Cut to the Core

lowly but surely, the federal workforce is undergoing a fundamental structural shift. The bloated bureaucracy is gradually giving way to a streamlined permanent workforce consisting only of mission-critical staffs who are supplemented, when necessary, with short-term employees. The advantage of this approach, says Evelyn White-Brown, deputy assistant secretary for human resources at the Department of Health and Human Services, is "that when you have fluctuating work periods, you bring in the temps and the contractors, and [when you have budget cuts or a reduced workload] you don't have a need to go into any staff reductions of the core workforce."

White-Brown and representatives from three other agencies in September 1998 published a guidance document called "Workforce for the Future" that addresses the new "blended workforce" trend. Private companies and agencies increasingly rely on contingent workers such as contractors and consultants, the document notes, and in the process are saving on labor costs, cutting the time it takes to move people in and out of the organization, and improving efficiency. Before agencies can have the most efficient blend, however, they must analyze their core mission needs so that they maintain adequate permanent staff, White-Brown notes.

The nature of its work forced the Census Bureau to begin considering core workforce needs long before most agencies. Because it conducts the decennial census and a variety of more frequent economic surveys, the bureau has constantly changing staffing needs. "Our biggest challenge is having large swings in our work, which result in large swings in the workforce," says Nancy Potok, principal associate director and chief financial officer at Census.

In the past, when Census needed more full-time employees at headquarters to help with various surveys or the decennial census, the agency hired permanent staff whom later, after funding dropped, it couldn't sustain. The resulting reductions in force hurt morale and productivity, Potok says. So now Census hires these extra people strictly for two-year terms. Noting that young people generally prefer changing jobs every couple of years, Potok says the bureau has had very little trouble recruiting for the term positions.

Whether via term appointments, contractors or other short-term employment arrangements, the federal workforce's transition toward operating as a flexible entity that can grow or shrink with relative ease is inevitable, says Rosslyn Kleeman, former director of workforce issues at the General Accounting Office. "I think it's the wave of the future in both the public and private sectors."