Strategic Workforce Planning Federal Guide

W O R K F O R C E P L A N N I N G B E Y O N D T H E S T AF F I NG P L A N

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING

FEDERAL GUIDE BY

KIMBERTLY A. JONES, MBA, SWP

FOREWORD BY SHEILA RENEE MILBURN

iii

470 Dacula, Rd., #651 Dacula, GA 30019 Copyright © 2017 by Kimbertly A. Jones, MBA, SWP All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.

ISBN 978-0-9990059-0-3 ISBN 978-0-9990059-1-0 (eBook) Library of Congress Number: 2012915399 Printed in USA by Johnston Lithograph Disclaimer: The views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the United States Government.

DEDICATION This book is dedicated to the memories of two great influencers in my life: my grandmother Lucinda Stallworth-Turner and my father W.P. (Phillip) Jones. I truly would not be the person I am today without the love, wisdom, guidance and support that each of you imparted upon me. I am eternally grateful to you both.

Your presence remains with me and serves as my beacon of light as I traverse through my life’s journey. I love and miss you both!

I would like to also give a special dedication to Chad Kinsey, who left this world far too soon. I appreciate your level of enthusiasm with agreeing to join me on my journey to publish this book. You were an amazing talent, and I miss your positive, upbeat personality.

Gone, but not forgotten. Until we meet again my friend, I’ll meet you on the back nine…

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD .......................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER I: STRATEGIC PLANNING ..................................................... 11 CHAPTER II: BUDGET ALIGNMENT ...................................................... 17 CHAPTER III: KNOWING THE BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS .................... 29 CHAPTER IV: DATA INTEGRITY ............................................................ 41 CHAPTER V: CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS .............................. 63 CHAPTER VI: FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS ............................. 109 CHAPTER VII: GAP ANALYSIS PROCESS ............................................. 143 CHAPTER VIII: SUCCESSION PLANNING............................................. 161 CHAPTER IX: IMPLEMENTATION/ACTION PLANNING ....................... 175 CHAPTER X: EVALUATE, MONITOR AND REVISE ............................... 187 CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 193 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ........................................................................ 197 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................... 199 NOTES ............................................................................................... 201

v

FOREWORD As a colleague and former supervisor, I am proud and excited to see “Kim’s” analytical skills at work to assist the federal sector in this most important topic. As a retired federal HR senior adviser with nearly 40 years of service, it is a delight to finally see an answer to the longstanding question from strategic planners: “How do we execute the federal HR strategic plans?”

Well, look no further! Finally, a book that provides a step-by-step approach to executing successful federal strategic workforce plans. Each phase builds upon the previous phase and includes key stakeholders, data analysis, budget considerations and other key variables. It is no cookie-cutter solution, but rather provides flexibility for those unique variables vii

viii

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

ever present in the federal HR arena. This methodical, detailed and exampled approach will become the goto resource for strategic planning practitioners.

Sheila Renee Milburn President, SRM HR Consulting, LLC

INTRODUCTION

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.”

ALAN LAKEIN Author, On Personal Time Management

Knowing Where You Are Going, And How You Are Going To Get There On a scale from 1-10 (with 10 being the highest), how well does your strategic workforce planning efforts rate? The following questions are a simple test to gauge your workforce planning readiness level: ❖ Does your organization have the human capital capacity to conduct workforce planning? ❖ Does your organization have a strategic plan or direction?

1

2

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

❖ Does your organization have issues with attracting and retaining top talent? ❖ Does your organization employee satisfaction scores rate above 70%? ❖ Do your employees know how the work they perform link to the mission or strategic direction of the organization? ❖ Are you properly equipped to forecast the new direction of your organization?

If you were unable to answer “Yes” to each of these questions, then this guide is for you!

Through the years, I have observed many leaders exercising a “20/20, hindsight” approach to managing their operations, to only realize that something has gone wrong in their organization after an event has occurred. Many leaders often spend far too much time operating 30,000 feet above where most business issues take place and miss those obvious solutions to workplace challenges that is staring them directly in the face.

