The White House’s budget proposal unveiled this week identifies management of the federal workforce as a key challenge ahead for the government, noting that people and culture is one of the four main elements of the President’s Management Agenda.
As had past budgets, it notes that the federal workforce has shrunk as a percentage of the overall population for 40 years with occasional turns up due to wartime needs. Federal work meanwhile has become more sophisticated, with now three-fourths more workers with a masters degree or higher compared with those with a high school degree or less, compared with only about half two decades ago.
The average age of a federal worker is 45.6, up by 2.8 years over that time and 3.5 years higher than the private sector average. “Given these demographics, the federal government faces a few immediate challenges: preparing for retirements by maximizing knowledge transfer from one generation to the next; succession planning to assure needed leadership; and hiring and developing the next generation of the government work¬force to accomplish the varied and challenging missions the federal government must deliver,” it says.
It cites strategies including more highly detailed reports from the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey for use by management; the recent initiative to improve employee engagement; enhanced classroom and online training and resources on issues such as dealing with poor performers; stronger career development for current and prospective senior execs and onboarding programs for new execs; programs to identify and narrow skills gaps, especially in the scientific-technical-engineering-math fields; and improved labor-management relations.
The budget also continues efforts to consolidate agencies within existing government-owned and leased space across the country to improve space utilization, decrease reliance on leased space, increase energy and water conservation, and reduce the federal government’s real estate footprint.
