Older Workers: Enhanced Communication among Federal Agencies Could Improve Strategies for Hiring and Retaining Experienced Workers
Published: 2009-02-24T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: The federal workforce, like the nation's workforce as a whole, is aging, and increasingly large percentages are becoming eligible to retire. Eventually baby boomers will leave the workforce and when they do, they will leave behind gaps in leadership, skills, and knowledge due to the slower-growing pool of younger workers. GAO and others have emphasized the need for federal agencies to hire and retain older workers to help address these shortages. Building upon earlier testimony, GAO was asked to examine (1) age and retirement eligibility trends of the current federal workforce and the extent to which agencies hire and retain older workers; (2) workforce challenges selected agencies face and the strategies they use to hire and retain older workers; and (3) actions taken by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to help agencies hire and retain experienced workers. To address these questions, GAO analyzed data from OPM's Central Personal Data File, interviewed officials at three agencies with high proportions of workers eligible to retire, and identified agencies' promising practices to hire and retain older workers. What GAO Recommends
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: The proportion of federal employees eligible to retire is growing. While this proportion varies across agencies, in four agencies--the Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Small Business Administration, and the Department of Transportation--46 percent of the workforce will be eligible to retire by 2012, well above the governmentwide average of 33 percent. While these eligibility rates suggest that many will retire, the federal government has historically enjoyed relatively high retention rates, with 40 percent or more of federal employees remaining in the workforce for at least 5 years after becoming eligible. Beyond retaining older workers, in fiscal year 2007, federal agencies hired almost 14,000 new workers who were 55 years of age or older and brought back about 5,400 federal retirees to address workforce needs. The increasing numbers of retirement-eligible federal workers present challenges and opportunities. The three agencies we reviewed (HUD, SSA, and USAID) share common challenges. All have large proportions of employees nearing retirement, and according to officials, due to past hiring freezes all have relatively few midlevel staff to help pass down knowledge and skills to less experienced employees. Officials from all three agencies also told us that they have difficulty attracting qualified staff with specialized skills. To address these challenges, the three agencies rely on older workers in different ways. USAID brings back its knowledgeable and skilled retirees as contractors to fill short-term job assignments and to help train and develop the agency's growing number of newly hired staff. SSA uses complex statistical models to project potential retirements in mission critical occupations and uses these data to develop recruitment efforts targeted at a broad pool of candidates, including older workers. While all three agencies rely on older workers to pass down knowledge and skills to junior staff, HUD officials told us this is the primary way they involve older workers, due in part to the agency's focus on recruiting entry-level staff. In addition, some federal agencies have developed practices that other agencies might find useful in tapping older workers to meet short-term needs. For example, the Department of State has developed databases to match interested retirees with short-term assignments requiring particular skills. To help agencies hire and retain an experienced workforce, OPM provides guidance, including support tools and training, and has taken steps to address areas of concern to older workers. For example, OPM has initiated actions to streamline the federal application process and to eliminate barriers that deter some federal retirees from returning to federal service or from working part-time at the end of their careers. However, although some federal agencies have developed strategies that could be used effectively by other agencies to hire and retain experienced workers to meet workforce needs, this information is not widely available. And, while OPM has other methods available--such as its human capital and electronic government practices Web sites--that could be used to efficiently package and broadly disseminate this information to a much larger audience, it currently has no plans to do so.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: Like the nation’s workforce as a whole, the proportion of older workers in  the federal workforce is growing, and more and more workers are  becoming eligible to retire. Over the past several years, many have  projected a huge retirement wave as the baby boom generation ages. The  unfolding economic crisis may be changing these dynamics in the near  term as many workers, witnessing declining assets, choose to delay  retirement. It remains unclear when the expected retirement wave will  peak, but over time, more and more of the baby boom generation will  eventually retire. When they do, these older, experienced workers will  leave behind critical gaps in leadership, skills, and institutional knowledge  as fewer workers are equipped to take over. All of this occurs at the same  time the rate of growth for the pool of younger workers has declined—by  2025, overall labor force growth is expected to be only one-fifth of what it  is today, and much less than the expected growth in the number of  retirees. As a result, the federal government and other employers may face  increased competition in hiring skilled workers, and unless they develop  effective retention strategies, employers will need to look more  aggressively for workers with the right skills to meet their needs.
Current employment conditions aside, hiring and retaining older,  experienced workers could be part of a longer-term national strategy to  ensure an adequate workforce as an aging population, coupled with slow  labor growth, poses economic challenges to the nation. Many experts  maintain that older workers offer competitive advantages to employers  because they often possess management and organizational skills that can  be used in a variety of settings, and they bring to the job knowledge,  experience, and productive work habits. In addition, today’s older workers  are better educated and healthier and are expected to live longer than  previous generations. As the nation’s largest employer, the federal  government is well positioned to serve as a role model for other  employers. As with private sector employers, efforts directed at recruiting,  engaging, and retaining a diverse workforce, including older workers, may  serve to make the federal government a more competitive and productive  employer overall.
Given the issues confronting the nation’s employers as they seek to  maintain competitiveness in the face of anticipated worker shortages, you  asked us to examine how the federal government is tapping older workers  as a means to respond to some of the same workforce challenges. Our  report builds on our earlier testimony before your committee and  addresses the following: (1) the age and retirement eligibility trends of the  current federal workforce and the extent to which federal agencies are  hiring and retaining older workers; (2) the workforce challenges that  federal agencies face, and the strategies they use to recruit and retain  older workers to help meet these challenges; and (3) the actions that the  Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is taking to help agencies hire and  retain an experienced skilled workforce in its role as the federal  government’s human capital manager.
To report governmentwide demographic trends, we analyzed information  on the 24 Chief Financial Officer Act (CFO) agencies from OPM’s human  resource reporting system, the Central Personnel Data File (CPDF). Based  on previous work, we have determined that the CPDF is sufficiently  reliable for the informational purposes of this report. We also used CPDF  data to determine the extent to which agencies are using some  governmentwide flexibilities to hire and retain older workers. In this  report, we defined older workers as those who are aged 55 or older. To  report on how some federal agencies are addressing their workforce  challenges, we conducted in-depth reviews of three agencies—the  Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Social  Security Administration (SSA), and the United States Agency for  International Development (USAID). We chose these agencies because  they were among the agencies for which the proportion of their workers  who are eligible to retire within the next 5 years exceeds the  governmentwide average of 33 percent. We also reviewed studies and  conducted interviews with experts in the area of retirement and various  agency officials to identify additional approaches other agencies have  developed to hire and retain older workers. We selected promising  approaches based on a literature review and the recommendations of  experts and OPM officials. To report on OPM’s activities and challenges,  we augmented information obtained from our reviews of three agencies by  interviewing various officials at OPM and reviewing relevant documents.  For a complete description of our scope and methodology, see appendix I.  We conducted this performance audit from April 2008 to January 2009 in  accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those  standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient,  appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and  conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence  we obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: The percentage of older workers in the total workforce—those aged 55  and older—is growing faster than that of any other age group, and they are  expected to live longer than past generations. Labor force participation for  this cohort has grown from about 31 percent in 1998 to 38 percent in 2007.  In contrast, labor force participation of workers under the age of 55 has  declined slightly (see fig. 1).