I have devoted more than half of my career developing workforce planning business solutions designed to help shape the workforce strategies for

INTRODUCTION

3

multiple organizations. Because of those experiences, the methodologies, techniques and best practices that I have learned and developed throughout the years are being shared in this guide to take you on a step-by-step journey of understanding your workforce of today to building your workforce of tomorrow. This guide is designed to serve as your roadmap to building a solid foundation and framework that will support an end-toend strategic workforce planning process throughout your organization. So, let the journey begin!

What is Strategic Workforce Planning?

Strategic workforce planning (SWP) has many definitions, each leading to similar conclusions. In short: A process that links short- and long-term workforce strategies through quantitative data and qualitative activities that drive current and future business outcomes.

4

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

The Federal Workforce Planning Framework The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) outlines the Human Capital Framework (HCF) to design systems and establish standards, along with appropriate metrics for assessing the management of human capital by federal agencies.

HCF replaced the Human Capital Assessment and Accountability Framework (HCAAF) as of December 2016, as mandated by the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Act of 2002. The Human Capital Framework uses four systems (Strategic Planning and Alignment, Performance Culture, Talent Management and Evaluation) that integrate human capital management with the merit systems principles. These systems focus on people, organizational activities and programs supported by development, measurement and management of agency human capital initiatives.

Ultimately, the intended purpose of HCF is to enable federal agencies to transform their organizations into high-performing work cultures and improved outcomes for human capital programs that will promote the execution of agency mission objectives.

INTRODUCTION

5

The Purpose of This Guide Due to the distinct differences between federal and private work-sectors, the writing of this book emerged from my firsthand experiences, as well as those of many of my federal colleagues who encountered difficulty in locating appropriate, empirical resources and references that focus on SWP methodologies, tactics, techniques and best practices. The scarcity of federal government-focused content has created a void for many government staff who attend trainings, workshops, webinars and conferences seeking solutions to aid them with their daily workforce planning efforts.

In the 21st century, many government agencies face more complex challenges than in years past (e.g., shrinking federal budgets and human capital due to sequestration, growing consumer demands from the American populace, cybersecurity threats and overall fewer resources). Furthermore, steady growth in the United States (U.S.) stock market has established a fertile environment for baby-boomers to prepare for a mass exodus from federal service by year 2020.

6

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Millennials, by far, present the greatest federal employment recruitment and retention challenges among all generational categories because this segment require increased levels of engagement. To further compound matters, as the remaining generational segments of traditionalist and babyboomers exit the federal government, knowledge gaps increase among the Generation X workforce to effectively execute succession planning strategies throughout the federal government.

Because of these present-day challenges, greater emphasis has been placed on strategic workforce planning throughout the federal government than ever before. As organizational business priorities constantly shift, executive and senior leaders are discovering the need to have robust and viable strategic workforce planning frameworks as the cornerstone for making business decisions that meet current and future organizational demands.

As federal government executives and senior leaders come to the realization of the overwhelming importance of conducting strategic workforce planning in their organizations, many are faced with perplexing questions of: “With whom should I

INTRODUCTION

7

consult?” “Where should I begin?” “How can I replicate strategic workforce planning across the organization?”

“What is the return on investment (ROI)?” and “When should I review my workforce plan?”

I have worked diligently over the past several years to develop a streamlined approach designed to serve as an innovative framework for accomplishing strategic workforce planning within the federal government and answers executive and senior leaders’ pressing questions. I will be one of the first to admit that there are no perfect solutions to conducting strategic workforce planning as each organization has dissimilar mission requirements. What is clear, a strategic plan/direction that is tied to an organizational mission and budget must be present to begin the strategic workforce planning process.

The process can be arduous and requires enormous front-loaded efforts before taking proper form and becoming of added benefit to an organization. I have witnessed far too many organizations take a piecemeal approach of applying cosmetic window dressing to their talent management process and masquerading it as strategic workforce planning. These temporary fixes often lead to minimum or no substantial gains with

8

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

ensuring proactive hiring of the right people, at the right place, and at the right time.

