GAO chief lobbies Hill for workforce flexibilities

Congress should give agencies the flexibility to do such things as forgive employees' educational debt and allow retirement-eligible workers to continue on a part-time basis without sacrificing pension benefits, Comptroller General David Walker told a House oversight panel Tuesday.

Although the General Accounting Office, which Walker heads, has a significant number of highly educated employees-more than half of GAO staffers hold doctorate or master's degrees-attracting such people may prove increasingly difficult because of the heavy debts many recent graduates carry, Walker said. Loan obligations and modest government salaries together strap new hires with "a double whammy," he told the House Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology.

Agencies also should be allowed to let experienced staffers "retreat into retirement," whereby they could continue working a limited schedule without losing pension benefits, Walker said. Otherwise, as the huge wave of baby boomer employees becomes eligible to retire, agencies stand to lose considerable mission-critical skills and institutional knowledge.

Walker also stressed a need to grant small concessions that would make government a more attractive employer. For example, employees required to travel for their jobs should be allowed to keep the frequent flier miles they accumulate, he said. Many federal employees work as hard or harder than their private-sector peers yet receive considerably lower pay, he noted, adding, "It almost adds insult to injury to say you have to give those miles back."

During the hearing, Walker pressed lawmakers to support pending legislation that would give him the authority to offer early retirement and buyouts to employees whose skills are overrepresented at GAO, and to base any future reductions in force on skills and performance, rather than on seniority, a measure that has generated concern among some employees.

"We critically need this legislation" to overcome skills imbalances triggered by budget cuts and hiring freezes of the mid-1990s, Walker said.

The Senate passed its version of the bill (S. 2595) as part of the fiscal 2001 legislative branch appropriations bill, but the House has not yet voted on the proposal. The matter could be settled this week when the legislative branch funding measure goes to conference committee.