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

OPM Goals

Goal 2

Objective 1

Provide advice to agencies and promote best practices on solutions, actions and strategies to meet their human capital management needs.

The human capital effort is designed to assist agencies in efficiently and effectively aligning resources by forecasting future workforce requirements, including size, skills mix and deployment needed for the mission, based on core program functions and strategic goals. OPM’s advice and assistance are anchored in a human capital framework that builds upon six pillars of effective human capital management— strategic alignment with the mission; having the talent to accomplish the mission; supporting continuous learning; and knowledge management strategies; ensuring the agency has the leadership capacity to achieve results by effectively and actively supporting human capital transformation; and holding the organization accountable for mission accomplishment. Adapting strategies in these areas will guarantee the agencies’ abilities to meet the high standards for success identified in the President’s Management Agenda. These tenets of effective human capital management have been agreed upon by OPM, OMB and GAO and serve as the prism through which agencies are evaluated by the different segments of Government.

OPM offers training and development efforts designed to promote the strategic management of human capital initiative throughout Government. It is not enough that only those in agencies’ personnel offices understand human capital management. Everyone in the agency must see how the transformation in human capital management is key to the agency’s success.

OPM works with agencies to tailor human capital strategies to meet their needs and ensure they have the tools to implement their human capital transformation. OPM also works with agency leadership to assess their state of human capital practices so as to target solutions to particular needs. Successful agencies have made leadership commitment to the transformation of human capital a priority.

Strategies

• Work with agencies’ executive resources and other leadership programs to improve management and leadership skills necessary to change the work environment from rigid, bureaucratic and process-oriented to flexible, worker and family friendly, and results-oriented.
• Help agency leadership establish a business case for specific human capital management actions.
• Respond to agencies in emergencies, times of threat to our national security and other significant occurrences with strike force teams that meet agencies’ immediate human capital needs.
• Coordinate technical advice and assistance from across OPM needed to achieve agencies’ strategies and actions.
• Lead the development of e-Government solutions to reduce costs and improve performance.
• Coordinate with Federal Executive Boards (FEBs) to provide agencies with technical advice and assistance, to learn and share best practices and to obtain feedback from agencies.
• Train agency units that conduct employment examinations under OPM’s delegated authority.

Performance Indicators/Measures

The ultimate measure of success of agency human capital practices is the degree to which these practices contribute to the recruitment and retention of a workforce that can meet the agency mission. OPM has developed a framework to establish this link between human capital practices and agency mission accomplishment. In addition, OPM directly surveys its customers such as agency leadership, human capital professionals and employees in general. We survey the Senior Executive Service, Human Resources Directors, Human Resources Specialists and, for the general workforce, conduct the Governmentwide Survey. A sample of survey responses are:

• Agency leadership reports OPM’s strike force teams were timely and met their needs;
• Agency leadership reports OPM’s ongoing advice enables them to improve their human capital practices;
• HR specialists report OPM’s ongoing advice helps them meet their responsibilities; and
• e-Government business cases’ outcomes are met.

"Good beginnings are not the measure of success. What matters in the end is completion." President George W. Bush

Goal 1    Objective 1    Objective 2    Objective 3    Objective 4

Goal 2    Objective 1    Objective 2

Goal 3    Objective 1    Objective 2    Objective 3