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Strategic Objective

Attract and Acquire a Talented and Diverse Workforce that Reflects the Public We Serve

Strategic Objective

Lead Office: Office of Human Resources

Themes:

Management

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Overview
Progress Update

Overview

Over the past few years, we have consistently ranked among the top 10 Best Places to Work among large agencies in the Federal Government. Our employees believe strongly in our mission and in the work that we do for the American people. However, for continued success, we must be able to continue to attract top talent. We must also ensure that we continue to employ a diverse workforce that will be able to engage effectively with people of all ages, education levels, cultural backgrounds, and language preferences. To remain an employer of choice for current and future

Progress Update

We took the following steps in fiscal year (FY) 2015 to attract and acquire a talented and diverse workforce (see Key Initiatives and Performance Measures for more details):

Implemented modernized recruitment strategies such as:
- Social networking tools;
- Virtual job fairs; and
- Promoting workplace flexibilities like telework
Used the following Pathways Programs for recruitment:
- The Internship program;
- The Recent Graduates program; and
- The Presidential Management Fellows program.
- Hired a recruitment manager to support agency recruitment efforts.

Next Steps

Implement agency recruitment plan;
Develop marketing strategies;
Share employment opportunities with veteran service groups; and
Share employment opportunities with vocational rehabilitation agencies, employment networks, and college and university service coordinators.

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Strategic Goals

Strategic Goal:

Build a Model Workforce to Deliver Quality Service

Statement: No Data Available

Strategic Objectives

Attract and Acquire a Talented and Diverse Workforce that Reflects the Public We Serve

Statement:No Data Available

Description:

Strategies:

Compete for top talent through modernized recruitment strategies given changing generational expectations;
Build a strong, diverse applicant pool through the use of various hiring flexibilities and programs, including Office of Personnel Management’s Pathways programs and volunteer internships;
Market and expand use of hiring authorities for veterans and individuals with disabilities; and
Ensure recruitment and selection processes focus on talent needs and core competencies for mission critical positions.

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Strengthen the Competency, Agility, and Performance of Our Workforce to Align with the Needs of the Public

Statement:No Data Available

Description:

Changing business processes require our employees to increasingly demonstrate flexibility and resilience. We must assist our employees by providing timely training and development opportunities, as well as appropriate tools and resources. We must find ways for employees to develop more flexible career paths. To enhance performance, we must ensure that we hold employees accountable for their actions and provide them timely and effective supervisory feedback.

We must also ensure we have programs in place to strengthen our management and leadership ranks. Supporting our managers through training, as well as with tools and resources (e.g., guidelines, procedures, best practices, desk guides, automated systems) is important in ensuring effective leadership in the face of ever-increasing change and complexity.

Training and employee development will be critical to improving the competency and agility of our workforce and are key initiatives for the agency. We cannot afford during difficult budget times to sacrifice training and development – if we cut back in these areas, our service delivery will decline in the future. Increasing online services will also draw less complex work away from the field offices, so we must commit to offering highly trained staff to address the more difficult questions that will come into our field offices.

Strategies:

Ensure effective use of the agency’s performance management systems to manage employee performance;
Improve supervisory competencies and develop talent for future leadership opportunities;
Create knowledge management tools and processes to ensure the capture of institutional knowledge (e.g., effective use of reemployed retirees);
Reduce skill gaps in targeted mission critical occupations to support talent development of employees; and
Offer ongoing access to training and development resources to support continual learning.

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Foster an Inclusive Culture that Promotes Employee Well-Being, Innovation, and Engagement

Statement:No Data Available

Description:

We will provide an environment where our employees feel empowered, safe, included, and engaged in the shared direction of the agency. We are flattening the organization (i.e., decreasing the middle layers of management) to allow front-line employees more opportunities to provide input into leadership decisions. We will also improve agency-wide communications and foster better collaboration between management and labor representatives.

As we make changes over the next few years, we must ensure that we continue to promote and support employees’ well-being and motivation. We will find ways to keep morale high by offering workplace flexibilities such as expanded use of telework. We will also encourage changes that support employee creativity, work-life balance, and family-friendly policies to foster employee engagement at all levels of the organization.

Strategies:

Promote work-life balance and employee well-being through workplace flexibilities;
Ensure access to employee services (e.g., financial literacy, career development, work-life resources) regardless of geographic location;
Provide employees and managers with support to navigate complex personnel matters (e.g., employee conduct, performance, reasonable accommodations);
Promote safety of employees through ongoing safety training and emergency preparedness activities;
Engage labor organizations to promote collaboration and transparency; and
Develop practices that facilitate open communication and understanding in order to enhance employee engagement and appreciation of our diversity.

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Enhance Planning and Alignment of Human Resources to Address Current and Future Public Service Needs

Statement:No Data Available

Description:

To support ongoing workforce planning and data-driven decisions on workforce management, we must develop the internal capability to analyze trends and identify workforce-related actions and programs that correlate with and improve agency performance. We will use available MI to conduct comprehensive workforce analyses and forecast future workforce composition. We will assess current and future skill gaps. We will use this information to explore ways to re-shape our workforce to meet the service delivery needs of the American public now and into the future.

Strategies:

Use workforce restructuring and reshaping programs (e.g., Voluntary Early Retirement Authority) to adjust and align the workforce with agency needs;
Use human resources MI and data analytics to conduct effective workforce planning and forecasting that assists leaders in making data-driven decisions;
Conduct data-driven performance reviews to assess, monitor, and track alignment of human capital programs with service delivery needs; and
Utilize effective management principles to optimize organizational structures and workforce composition as we automate processes and expand self-service.

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