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

OPM Goals

"On September 12th, 2001, countless public servants participated in what I call "a million acts of quiet defiance." They rejected unscheduled leave and kept our government open and delivering essential services for the American people."

Kay Coles James , Director of OPM

Goal 1

Objective 1

Agencies use OPM policy and guidance to develop and maintain the capacity of their workforce to continue to meet and improve their strategic performance targets.

The ability to create an effective Government depends on its ability to develop and attract quality employees and to motivate them to perform at high levels. Investment in human capital is the right thing to do if agencies are to achieve their missions. As part of the President’s Management Agenda, the Office of Personnel Management is leading the Federal Government’s Strategic Management of Human Capital initiative. In this role, OPM is committed to being the President’s strategic advisor on human capital issues, to develop tools and provide support to agencies so they will succeed in their human capital transformation efforts and assisting in making the Federal Government a high-performing workplace.

Strategies

• Develop and identify preferred practices in performance management, workforce development, employee and labor-management relations, recruitment and assessment, and work-life balance.
• Provide policy guidance and regulations for Governmentwide systems (e.g., classification, compensation, performance management, Senior Executive Service).
• Provide policy guidance and tools to agencies to help them create an organizational culture that encourages high performance and results in retention of high-quality employees.
• Provide policy guidance and tools to agencies that improve their ability to train and develop their employees in order to achieve agency goals.
• Encourage the use of succession planning and candidate development programs to strategically manage the impact of demographic and other workforce impacts.
• Identify and eliminate barriers that impede or decrease access for underrepresented populations.
• Partner with employee organizations that represent different minority groups to develop strategies to identify women, minorities and people with disabilities who demonstrate leadership potential early in their careers and then provide experience and learning opportunities to prepare them for senior level positions.
• Conduct special emphasis studies to continue to make the "business case" for diversity.
• Provide Governmentwide workforce information.
• Conduct special human capital studies on emerging issues.

Performance Indicators/Measures

Most surveys conducted by OPM have principally focused either upon HR personnel in Federal agencies or the general workforce. We survey the Senior Executive Service, Human Resources Directors, Human Resources Specialists, and the general workforce. Examples of the results of data OPM will continue to collect include:

• Agency leadership report that OPM’s human capital resources enabled them to develop and maintain a workforce needed to meet their missions;
• Agency leadership report that OPM is focused on the right human capital issues;
• More employees report they are held accountable for results;
• More employees report their agencies hold employees accountable for results;
• Agencies’ human capital plans contain strategies to address retirement and other demographic impacts; and
• Increase in the diversity of Federal employees at all levels and in traditionally underrepresented positions.

Building on previous studies and expertise, OPM will address the impact of policies affecting recruitment, performance, retention and satisfaction with them. For example, we will use data from the annual Governmentwide Survey (GWS), surveys of managers, inventories of alternative personnel systems and other initiatives that strive to ensure policies leading to a quality and highly motivated workforce aligned with agencies missions throughout the Federal Government.

OPM will create a longitudinal program evaluation of human capital policies and merit system compliance. We will develop an empirical, multivariate model that will provide a basis for assessing the efficacy of human capital efforts. The model will specifically consider, with appropriate controls, the underlying explanatory dimensions of alternative policies as they contribute to a quality workforce. The key components of the effort will be directed toward recruitment, performance and retention-related policies, their impact, and managers’ satisfaction with them. (See section on evaluation for a more detailed description.)

Goal 1    Objective 1    Objective 2    Objective 3    Objective 4

Goal 2    Objective 1    Objective 2

Goal 3    Objective 1    Objective 2    Objective 3