HR, heal thyself

The Partnership for Public Service, which advocates for policies that help bring good people into government service, today released a report called “Closing the Gap: Seven Obstacles to a First-Class Federal Workforce.”

Since 2007, PPS and business consulting firm Grant Thornton have been interviewing dozens of chief human capital officers (CHCOs) and human resource pros about the federal government’s ability to hire and keep high-quality federal workers.This report is the third one to come out of that effort.

One thing that jumped out of the very first page of this latest report was a quote from one of the CHCOs interviewed for the study:

“They want us to hire all these people, but HR itself does not have the skill set.”

Yikes. We’d wager recent federal hires (and those still seeking federal jobs), as well as HR folks, have some input to offer on that statement ...