Many factors influence workers’ retirement and employment decisions,  including retirement eligibility rules and benefits, an individual’s health  status and occupation, the availability of health insurance, personal  preference, personal wealth, and the employment status of a spouse. The  availability of suitable employment, including part-time work or flexible  work arrangements, may also affect the retirement and employment  choices of older workers. In addition, under current law, many federal  retirees face a financial disincentive if they decide to return to the federal  workforce— their salaries would be reduced by the amount of their  annuities.
In the late 1980s, the federal government phased in a new retirement  system, replacing the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), a defined  benefit plan, with the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS),  which combines a defined benefit plan with Social Security and a defined  contribution plan. Under CSRS, a worker can retire with full benefits at  age 55 with 30 years of service and at older ages with fewer years of  service. Under FERS, workers can receive their full annuity at age 60 with  20 years of service. But, because of Social Security rules, workers under  FERS do not receive full Social Security benefits until they are 65 or older;  the specific age at which workers receive their full Social Security benefits  depends on their date of birth. In addition, because the Thrift Savings Plan  is an important part of a retiree’s income under FERS, balances in an  individual’s Thrift Savings Plan also may help dictate when an individual  chooses to retire. While we do not know the total effect of this shift in  retirement plans on retirement decisions, it is possible older workers  under FERS will work longer than their CSRS colleagues in order to  increase their retirement earnings.
As the government’s human capital leader, OPM is responsible for helping  agencies develop their human capital management systems and holding  them accountable for effective human capital management practices. For  example, one such practice is strategic human capital planning, which  addresses two critical needs: (1) aligning an organization’s human capital  program with its current and emerging mission and programmatic goals  and (2) developing long-term strategies for acquiring, developing, and  retaining staff to achieve these goals. In developing these strategies, we  have reported that leading organizations go beyond a succession-hiring  approach that focuses on simply replacing individuals. Rather, they engage  in broad, integrated succession planning and management efforts directed  at strengthening both current and future organizational capacity. In  implementing its personnel policies, federal agencies are required to  uphold federal merit system principles in recruiting, engaging, and  retaining employees. Among other provisions, the merit system principles  require agencies to recruit and select candidates based on fair and open  competition, as well as treat employees fairly and equitably. Federal  agencies can recruit skilled or experienced workers, many of whom tend  to be older, to fill full- or part-time career positions requiring  demonstrated expertise.
OPM is also responsible for providing guidance and information about  federal governmentwide hiring and retention authorities and flexibilities to  agencies to help them address workforce challenges. In some cases,  agencies can use options as they choose without prior approval from  OPM. For example, federal agencies can engage workers, including older  workers, as consultants to meet temporary or intermittent needs or  contract with individuals or organizations to obtain needed skills. In other  cases, OPM serves as the gatekeeper by approving or disapproving an  agency’s request to use particular options (see table 1). Of these options,  only one, rehiring annuitants without reducing their salaries, exclusively  affects older workers. OPM is also responsible for administering  retirement, health benefits, and other insurance services to civil service  government employees, annuitants, and beneficiaries. It also develops  regulations when Congress makes new options available to federal  employees and often advocates for new legislation.
We and others have highlighted the need to hire and retain older workers  to address the challenges associated with an aging workforce. In so doing,  we have called upon the federal government to assume a leadership role in  developing strategies to recruit and retain older workers. At our  recommendation, the Department of Labor (Labor) convened a task force  composed of senior representatives from nine federal agencies and issued  its first report in February 2008. The report provides information on  strategies to support the employment of older workers, strategies for  businesses to leverage the skills of an aging labor pool, individual  opportunities for employment of older workers, and legal and regulatory  issues associated with work and retirement. In March 2008, the task force  formed work groups for each strategy that continue to meet and develop  implementation plans, and in June, OPM joined the task force and two of  the work groups. While the task force’s focus is the private sector, some of  the strategies it identified are relevant for federal agencies as well—for  example, providing flexible work arrangements and customized  employment options that include alternative work schedules and part-time  work.
section_title: The Proportion of Federal Employees Eligible to Retire Is Growing
paragraphs: Across the federal government, the proportion of older and retirement- eligible workers is growing. About one-third of federal workers will be  eligible to retire by 2012, although most federal employees do not retire  immediately upon becoming eligible. The percentage of federal workers  nearing retirement eligibility varies across federal agencies. For example,  within 5 years, 20 percent of employees at the Department of Homeland  Security (DHS) will be able to retire, while 46 percent of employees at  HUD and Transportation will be eligible. Governmentwide, the proportion  of senior executives and supervisors eligible to retire by 2012 exceeds the  overall average, with 64 percent of senior executives and 45 percent of  supervisors eligible to retire within 5 years. In the current economic  situation, projections of how many federal workers will actually retire  remain unclear, but historically, the majority of federal workers stay well  past their initial retirement eligibility date. Of the federal workers who first  became eligible to retire between 1997 and 2002, at least 40 percent were  still in the federal workforce 5 years later. Beyond retaining their current  federal workforce, federal agencies’ efforts to bring in additional older  workers to help meet workforce needs currently focus more on hiring  them as new employees than on bringing back federal retirees. In 2007,  federal agencies hired almost 14,000 new workers aged 55 and older. In  comparison, in 2007, federal agencies tapped 5,364 rehired annuitants for  service.
subsections: section_title: The Proportion of Older and Retirement-Eligible Workers Is Growing but Varies Widely Across Federal Agencies
paragraphs: The average age of federal workers is inching up, and older workers, many  of whom have passed their retirement eligibility age, now comprise a  larger proportion of the federal workforce than in the past. Based upon  OPM’s data for 2007, the last year for which data are available, the  average age of federal workers is now about 48, somewhat older than in  1998, when the average age of federal workers was about 45. Similarly, the  proportion of federal workers aged 55 or older has also increased to about  24 percent, up from about 20 percent in 1998. However, the proportion of  older workers varies widely across federal agencies. For example, in fiscal  year 2007, the percentage of career federal employees in the 24 CFO  agencies aged 55 or older ranged from about 9 percent at the Department  of Justice (Justice) to about 37 percent at HUD and SBA (see fig. 2).
