The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has passed legislation requiring federal managers and supervisors to complete training every three years on how to communicate performance expectations, how to mentor employees, and covering the laws and procedures for enforcing whistleblower rights and equal opportunity employment protections.
"Because supervisory training is not mandatory or uniform across the federal government, agency resources often determine availability rather than need," said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, who first introduced the bill, S-967, in March.
"Training programs improve communication, reduce conflict, and cultivate more efficiency in the federal workforce," he added.
The bill directs OPM to issue guidance to agencies on standards supervisors are expected to meet in order to effectively manage, and be accountable for managing, the performance of employees.
It also requires agencies to develop standards to assess supervisor performance, assess the capacity of the supervisors in the agency to meet such guidance, and develop and implement a supervisor-training program to strengthen issues identified during that assessment.
Required training under the bill would have to be instructor-based and interactive, but could be completed online or in a classroom setting.
