Human Capital: Selected Agencies Have Opportunities to Enhance Existing Succession Planning and Management Efforts
Released: 2005-08-01T00:00:00

Letter

Background

We have found that other countries are experiencing challenges in managing their human capital, and their experiences may prove valuable to federal agencies in the United States. For example, they are using their performance management systems to connect employee performance with organizational success to help foster a results-oriented culture. They are also implementing succession planning and management initiatives that are designed to protect and enhance organizational capacity. Collectively, these agencies’ initiatives demonstrated the following practices.

Receive active support of top leadership. Top leadership actively participates in, regularly uses, and ensures the needed financial and staff resources for key succession planning and management initiatives. New Zealand’s State Services Commissioner, whose wide-ranging duties include the appointment and review of public service chief executives, formulated a new governmentwide senior leadership and management development strategy.

Link to strategic planning. To focus on both current and future needs and to provide leaders with a broader perspective, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s succession planning and management initiative figures prominently in the agency’s multiyear human capital plan and provides top leaders with an agencywide perspective when making decisions.

Identify talent from multiple organizational levels, early in their careers, or with critical skills. For example, the United Kingdom’s Fast Stream program targets high-potential individuals as well as recent college graduates, and aims to provide individuals with experiences and training linked to strengthening specific competencies required for admission to the Senior Civil Service.

Emphasize developmental assignments in addition to formal training. Initiatives emphasize developmental assignments in addition to formal training to strengthen high-potential employees’ skills and broaden their experiences. For example, Canada’s Accelerated Executive Development Program temporarily assigns executives to work in unfamiliar roles or subject areas, and in different agencies.

Address specific human capital challenges, such as diversity, leadership capacity, and retention. For example, the United Kingdom created a centralized development program that targets minorities with the potential to join the Senior Civil Service.

Facilitating broader transformation efforts. The United Kingdom launched a wide-ranging reform program know as Modernising Government, which focused on improving the quality, coordination, and accessibility of the services government offered to its citizens and restructured the content of its leadership and management development programs to reflect this new emphasis on service delivery. In Australia, to find individuals to champion recent changes in how it delivers services and interacts with stakeholders, the Family Court of Australia identifies and prepares future leaders who will have the skills and experiences to help the organization successfully adapt to agency transformation.

We at GAO have also undertaken a variety of succession planning and management initiatives consistent with these leading practices to strengthen our own internal efforts. For example, we have constructed a detailed workforce planning model and analyzed it to ensure that it hired, retained, and contracted for the appropriate number of staff with the needed competencies. In addition, we have developed certain “people measures” to assess its performance in human capital management, including measures for the attraction and retention of staff, staff utilization and development, and organizational leadership.

Agencies Reinforce Top Leadership Support by Assigning Responsibility for Succession Efforts

Effective succession planning and management programs have the support and commitment of their organizations’ top leadership. Our past work has shown that demonstrated commitment of top leaders is perhaps the single most important element of successful management reform. We have reported that to demonstrate its support of succession planning and management efforts, top leadership actively participates in and regularly uses these initiatives to develop and promote individuals, and ensures that these programs receive sufficient resources. As a next step, federal agencies are to hold their senior executives accountable to address human capital issues, such as succession. We found that VHA has assigned responsibility for succession planning and management initiatives to a dedicated subcommittee, while DOL, the Census Bureau, and EPA have councils or boards that are responsible for human capital more broadly, including succession efforts.

VHA has established a subcommittee and high-level positions that are directly responsible for succession planning and management. The Succession and Workforce Development Management Subcommittee reports to the Human Resources Committee of the National Leadership Board, as illustrated in figure 1. VHA’s Chief Executive Officer—the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Undersecretary for Health—chairs the board, which consists of VISN directors, chief officers, and heads of offices.

In addition, VHA has established (1) a workforce planner position to help coordinate and manage VHA workforce planning activities, and (2) a nurse workforce planner position to help respond to its nursing shortage and consult with the workforce planner on certain issues, such as regional- specific recruiting challenges and training. Also, this year, VHA seeks to establish a director of succession management, a senior executive-level position. According to a VHA human capital official, the new director’s duties will include overseeing national coordination of VHA’s succession activities.

At DOL, the Management Review Board, chaired by the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, is responsible for a variety of business issues, including human capital. The board is composed of top senior leaders from each of the agencies within DOL. According to DOL, the board’s senior leaders helped garner support for departmentwide succession planning and management efforts. For example, the board recommended funding the development of departmentwide competencies required for mission-critical occupations.

