Report lauds agencies for linking workforce management to mission

Some federal agencies have successfully stepped up their efforts to tie workforce management strategies to their missions and, according to the General Accounting Office, can be used as examples for other agencies as they try to meet the goals of the president's management agenda.

GAO brought workforce management issues to the forefront in the late 1990s and in 2001, the Bush administration included it as one of five components of the president's management agenda, which identified governmentwide management challenges. Now, agencies are graded annually on their ability to improve in those areas, which also include financial management, electronic government, competitive sourcing and budget and performance integration.

The watchdog agency reviewed the human capital strategies of several agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the General Services Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, the Coast Guard, and the U.S. Geological Survey to get a sense of how agencies were aligning their efforts with program goals. GAO found a range of activities, according to its report (03-446).

"Agency leaders included human capital leaders in key agency strategic planning and decision-making," the report said. "Human capital leaders transformed the agencies' human capital organizations to better enable them to add value to the strategic activities of the agencies."

Those agencies also made human resources managers and line supervisors accountable for workforce management and results, GAO found, and created workforce councils to support their efforts to tie the two issues together.

"Composed of senior agency officials, including both program leaders and human capital leaders, these groups meet regularly to review the progress of the agency's integration efforts and to make certain that the human capital strategies are visible, viable, and remain relevant," the report said. "Additionally, the groups help the agencies monitor whether differences in human capital approaches throughout their agencies are well considered, effectively contribute to outcomes, and are equitable in their implementation."

GAO recommended that other federal agencies look at the efforts at FEMA, the Coast Guard, GSA, IRS, the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey as they craft plans to link organizational goals to workforce management.