Job competitions need help from HR, report says

Human resources executives could do a lot more to help agencies hold successful public-private job competitions, according to a new report from an Arlington, Va.-based consulting firm.

Personnel experts are largely left out of agencies' efforts to hold contests for jobs between federal workers and the private sector, the report found. HR executives should be more involved in competitive sourcing, and should help federal employees who lose their jobs in competitions to find new work, urged the firm, known as Pivotal Insight.

The report, based largely on interviews with employees at large federal agencies, including the Defense and Homeland Security departments, found that 90 percent of those interviewed believed HR professionals should be involved earlier in the competitive sourcing process. They should help explain to employees what job competitions are and how they work, as well as help agencies plan the competitions, respondents said.

Competitive sourcing provides "an opportunity for HR folks in the government to take a greater role in strategic planning," said Elizabeth Boudrie, Pivotal Insight's vice president of research.

While HR professionals frequently take part in the competitive sourcing process on an administrative level, Boudrie said they are seldom involved in the strategy of workforce planning or helping displaced employees deal with the results of competitions. She said HR executives should not necessarily try to help federal workers win competitions, but could do more to help employees develop resumes and job-seeking skills, as well as suggesting ways to structure jobs at agencies.

While many labor union leaders had not yet seen the report, some were skeptical of the claim that HR executives could help federal workers who have been hurt by job competitions.

"A proposal like that can be viewed…as catering to the contractor community," said Matthew Biggs, legislative director for the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. He said that it "legitimizes" contracting out in the public eye.

The report argues that competitive sourcing is not going away. It notes that federal agencies expect to put 30 percent more jobs up for competition in 2004 than in 2003.

Boudrie pointed to a case study of HR executives at a defense agency who set up a job center for civilian employees who were about to lose their jobs as a result of a competition. The HR staff met with employees and trained them in how to get jobs locally.

"What could have been a difficult, painful spiral down to unhappiness ended up working OK," said Boudrie, adding that most of the affected workers found jobs.

Jacque Simon, director of the American Federation of Government Employee's public policy department, said HR specialists should focus on finding federal employees jobs within the government, not in the private sector. "The federal government has a big investment in its workforce.…taxpayers shouldn't have to suffer the loss," she said.