The Census Bureau’s Human Capital Management Council, consisting of representatives from each of the Census Bureau’s directorates, reports to the Deputy Director of Census. According to Census Bureau human resource officials, the Council plays a key role in involving and advising top leadership on human capital issues. For example, the Council developed and presented a succession management plan that recommended, among other things, piloting job rotations and assignments to address mission- critical priorities and resources. In addition, according to a Census Bureau human resource official, the Council assesses various succession-related issues, such as recruiting and competency development for the Bureau’s senior management. In turn, senior management recently tasked a Council representative to provide monthly updates on succession-related issues.

EPA’s Human Resources Council, composed of senior leaders who are to advise the EPA Administrator on human capital issues, released EPA’s “Strategy for Human Capital,” a planning document outlining EPA’s long- term human capital goals. The strategy names the offices responsible for leading each of its goals. For example, the Office of Human Resources, the Executive Resources Board, and human resources officers are to implement a strategy to “Ensure the Continuity of Leadership, Critical Expertise, and Agency Values through Succession Planning and Management/Executive Development.” According to agency human capital officials, EPA’s assistant and regional administrators and their senior managers are responsible for executing succession planning initiatives.

As a next step, federal agencies are to hold their senior executives accountable for human capital issues, thus explicitly aligning individual performance expectations with organizational goals. VHA and the Census Bureau specifically mention succession planning and management in their executives’ performance plans. DOL and EPA senior executive performance expectations also include aspects of succession planning and management as part of more general human capital management responsibilities.

At VHA, in their FY 2005 performance plans, chief officers and program officials are to assure that the regional strategic plans address workforce development, including a succession plan that projects workforce needs. A VHA official also stated that VHA is considering including specific succession-related performance measures, such as turnover rates for selected priority occupations, in applicable executive performance plans.

The Census Bureau’s FY 2005 executive performance plans state that each senior executive “effectively develops and executes plans to accomplish strategic goals and organizational objectives, setting clear priorities and acquiring, organizing, and leveraging available resources (human, financial, budget, etc.,) and succession planning to ensure timely delivery of high quality services and products in compliance with applicable laws, regulations and policies.” Senior executives are also to demonstrate a planned approach to workforce development for managers and staff.

At DOL, executives are to ensure that “staff are appropriately selected, utilized, appraised, and developed…” Executives are also to develop the talents of the staff and qualified candidates for positions in the organization, according to DOL’s latest senior executive performance management plan, revised in 2004.

EPA’ s FY 2004 performance plan for senior executives states that executives should identify current and projected skill gaps and develop strategies for addressing these gaps. According to an EPA executive resource policy official, the FY 2005 senior executive performance plan is under revision, but the expectations concerning skill gaps will not change.

We have also reported that to demonstrate its support of succession planning and management, top leadership ensures that these programs receive sufficient financial and staff resources and are maintained over time. DOL uses a centrally managed “crosscut fund” to supplement its succession planning and management initiatives. Component agencies within DOL submit project proposals, which DOL evaluates against established criteria, such as supporting initiatives in the department’s Human Capital Strategic Plan. According to DOL, from FY 2003-2004, the agency allocated about $6.1 million for 18 human capital projects, such as competency assessments for mission-critical occupations, and the Management Development Program, one of DOL’s major succession development programs. The Census Bureau, EPA, and VHA allocate money to various programs, including succession efforts, intended to contribute to human capital goals, but detailed funding information was not readily available from the agencies.

Agencies Have Begun to Link Succession Efforts to Their Strategic Goals

Leading organizations use succession planning and management as a strategic planning tool that focuses on current and future needs and develops pools of high-potential staff in order to meet the organization’s mission over the long term. That is, succession planning and management is used to help the organization become what it needs to be, rather than simply to recreate the existing organization. We have previously reported on the importance of linking succession planning and management with the forward-looking process of strategic planning. Specifically, discussing how workforce knowledge, skills, and abilities will contribute to the achievement of strategic and annual performance goals, how significant gaps are identified, and what mitigating strategies are proposed (such as hiring and training) can show the connection between succession planning and strategic planning. All four agencies have begun to link their succession planning to their strategic goals.

