AI can improve how federal employees do their jobs, but training and resources need to be a priority

If federal employees are going to have the skills necessary to tackle increasingly-prevalent challenges, particularly utilizing artificial intelligence, then Congress needs to fund agencies’ workforce development programs, said officials during a panel Tuesday on government workforce readiness. 

“Technology has not been kept up to date. Our resourcing has not been kept up to date, and neither has training. Because, as everyone in here knows, the first thing that goes when a budget is frozen or scaled down, it's like, ‘let's take away training.’ That no longer can be viewed as a ‘nice to have expense,’” said Traci Di Martini, the IRS’ chief human capital officer, at SAP’s Federal Forum. 

Jessica Palatka, the Commerce Department’s CHCO, argued that while the federal government has focused on bolstering the national workforce in response to AI and other emerging technologies, agencies also could use assistance. 

“We see all these great improvements to the U.S. workforce, the U.S. economy, yet our own agencies are not then funded to support the growth that we see in the department,” she said. “So as we see broadband [funding], we see [the 2021 CHIPS and Science Act], we see all these great pieces of legislation, it would be great to also have the resources to then be able to continue to automate and improve our own functionality that employ AI that we've been executively ordered to employ.”

Agencies have implemented all of the initial requirements in President Joe Biden’s October 2023 executive order regarding government use of AI, which has an emphasis on recruiting. Di Martini, however, argued that it’s equally important to train existing federal employees on AI. 

“People who come in and have a misnomer that federal IT doesn't know what it’s doing, or federal HR doesn't know what it’s doing, usually run away crying after a year or two because this is like doing your job sometimes with one hand tied behind your back,” she said. “And a lot of times that hand is the resource hand, because we live in uncertain times, just having to make sure that we know what our budgets will look like.”

Employee training is especially integral given the federal government’s push toward skills-based hiring that prioritizes competencies over educational attainment. This transition affects cyber and tech jobs, in particular, and will likely continue regardless of who wins the presidential election. 

Palatka stressed that trade schools, military experience and apprenticeship programs often provide individuals with the skills agencies are looking for. 

“There are other ways that individuals are gathering these skill sets, besides just going through a four-year institution, which brings a real diversity of thought,” she said. “So not just forcing one pipeline into the different types of positions that we’re hiring for today.”

Government Executive's parent company, GovExec, hosted the SAP Federal Forum.