Panelists say workforce issues will gain momentum under next president

The creation of the chief human capital officer role at federal agencies demonstrates the importance of personnel issues, an area that will continue to gain momentum in the next administration, panelists said Tuesday at a breakfast sponsored by Government Executive.

"The [chief financial officer] legislation was passed many years ago because someone said money was important; and the [chief information officer] passed because IT was important," said Gail Lovelace, CHCO at the General Services Administration. "Well, the passing of the CHCO legislation showed that human capital -- the people of an organization -- is important."

While workforce issues are a higher priority these days, panelists said, overall there are fewer employees to perform more complicated tasks in the face of shrinking budgets.

Lovelace said a steep decline in the number of GSA employees -- down to 12,000 from 40,000 when she first came to the agency in 1979 - has prompted the agency to revise its workforce strategy. "The truth is not having enough people or [resources] forces us to rethink how we get our work done," she said. "It forces us to think about new technology solutions, and it forces us to think about not trying to do the work the way we've always done it."

Reginald Wells, chief human capital officer at the Social Security Administration, said his agency has been limited by an increase in retirements, a wave that is not likely to slow as currently 60 percent of SSA's workforce is eligible to retire. "We're down to 61,000 employees, down from 85,000 at one point," he said.

Meanwhile, Office of Personnel Management Director Linda Springer said three groups -- the CHCO Council, OPM and Congress -- play an important role in ensuring human capital issues are managed with the same intensity in the next administration. The CHCO Council, she said, is largely represented by career officials, whether in the top job or deputy CHCO roles, who are advocates of human capital in their agencies. In addition, she said, OPM career officials in particular feel a responsibility for continuing an initiative like the President's Management Agenda, of which human capital is likely to be a major focus.

"I don't think anyone would say that either of these [presidential] candidates would turn their back on people," she said.

Springer also said Congress has leaders, including Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who "have reinforced the need for attention to human capital."

The 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey will be administered starting Aug. 1, with results being released in January. Springer said the timing of the survey's release will bring workforce issues to the attention of the next president and new agency leadership.

"In January, the new political leadership coming in will have the benefit of fresh data from the federal workforce," she said. "The 2008 survey data of the federal workforce will be able to create a basis on which not only the CHCOs, but all agency leaders will know where to focus."

Pay for performance and telework are not going away, said panelists. CHCOs at all agencies are committed to rolling out pay reforms, according to Springer, whether they're large programs at the Defense Department or within the intelligence community, or small-scale demonstration projects targeting a portion of an agency's workforce.

"Who can argue against paying our employees for the performance they bring to the organization every day?" Lovelace said. "We are watching and learning from [other agencies] to see how we can best bring pay for performance into our organization. But performance management is our key, and that's where we are now."

Lovelace also touted GSA as the government's "policy guru" on telework, noting that more improvements in technology and privacy safeguards coupled with rising gas prices will help telework to "absolutely live and grow."