We previously reported that EPA’s human capital strategy lacked some key elements, including the linking of human capital objectives to strategic goals. Since then, EPA’s current strategic plan recognizes that human capital management spans its 5 strategic goals and identifies specific workforce knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve each goal. For example, as illustrated in figure 2, to achieve its goal for “Clean Air and Global Climate Change,” EPA states that its workforce planning, hiring, and training activities will emphasize risk assessment, including environmental- risk modeling and monitoring, economic analysis, and standard setting, among other factors.

Separately, the succession plan states that the agency faces a number of future challenges, such as global pollution, and identifies key drivers shaping the agency’s future work, such as science and technology advancements, budget constraints, administration priorities, agricultural practices, public expectations, and the media’s influences. To respond to these drivers, EPA states that its employees must have the capacity to build stronger working partnerships, increase on-site problem solving, and enhance internal and external communication practices.

As a component of VA, VHA recognizes VA’s strategic objective to “recruit, develop and retain a competent, committed and diverse workforce that provides high quality service to veterans and their families” in its Workforce Succession Strategic Planning Guide. To achieve this objective, VHA identifies a number of strategic assumptions about the future of veterans’ health care. For example, it states that health care delivery will become more patient centered, that patients will be seen based on need instead of a predetermined schedule, and the use of in-home and interactive technology will increase, along with noninstitutional long-term care. Although VHA states that technological advances will improve access and quality of care for veterans, it does not anticipate significant impacts on the need for health care professionals over the next 5 years, and expects to continue to compete for scarce health care professionals in certain occupations.

DOL states that to meet its strategic goal of ensuring a competitive 21st century workforce, it plans to identify skill gaps, assess training needs, and recruit new employees. For example, DOL plans to shift from a historical enforcement role to compliance assistance and consultation, requiring stronger skills in communication and analysis. DOL seeks to develop more skills in technology and project management as well as in strategic planning, quantitative analysis, and analytical thinking for a more “business-like” management approach. To attract and retain employees with such skills, DOL launched the MBA Fellows program in 2002, which it considers one of its major succession development programs. The 2-year developmental program includes rotational assignments, mentoring, and promotional opportunities for successful graduates. In FY 2004, DOL reported retaining 89 percent of its MBA Fellows after 2 years.

Among the Census Bureau’s strategic goals is its unique requirement to conduct the Decennial Census. According to the agency strategic plan, the Bureau plans to reengineer the 2010 Census so that it “is cost-effective, provides more timely data, improves coverage accuracy, and reduces operational risk.” The agency will accomplish this by collecting information on a yearly basis, enhancing address databases, using local geographic information, and undertaking operational tests of these new sources and methods. In its human capital plan, the Bureau acknowledges that reengineering the 2010 Census requires new skills in project, contract, and financial management; advanced programming and technology; and statistics, mathematics, economics, quantitative analysis, marketing, demography, and geography. To help obtain these skills, the Bureau has established training programs and developed competency guides. For example, it has instituted a Project Management Master’s Certificate Program and an Information Technology Master’s Certificate Program. All program managers now are to receive project management training.

Monitoring Mission-Critical Workforce Needs Helps Make Informed Succession Planning Decisions

Leading organizations use succession planning and management to identify the talent required to achieve their goals. We have also identified key principles for effective workforce planning including determining the critical skills and competencies that will be needed to achieve current and future programmatic results; developing strategies that are tailored to address gaps in number, deployment, and alignment of human capital approaches for enabling and sustaining the contributions of all critical skills and competencies; and monitoring and evaluating the agency’s progress toward its human capital goals and the contribution that human capital results have made toward achieving programmatic results.

VHA, EPA, and DOL have identified gaps in occupations or competencies in their mission-critical workforce to achieve their goals, have undertaken strategies to address these gaps, and plan to or are taking steps to monitor their progress. By doing so, they can make more informed planning decisions and help appropriately focus succession efforts. While the Census Bureau has identified and is recruiting for its mission-critical occupations, it could achieve similar benefits if it more closely monitors its mission-critical workforce as it plans for the 2010 Decennial Census.

VHA has identified 13 occupations it deems as national priorities for recruitment and retention, including registered nurses, physicians, and nuclear medicine technicians, among others. VHA uses a Web-based tool with a workforce strategic planning template to help project its needs in these mission-critical occupations. Each VISN completes a comprehensive and detailed regional workforce assessment that projects staffing needs for priority occupations for at least the next 5 years. These projections are based on anticipated resignations, retirements, other separations, and future mission needs. VHA’s workforce planner considers these data when projecting national staffing needs. For example, as illustrated in figure 2, VHA anticipates hiring 3,403 nurses in FY 2005 and 21,796 nurses from FY 2006 through FY 2011. This national projection includes, for example, the VISN 16 assessment that it will need from 220 to 238 nurses from FY 2005 to FY 2008.

