The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in collaborationwith the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is very pleased to have anopportunity to work with each of you in carrying out the President’s hiringreform agenda as well as the Work-Life initiative, which includes wellness andimproving employee satisfaction. It isunprecedented for human capital issues to have such a significant role in theoverall President’s budget and performance plans. Both Director Orszag and I recognize that effectivehiring will increase agencies’ capacity to better fulfill their mission andserve the American people.
To ensure this effort has the highest level of supportwithin OPM, I have established two senior level teams to address both of theseissues, led by my Deputy Chiefs of Staff—
Ms. Jennifer Mason (Hiring Reform) and Mr. Justin Johnson (Work-Life). In addition, I have dedicated some of my moreseasoned staff members to each of these teams and directed them to work with youin a collaborative manner in ensuring our collective success.
The following maps out the different strategies we will useto assist you in achieving the hiring process mapping; streamlined and plainlanguage job announcements; hiring manager involvement in the hiring process;and applicant notification:
SWAT Teams: Each agency will establish a SWAT team,comprised of hiring managers and human resource professionals within the agencyand OPM representatives. The teams willhave the responsibility within each agency to:
(1) Map the current hiringprocess using OPM’s End-to-End Hiring Process as the guide and its HiringToolkit Diagnostic Model. The hiringprocess mapping will be from the time a manager identifies a need to hire untilthe person selected starts his/her first day on the job. In addition, the SWAT team will identify any barriers that an agency is encountering in reachingthe government-wide standard in the Roadmap and analyzing the root causes ofthese barriers.
(2) Develop and use streamlinedand plain language job opportunity announcements (JOA) for the top 10occupations within each agency. Agencieswill also use the current OPM streamlined/plain language JOAs, found atwww.usajobs.gov “Employer Services” tab.
Agencies and OPM will identifySWAT team members no later than July1, 2009. While human resource professionals should be an integralpart of the SWAT team, it is requested the leader of the agency team have apolicy or core mission-related role in the agency. The agency SWAT teams will provide agencyleadership, OMB and OPM with an initial status update by September 30, 2009. The agencies will provide their final hiringprocess mapping results, along with an action plan to tackle the barriersidentified, in their FY 2009 Human Capital Management Report (HCMR), due December 15, 2009. Agencies will make full use of theirstreamlined/plain language job announcements as each one is developed, but nolater than December 15,2009.
Collaborative Network/Communityof Practice Across Agencies. OPMwill facilitate a match up of agencies with similar composition/missions toestablish partners (sister agencies) to assist one another with all four areasof hiring reform and wellness. Ratherthan each agency tackle this one issue at a time, I believe we can have betterconsistency, accountability and success by joining forces in solving thesechallenges. OPM will reach out throughthe Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) Council to establish thesepartnerships. OPM will establish a humancapital community on OMB’s Web 2.0 MAX Federal Community government-widewebsite to foster sharing of successful practices in addressing these importanthuman capital requirements. Additionally,OPM will post each agency’s SWAT team and their contact information on the MAXwebpage.
Training Academies. OPM will hold a series of training academies forboth human resource and operational line management to demonstrate successfulagency hiring process mapping, and how to write streamlined/plain language jobannouncements. OPM will also holdtraining academies for hiring managers on the value of their participation inthe hiring process. We will reach out tothose agencies who are most ready to begin these hiring reform efforts tokick-off the first training academy.
Hiring Manager Survey Results. The OPM End-to-End Hiring Roadmap providesuseful tips on how to involve managers in the hiring process. OPM, in collaboration with the CHCO Council, developed a Manager Survey last yearfor measuring agencies’ overallsuccess in hiring manager involvement and their satisfaction with the hiringprocess. As a first step, the SWAT teamswill review the agency’s current results on relevant items on the ManagersSatisfaction Survey and identify areas requiring improvement.
The SWAT teams will provide astatus update to agency leadership, OMB and OPM regarding targeted improvementareas. Agencies will include in their FY2009 HCMR their targets for improving their manager satisfaction scores during
2010 and their action plans foraddressing barriers to hiring manager involvement in the hiring process.
