United States General Accounting Office

GAO General Government Division

July 1995 Federal Human

Resource Management

Issue Area Plan

Fiscal Years 1996-98

Federal Management and

Workforce Issues Area

GAO/IAP-95-19

Foreword

As the investigative arm of Congress and the nation’s auditor, the General

Accounting Office (GAO) is charged with following the federal dollar

wherever it goes. Reflecting stringent standards of objectivity and

independence, GAO’s audits, evaluations, and investigations promote a

more efficient and cost-effective government; expose fraud, waste, abuse,

and mismanagement in federal programs; provide information to help

Congress target budget reductions; improve accountability by assessing

financial and information management; and alert Congress to developing

trends that may have significant fiscal or budgetary consequences. In

fulfilling its responsibilities, GAO performs original research and makes use

of hundreds of databases, including creating its own when information is

unavailable elsewhere.

To ensure that GAO’s resources are directed toward the most important

issues facing Congress, each of GAO’s issue areas develops a strategic plan

that describes the significance of the issues it addresses, its objectives,

and the focus of its work. Each issue area relies heavily on input from

congressional committees, agency officials, and subject-matter experts in

developing its strategic plan.

Federal Management and Workforce Issues (FMWI) is one of GAO’s issue

areas. The human resources component of this issue area focuses on the

analysis and evaluation of issues relating to the federal civilian

workforce—from cross-cutting issues such as central oversight of the civil

service to more narrowly defined issues such as human resource

management (HRM) practices at specific agencies. Through consultation

with key congressional committees, agency officials, and subject-matter

experts, FMWI has developed this strategic plan to ensure that its

resources are directed toward the most important federal HRM issues

facing Congress.

The civil service is undergoing significant reexamination and change. The

necessity to create a smaller yet higher performing federal workforce is

leading to a major rethinking of civil service principles and practices.

Congress will soon face critical decisions that may redefine the future of

the civil service. On the pages that follow, we outline the issue area’s most

significant planned work on the following pivotal civil service issues:

• examining systemwide fundamentals for the civil service and establishing

mechanisms to ensure that agencies’ HRM practices conform with these

principles;

• acquiring and developing leadership for the future;

Page 1 GAO/IAP-95-19
Foreword

• rightsizing the federal workforce while maintaining quality through

recruiting, hiring, and using the best candidates available;

• managing for performance—that is, focusing on results rather than on

processes—and holding employees accountable for their work;

• promoting fair treatment for all federal employees and maintaining high

standards of ethics and conduct; and

• designing cost-effective benefit programs to attract and retain the best

employees.

Because events may significantly affect even the best of plans and because

periodic measurement of success against any plan is essential, our

planning process allows for updating the plan and responding quickly to

emerging issues. If you have any questions or suggestions about this plan,

please call me at (202) 512-8676, or Timothy Bowling, Associate Director,

at (202) 512-3511.

L. Nye Stevens

Director

Federal Management and Workforce Issues

Page 2 GAO/IAP-95-19
Contents

Foreword 1

Table I: Key Issues 4

Table II: Planned

Major Work

10

Table III: GAO

Contacts

11

Page 3 GAO/IAP-95-19
Table I: Key Issues

Issue Significance

ESTABLISHING SYSTEMWIDE

FUNDAMENTALS AND AGENCY

ACCOUNTABILITY

Are the principles that guide the federal

government’s Human Resource

Management (HRM) systems appropriate,

and if so, how can Congress ensure that

federal agencies, regardless of the flexibility

afforded them, act in accordance with these

principles? 

An orderly and effective transformation of the civil service will require reexamining the

rationales that underlie the current system; determining the areas in which the system is

outdated or ineffective; examining alternative models; helping decide key principles to

guide federal HRM in the future; and organizing the civil service system to balance the

need to institutionalize these principles with the need to give agencies the flexibility to

fashion systems that meet their specific requirements. Downsizing and decentralization

have already gathered momentum in the past 2 years. The role of the Office of Personnel

Management (OPM) as it involves direction and oversight is still in flux; even the

abolishment of OPM is under consideration. Congress is considering the administration’s

reinvention proposals and preparing its own legislative initiatives.