VHA also monitors and reports changes in its mission-critical workforce based on these data. For example, VHA reports that it increased the total nurses it had on-board by 6.2 percent or 2,184 from FY 1999 to FY 2004. VHA states that the succession programs implemented since 1999 have helped it to meet these mission-critical needs and, therefore, it does not plan to implement additional programs.

We previously recommended that EPA comprehensively assess its workforce needs. Subsequently, EPA identified 18 priority occupations, including physical scientists, biologists, chemists, and attorneys. EPA projects each occupation’s retirement, attrition, and accession rates based on historical averages. For example, EPA estimates that approximately 20 percent of the managers and supervisors in 10 of the 18 priority occupations will leave by 2008, mostly due to retirements. In addition, human capital officials stated that the agency’s strategy has been on strengthening mission-critical competencies among their priority occupations. For example, EPA has identified 12 technical competencies, such as information management and sciences and biological sciences, and 12 cross-occupational competencies, such as teamwork and oral communication, that are essential for the agency to acquire, retain, or develop to accomplish its future mission. EPA plans to address emerging mission-critical competencies and gaps in priority occupations through recruitment and development. EPA also plans to update its 2004 strategic workforce planning effort on a cyclical basis to monitor progress in closing any gaps, but the agency did not indicate specific time frames for these updates.

DOL has identified 27 mission-critical occupations, such as investigators, workforce development specialists, and mining engineers as well as the skills needed for each occupation, which it specifies in competency models. For example, for criminal investigators, DOL identified skills such as external awareness and interpersonal communication in addition to the knowledge and conduct of investigations. DOL has also inventoried the skills of its on-board mission-critical workers through the department’s mission-critical Skills Assessment Initiative. DOL reports that its component agencies are developing action plans to reduce or close skill gaps which DOL is incorporating into its human capital planning and reporting process.

In addition, DOL has developed performance measures that are designed to help it gauge its organizational capacity, as illustrated in figure 4. For example, for FY 2004 DOL reported a 5 percent turnover rate of its mission- critical employees during their first year, meeting its goal of less than 10 percent. Likewise, DOL reported a 19.5 percent turnover rate during their first 3 years, meeting its goal of less than 25 percent. In addition, DOL reported a 95.4 percent FTE utilization rate, the percentage of filled and authorized, full-time equivalent positions, for FY 2004, compared with a 98 percent goal.

FY 2004 (actual)

FTE Utilization

Annually The Census Bureau has identified its mission-critical occupations and is recruiting for statisticians, mathematical statisticians, information technology specialists, cartographers, and geographers on its employment Web site. According to an agency human capital official, the Census Bureau does not monitor or assess gaps in numbers by mission-critical occupation, but focuses on “building infrastructure” by recruiting and developing competencies. The same official stated that the Bureau delegates decisions to line managers to fill vacancies, and thus there is no need to assess workers by mission-critical categories. To assist these managers, the Bureau reports that an electronic hiring system allows them to identify competencies for each vacancy, and that line managers engage in a continuing dialogue with senior managers, the Hiring Coordinators Group, and the Human Capital Management Council to address hiring needs. Nevertheless, while line managers are appropriately concerned with filling vacancies, as noted earlier, the Bureau has also acknowledged that reengineering the 2010 Decennial Census requires new competencies. By not monitoring its mission-critical occupations more closely and at a higher level, Census may not know overall if it is acquiring the skills it needs to be prepared to conduct the 2010 Decennial Census as efficiently or effectively as possible.

Enhanced Coordination and Evaluation of Training and Development Programs Could Help Leverage Scarce Resources

Effective training and development programs can enhance the federal government’s ability to achieve results. Further, effective succession planning and management efforts identify talent from multiple organizational levels, early in their careers, or with critical skills as well as provide both formal training and opportunities for rotational, developmental, or “stretch” assignments, to strengthen high-potential employees’ skills and to broaden their experience and perspective. While all four agencies offer core succession training and development programs, they each can seek opportunities to achieve efficiencies through more coordination and sharing of these programs. In addition, establishing valid measures to better evaluate how these programs affect organizational capacity can give agency decision makers credible information to justify training and development programs’ value.