Applicant Notification. Regarding notifying applicants of theirstatus at four points through USAJOBS.gov in a timely fashion – applicationreceived, application assessed for qualifications, applicant referred toselecting official (or not); and application selected (or not) - OPM is currently working with agencyrepresentatives to make these four touch points a reality within USAJOBS. One such feature is “Proactive Notification”for applicants, which will provide a status statement at each of the fourpoints through the use of email alerts.This enhancement will be implemented on June 20, 2009.OPM has already started discussions with several of thedepartments/agencies within the CHCOCouncil on the requirement to use USAJOBS to provide jobseekers with “ApplicantStatus.” Ms. Kim Bauhs, Director,USAJOBS, is OPM’s point of contact.
Ms. Bauhs can be contacted at kim.bauhs@opm.gov.
To further assist agencies, OPM is in the initial stages ofcreating centralized pools of top applicants for key mission-critical jobsacross the Federal Government who can be interviewed by agencies and quicklyhired. As a sign of my commitment tothis initiative, as well some of the other initiatives outlined in this memo, Ihave set aside a portion of OPM’s budget to ensure our collective success.
Other human capital initiatives that Director Orszag and Ibelieve are important to address in your agencies include improving employeesatisfaction and wellness. Studies show that, on average, happy and healthyemployees are more productive and engaged in their work. There is evidence that an engaged workforceleads to improved performance results.
Improving EmployeeSatisfaction. To meet your employeesatisfaction requirements, agencies should review their 2008 Federal HumanCapital Survey (FHCS) results, provided earlier this year by OPM, to identify(1) the ten items on which they scored lowest compared to the rest ofgovernment; (2) any item(s) on which employee satisfaction decreased since the2006 FHCS; and (3) those Human Capital Assessment and Accountability Framework(HCAAF) indices in which the agency scored lower than the rest of government. Agencies should conduct follow-up activities,such as focus groups and town hall meetings as appropriate, to understand thereasons for employees’ dissatisfaction with these items. Agencies should alsoengage those labor organizations representing their employees, as appropriate,as part of these follow-up activities to help improve employee satisfaction ina meaningful and sustainable way. Based on these follow-up activities, agenciesshould create an action plan, including improvement targets, to increaseemployees’ satisfaction on these items. Agenciesshould submit these action plans to OPM, and as part of their FY 2011 budgetsubmission to OMB, due September 14th.
Improving Employee Wellness. For the wellness initiative, agencies shouldsubmit an inventory of current wellness activities, cafeteria and fitnessfacilities, and health clinics as well as any plans to enhance theseprograms. OPM will provide an on-lineweb tool for agencies to complete their wellness inventories. Guidance will be issued by July 10 thatagencies can follow to complete this requirement. The tool will record the activity/facility,any agency performance metrics tracked in relation to this activity/facility,current agency performance against these metrics, and cost and utilizationdata. Examples of items to include inthis inventory are wellness competitions, fitness facilities, cafeteria andvending machine promotion of healthful food choices. Agencies should submit their health andwellness performance improvement targets and action plans to OPM, and as partof their FY2011 budget submission to OMB, due September 14th.
I, and the OPM team, look forward to working with you overthe next six months in achieving results with these very important initialhiring reform efforts. Ms. AngelaBailey, Deputy Associate Director for Talent and Capacity Policy and Hiring Wolf Pack Team Lead is OPM’s point of contactfor the hiring reform initiatives/requirements outlined in this letter. Ms. Bailey can be reached at angela.bailey@opm.gov.
Ms. Ana Mazzi, Acting Deputy Associate Director forLearning, Executive Resources and Policy Analysis is OPM’s point of contact forthe employee satisfaction initiative. Ms.Mazzi can be reached at ana.mazzi@opm.gov. Mr. Dan Green, Deputy Associate Director forEmployee and Family Support Policy and Wellness Wolf Pack Team Lead is OPM’s pointof contact for wellness initiatives. Mr. Green can be reached at daniel.green@opm.gov.