Similarly, the proportion of federal workers eligible or nearly eligible to  retire is increasing and varies across federal agencies. Thirty-three percent  of federal career employees in the workforce at the end of fiscal year 2007  will be eligible to retire by 2012. This is an increase from 10 years earlier  when about 20 percent of federal career employees in the workforce at the  end of fiscal year 1997 were projected to be eligible to retire by 2002. The  effects of retirement will likely differ across agencies, as many workers  projected to be eligible to retire by 2012 are concentrated within certain  agencies. These proportions range from a high of 46 percent at four  agencies—HUD, SBA, Transportation, and USAID—to a low of 20 percent  at DHS (see fig. 3).
Within agencies, the estimated proportion of workers eligible to retire also  varies at the component level—that is, by bureau or unit. Thus, even those  agencies that have relatively low overall percentages of retirement-eligible  employees may have components that have higher percentages of  retirement-eligible staff. This, in turn, could affect the accomplishment of  mission tasks and strategic goals for agency components and for the  agency as a whole. For example, although the Department of Homeland  Security (DHS) has a low proportion—20 percent—of workers eligible to  retire by 2012, the proportion of workers eligible to retire now or by 2012  in its Federal Emergency Management Agency is currently about 33  percent, and agency projections indicate that about 58 percent of the  senior executives in this agency will be eligible to retire by 2012.
Certain occupations have particularly high proportions of workers eligible  to retire by 2012. Fifty percent or more of workers in 24 occupations that  have 500 or more staff are eligible to retire by 2012. Several of these  occupations, such as air traffic controllers, customs and border agents,  and administrative law judges, are considered mission critical. In addition,  federal law requires mandatory retirement at specified ages for some  occupations, such as air traffic controllers who must retire at age 56 (see  fig. 4).
Moreover, the proportion of federal executives and supervisors who will  reach retirement eligibility exceeds that of the overall proportion of  federal employees. Of the approximately 7,200 career executives in the   to  federal workforce at the end of fiscal year 2007, 41 percent were eligible retire in 2008 and 64 percent will be eligible by 2012.  For supervisors who  are not career executives, 25 percent were eligible to retire in 2008, and 45  percent are projected to be eligible by 2012. In comparison, 17 percent of  all federal workers were eligible to retire in 2008 and 31 percent are  projected to be eligible by 2012.
section_title: Many Federal Workers ial Stay Well Past Their Init Retirement Eligibility, and Agencies’ Efforts to Bring in Older Workers Have Focused More on Hiring New Workers Than on Rehiring Annuitants
paragraphs: Agencies have a variety of options to tap older, experienced workers to fill  workforce needs, including retaining workers past initial retirement  eligibility, hiring new older workers, and bringing back retired federal  annuitants. Although no data are available on the effects of specific  retention strategies, most federal workers do not retire immediately upon  being eligible, according to OPM’s data, and many stay in the federal  workforce more than 5 years past their initial retirement eligibility da the more than 31,000 workers who became eligible to retire in 1997, only  about 20 percent retired within the first year and over 40 percent were stil in the federal workforce after 5 years. These retention trends have  remained relatively stable since 1997 (see fig. 5); the current economic  situation may result in even higher retention rates.
section_title: Selected Agencies Face Common Challenges and Have a Variety of Strategies to Tap Older Workers to Meet Workforce Needs
paragraphs: The growing proportion of federal workers who are eligible to retire now  or in the near future presents challenges and opportunities for federal  agencies. While distinct in many ways, the agencies we reviewed—HUD,  SSA, and USAID—share common workforce challenges. Like other federal  agencies, HUD, SSA, and USAID have large proportions of employees  nearing retirement. Also, according to agency officials, all three agencies  have relatively few staff at midlevel positions to help pass down  institutional knowledge and skills to less experienced employees due to  past budget cuts and hiring freezes. Finally, they are all challenged in their  efforts to attract qualified staff with specialized skills. Consequently, when  their older workers eventually retire, HUD, SSA, and USAID will face  critical gaps in leadership, skills, and institutional knowledge. To address  these challenges, these agencies rely on older workers in different ways  and use selected governmentwide human capital flexibilities in addition to  their own strategies, to hire and retain older workers. We also found that  other federal agencies have developed their own approaches to hire and  engage older workers to meet their workforce challenges, but these  approaches have not been widely shared with other federal agencies.
subsections: section_title: While Distinct in Many Ways, Three Case Study Agencies—HUD, SSA, and USAID—Share Common Workforce Challenges
paragraphs: The three case study agencies we reviewed—HUD, SSA, and USAID—have  very different missions that lead to different staffing needs and solutions.  HUD, for example, assists millions of individuals through programs that  help to encourage home ownership, provide housing assistance to low-  and moderate-income families, and promote economic development. The  agency employs approximately 9,600 individuals—two-thirds of whom  work in 81 field offices across the United States. In addition to federal  employees, HUD also relies on thousands of third-party entities—such as  private lenders, contractors, nonprofit organizations, and local  governments—to administer many of its programs, including rental  assistance and community development programs. A large portion of  HUD’s employees are located in the Office of Housing and work in a  variety of positions, including specialists in contract oversight, loan  servicing, and public housing revitalization. In comparison, SSA  administers retirement and income support programs for millions of  disabled or older individuals and their dependents. SSA is a large agency,  employing approximately 62,600 individuals—many of whom are located  in field offices and work directly with customers. In 2007, the more than   1,200 of SSA’s field offices served approximately 42 million customers.  Generally SSA seeks to hire individuals with strong interpersonal and  general analytical skills who are then trained for direct service positions,  such as social insurance specialists and contact representatives. Different  from both HUD and SSA, USAID employees often work outside of the  United States to provide humanitarian and economic assistance to about  100 developing countries. Of the approximately 2,400 USAID employees,  about half belong to the foreign service and the rest are civil service. Many  of USAID’s foreign service employees work as foreign service officers.  Entry level qualifications for this position include having an advanced  degree and relevant international professional experience. In addition to  its federal employees, USAID relies heavily on contractors and grantees to  implement its overseas development projects, including Food for Peace  initiatives in South Asia and Democracy and Governance programs in the  Middle East. Table 3 below highlights some of these agencies’  characteristics.
Despite their differences, HUD, SSA, and USAID share common workforce  challenges. Like the federal government as a whole, HUD, SSA, and USAID  have large portions of their workforces nearing retirement, and these  older, experienced workers may leave behind gaps in leadership, skills,  and institutional knowledge. Both HUD and USAID risk losing close to half  of their current workforces to retirement by 2012. Similarly, SSA is  expected to lose more than one-third of its employees to retirement by  2012—a time when the agency expects to experience a dramatic increase  in workload due to the aging baby boom generation. Close to half of the  current workforces at HUD and USAID will be eligible to retire in that  same time period.
Officials believe that many of the retiring employees will leave gaps in  institutional knowledge and technical skills, especially in mission-critical  occupations—those that agencies consider key to carrying out their  missions. For example, SSA officials reported that between about 14 and  64 percent of its employees in mission-critical positions were eligible to  retire in fiscal year 2008. This includes 64 percent of its administrative law  judges and about 40 percent of its supervisors, paralegal specialists, claims  assistants and examining specialists. In addition, HUD officials told us that  half of its employees in mission-critical occupations—2,057—are currently  eligible to retire.