Agency Succession Efforts Include Training and Development for Employees across Organizational Levels

All four agencies offer programs to train and develop their entry-, middle-, and senior-level employees. These programs provide opportunities for formal training, and all but one program offers rotational or developmental assignments. Table 1 provides a summary of core succession training and development programs by agency.

At the senior level, all four agencies have succession training and development programs intended to enhance leadership skills, primarily through SES candidate development programs. For example, EPA’s SES Candidate Development Program—designed to prepare a cadre of leaders to fill future vacant executive positions in the agency and to maintain valuable institutional knowledge—requires candidates to complete an executive development plan and work with an SES mentor and executive coach to help define career goals and provide guidance. The program also requires participants to complete at least 80 hours of formal leadership development training, as well as complete a 4-month developmental assignment. DOL and VHA have similar programs in place. The Census Bureau, as a component of DOC, participates in DOC’s SES Candidate Development Program.

The four agencies also have programs intended to develop the leadership and supervisory skills for middle-level managers. For example, VHA’s program named “VISN LEAD” provides an opportunity for high-potential employees in field locations to receive coaching and mentoring, create a personal development plan, and join with special VISN-wide project task teams, while retaining their current responsibilities. EPA’s Mid-level Development Programs, DOL’s Management Development Program, and DOC’s Executive Leadership Development Program—in which the Census Bureau participates—all offer similar opportunities.

At the entry level, all agencies have programs intended to develop employees and provide them with the foundation for future leadership. For example, DOL’s MBA Fellows program requires participants to take a minimum of four rotational assignments and core training classes, complete a personal development plan, and work with a senior-level mentor, among other activities. Targeting recent MBA graduates, DOL established its program not only to address increased departmentwide needs for business and project-management skills, but also to create a cadre of future department leaders. EPA’s Intern Program and Rotational Program, VHA’s Facility LEAD Program, and DOC’s Aspiring Leaders Development Program, in which the Census Bureau participates, are similar in nature.

According to agency human capital officials, other programs also contribute to their succession efforts. For example, the Census Bureau has established certificate programs in project management and leadership for all employees to develop and enhance these specific skills. The Bureau also has a mathematical statisticians program, which, according to the Deputy Director, provides career enhancement opportunities designed to help develop and retain employees in this critical occupation. Similarly, DOL has a Career Assistance Program that provides employees at all levels with career planning advice and other development assistance. In addition, the agencies use formal mentoring or coaching programs to help guide employees throughout their career.

Coordination and Sharing of Training and Development Programs Can Achieve Efficiencies

As agencies implement their core succession training and development programs, they must plan and prepare for the possibility of significant and recurring constraints on their resources, in light of fiscal and budgetary constraints. Recognizing this, leading agencies look for opportunities to coordinate and share their efforts and create synergies through benchmarking with others, achieving economies of scale, limiting duplication of efforts, and enhancing the effectiveness of programs, among other things. An example of such a coordinated and shared training effort is the recent announcement of a new partnership by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Department of Defense, and the General Services Administration. The initiative is geared toward the civilian and defense acquisition workforces, and is intended to provide similar training and development opportunities for acquisition personnel across all three agencies with the goal of sharing best practices, among other things.

OPM has begun to serve as a bridge for agencies to seek opportunities to coordinate their succession training and development programs as it shifts its role from less of a rule maker and enforcer to more of a strategic partner in leading and supporting agencies’ human capital management. For example, OPM established a governmentwide Federal Candidate Development Program (Fed CDP). OPM expects the 14-month program to help agencies meet their SES succession planning goals and contribute to the government’s efforts to create a high-quality SES leadership corps. Participating agencies may select, without further competition, people who have successfully completed the Fed CDP training program. In addition, we have testified that approaches to interagency collaboration, such as the CHCO Council, have emerged as an important central leadership strategy and that agency collaboration can serve to institutionalize many management policies governmentwide. The Leadership and Succession Planning Subcommittee of the CHCO Council is charged with reviewing leadership development, among other things, and is a possible mechanism to help agencies coordinate succession training and development programs.

