The Partnership for Public Service has issued a report prepared with Grant Thornton that indicates budget cuts, criticism of public servants, and inflexible workforce rules are taking a toll on the ability of agencies to carry out their missions.
The report – “Embracing Change: CHCOs Rising to the Challenge of an Altered Landscape” – is the fifth in a series that began in 2007 and was based on interviews with 62 federal CHCOs and HR leaders regarding the challenges facing the federal workforce.
Among the challenges cited are budgetary uncertainty and inflexibility that have led to reduced hiring, wider skill gaps and workload imbalances, as well as diminished training which leads to problems down the road.
To reverse the trend, the report calls on agencies to reinvest in training and development for both employees and management. It says more predictability in the budget process would help, as well as more freedom for agencies to determine how budget cuts should be applied.
It also called on OPM and OMB to consider loosening restrictions on conference attendance and travel, for agencies to look to shared services and other collaborative, cross-agency methods for reducing costs and improving how missions are achieved.
Further, Congress should overhaul the government’s pay and job classification system, according to the report, calling it “antiquated and ineffective.”