While these retirement eligibility rates suggest that large portions of HUD,  SSA, and USAID’s current employees might retire by 2012, most employees  do not retire as soon as they become eligible. We have previously reported  that employment options—such as having the ability to work part-time or  having flexible work schedules—may affect workers’ decisions to stay  employed. HUD, SSA, and USAID offer these employment options, as well  as other strategies, that may help retain older workers. In addition,  officials from all three agencies told us that many employees stay past  retirement eligibility because they are dedicated to their work and the  mission of the agency. SSA officials reported that about 1,500 SSA  employees have been with the agency for at least 40 years—tenures that  extend well beyond the average retirement age. HUD officials told us that  less than 5 percent of its total workforce has retired in the past 2 years.  USAID officials told us that on average their employees continue working  5 years after they become eligible to retire. We found that in 1997, 1999,  and 2002, between 38 and 52 percent of employees at HUD, SSA, and  USAID remained in the federal workforce 5 years after first becoming  eligible to retire—somewhat above the overall governmentwide averages  of between 41 and 45 percent in those same years. These retention trends  may be heightened in the near term, as the recent downturn in the  economy may cause many in the nation’s workforce—including federal  employees—to postpone their retirements.
Another challenge that these agencies face is that they have relatively few  staff in midlevel positions (GS-12 to GS-15 for the civil service and FS-4 to  FS-2 for the foreign service) to pass down institutional knowledge and  skills to less experienced staff. According to agency officials, budget cuts  and hiring freezes of the 1990s kept HUD, SSA, and USAID from filling  many of their entry-level positions with junior staff who would today be  considered experienced, midlevel employees. For example, between 1993  and 2007, HUD’s overall staffing levels decreased by about 30 percent, and  USAID’s decreased by about 40 percent. For USAID, not having enough  midlevel staff is made even more complicated as the agency has begun to  grow. Recent appropriations have allowed the agency to significantly  increase its foreign service workforce over the next several years with  primarily entry-level staff—employees who could generally benefit from  the knowledge and skills of experienced staff. While SSA’s staffing levels  have declined in recent years, the size of its workload has increased with  the growing number of individuals eligible for SSA’s services. We reported  in May 2008 that recent staffing declines may have been a factor in  reducing SSA’s ability to complete all of its work while providing quality  customer service.
In addition, these agencies also are challenged in their efforts to attract  qualified staff with specialized skills that are either uncommon or in high  demand. USAID officials told us that many of its foreign service positions  require specialized and uncommon skills—such as fluency in foreign  languages and in-depth knowledge of cultures in remote regions. The  limited pool of qualified and experienced individuals that the agency hires  for these positions typically is drawn from other federal agencies, such as  Treasury and State, as well as nongovernmental organizations. However,  more often, USAID relies on less experienced individuals with strong  interests in and aptitude for the foreign service and prepares these  individuals for the highly specialized positions by providing them with  several months of intensive language and overseas training. SSA and HUD  also have hard-to-fill positions that require specialized skills. One in  particular is the administrative law judge—a mission-critical position that  both agencies find hard to fill. As of July 2008, all three of HUD’s  administrative law judge openings remained unfilled, and SSA had to seek  approval from OPM to hire back eight retirees for this hard-to-fill position.  These agencies also need individuals with other specialized skills that are  in high demand by other employers. For example, HUD’s financial analyst,  auditing, and information technology positions are similar to the positions  in many private firms that pay higher salaries in comparison to the federal  government. Consequently, these positions at HUD have been significantly  understaffed—by up to 47 percent in some offices within HUD—for the  past several years because, according to officials, the agency cannot offer  salaries to attract qualified individuals away from the private sector. For  the same reason, SSA is challenged to fill a number of its specialized  positions, such as those for accountants, attorneys, and information  technology technicians.
section_title: Case Study Agencies Rely on Older Workers in Different Ways and Use Selected Governmentwide Human Capital Flexibilities, in Addition to Their Own Strategies, to Address Their Workforce Challenges
paragraphs: To address their workforce challenges, HUD, SSA, and USAID rely on  older workers in different ways, sometimes through the use of selected  governmentwide flexibilities that are attractive to all workers, including  older workers. Human capital flexibilities represent policies and practices  that an agency may use in managing its workforce to accomplish its  mission and achieve its goals. These flexibilities—with appropriate  safeguards—allow agencies to take actions related to recruitment,  retention, compensation, work arrangements, and work-life policies.  Depending on their individual workforce needs and goals, agencies tailor  the use of these flexibilities. In addition, we learned that other factors  influenced the case study agencies use of human capital flexibilities,  including the potential negative consequences they have on an agency’s  budget or workforce and the ease with which these flexibilities are  adopted.
Compared to other flexibilities, the flexibilities that help employees strike  a work-life balance, including telework and alternative work schedules,  may be less complex to adopt since each agency is responsible for  establishing its own policies within certain broad guidelines. In addition,  these work-life flexibilities may have little to no negative impact on an  agency’s budget or workforce. For example, a recent OPM survey found  that telework has, in fact, improved productivity and morale among many  staff. We recently reported that these work-life flexibilities are often  extremely important to older workers. For example, some research  indicates older workers want to set their own hours and to be able to take  time off to care for relatives when needed. In addition, older workers  nearing retirement may prefer a part-time schedule as a means to retire  gradually. Figure 7 below outlines some of the factors that influence case  study agencies’ use of selected human capital flexibilities.
Overall, we found that these work-life flexibilities were popular options  for many employees, including older workers, at HUD, SSA, and USAID.  For example, USAID officials told us that almost all of their employees  have flexible schedules. While they are popular, these flexibilities do not  fit well with every individual or every job. HUD officials told us that while  most of its employees have the opportunity to work a compressed  schedule so that they have a day off during a pay period, supervisors and  managers are not allowed to use this flexibility because the agency values  having management in the office 5 days a week to supervise program  functions. Similarly, SSA officials reported that many frontline employees  at SSA do not telework because SSA’s primary service delivery structure  requires staff to be physically present at the field offices, working directly  with its customers. To help ensure that these flexibilities are appropriately  used, agencies typically require supervisory or managerial approval.
Other flexibilities, in contrast, can have substantial consequences on a  portion of an agency’s budget or workforce. For this reason, certain  flexibilities have safeguards in place to help regulate their use. For  example, in order to hire federal retirees without reducing their salaries by  the amount of their annuities, most agencies must submit a request to  OPM. In 2007, OPM approved waivers to rehire only 22 annuitants across  HUD, SSA, and USAID. Agencies have the option of rehiring federal  retirees without using the dual compensation waiver, but the retirees’  salaries are reduced by the amount of their annuities. Perhaps as a result,  a relatively small number of retirees—210—across these three agencies  elected to return to federal service when their salaries were to be reduced  by their annuities.