While some agencies’ human capital officials acknowledged the potential benefits of coordinating succession training and development programs with other agencies or departments, they all could do more to seek coordination and sharing opportunities. Cognizant human capital and training officials stated that they had not actively sought opportunities to coordinate core succession training and development programs. Although EPA plans to select one senior executive through the Fed CDP, human capital officials stated they had not extensively explored the idea of coordinating with other agencies for their core succession training and development. VHA human capital officials said they did not coordinate further because they have specialized skill needs. DOL and Census Bureau human capital managers also stated that they had not partnered with other outside agencies to coordinate their core succession training and development programs. By not actively seeking to coordinate and share core succession training and development programs, agencies may miss a potentially valuable opportunity to gain efficiency, which may be especially important in the current budget environment.

Performance Measures Can Help Agencies Assess Programs’ Effects on Organizational Capacity

Decision makers need credible information to justify training and development programs’ value. We have also reported that agencies need credible information to assess how their training and development programs affect organizational performance and enhance organizational capacity. We have observed in our guide for assessing strategic training and development that while not all training and development programs require, or are suitable for, higher levels of evaluation, establishing valid performance measures can ensure that agencies adequately address their development objectives. Moreover, our guide states that such measures should go beyond input and output data, and can include data on quality, costs, and time. We also recognize, however, that agencies need to scale their efforts depending on the program. Factors to consider when deciding on the appropriate level of evaluation include the estimated costs of training efforts, size of training audience, and program visibility, among other things.

All four agencies are able to report on participation and cost related to their succession training and development programs. For example, 12 Census Bureau employees participated in DOC’s Aspiring Leaders Development Program in FY 2004, with an average cost of $6,267 per participant, according to the Bureau. In addition, the Census Bureau and DOL have also identified outcome measures related to the performance of some of their succession-related training and development programs. For example, the Census Bureau evaluates, among other things, the extent to which certified project managers are using the skills they have learned in the Project Management Masters Certificate Program. Only DOL has identified measures intended to provide an understanding of core succession training and development programs’ effects on organizational capacity. Figure 5 illustrates a selection of these measures.

For example, by considering the retention rate for MBA Fellows, DOL can make informed planning decisions about the potential availability of certain skill sets in the department as well as when to initiate a new program and how many students to include in it. DOL reported that in FY 2004, it retained 89 percent of its MBA fellows after 2 years and has a goal of 75 percent after 3 years. DOL also tracks SES “bench strength,” a ratio of senior executives who are in training or have completed training to those projected to leave. DOL reported a 96 percent “bench strength” for its senior executives in FY 2004, exceeding its goal of 70 percent. The Census Bureau, VHA, and EPA could better demonstrate their programs’ value in providing future talent by identifying outcome-oriented measures and evaluating the extent to which these programs enhance their organizations’ capacity.

Agencies Use Succession Efforts to Enhance Workforce Diversity

Leading organizations recognize that diversity, ways in which people in a workforce are similar and different from one another, is an organizational strength and that succession planning is a leading diversity management practice. Given the retirement projections for the federal government that could create vacancies, agencies can use succession planning and management as a critical tool in their efforts to enhance diversity in their leadership positions. All of the selected agencies have recognized the importance of diversity to a successful workforce and use succession planning and management efforts to enhance their workforce diversity.

VA requires all of its administrative staff offices to produce workforce and succession plans aligned with overall VA strategic planning. VHA states that although its overall workforce is fairly diverse, women and minorities are not well represented in leadership positions nor are they well represented in the pipeline to such positions. We have reported that VHA has integrated diversity planning into its succession efforts. As part of their regional succession plans, VISNs submit diversity information to VHA for national planning. VHA then analyzes the diversity of its top-priority occupations, highlights underrepresentation of certain demographic groups in specific mission-critical occupations, and provides guidance to focus recruiting efforts to enhance diversity. For example, VHA states that White females and American Indian/Alaskan Native females are underrepresented in the nurse occupation and advises that recruitment efforts should focus on them. In addition, VHA tracks applicant diversity for the Executive Career Field Candidate Development Program, one of VHA’s core succession training and development programs, and reports that applicants to this program are drawn from a diverse pool.

EPA has stated in its human capital plan that a diverse workforce makes the agency a more effective and healthy organization that is better able to relate to the American people and develop more creative and workable solutions. EPA credits its Intern Program, one of its core succession training and development programs, with attracting and retaining a diverse group of employees based on a 2003 assessment of the program. For example, the assessment found that EPA interns were more ethnically diverse than other comparable groups of hires. As part of its diversity action plan, EPA reports that it is expanding targeted recruitment initiatives to identify well-qualified candidates for mission-critical occupations. In addition, regional offices report succession-related efforts intended to enhance diversity initiatives, such as mentoring, leadership, and career development programs, and workforce demographic analyses, among other activities.

