A culture that sometimes encourages or is receptive to change is a major innovation for a system that, like many large organizations, does not historically respond well to changes. The government is no longer viewed as one large employer. An employee in the Department of Interior may have different rules, requirements, and even different performance and pay systems than an employee in the Department of the Navy. With all of this change comes another development-agencies are turning to private sector companies to help staff their human resources offices. While this would have been unthinkable a few years ago, it is increasingly common.
Most agencies have limited budgets.
Contracting the HR function to a private company allows agencies to use their resources to hire employees with skills critical to accomplishing their mission. Using a contract work force for many HR functions typically saves money and creates efficiency for the government. Some agencies for example, issue a blanket purchase order for services and later direct the contractor to provide the specific services they need. In other words, rather than hiring several classification specialists that may not be needed at a given time, they can use the money for a classification specialist one-month and a staffing specialist the next month. Agencies as varied as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the US Marine Corps, the Internal Revenue Service and the US Coast Guard all rely to some extent on Provant to help them classify jobs, review official personnel folders, research labor relations issues in preparation for contract negotiations or assist in recruiting new employees.