1 NACEPT Workforce Charge Questions

– 02/11

1. Scientific and Technical Competencies to Meet Tomorrow's Challenges

Given the complexity of EPA’s mission, the rapid pace of scientific and technological advances, and shifts in policy, science, engineering and other technical competencies, what are the competencies necessary to support EPA’s mission today and ten years from now so that EPA is prep ared for tomorrow’s challenges? What technical competencies

will become n ew priorities for the Agency? In accom plishing this charge, NACEPT

should evaluate EPA’s broader mission and determine the most effective means for aligning the workforce to address change. Specifically, NACEPT should develop realistic future scenarios that capture evolving mission priorities and their drivers, then identify the scientific and technical competencies required to successfully accomplish developing mission areas.

2. Strategies for Recruiting Scientific and Technical Expertise

Evaluate the programs and tools currently available to EPA that seek to obtain and retain scientific and technical expertise to determine their relative efficacy in providing measurable shifts in needed competencies. Based on the tools available to EPA for acquiring specific technical competencies, what s pecific strategies are recommended that will most effectively maintain a world

- class workforce that is prepared to meet and exceed mission requirements? Are EPA’s current programs sufficient, or could they be a part of a larger, more strategic approach to addressing shifting technical competencies?

W hat strategies are needed to best meet the competencies identified in NACEPT’s first

advice letter (e.g., contractors, training of current staff, permanent hires, post

- doctoral or other fellowships, etc.)?

3. Strategies for Retaining and Developing Divers e Talent and Leadership

Given the complexity of EPA’s mission, the rapid pace of scientific and technological advances, and shifts in policy, science, engineering and other technical competencies,

how can EPA best attract and retain superior executive leadership talent that can effectively direct and challenge its workforce so that the Agency maintain its position as

an environmental leader?

How can EPA best position its Senior Executive Service (SES) members to lead and support a highly technical and evolving workforce?

4. Culture Change and One EPA

What might a “typical” developmental path look like in an organization that focuses on the leadership capabilities and culture required to achieve One EPA?2

What measures could the agency put in place that would best exemplify progress in achieving One EPA and measure the associated leadership capabilities and culture?

5. E nsuring Diversity

How can EPA best ensure access to a diverse and technically astute SES applicant pool?

What can EPA do to ensure diverse applicants selected into the SES are retained, developed, and promoted? What can EPA do to ensure its SES corps is held in high

esteem?

Given the broader concept of diversity that EPA is espousing to ( diversity in thinking styles, educational backgrounds, family experiences, etc.), how can EPA define and then track/measure diversity in this broadest sense?

Additional NACEPT Suggestions:

Examine issues related to the entire employee pipeline, not just issues related to SES and people just coming into the Agency

Look at the entire hiring process to determine why it takes the Agency so long to make a

firm offer

Address the physical environment for workers as a way of attracting and retaining the

workforc e

Highlight the skills and training needed for effective collaboration

Look at soon to retire people as a resource for preserving institutional knowledge via oral histories (write

- ups of interviews, videos, other forms)