DOL identifies a strategic initiative to enhance diversity in management and mission-critical occupations in its human capital plan. To help it achieve this initiative, DOL monitors and evaluates diversity information for its mission-critical occupations annually, and has identified “pockets of low participation” for certain minority groups, such as Hispanics. In addition, DOL has reported a higher percentage of women and Hispanics in its three core succession training and development programs than in its general workforce.

The Census Bureau has established a diversity program office to manage the Bureau’s diversity efforts. Bureau officials stated that because of the highly specialized nature of the Bureau’s work, such as the use of statistics and mathematics, and the relatively small pool of people trained in these areas, it is difficult to enhance diversity in several critical occupation categories. As part of its combined diversity and recruiting initiative, the Bureau has established a specific recruiting team for mathematical statisticians, one of its highlighted mission-critical occupations. The Bureau also has various targeted recruiting efforts at academic institutions and community organizations with high Hispanic and other minority enrollment, and various Hispanic or Latino Chambers of Commerce.

Conclusions

The Census Bureau, DOL, EPA, and VHA have all implemented succession planning and management efforts that collectively are intended to strengthen organizational capacity. Generally, these efforts receive top leadership support, link with strategic planning, identify critical skills gaps and strategies to fill them, offer training and development programs for high-potential employees, and enhance diversity. Nevertheless, given the nation’s large current budget deficit and long-range fiscal imbalance, Congress is likely to place increasing emphasis on agencies to exercise fiscal restraint.

Given this environment, these agencies can look for opportunities to coordinate and share their succession training and development programs to achieve economies of scale, limit duplication of efforts, increase efficiency, and enhance the effectiveness of their programs. For example, all four agencies emphasize rotational or developmental assignments and formal training, and they may have opportunities to coordinate and share these assignments and training with each other or other federal agencies or departments. Agencies can also work with OPM and the CHCO Council to determine how they can better leverage other agencies’ succession training and development programs.

Furthermore, it is increasingly important for agencies to evaluate their training and development programs to be able to demonstrate how these efforts enhance organizational capacity. While the Census Bureau, EPA, and VHA have some information on their succession training and development programs, such as participation and cost, they can take additional steps, such as enhanced evaluations, to justify these programs’ value. DOL has identified measures intended to provide an understanding of these programs’ effects on organizational capacity.

Finally, although the Census Bureau has identified and is recruiting for its mission-critical occupations, it can better monitor its mission-critical workforce. By not monitoring more closely and at a higher level than line managers, the Bureau may not know how to best focus its succession planning efforts, and ultimately how well it is prepared for major tasks, such as the 2010 Decennial Census.

Recommendations for Executive Action

To help agencies reinforce their succession planning and management efforts, and make well informed planning decisions, we recommend a number of actions.

The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Director of Census takes the following three actions: Strengthen the monitoring of its mission-critical workforce by identifying mission-critical workforce gaps, developing strategies to address gaps, evaluating progress toward closing gaps, and adjusting strategies accordingly.

Seek appropriate opportunities to coordinate and share core succession training and development programs with other outside agencies to achieve economies of scale, limit duplication of efforts, benchmark with high-performing agencies, keep abreast of current practices, enhance efficiency, and increase the effectiveness of its programs.

Evaluate core succession training and development programs to assess the extent to which programs contribute to enhancing organizational capacity. When deciding the appropriate analytical approach and level of evaluation, the Bureau should consider factors such as estimated costs of training efforts, size of training audience, and program visibility, among other things.

The Administrator of EPA should take the following two actions: Seek appropriate opportunities to coordinate and share core succession training and development programs with other outside agencies to achieve economies of scale, limit duplication of efforts, benchmark with high-performing agencies, keep abreast of current practices, enhance efficiency, and increase the effectiveness of its programs.

Evaluate core succession training and development programs to assess the extent to which programs contribute to enhancing organizational capacity. When deciding the appropriate analytical approach and level of evaluation, EPA should consider factors such as estimated costs of training efforts, size of training audience, and program visibility, among other things.