In addition to the governmentwide flexibilities, HUD, SSA, and USAID  employ other strategies to involve older workers to help meet their  workforce needs. While all three agencies rely on older workers to pass  down institutional knowledge and critical skills to less experienced staff,  HUD officials told us this is the primary way they actively involve older  workers. One way HUD does this is through its formalized mentoring  program, which allows senior staff to share their experiences, insights,  and professional wisdom with junior staff. The agency has also developed  a 2-year training program in which newly hired employees rotate through  various positions throughout the agency and work with a variety of  experienced employees to learn critical skills and knowledge. Officials  told us that they use this program to help train new employees in order to  fill positions that become available; and that they do not use recruiting or  retention activities directed at older workers with particular skills or  experience. According to officials, these mentoring relationships not only  help transfer knowledge to less experienced workers, they also help retain  older workers with the strong professional relationships the senior staff  build with junior employees.
In meeting workforce needs, SSA depends, in part, on its historically high  retention rate to ensure the right skill levels. Over the past several years,  however, SSA has increasingly used information technology in strategic  workforce planning and has taken certain actions to recruit and retain  older workers. For example, to better understand where to place its  human capital efforts, SSA has developed a complex statistical model that  uses historical data to project future retirements. Specifically, this model  projects who is likely to retire, and SSA uses these projections to estimate  gaps in mission-critical positions and to identify what components of the  agency could be most affected by the upcoming retirements. With these  estimates, the agency develops action plans focused on hiring, retention,  and staff development. As a result of using these models, SSA has  developed targeted recruitment efforts that reach out to a broad pool of  candidates, some of whom are older workers and who have valuable  leadership experience and skills. SSA is also beginning to reach out to  older workers in order to achieve one of its diversity goals—attracting a  multigenerational workforce. These steps have included developing  recruiting material featuring images of older and younger workers. In  addition, SSA has two other efforts specifically designed to retain older  workers. One is a phased retirement program, which allows employees to  work on a part-time basis rather than fully retiring. The other is a trial  retirement program, which allows workers to return to work within a year  of retiring if they repay the annuities they have received. However, SSA  officials told us that the programs have been used rarely because of the  financial penalty workers would face. SSA has developed programs,  including elder and kinship care referral services and financial literacy  services, designed to help retain workers.
Agency officials told us that USAID tends to bring back its retirees as  contractors to fill short-term job assignments and to help train and  develop the agency’s growing number of newly hired staff. The agency  uses various staffing mechanisms, including personal services contracts,  to bring back retired foreign service officers to meet short-term workforce  needs and to mentor newly hired foreign service officers. However, the  agency does not specifically focus on older workers in its recruiting or  retention activities. USAID officials told us that their retirees play a key  role in helping new staff learn institutional knowledge and new skills. All  newly hired foreign service officers have a mentor, who is typically a  retired foreign service officer. These mentors work closely with the junior  officers during their new staff orientation and initial training. Once the  junior staff receives his or her overseas assignment, the mentor continues  contact with the newly hired employee through telephone calls and  occasional visits. USAID officials told us that their mentor program greatly  helps junior staff become acclimated to the foreign service and it is an  effective means to engage retirees who have essential skills and  knowledge to pass down to new staff. In addition, retired foreign service  officers help the agency meet short-term workforce needs. In one  example, officials told us that a foreign service officer had to leave an  assignment in Haiti several months before a replacement could arrive.  USAID brought back a retiree who had experience with and knowledge  about Haitian culture to fill the job assignment temporarily. According to  officials, these retirees help the agency quickly acquire critical skills and  pass down institutional knowledge. Because the federal retirees are  contractors, the agency is able to begin and end their service relatively  easily.
section_title: Other Federal Agencies Have Developed Their Own Promising Practices to Hire and Retain Older Workers to Meet Their Workforce Needs
paragraphs: We interviewed officials in several agencies that have developed other  approaches to hiring and engaging older workers.
Identifying and recruiting retirees with critical skills by using  technology. State has developed two databases to match interested  foreign service and civil service retirees with short-term or intermittent  job assignments that require their skill sets or experiences. One  database—the Retirement Network, or RNet—contains a variety of  information, including individuals’ job experiences, foreign language  abilities, special skills, preferred work schedules, and favored job  locations. To identify individuals with specific needed skill sets,  officials match information from RNet with another database that  organizes and reports all available and upcoming short-term job  assignments. For instance, in 2004, the agency identified current and  retired employees familiar with Sumatra’s culture and language and  sent many of them to Indonesia to help with the tsunami relief efforts.  According to officials, this technology has allowed State to identify  individuals with specialized skills and specific job experiences within  hours. Before these systems were in place, the search for individuals  with specific skills and experiences would have taken days or weeks,  and even then, the list of individuals would have been incomplete.
Because different personnel rules apply to foreign service and civil  service positions, the agency typically brings civil service retirees on as  contractors—nonfederal employees without any reduction to earnings  or annuities—and, in certain circumstances, may hire foreign service  retirees as federal employees who may earn their full salaries while  receiving their annuities.
Hiring older workers through nonfederal approaches. EPA has  designed a program that places workers aged 55 and over in  administrative and technical support positions within EPA and other  federal and state environmental agencies nationwide. Instead of hiring  older workers directly into the government as federal employees, EPA  has cooperative agreements with nonprofit organizations to recruit,  hire, and pay older workers. Under these agreements, workers are  considered program enrollees, not federal employees. EPA’s Senior  Environmental Employment (SEE) program started as a pilot project in  the late 1970s and was authorized by the Environmental Programs  Assistance Act in 1984. According to EPA, there are approximately  1,525 SEE enrollees—many of whom come from long careers in  business and government service—who offer valuable knowledge and  often serve as mentors to younger coworkers. Depending on their skills  and experience, program enrollees’ wages vary, starting at $7.09 per  hour and peaking at $17.72 per hour. Using the SEE program as a  model, the Department of Agriculture’s (Agriculture) Natural  Resources Conservation Service recently developed a pilot project  called the Agriculture Conservation Enrollees/Seniors (ACES)  program. Officials from both EPA and the Natural Resources  Conservation Service (NRCS) told us that their programs are crucial in  helping agencies meet workload demands and providing older workers  with valuable job opportunities.
Partnering with private firms to hire retired workers. In partnership  with IBM and the Partnership for Public Service, Treasury is  participating in a pilot project that aims to match the talent and interest  of IBM retirees and employees nearing retirement with Treasury’s  mission-critical staffing needs. Working together, the three  organizations are designing a program that intends to send specific  Treasury job opportunities to IBM employees with matching skill sets  and experience; help create streamlined hiring processes; provide  career transition support, such as employee benefits counseling and  networking events; and encourage flexible work arrangements.  Officials are developing the pilot project within existing  governmentwide flexibilities that do not require special authority from  OPM. As a senior official suggested, designing such a project may  reveal the extent to which existing federal flexibilities allow new ways  of hiring older workers.
