management Cross-Cut Funding.

MRB has implemented strong new recruitment and retention strategies. The strategic plan establishes goals and metrics, while quarterly “At-A-Glance” workforce profiles track key demographics. Online ad hoc trend reports are distributed to managers as needed. DOL is expanding its HR flexibilities to recruit from a broad and diverse candidate pool while using targeted outreach to position itself as an “Employer of Choice” for diversity groups. Under-representation has been reduced and diversity has improved. Furthermore, when the new DOL Online Opportunities Recruitment System (DOORS) goes live in 2005 as part of USAJOBS, it will increase the efficiency, accountability, and cost-effectiveness of recruiting.

DOL has fostered a leadership culture to support this progress. Ten performance rating systems have been consolidated into a single system that more effectively ties performance to reward. Comprehensive management training is preparing the next generation of DOL leaders.

A cornerstone of MRB’s transformation process is the identification and maintenance of mission-critical core competencies. These, along with regular workforce skills inventories, ensure that employees have the skills needed to perform their work. An online assessment tool has been used to evaluate over 96 percent of DOL employees.

DOL’s systematic and far-reaching human capital management program has enabled the Department to be a model workplace. DOL’s broad array of human capital initiatives allows the Department to hire, train, reward, and retain a talented workforce that will carry out the important mission of protecting America’s workforce in the twenty-first century.