Those of us who have worked as strategic workforce planners within the federal government can attest that strategic planning vary greatly from organization to organization. Inconsistencies found among workforce planning best practices have hampered continuity in how strategic workforce planning is applied across federal agencies. Inaccurate perceptions of what constitutes a mission critical occupation also can cause delays in moving effective workforce planning initiatives forward. This guide is designed to help provide greater clarity with successfully managing this crucial area of the SWP process. I will address this area in greater detail in Chapter IV. The SWP processes that I am sharing in this book are scalable to meet budgetary and human capital availability, as these resources can vary drastically between organizations. Because of the no-one-sizefits-all consensus among workforce planning practitioners, I have identified five core data profiles, 1) Accession, 2) Workforce, 3) Vacancy, 4) RetirementEligibility and 5) Attrition, that are common workforce planning themes among organizations that I

INTRODUCTION

9

recommend workforce planning practitioners analyze when developing current-state analysis and framing the end-to-end SWP process.

These core profiles are essential to highlighting current-state (supply) workforce demographics that alert executive and senior leaders of, “Who has come into the organization?” “Who is currently in the organization?” What positions need to be filled?”

“Who is eligible to retire now or within one year?” and, “Who has left the organization?” I will also address these areas in greater detail in Chapter IV. I also recommend five additional data profiles (Performance Management, Employee Engagement, Exit Survey, Equal Employment Opportunity Complaint [EEOC] Pay-Outs and Space Utilization) to consider for those organizations that possess the human capital bandwidth to take a deeper dive of providing a 360degree perspective of their current-state workforce.

The identification of these core profiles, along with data collection, data cleanup and organization of data, will provide a solid foundation for each stage of analysis (Supply, Demand and Gap). Each analysis serves as essential building blocks for development of

10

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

organizational succession and action plans as well as monitoring and evaluation processes.

Any one of these profiles can stand alone and present compelling business cases that may impact an organization; but when combining two or more of these profiles, the correlations among them become even more persuasive to identifying organizational strengths, weakness, opportunities, and trends.

This book is written to aid workforce planning stakeholders in the federal government with bridging those knowledge gaps in providing an end-to-end workforce planning process within their organizations.

The workforce planning processes shared in this guide were birthed from years of broad-based experiences to include trial and error that manifested into teachable moments. These lessons learned helped me design a flexible workforce planning model that can be easily tailored to any organization once the basic concepts are clearly understood and accurately applied.

CHAPTER I STRATEGIC PLANNING

“If anything is certain, it is change is certain. The world we are planning for today will not exist in this form tomorrow.”

PHILIP CROSBY Businessman and Author, Management Theory and Quality Management Practices

The Importance of Having a Strategic Plan Strategic Planning is essential to the long-term sustainability of an organization. This planning process outlines both current and future direction of the organization with measurable goals and objectives.

Implementing the Strategic, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) objective model is crucial to ensuring a process map exists for conducting daily business decisions as well as laying the framework for 11

12

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

managing future changes to business operations that impact organizational accomplishments for achieving mission success.

The strategic planning process must be an inclusive process; one that is pervasive across the organization that includes managers and employees at all levels. It is especially essential that each employee clearly understands the linkage between the functions and activities he or she performs and how it correlates with mission accomplishments.

Organizational mission influences the strategic planning process as it creates and refines the impetus for linking management and employee performance with executive leadership vision and direction.

Organizational leaders must ensure that the mission statement is not too broad where employees have a challenging time discerning how to make a connection to an actionable outcome.

For strategic planning to be highly effective, the process must be expressed in measurable goals. These goals must ensure the delivery of objectives that are deeply rooted in quantities and timeliness. Doing so fosters a work environment devoid of ambiguity and

STRATEGIC PLANNING

13

confusion, allowing managers and employees to evaluate processes at the pace at which they occur.