ACQUIRING AND DEVELOPING

LEADERSHIP FOR THE FUTURE

In the coming years, how can the

government be more effective in finding and

developing a cadre of diverse,

forward-looking leaders and managers

needed to transform the civil service?

As the emphasis moves toward a smaller and more results-oriented government, the

demand will grow for a diverse cadre of leaders who can successfully manage change

and institute management and accountability reforms such as the Chief Financial Officers

Act of 1990 (CFO) and the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA).

Civil service reform will undoubtedly include HRM approaches that will be new to the

federal bureaucracy; for reform to work, managers and supervisors will need to be adept

at handling change and applying these HRM approaches effectively. Further, both the

Senate and House Republican budget reduction proposals have called for reductions in

the number of political appointees. Such reductions may well affect the overall

career/political leadership relationship and roles.

Page 4 GAO/IAP-95-19
Table I: Key Issues

Objectives Focus of work

—Identify and assess alternatives for decentralizing and streamlining

federal HRM.

—Analyze alternative strategies for fundamentally reshaping the public

service.

—Evaluate the pros, cons, and impediments to privatizing and/or

contracting out services and functions that federal employees currently

perform.

—Determine how OPM and agency oversight could be

accomplished in a more decentralized environment.

—Assess methods and measurements that could be used

to ensure agency accountability.

—Assess agency capacity to accept additional HRM

responsibility along the lines envisioned by the National

Performance Review (NPR).

—Work with sources in government, industry, and

academia to explore alternatives to the current civil

service system.

—Assess applicability of private-sector HRM models to

the civil service.

—Assess the issues related to determining the proper

public/private sector mix in providing federal services to

the public and the best way to manage the performance

of these services to ensure the public gets the most for its

tax dollar.

—Evaluate the alternatives for more systematic preparation and training of

career managers and supervisors.

—Examine the development of the Senior Executive Service (SES) since

passage of the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA) and identify areas for

improvement.

—Assess ways to strengthen the political/career leadership relationship. 

—Examine the impediments to developing effective

political/career leadership.

—Examine the role, responsibilities, and numbers of

political appointees and career executives in a downsized

workforce.

—Assess the SES against the criteria under which it was

originally established.

Page 5 GAO/IAP-95-19
Table I: Key Issues

Issue Significance

RIGHTSIZING AND MAINTAINING A

HIGH-QUALITY WORKFORCE

Is the government determining and

achieving the most appropriate size and

makeup of its workforce and ensuring that

future vacancies are filled by the most

qualified candidates?

A government sized to meet its mission will move strategic workforce planning to the

forefront of civil service issues. The current pressure to downsize must be dealt with in

ways that accomplish administration and congressional full-time equivalent staffing

goals—defined by the Workforce Restructuring Act—while being as fair as possible to

federal employees, minimizing disruption and expense to the agencies, and handling

issues of a diverse workforce. Even if these goals are met, a smaller government will

require high-quality workers if performance goals are also to be accomplished—which

means recruiting, hiring, and using the best candidates available. The nation’s civilian

labor force is experiencing enormous change, growing older and becoming increasingly

diverse; women, for example, now make up half of the workforce. In this regard, the

government’s challenge as an employer is to include every sector of America in its

search for the most promising talent.

MANAGING FOR PERFORMANCE AND

ENSURING INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY

Is the management of federal workers

focused on results rather than process and

does it hold workers accountable for their

job performance?

Several forces have coincided to make performance management one of the most

potentially fruitful areas for reform of the civil service. GPRA, with its emphasis on

planning, measuring, and reporting; the NPR, with its goal of a government that works

better and costs less; and the new Congress, with its emphasis on cost savings and

efficiency—all make it imperative that the workforce be managed for results. In this

regard, the government may be following the lead of the private sector, where

competitive necessities have led to extensive downsizing, streamlining, reengineering,

and quality management. Moreover, in the private sector, a recognition of the potential

contribution of each employee, whether working alone or as part of a team, and of the

necessity to hold each employee and/or team accountable for performance, has become

a hallmark among HRM leaders.

Page 6 GAO/IAP-95-19
Table I: Key Issues

Objectives Focus of work

—Identify fair and cost-effective alternatives for downsizing the federal

workforce.

—Contribute to reform of the federal job classification system.

—Identify policies that would make more effective use of older workers,

including emphasis on hiring, accommodating their special needs, and

providing incentives for extending their careers.

