Transition Watch: Human resources officers face familiar, new challenges
In addition to recruiting and retaining talented employees, agency chief human capital officers must integrate and manage a blended workforce and bolster federal leadership.
Recruiting, hiring and retaining a diverse and skilled workforce will
remain a priority for chief human capital officers during the next
administration, the CHCO Council chairman said in a report released
Dec. 19.
CHCOs will face several growing challenges, added
Michael Hager, CHCO Council chairman and acting director of the Office
of Personnel Management, in the council’s fiscal 2008 annual report to
Congress. For example, agencies will need to better integrate a blended
workforce of federal employees and contractors in addition to
supporting more interagency and public/private efforts, Hager said. The
report doubles as a transition guide for President-elect Barack Obama’s
administration, Hager said.
Another challenge is building and
sustaining federal employee leadership, he said. The CHCO Council and
OPM must develop strategies to recruit and retain the next generation
of federal employees by giving them opportunities to initiate
organizational change, learn on the job, earn performance-based rewards
and advance their careers, Hager said.
In the report to Congress, Hager said the CHCO Council can help agencies by:
- Developing metrics to measure human capital success.
- Transforming the federal human resource profession to be a strategic partner.
- Highlighting the flexibilities agencies can use to hire the best candidates.
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