Just 18 percent of federal managers and supervisors surveyed by OPM recently said they have received training on the use of the category rating hiring flexibility, and 30 percent on the use of direct-hire authority.
OPM questioned them as part of a study on agency use of hiring flexibilities, and found that 46 percent of those who received training on those two hiring authorities were satisfied with it.
It’s an area of focus for OPM as it attempts to respond to changes in the federal workforce, 60 percent of which will become retirement eligible over the next 10 years.
Just over half of managers and supervisors said they were satisfied with training received on the student career experience program and federal career intern program.
Of those surveyed, 92 percent are at the GS-13 to GS-15 level and have worked for the government for over 20 years, while about half have been managers or supervisors for over 10 years, with 60 percent working in field offices.
According to the survey, managers and supervisors across the eight agencies seldom use OPM web-based resources on the hiring flexibilities, while just 8 percent said they used the agency’s “hiring flexibilities resource center,” though those that did found it effective.