Agency officials at Agriculture, EPA, State, and Treasury told us that in  developing their promising practices, they faced significant challenges,  including negotiating new relationships with private entities and obtaining  legislative authority for the program. In overcoming these obstacles,  agency officials told us that they learned valuable lessons that could be  shared with other agencies to help these agencies adopt similar strategies  with less time and effort.
section_title: OPM Has Taken Actions to Help Agencies Hire and Retain a Skilled Workforce, but Could Do More to Share Promising Strategies
paragraphs: To help federal agencies hire and retain skilled workers, OPM provides  guidance, planning tools, and training, and often advocates changes in  human capital programs by developing legislative proposals for Congress  to consider. As components of these efforts, OPM has taken action that  address three areas of concern for applicants, particularly older workers.  First, it has begun to streamline the complex federal job application  process. In addition, it has developed two legislative proposals—one  would eliminate barriers to rehiring federal annuitants, and another would  make it easier for certain federal workers to work part-time at the end of  their careers. While these two proposals were incorporated into legislation  in 2007, efforts stalled before passage, and it is unclear whether they will  be reintroduced. Despite OPM’s efforts, the agency could do more to  facilitate information sharing between federal agencies.
subsections: section_title: OPM Provides Assistance to Agencies on Hiring and Retaining Skilled Workers, Including Older Workers
paragraphs: OPM provides guidance, planning tools, and training to help federal  agencies hire and retain the best qualified workers to fill positions. OPM’s  efforts are focused on positions and merit, not people, as it helps agencies  attract workers who possess the right skills and experience to meet  agencies’ workforce needs without regard to age or other demographic  variables such as sex or ethnicity. OPM encourages federal agencies to  market career opportunities available in the federal government to  talented individuals from all segments of society, including older workers,  as part of their overall recruitment efforts.
In its role as human capital leader, OPM provides agencies with guidance  and technical support on how to use available hiring programs and  flexibilities, many of which are attractive to older workers, to ensure the  federal government has an effective civilian workforce. For example, OPM  has developed a handbook—Human Resources Flexibilities and  Authorities in the Federal Government—that identifies the many human  capital flexibilities and authorities currently available and how agencies  can address workforce challenges. In addition, OPM has developed a guide  called Career Patterns that is intended to help agencies recruit a diverse,  multigenerational workforce and has posted the guide on its Web page.  This guide presents career pattern scenarios that characterize 10 segments  of the general labor market according to career related factors, such as  commitment to a mission and experience. The guide lists characteristics of  the work environment that some cohorts may find particularly attractive  and related human capital policies that agencies could use to recruit and  retain potential employees. For example, according to the guide’s “Retiree  Scenario,” this cohort finds flexible work schedules, camaraderie, and  work aligned with their interests very attractive. Consequently, to recruit  and retain this segment, the guide advises agencies to offer part-time  work, flexible work scheduling, and telework, and to provide  opportunities for mentoring and meaningful assignments. Officials from  two of our three case study agencies stated they found information in  Career Patterns useful and inserted language from it in their job  announcements, but officials in the other agency said they did not find it  especially helpful. A senior human capital official in that agency reported  to us that Career Patterns did not provide the type of information that was  needed to develop new strategies in hiring a multigenerational workforce.
In developing and disseminating guidance, OPM officials work with the  Chief Human Capital Officers Council (the Council), a group of chief  policy advisors on human capital issues representing each of the 24 CFO  agencies. OPM officials told us the need for guidance often evolves from  requests for information made by the Council and OPM’s agency liaisons.  For example, inquiries from the Council about how to request a waiver to  rehire annuitants without reducing their salaries led OPM officials to  develop a template for agencies to use in submitting these requests. OPM  relies upon the Council to communicate OPM policy and other human  capital information throughout their agencies. OPM officials see their  relationship with the Council and the agencies they represent as a  partnership and believe that they have a shared responsibility to ensure  that the latest guidance and promising practices are disseminated  throughout each agency.
To help agencies implement its guidance, OPM has developed several  support tools and has instituted training programs. For example, in fall  2005, OPM made a decision-support tool available online to assist agencies  in assessing which hiring flexibilities would best meet their needs. Known  as the Hiring Flexibilities Resource Center, this tool provides in-depth  information on a variety of flexibilities. With respect to training, OPM, in  coordination with the Council, conducts a Council Academy—a forum for  council members to discuss federal human capital issues. This academy  meets several times each year to address topics generated by the Chief  Human Capital Officers (CHCO) and their assistants. OPM also provides  briefings and policy forums as well as information on its Web site about a  range of human capital issues, including the use of flexibilities.
section_title: OPM Has Taken Actions That Could Address Three Areas of Concern but Could Do More to Help Agencies Share Promising Strategies in Hiring and Retaining Older Workers
paragraphs: By reducing the burden associated with the federal hiring process and by  proposing legislation to make it easier to rehire annuitants and to allow  certain employees to work part-time at the end of their careers, OPM has  taken steps that would address problems in three areas that have caused  difficulties for older workers.
Frustration with the federal hiring practice has been well documented and  spans all age groups, including older workers. The Partnership for Public  Service reported that 57 percent of the older workers it surveyed reported  that applying for a federal job is fairly or very difficult. The report noted  that the federal job application process is bureaucratic and confusing, with  federal job announcements that often run 10, 20, or more pages and  require applicants to submit college transcripts in very short periods of  time. Similarly, based on a recent survey of recently hired upper-level  federal employees, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board found that 39  percent of these new hires said they did not apply for other federal jobs  that they were interested in because of burdens and complexities  associated with the hiring process. The issues cited included having to  rewrite or reformat their resumes or the descriptions of their knowledge,  skills, and abilities, and having to respond to lengthy questionnaires.  Results of the survey also indicated that the process was very lengthy,  with 75 percent of new hires reporting it took longer to be hired for their  present civil service position than their previous position.
In 2008, OPM began to implement its End-to-End Hiring Roadmap  Initiative, which will re-engineer the federal hiring process that has  frustrated job applicants. As part of this initiative, OPM created a  streamlined job announcement template for governmentwide, entry-level  accounting and secretarial positions and is in the process of creating  additional templates for other positions. The template will provide  agencies with standardized language and formats to guide the  development of announcements while allowing opportunities for  customization. The new templates will reduce the complexity and length  of traditional announcements for certain occupational communities by  eliminating many requirements that called for information beyond that  which is usually included in a resume. This initiative also includes  developing a process that ensures job announcements and instructions are  clear and understandable, notifies applicants that their application has  been received, and updates applicants on the status of their application as  significant decisions are reached. Other parts of the initiative address  integrating human capital activities such as workforce planning,  recruiting, hiring processes, security processing, and orienting new  employees into federal organizations.
