U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Thanks for coming to the Director's Desk. I'd like to present a scenario for you to consider....

Imagine that you are the new President/CEO of Speedy Inc., a well-established and successful delivery company.  Speedy Inc. is a great place to work.  It has approximately 1000 employees, and each plays an important role in the organization and is vital to its success.  Much of your staff has been at Speedy or in the delivery business their entire careers, so there is a wealth of knowledge with these older employees.  However, over 500 of your employees will be eligible to retire over the next ten years.  And the younger employees you are hiring seem to have different expectations about the workplace, and don’t seem to be staying with the company as long as others have.  What are you to do?  How can your company survive with the loss of all of this knowledge and people in such a short period of time?

The retirement situation described above is very much like the one facing the United States Federal Government.  Consider the facts:

• 60% of people in the federal workforce will be eligible to retire over the next 10 years (with 40% likely to retire when first eligible)

• 90% of civilian senior government executives will be eligible to retire over the next 10 years

With such a large number of the Federal workforce potentially retiring in the short term, we must act to ensure that the government fills these positions with experienced and knowledgeable people.  And at OPM, we are working to do just that through several efforts: 

• Career Patterns Initiative – For the Federal Government to win its share of the talent pool in the emerging seller’s market, we must present our positions with a 21st Century approach.  OPM has directed Federal agencies to implement our new initiative – Career Patterns – to make this happen.  The Career Patterns approach to recruiting markets not only the position description, but also the recruiting range of available employer-employee arrangements and the supporting work environment that enables success. 

• Major Media Campaign – We are in the process of expanding the OPM advertising campaign, “What Did You Do at Your Job Today?”, to further raise awareness of the many diverse and exciting positions available in the Federal Government.  Through our television ads that have aired in 12 different media markets, we’re continuing to highlight the Federal Government as an employer of choice and spotlight the USAJOBS website.  Thousands of viewers have taken the first step toward joining the Federal workforce and have visited USAJOBS as a direct result of the ads.

• Hiring Toolkit Website – With the rollout of this new website, OPM is assisting and educating Federal supervisors and managers on the many hiring tools and information available to them.  The site addresses the recruitment, retention, development and management of talent to create a stronger Federal workforce.  The toolkit provides case studies, Frequently Asked Questions and hiring guidance tools, as well as a Makeover Template that is a step-by-step guide to a timely and expedient hiring process.  It is located at http://www.opm.gov/hiringtoolkit/.

• Succession Planning – We continue to work with Federal agencies to better ensure that each has an appropriate plan in place to assess the risk and prepare for the loss of experienced personnel.  As part of this effort, OPM is co-sponsoring Federal Career Days in an effort to showcase the thousands of career opportunities available in the Federal Government.  Held at several colleges across the United States, these Career Days are more targeted than in previous years, with special emphasis on occupations considered "mission critical," in which needs are highest.

Through these and other important efforts, OPM continues to work to address the impending retirement wave and improve the hiring and retention of Federal employees.  Just like a private company that must adjust to retirements and changes in the workplace, it is imperative that the Federal Government also directly face these challenges.  At OPM, we’ll continue to do exactly that and work to achieve our mission – ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce.

I hope you are enjoying the new and improved OPM website, and that you will visit again soon.

Linda M. Springer