-  HHS Family of Agencies      -  HHS Agencies & Offices 
  -  Regional Offices 
  -  Advisory Committees, Task Forces & Initiatives 
  -  Organizational Chart 
-  Leadership 
-  Budget & Performance      -  FY 2025 Budget in Brief 
  -  FY 2025 Annual Performance Plan and Report 
  -  FY 2024 Contingency Staffing Plan 
  -  FY 2024 Budget in Brief 
  -  FY 2024 Annual Performance Plan and Report 
  -  FY 2023 Contingency Staffing Plan 
  -  FY 2023 Budget in Brief 
  -  FY 2023 Annual Performance Plan and Report 
  -  FY 2022 Contingency Staffing Plan 
  -  FY 2022 Budget in Brief 
  -  FY 2022 Annual Performance Plan and Report 
  -  FY 2021 Contingency Staffing Plan 
  -  FY 2021 Budget in Brief 
  -  FY 2021 Annual Performance Plan and Report 
  -  FY 2020 Contingency Staffing Plan 
  -  FY 2020 Budget in Brief 
  -  FY 2020 Annual Performance Report 
  -  FY 2019 Contingency Staffing Plan 
  -  FY 2019 Annual Performance Report 
-  Strategic Plan FY 2022 - 2026      -  Message from the Secretary 
  -  Introduction: About HHS 
  -  Overview: Strategic Plan FY 2022 - 2026 
  -  Strategic Goal 1: Protect and Strengthen Equitable Access to High Quality and Affordable Healthcare 
  -  Strategic Goal 2: Safeguard and Improve National and Global Health Conditions and Outcomes 
  -  Strategic Goal 3: Strengthen Social Well-Being, Equity, and Economic Resilience 
  -  Strategic Goal 4: Restore Trust and Accelerate Advancements in Science and Research for All 
  -  Strategic Goal 5: Advance Strategic Management to Build Trust, Transparency, and Accountability 
  -  Appendix: Plan Updates 
-  News 
-  I Am HHS 
-  Careers 

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# FY 2022 Annual Performance Plan and Report - Goal 5 Objective 2

Fiscal Year 2022Released June, 2021

**Topics on this page:**Goal 5. Objective 2 | Objective 5.2 Table of Related Performance Measures

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## Goal 5. Objective 2: Manage human capital to achieve the HHS mission

As the Department looks to the future, it envisions all the achievements that can be reached when workforce performance is heightened, efficiencies are achieved, and accountability is strengthened.  The Department must continue its progress to create a flexible and agile 21st century workforce that responds and adapts to change: change in technology, change in society, change in expectations, and change in scientific findings.  HHS needs to grow the leaders of tomorrow today.  To that end, the Department will continue to build a world-class management team and workforce ready to collaborate with colleagues across the Department, among other federal departments, and outside the Federal Government, to improve and enhance the health and well-being of Americans.

In the previous administration, the Office of the Secretary led this objective.  All divisions contribute to the achievement of this objective.  HHS has determined that performance toward this objective is progressing.  The narrative below provides a brief summary of progress made and achievements or challenges, as well as plans to improve or maintain performance.

## Objective 5.2 Table of Related Performance Measures

Increase HHS employee engagement through Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) (Lead Agency - ASA; Measure ID - 2.6) 46,47

Employee engagement is foundational to achieving the level of active strategic management needed for building and sustaining the 21st century workforce.  The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) FEVS measures employee engagement because it drives performance.48  Engaged employees look at the whole of the organization and understand their purpose within the agency's mission.  This understanding leads to better decision-making.  The FEVS survey usually opens in May each year; however, due to COVID-19 and workplace disruptions, OPM postponed the survey twice.  The late release of the survey and results impacted HHS's ability to meet the performance reporting deadline of December 31, 2020.  Furthermore, the delayed release coupled with the need to focus on COVID-19 response and the lack of in-person events, decreased the level of FEVS promotion communications compared to FY 2019.  Despite these challenges, HHS significantly improved its Department-wide Employee Engagement Index score, rising from 73.5% in FY 2019 to 76.5% for the FY 2020 survey.

Because OPM reduced the number of questions asked in the survey, added additional COVID-19 related questions, and removed some long-running indices (e.g., New Inclusion Quotient), HHS's ability to act on FEVS results and compare to prior years will be further impacted.  In FY 2021 and 2022, HHS will continue to use FEVS data to monitor the impact of its efforts to support organizational improvement.

Decrease the cycle time to hire new employees (Lead Agency - ASA; Measure ID - 2.8)

In 2010, the Office of Personnel Management issued guidance encouraging agencies to implement an 80-day hiring process.  In order to meet this goal, HHS continues to modernize its hiring practices to simplify and streamline the process.  The Department is working to reduce duplicative effort through standardization and sharing of available candidates across staffing organizations.

During FY 2020, the customer base grew due to a surge in hiring in response to the COVID-19 crisis.  Overall, HHS hiring increased more than 14% in FY 2020 compared to FY 2019 and more than 52% from FY 2018.  Even with more customers and hardships brought by the COVID-19 crisis, HHS made marked improvements in meeting the Time to Hire target.  HHS's HR operations transitioned well to maximum telework with no loss of productivity in the recruitment process.  The expanded use of shared certificates enabled by the maturation of the HireNow resume search tool, the launch of definitive shared certificate policies, and the acculturation to shared certificate use among HR Centers and customers led to a dramatic increase in shared certificate utilization.  More than 61% of all HHS hires in FY 2020 were additional selections from existing certificates of eligible applicants that selected a candidate.

Average end-to-end Time to Hire (from recruitment request validation to entry on duty) for HHS significantly decreased from 113 days to 83 days.  The end-to-end measure includes parts of the hiring process that are not controlled by HR and were impacted by COVID-19 related telework restrictions such as in-person badging and security.  In FY 2021 and FY 2022, HHS will continue to refine the process and will identify and implement additional ways to streamline the time-to-hire cycle.

Please refer to the ReImagine Maximize Talent initiative in the Major Management Priorities section of this report for more information.

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46 This measure reports employee engagement index results collected through the FEVS.  HHS anticipates 2020 FEVS results from OPM in January 2021.

47 HHS 2021 and 2022 FEVS targets for this measure are adjusted considering COVID-19 government response.

48 FEVS assesses whether an employee's sense of purpose is evident in their display of dedication, persistence, and effort in their work or overall attachment to their organization and its mission.

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Content last reviewed September 27, 2022