—Identify employment policies that would better enable the government to

compete with other major employers for the “best and brightest” job

candidates.

—Assess alternatives for improving the federal hiring system.

—Identify ways for central and individual agency management to improve

efforts to achieve a representative workforce in the federal government.

—Contribute to the discussion/debate on the role of affirmative action. 

— Identify opportunities for downsizing through improving

productivity.

— Review OPM’s point factor evaluation system and

agencies’ broadbanding systems.

—Study the use of productivity measurement for

establishing staff levels.

—Examine outreach and education efforts for informing

the public and prospective employees about the

challenges and importance of an effective federal service.

—Analyze innovative hiring procedures.

—Identify alternative approaches to fulfilling hiring needs

given a downsizing environment.

—Review federal sector representation of women,

minorities, and the disabled.

—Evaluate the Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission’s future mission if merged with the

Department of Education and the Department of Labor.

—Examine the role of training in developing a higher-performing workforce.

—Evaluate performance management systems that focus on team

performance.

—Identify workplace innovations that encourage employee cooperation and

improve performance.

—Identify alternatives to the federal government’s performance

management system.

—Assess the applicability to the civil service of private-sector incentive and

reward systems.

—Examine the means available for dealing with poor performers and

assess alternatives to the current system.

—Contribute to productivity improvements in federal agencies.

—Contribute to appropriate implementation of pay reform.

—Evaluate new approaches to improving customer service.

—Benchmark and evaluate the effectiveness of

government training programs.

—Identify changes to enhance the successful use of

teams in the federal government.

—Periodically measure federal employees’ attitudes

about working for the government, their morale, and

workplace innovations they believe would make better

use of their skills.

—Examine different ways in which employees could be

assigned, managed, and rewarded.

—Assess the effectiveness of current mechanisms for

dealing with poor performers.

—Identify successful public and private sector strategies

for dealing with poor performers.

—Analyze strategies for successful productivity

improvement.

—Evaluate pay reform methodology, demonstration

projects, and separate authorities.

—Evaluate ways of improving the level of service to the

public. 

Page 7 GAO/IAP-95-19
Table I: Key Issues

Issue Significance

PROMOTING FAIR TREATMENT AND

PERSONAL INTEGRITY IN THE

WORKPLACE

Is the federal workplace an environment in

which all employees are ensured respect

and equitable treatment and are held to high

standards of ethics and conduct?

Private-sector HRM leaders point out that diversity goes beyond race, gender, and

culture to include personality types and individual styles. Managing an increasingly

diverse workforce will be important to the future of the civil service for two main reasons:

agency performance and individual fairness. Equality of opportunity regarding

professional development and advancement is in the best interests of both the

government and its employees. So is the maintenance of a workplace in which

discrimination and sexual harassment are not countenanced. Respect and equitable

treatment must be grounded in high ethical standards and conduct. In addition, both

NPR and congressional staff have expressed an interest in addressing the extensive and

highly complex administrative redress system for federal employees, with various

streamlining or restructuring proposals either already on the table or imminent.

DESIGNING COST-EFFECTIVE BENEFIT

PROGRAMS TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN

THE BEST EMPLOYEES

What employee benefit programs will best

serve the changing needs of the modern

workforce, and help the federal government

attract and retain the best employees?

As budget pressures mount, federal employee benefit programs—particularly

retirement—are being considered for cost-cutting. Legislation increasing retirement

pay-ins and altering benefit formulas has passed the House. To maintain a quality

workforce and compete for talent with private-sector employers, the civil service will need

to examine its benefits package as a whole and balance the costs with the benefits. One

potentially fertile area is work/family programs. As private-sector organizations have

learned, employees measure the quality of their worklife not just by the level of pay and

other financial benefits but by the success with which their employers can accommodate

the demands of life outside the workplace. Thus, work/family programs, which require not

so much new funding as a change of management philosophy, are receiving growing

attention, as demonstrated by the Federal Leave Sharing Act and the heightened

congressional and administration support for alternative work schedule programs.

Page 8 GAO/IAP-95-19
Table I: Key Issues

Objectives Focus of Work

—Identify opportunities for increasing equity and efficiency in the

administrative redress system.

—Identify ways to improve federal equal employment opportunity (EEO)

complaint processing.