The Secretary of Labor should take the following action: Seek appropriate opportunities to coordinate and share core succession training and development programs with other outside agencies to achieve economies of scale, limit duplication of efforts, benchmark with high-performing agencies, keep abreast of current practices, enhance efficiency, and increase the effectiveness of its programs.

The Secretary of VA should take the following two actions: Seek appropriate opportunities to coordinate and share core succession training and development programs with other outside agencies to achieve economies of scale, limit duplication of efforts, benchmark with high-performing agencies, keep abreast of current practices, enhance efficiency, and increase the effectiveness of its programs.

Evaluate core succession training and development programs to assess the extent to which programs contribute to enhancing organizational capacity. When deciding the appropriate analytical approach and level of evaluation, VHA should consider factors such as estimated costs of training efforts, size of training audience, and program visibility, among other things.

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation

We provided a draft of this report to the Secretaries of Commerce, Labor, and VA and the Administrator of EPA for their review and comment. In addition, we provided a draft of this report to the Acting Director of OPM and the CHCO Council’s Leadership and Succession Planning Subcommittee for their information.

VA agreed with our findings and recommendations. In response to our recommendation to seek opportunities to coordinate and share core succession training and development programs, VA suggested that OPM could act as a “clearinghouse” by gathering and publishing curricula and other relevant training information from agencies, thus enabling agencies to identify existing training programs across the government. We present VA’s written comments in appendix II. DOC and the Census Bureau agreed with our findings and our recommendations to seek opportunities to coordinate core succession training and development programs and to evaluate the extent to which these programs enhance organizational capacity. In response to our recommendation to strengthen the monitoring of its mission-critical workforce, the Census Bureau stated that its existing approach is effective in meeting its needs. However, as we discussed earlier, the Census Bureau acknowledges that reengineering the 2010 Decennial Census requires new competencies. By not strengthening the monitoring of its mission-critical workforce, the Census is at increased risk that it will not have the skills it needs to be prepared to conduct the 2010 Census as efficiently or effectively as possible. For example, a lesson from the 2000 Census was that while contracts for various projects supported decennial census operations, they did so in many instances at a higher cost than necessary because the Census Bureau did not have sufficient contracting and program staff with the training and experience to manage them. We present DOC’s and the Census Bureau’s written comments in appendix III. DOL did not take issue with our findings, stated that it will consider our recommendations, and provided technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate. EPA did not comment on our recommendations, but provided a technical comment, which we incorporated.

As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce its contents earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 30 days after its date. At that time, we will provide copies of this report to other interested congressional parties; the Secretaries of Commerce, Labor, and VA; the Administrator of EPA; the Director of Census; the Acting Director of OPM; and the CHCO Council’s Leadership and Succession Planning Subcommittee. We will also make this report available at no charge on the GAO Web site at http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact me on (202) 512-6806 or at larencee@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made major contributions to this report are listed in appendix IV.

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

To review how federal agencies are implementing succession planning and management efforts, we selected the Department of Labor (DOL), the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Census Bureau for our review. We considered the nature of their succession challenges, agency missions, and prior GAO human capital work conducted at these agencies. These agencies represent an array of organizational structures, missions, and succession challenges.

We analyzed strategic, human capital, workforce, succession, and training and development plans, performance contracts, human capital team charters, and diversity information from the selected agencies. In addition, we reviewed policies and guidance on succession-related issues from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) because of their responsibilities for ensuring the fair application of personnel decisions, such as selection for training and development programs. We also interviewed agency, OPM, EEOC, and MSPB officials involved with strategic, human capital, and succession planning and management.

The scope of our work did not include independent evaluation or verification of the effectiveness of the succession planning and management initiatives used in the four agencies, including any performance results that agencies attributed to specific practices or aspects of their programs. We assessed the reliability of staffing and projection data provided to us by the Census Bureau, DOL, EPA, VHA, and OPM to ensure the data we used in this report were complete and accurate by (1) interviewing agency officials knowledgeable about the data and (2) performing manual and electronic testing, when applicable. We determined that these data were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this engagement.

To get the varied perspectives of agencies’ staff located in headquarters and regional offices, we interviewed agency officials in Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. We conducted our study from June 2004 through April 2005.

Comments from the Department of Veterans Affairs

Comments from the Department of Commerce

GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Acknowledgments

In addition to the contact named above, Lisa Shames, Naved Qureshi, Peter Rumble, Jennifer Cooke, Erin Murello, and Elena Lipson made key contributions to this report.