OPM is also involved in other projects that address impediments in the  federal hiring process. For example, an OPM team is working with the  Partnership for Public Service on a project called the Extreme Hiring  Makeover. This project has united experts from the private and public  sectors to work with Education, the National Nuclear Security  Administration, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  These three agencies agreed to rely on private sector and public sector  firms to diagnose problems in recruiting and hiring processes and to  implement solutions.
With regard to rehiring annuitants, OPM submitted a legislative proposal  that would allow the heads of all federal agencies to rehire retired federal  employees on a temporary basis without reducing their salaries or  annuities and without obtaining prior OPM approval. To advance this  purpose, bills were introduced in Congress in 2007, but were stalled  before final passage. Like the legislative proposal, the bills limit the  amount of time that the waiver may cover to    520 hours of service performed during the period ending 6 months after  the date on which the annuity begins;   1,040 hours of service performed during a 12 month period; or    6,420 hours of service performed during the lifetime of the annuitant.
It is unclear whether this proposal will be reintroduced in the new  Congress. While the potential cost of the proposal has been debated,  neither OPM nor the Congressional Budget Office have estimated its cost.  Officials in several agencies have indicated that bringing retirees back on a  part-time basis to fill certain positions is less costly than hiring new  employees, largely because agencies do not need to cover retirees’  benefits costs. Also, these officials noted that rehired annuitants can “hit  the ground running,” without orientation or training. Despite these  potential savings, other experts believe that the additional costs associated  with the higher salaries earned by retirees, compared to those typically  earned by newer workers, might outweigh the benefits. These experts also  see training and associated activities as investments that will help agencies  address future, as well as present, workforce needs.
OPM has also taken steps that could make it more attractive for certain  federal workers to work part-time at the end of their careers—an option of  particular importance for workers interested in a phased retirement. While  all federal employees experience reduced annuities if they choose to work  part-time—an equitable outcome because they work fewer hours over the  course of their career—some workers are disproportionately penalized.  For those individuals who have full-time federal service prior to April 6,  1986, and who work part-time at the end of their careers, the annuity  calculation does not give full credit to the pre-1986 service. OPM’s  proposal would address this inequity in the way federal annuities are  calculated by fully crediting work preformed on a full-time basis before  1986. For the past several sessions of Congress, bills have been introduced  to enact this change, but none have passed.
Although OPM has taken steps to address areas of concern, it could do  more to disseminate information across the federal government on  agency-developed promising practices to recruit and retain older workers  to meet workforce needs. We have identified several agencies that have  developed their own promising practices, and officials in these agencies  believe others could effectively build upon these practices if knowledge of  them was more widely available. According to OPM, this type of  information sharing is a joint responsibility between the agencies and  OPM, and officials see the CHCO Council as the primary means for such  communication. However, to date, this information has not been made  widely available through the CHCO Council. And, while OPM has other  methods available—such as its human capital and electronic government  practices Web sites—that could be used to efficiently package and broadly  disseminate this information to a much larger and diversified audience, it  currently has no plans to do so.
section_title: Conclusions
paragraphs: Today’s workers are better educated, healthier, and are living longer than  workers of previous generations, and many look forward to working  beyond their normal retirement age in positions that they find personally  meaningful. Clearly, the federal government enjoys the benefits of a  workforce dedicated to public service and provides workers with the  opportunities for meaningful work—the ability of the government to retain  workers well past their retirement eligibility speaks to this fact. The  current economic crisis may cause even more federal workers to stay in  the workforce in the near term and forestall the looming retirement wave.  But, at some point, these workers will retire, and focusing on the future,  the federal government may need to do more to ensure that when the  retirement wave does occur, it is prepared to tap the talents of the older  workers who have the skills they need.
At least three federal agencies have developed their own practices that  show promise in recruiting and retaining talented older workers who have  needed and specialized skills. Although other agencies might benefit from  this information, little attention has been paid to sharing it with other  agencies. While OPM officials see this kind of information exchange as a  shared responsibility between OPM and the agencies, OPM, as the  government’s central personnel agency, is both authorized and best  positioned to take on this responsibility.
section_title: Recommendations for Executive Action
paragraphs: To better assist agencies in attracting and retaining a highly skilled  workforce, we recommend that the Director of OPM develop a systematic  approach, which may include communicating through the CHCO Council,  to share information broadly across the federal government about agency- developed promising practices in recruitment and retention of older,  experienced workers to meet their workforce needs.
section_title: Agency Comments and Our Evaluation
paragraphs: We provided a draft of this report to HUD, OPM, SSA, and USAID for their  review and comment. OPM provided written comments which are  reproduced in appendix III. In addition, OPM, SSA, and USAID provided  technical comments, which we incorporated where appropriate.
In its response, OPM wrote that the agency already has tools available on  its Web site to assist federal agencies in attracting, recruiting, and  retaining talented workers, including older workers. Our draft report cited  these efforts, but we also noted that OPM’s Web site does not discuss the  promising practices that have been developed by individual federal  agencies and, as a consequence, this information is not readily available  governmentwide. We continue to believe that the widespread  dissemination of agency-developed promising practices will help federal  agencies build upon the experiences of others in developing strategies to  meet workforce challenges, and therefore have kept the recommendation.
We received e-mails from HUD, SSA, and USAID. In responding to our  report, both HUD and SSA agreed that disseminating this information  would be helpful. SSA further suggested that such sharing of promising  practices be incorporated throughout OPM’s workforce planning support  rather than isolated as a special initiative.
USAID noted that it supports OPM’s legislative proposal to make the  process easier for rehiring Civil Service annuitants. USAID views rehiring  annuitants as more cost-effective than using contract mechanisms to re- employ retirees on a part-time basis because agencies would avoid the  additional overhead charges levied by contract organizations. In addition,  USAID supports the proposal because it would better align the rules for  civil service retirees with those of the foreign service.
We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of HUD, the Acting  Director of OPM, the Commissioner of SSA, the Director of USAID,  relevant congressional committees, and other interested parties. In  addition, the report will be available at no charge on GAO’s Web site at  http://www.gao.gov.
