MSPB has set its research agenda for the next four years, planning to look into numerous personnel management issues as well as produce formal studies on topics including employee engagement.
MSPB currently has five projects underway, focusing on practices and perceptions of hiring of veterans; compliance with fair and open competition for job vacancies; veterans’ job rights when returning from active military duty; training and development of senior executives; and how well agencies educate employees about the merit system principles.
Planned projects are: a report to address various aspects of employee engagement, aimed at helping leaders better understand it, promote it and channel it toward accomplishing agency goals; a survey to be conducted late in 2015 to gauge employee perceptions of prohibited personnel practices occurring in their workplaces and measure their attitudes on topics including their work environment; and assess OPM oversight of agency hiring practices.
Other topics proposed for research include: assessing adverse action rules and practices; reviewing employment of persons with disabilities; preventing nepotism; whistleblower reprisal; sexual harassment; appeal rights; the impact of the recent changes to appeal rights of senior executives at VA; various hiring practices; the supervisory and managerial probationary period; performance evaluations; the prevalence and impact of poor performers; selection of supervisors; workplace flexibilities; the impact of technology on the workforce; succession planning; and others.