—Contribute to redefining the role of the Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission.

—Identify approaches to improve programs for addressing sexual

harassment in the federal government.

—Assist Congress to determine the need for additional legislation to

identify, prevent, and deal with misconduct and conflicts of interest of

federal personnel.

—Identify ways the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) could improve the

cost-effectiveness of financial disclosure systems.

—Identify options for streamlining the administrative

redress process.

—Evaluate performance and role of the Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission in EEO complaint

processing.

—Assess progress and problems in dealing with sexual

harassment in the federal workplace.

—Finish assessment of opportunities to improve public

financial disclosure systems and initiate work on

confidential systems.

—Increase awareness of GAO’s past and current work as

it relates to legislative proposals to revise ethics

restrictions.

—Inform Congress of ways to improve the efficiency and integrity of federal

retirement programs.

—Identify ways to improve the integrity and efficiency of federal benefits

programs.

—Identify ways of modernizing employment policies to better

accommodate employees’ personal and family needs and provide greater

flexibility in working arrangements and compensation programs. 

—Assess benefits/costs of redesigning retirement and

other programs to respond to a changing workforce.

—Finish (a) federal workers’ compensation program

review, (b) retirement system audit, and (c) Federal

Employees Health Benefits Program review.

—Evaluate alternatives to traditional working

arrangements and benefit programs.

Page 9 GAO/IAP-95-19
Table II: Planned Major Work

Issue Planned major job starts

Systemwide Fundamentals and

Agency Accountability

—Post-symposium report on best practices.

—Decentralization: capacity, oversight, and lessons learned.

—Survey of issues that need to be addressed as consideration is given to privatizing and

contracting out of services that the government performs.

—Assess applicability of private-sector HRM models to the civil service.

—Review strategies to align human resource systems with organizational goals and mission

accomplishment.

—Automating the personnel function (e.g., test OPM’s automated job information systems).

Acquiring and Developing Leadership —Executive training and development.

—Examine the experience of the SES since passage of CSRA and identify areas for

improvement.

Rightsizing and Maintaining a

High-Quality Workforce

—Downsizing: impacts, alternatives, targeting, cost-effectiveness, and guidance.

—Review locality pay methodology.

—Review nonfederal experience with broadbanded classification systems.

—Survey federal workforce planning practices.

—Hiring, managing, and retaining older workers.

—Ensuring the appropriate skill mix for the federal workforce.

—Attracting a high-quality workforce in a downsizing environment.

—Update survey of federal employees’ attitudes about working for the government.

Managing for Performance —Federal agencies’ experiences with training programs.

—Private sector approaches to performance management for individuals and groups.

—Dealing with poor performers.

—Managing plateaued workers.

Promoting Fair Treatment and

Personal Integrity

—Assess feasibility of streamlining the administrative redress process.

—Examine the implications on due process of the rising number of settlements at Merit

Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and EEOC.

—Processing EEO complaints: federal best practices.

—Identify policies, procedures, and tools necessary to manage a diverse workforce.

—Sexual harassment: how agencies monitor (capping report).

—Evaluate cost-effectiveness of alternative approaches to confidential financial disclosure.

—Administration of the federal ethics program.

—Measuring the progress of women and minorities through the workforce.

Designing Cost-Effective Benefit

Programs

—Evaluate alternatives to existing federal retirement systems.

—Review financing and operations of federal retirement systems.

—Review health benefits administration and costs.

—Review OPM’s disability retirement determinations.

—Assess implementation of GAO’s health benefit recommendations.

—Evaluate agencies’ use of part-time employment and job sharing programs.

—Evaluate flexible (cafeteria-style) benefits.

—Assess employee dependent care needs and the extent to which they are being met.

—Evaluate agencies’ use of “flexiplace” programs.

Page 10 GAO/IAP-95-19
Table III: GAO Contacts

Director L. Nye Stevens (202) 512-8676

Associate Director Timothy P. Bowling (202) 512-3511

Assistant Directors Stephen E. Altman

Richard W. Caradine

Larry H. Endy

Steven G. Hunichen

John A. Leitch

Xavier R. Richardson

Robert E. Shelton

Norman A. Stubenhofer

Steven J. Wozny

Page 11 GAO/IAP-95-19
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