Workforce Management Featured Article
Workforce Management A Big Problem for Government
The government isn't exactly the first place that's considered when looking for models of efficiency, and even when it looks to do the right thing, the execution often leaves a lot to be desired. That point was driven home by new research from Cornerstone OnDemand, who showed that despite a particular focus on workforce management issues in the federal government, the results weren't commensurate with the efforts.
The Cornerstone OnDemand study, conducted with the help of Worldwide Business Research and titled “Creating the Next Generation of Federal Human Capital: The 2014 State of Human Capital Management Report,” showed there was some serious disconnect between priorities and efforts. Perhaps the biggest point in support of that came from the agencies; 76 percent of executives involved in federal agency human capital actually believe that current programs aren't doing the necessary jobs throughout the entire continuum of human capital, from recruiting and training to performance management to even succession management.
Worse, 63 percent of respondents called efforts to plan succession “not successful,” and perhaps worse, only 38 percent of those managers had succession planning as part of a top three plan of places to improve for 2014. It would be easy to shrug this off, to say that perhaps there are more important places to be concerned with, but succession is something of a metaphorical ticking time bomb for federal agencies: in just the next three years, almost a third—30 percent—of all federal employees are eligible to retire. That means something of a problem for federal agencies, particularly in terms of keeping the necessary knowledge in place to keep operations running, and in terms of finding replacements for that massive body of soon-to-retire individuals.
The numbers grew only more telling as the survey carried on. Finding and closing skills gaps was a top priority for a majority of survey respondents, but just 45 percent were actively working on projects that would make those gaps narrower. Recruiting was a top-three priority for most, but just 46 percent of respondents had investment slated to do necessary recruiting. Training and development was another major priority, but perhaps worst of all, only 14 percent were increasing investment in those fields, while 44 percent were actually cutting back on training and development budgets.
It's a disaster in the making by any stretch. In three years, about a third of the government will be eligible to retire. While many would say that perhaps it would be an opportune time for the government to look at some cuts to begin with in the light of shrinking tax rolls and swelling spending, losing a third of the operation in one swoop isn't a fat-cutting exercise, it's losing limbs. Naturally, there will be those who are eligible to retire who won't, but even if half of those who are eligible actually take the government up on it, that's still a huge loss of experienced personnel. With the issue clearly identified as a problem, now, the problem needs to be acted upon, and acted upon effectively.
With unemployment at fairly high levels throughout the country, and underemployment likewise, it's a great time for the government to find good, qualified people who've been out of work. Acting on that point is going to be crucial to ensure future operations. While some cutting might be in order, this is too much too soon, and in order to keep government operating, it's going to need a major influx of good qualified people, and fast.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi