OPM announces reorganization

The Office of Personnel Management announced on Tuesday a significant restructuring of its divisions, changes that observers say could place a greater emphasis on senior executives, veterans and diversity hiring, as well as OPM's oversight and compliance responsibilities.

The reorganization creates five core divisions at OPM: employee services, retirement and benefits, merit system audit and compliance, federal investigative services, and human resources solutions. Currently, OPM's organizational chart lists 13 offices, a setup Director John Berry called confusing and counterintuitive during a June 2009 meeting with agency employees.

"When the president nominated me for this job, I said, 'Let me see the [organizational] chart,' and I sat down with it," Berry said at the meeting in which he promised a restructuring. "Ten minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes [later], I still couldn't tell you [what the agency was focusing on]."

Some of the biggest changes will be the new employee services division, to be led by Nancy Kichak, who currently heads OPM's strategic human resources policy division. Kichak will oversee the work of the agency's deputy chief human capital officer, and offices specifically dedicated to recruitment and diversity issues; pay and leave policy; executive resources and employee development; partnership and labor relations, and support for agencies and the veterans they hire.

"I think what John Berry is telegraphing here, and I don't disagree, is there is a benefit for these public policy programs to have a champion, someone whose job it is to be concerned about veterans affairs, someone whose job it will be to oversee everything related to the Senior Executive Service, and equal opportunity employment, and labor relations," said John Palguta, vice president for policy at the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service.

OPM announced in August that it would create an office dedicated to the SES, replacing the one disbanded in a 2003 reorganization. And the creation of veterans- and diversity-specific offices reflects the emphasis Berry has placed on federal hiring of veterans and increased diversity in federal employment.

Carol Bonosaro, president of the Senior Executives Association, praised the reorganization but cautioned that implementing the details would be important.

"I'm pleased that the director has re-established a focal point for the federal career executive corps, though we would have preferred to see a stand-alone office," she said. "The policy issues and unmet needs, which can and should be addressed, are substantial, so it remains to be seen whether the Executive Resources Office receives the resources it will need to make a real difference."

Palguta said the creation of the merit system audit and compliance division as a discrete entity would sharpen OPM's oversight efforts. The new division will be led by Jeff Sumberg, who is currently the deputy associate director responsible for the Center for Merit System Accountability. The previous division, called human capital leadership and merit system accountability, was "kind of a strange mix," Palguta said.

Berry credited OPM employees, particularly Michelle Tolson, president of the American Federation of Government Employees local that represents OPM workers, for making the reorganization possible.

"Now, all of OPM's customers -- both internal and external -- will know exactly where to go for answers," Berry said in a statement.