Federal agencies neglect workforce planning, officials say

Comptroller General David Walker urged lawmakers to pay more attention to human capital planning at federal agencies in testimony before a Senate committee Thursday.

At a Senate Governmental Affairs subcommittee hearing, Walker said the government's human capital planning is ineffectual and could end up on the General Accounting Office's compilation of the worst management problems in the federal government.

"That decision hasn't been made yet, but I think there's a good chance," Walker said. GAO first developed its high-risk list in 1990 and has been adding and deleting government issues ever since.

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, read from Brookings Institution scholar (and Government Executive columnist) Paul Light's latest book, The New Public Service, to summarize the federal government's human resources headaches.

"The federal government is losing the talent war on two fronts. Its personnel system is slow in hiring, almost useless in firing, overly permissive in promoting, out of touch with performance and penurious in training," Light wrote.

Add to those problems an aging workforce with many experienced employees on the brink of retirement, an extremely competitive job market and a legacy of downsizing during the 1990s that saved dollars but also sapped knowledge from agencies, Walker said, and the point is clear:

"This is an emerging crisis, there is no question about it."

Walker's comments echo those made by the National Commission on the Public Service 12 years ago, when the commission said there was a "quiet crisis" in management of the civil service.

GAO has published two guides agencies can use as tools in the human resources planning process. The first is a document published last September called "Human Capital: A Self-Assessment Checklist for Agency Leaders." The other is a list of best human capital practices from nine private sector organizations (GGD-00-28), released in January.

Walker said agencies need to improve their recruiting efforts. Civilian agencies should offer incoming personnel relief from their college debt, just as the Defense Department does for its military recruits, he said. Currently, agencies have the legal authority to offer debt relief, but it is rarely exercised because the costs are so high.

Office of Personnel Management Director Janice R. Lachance said the government must "engage in the war for talent," and reviewed what her agency is doing to help.

OPM is developing a Web-based workforce planning model that will allow agencies to study gaps in skills and needs, and develop plans of action to fill those needs. New hiring, compensation and retention tools and a Senior Executive Service succession plan are in the works too, Lachance said.

While these tools are a start, "ultimately legislative reform in the human capital area may be needed," Walker said.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said the common assumption in Congress that federal programs would work better if they were simply turned over to private firms has exacerbated government's human resources problems.

"When the mindset of privatization is running rampant on Capitol Hill, nobody wins," Durbin said.

Voinovich vowed to hold more hearings on human resources issues this year. "I'm not letting up on this ... this issue has got to be elevated," he said.