A list of related GAO products is included at the end of this report. If you  or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact Barbara  Bovbjerg at (202) 512-7215 or bovbjergb@gao.gov or Robert Goldenkoff at  (202) 512-6806 or goldenkoffr@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of  Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page  of this report. Other contacts and staff acknowledgments are listed in  appendix IV.
section_title: Appendix I: Objective, Scope, and Methodology
paragraphs: Our objectives were to describe the (1) age and retirement eligibility  trends of the current federal workforce and the extent to which agencies  hire and retain older workers; (2) workforce challenges that federal  agencies face and the strategies they use to recruit and retain older  workers to help meet these challenges; and (3) actions the Office of  Personnel Management (OPM), as the federal government’s human capital  manager, has taken to help agencies hire and retain an experienced,  skilled workforce.
subsections: section_title: Demographic Trends
paragraphs: To describe demographic trends relating to the retirement eligibility and  aging of the federal workforce, we analyzed information on the 24 Chief  Financial Officer (CFO) agencies from OPM’s human resource reporting  system, the Central Personnel Data File (CPDF) for fiscal year 2007. We  analyzed data on the age, retirement eligibility, occupations, projected  retirement rates, and other characteristics of the career federal workforce.  Our analyses included the following variables: agency, occupation, date of  birth, service computation date, pay plan/grade, and supervisory status.  Using the CPDF information, we analyzed the age distribution of career  federal employees at CFO agencies by age groupings (under 40, 40 to 54,  and 55 and over). We also analyzed the percentage of career federal  employees hired as of the end of fiscal year 2007 who would be eligible to  retire from fiscal years 2008 to 2012, and the percentage of workers  eligible to retire in occupations in which the retirement rates exceeded the  governmentwide average. As a proxy for those occupations that may be at  risk due to high retirement eligibility rates, we selected occupations with  500 or more employees as of the end of fiscal year 2007 that exceeded the  governmentwide rate of 33 percent by 50 percent or more. We also used  CPDF data to determine the extent to which agencies are using specific  strategies to hire and retain older workers. Based on previous work, we  have determined that the CPDF is sufficiently reliable for the  informational purposes of this report. For this report, we defined older  workers as those who are aged 55 and older.
To estimate the number of employees eligible to retire and the number  who actually retired, we determined eligibility rates for fiscal years 1997  through 2007 by applying retirement plan eligibility rules to data in the  CPDF using employees’ age at hire, birth date, and retirement plan. We  determined past retirement rates by analyzing CPDF separation data from  the CPDF for fiscal years 1998 through 2007.
section_title: Strategies Available to Federal Agencies
paragraphs: To report on how agencies make use of governmentwide flexibilities, we  conducted in-depth reviews of three agencies—the Department of Housing  and Urban Development (HUD), the Social Security Administration (SSA),  and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). We  chose these agencies because they are among the 24 CFO agencies whose  proportion of workers eligible to retire by 2012 exceeds the  governmentwide average of 33 percent. These agencies also represent a  range of agency sizes. In addition, we chose to review SSA not only  because it will be facing a large number of possible retirements, but at the  same time, will be facing an increased demand for its services. We also  reviewed studies and conducted interviews with experts in the area of  retirement, including members of university-based retirement research  centers, AARP, Partnership for Public Service, the U.S. Merit Systems  Protection Board, IBM International, and various agency officials, to  identify notable approaches other agencies have developed to hire and  retain older workers. Through this work, we identified several agencies  that have developed their own innovative approaches and met with  officials from these agencies. To report on OPM’s activities and  challenges, we augmented information obtained from our reviews of three  agencies by interviewing various officials at OPM and reviewing relevant  documents.
section_title: The Role of OPM in Helping Agencies Hire and Retain Experienced Workers
paragraphs: To address this objective, we interviewed officials at OPM and interviewed  other selected federal agencies and private sector experts. Also, we  reviewed previous GAO work relating to older workers and federal human  capital strategies. Our work at OPM included interviews with key officials  and reviews of OPM guidance, training materials, legislative proposals, and  other documents relevant to hiring and retaining older workers, as well as  documents on federal human capital flexibilities.
We conducted our work from April 2008 to January 2009 in accordance  with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards  require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate  evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions  based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence we obtained  provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions.
section_title: Appendix II: Number and Percentage of Federal Workers without and with Salary Reductions Re- employed by CFO Agencies in Fiscal Year 2007
subsections: section_title: Total number of employees
section_title: Appendix III: Comments from the Office of Personnel Management
section_title: Appendix IV: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments
subsections: section_title: Acknowledgments
paragraphs: In addition to the contacts listed above, Dianne M. Blank (Assistant  Director) and Kathleen D. White, (Analyst-in-Charge) supervised the  development of this report.
Cheri L. Harrington and Christopher T. Langford made significant  contributions to all aspects of this report. In addition, Belva M. Martin,  Clifton G. Douglas, Mary Y. Martin, Nicholas C. Alexander, and Isabella P.  Johnson contributed to significant portions of the report. Jessica A.  Botsford provided legal support; Gregory H.Wilmoth assisted with design,  methodology, and data analysis; and Susannah L. Compton provided  writing assistance. Karen A. Brown, Lise Levie, and Ronni Schwartz  verified the information in this report.
section_title: Related GAO Products
paragraphs: Social Security Administration: Service Delivery Plan Needed to Address  Baby Boom Retirement Challenges. GAO-09-24. Washington, D.C.: January  9, 2009.
Human Capital: Workforce Diversity Governmentwide and at the  Department of Homeland Security. GAO-08-815T. Washington, D.C.: May  21, 2008.
Older Workers: Federal Agencies Face Challenges, but Have  Opportunities to Hire and Retain Experienced Employees. GAO-08-630T.  Washington, D.C.: April 30, 2008.
Office of Personnel Management: Opportunities Exist to Build on Recent  Progress in Internal Human Capital Capacity. GAO-08-11. Washington,  D.C.: October 31, 2007.
Older Workers: Some Best Practices and Strategies for Engaging and  Retaining Older Workers. GAO-07-433T. Washington, D.C.: February 28,  2007.
Highlights of a GAO Forum: Engaging and Retaining Older Workers.  GAO-07-438SP. Washington, D.C.: February 28, 2007.
Office of Personnel Management: Key Lessons Learned to Date for  Strengthening Capacity to Lead and Implement Human Capital  Reforms. GAO-07-90. Washington, D.C.: January 19, 2007.
Office of Personnel Management: OPM Is Taking Steps to Strengthen Its  Internal Capacity for Leading Human Capital Reform. GAO-06-861T.  Washington, D.C.: June 27, 2006.
Redefining Retirement: Options for Older Americans. GAO-05-620T.  Washington, D.C.: April 27, 2005.
Human Capital: Opportunities to Improve Executive Agencies’ Hiring  Processes. GAO-03-450. Washington, D.C.: May 30, 2003.
Human Capital: OPM Can Better Assist Agencies in Using Personnel  Flexibilities. GAO-03-428. Washington, D.C.: May 9, 2003.
Federal Employee Retirements: Expected Increase Over the Next 5 Years  Illustrates Need for Workforce Planning. GAO-01-509. Washington, D.C.:  April 27, 2001.
Retirement Benefits: Modification of Civil Service Retirement Benefits  for Part-Time Work. GAO/PEMD-86-2. Washington, D.C.: January 9, 1986.