Evaluation of the process must be integrated within the process mapping that is associated with specific periods of monitoring. This process allows for greater response time to address business issues and changes as they occur as well as chart successes and milestones. By ensuring an evaluation mechanism exists within the strategic planning process, executive and senior leaders can help foster a working environment that is proactive rather than reactive.

No Two Strategic Plans Are Alike…

As mentioned in the introduction, strategic plans/directions can vary drastically between federal organizations and equally within an organization among functional units. Some strategic plans are robust and others are extraordinarily lean. These contrasts can cause enormous frustrations for workforce planners when attempting to establish a linkage between strategic and workforce plans. In some cases, a strategic plan/direction may be absent altogether.

14

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

So, where does one begin? I recommend starting the process with reviewing the organizational mission statement; from there, identify two or three primary goals the organization has outlined and the objectives associated with each goal.

Note: Some organizations may have more than two or three goals, but what is important is establishing linkages between strategies of the organization with workforce planning.

Executive and senior leadership engagement is one of the greatest tactical tools that strategic workforce planners can employ to accomplish workforce planning. Based upon where one resides within his or her organization, utilizing this tactic may present some challenges with gaining the appropriate level of access to organizational leadership. I can only encourage those with limited access to work with their immediate leadership to foster those high-level relationships.

For those who have unimpeded access to executive and senior leaders, I recommend conducting an internal environmental scan of the organization. These environmental scans consist of high-level demographic analyses with special emphasis on organizational

STRATEGIC PLANNING

15

mission critical occupations that can be shared with decision makers. The target goal is to help facilitate healthy dialogue that can segue to identifying those critical business issues, challenges, opportunities and successes that are priorities among organizational leaders.

This level of engagement factors in developing rapports with executive and senior leaders that help build credibility, confidence and overall buy-in with the ability to deliver value-added information that can assist with hiring the right people, at the right place, at the right time.

The recommended processes I have shared are in alignment with OPM’s Human Capital Framework that links to organizational mission, goals and objectives. As workforce planners, many of you may currently be working with your Chief Human Capital Officer with providing the analysis, planning and measurement of organizational human capital programs.

These human capital programs focus on strategic alignment and establish core standards that integrate strategic plans, performance plans and budget. These standards are accomplished through critical success

16

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

factors (e.g., Human Capital Planning, Workforce Planning, Human Capital Best Practices and Knowledge Sharing, as well as leveraging Human Resources as a Strategic Partner). Extremely important to remember, HR professionals are strategic partners who are pivotal to managing the workforce planning process from start to finish.

CHAPTER II BUDGET ALIGNMENT

“When done optimally, workforce planning is a collaborative, bottomup effort between HR, Operations and Finance.”

JOHN SCHWARTZ CEO & Co-Founder, Visier

Why Linking Budget with Organizational Strategic Plan is Important?

Workforce planning can present many challenges among executive, senior leaders and workforce planning staff. This is the area of organizational workforce planning that must be tied to a strategic plan/direction and budgetary controls. Understanding the direction an organization is headed over the next 17

18

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

three to five years can present a daunting task for executive and senior leaders. Multiple factors must be considered as related to internal and external indicators that may impact the strategic direction of an organization. Chapter V will explore this area in greater depth.

Strategic planning must be linked to the organizational budget. The absence of this linkage essentially renders the strategic planning process useless. Unlike the private sector whose strategic planning efforts are tied to organizational profitability, the federal work-sector is linked to federal appropriations as established by the U.S. Congress.

Like private-sector businesses that must answer to shareholders for organizational performance, public servants in the federal government must answer to taxpayers for services rendered. Budget activities linked to organizational performance show a direct correlation between organizational funding levels and expected results of the American people. This linkage with organizational strategic plans provide goals that should be achieved over time.

The lead-in quote to this chapter by John Schwartz reflects an important dynamic of collaborating at

BUDGET ALIGNMENT

19

multiple levels of the organization, specifically among executive and senior leaders with Finance and Human Resources (Operations and Strategic). The strategic plan outlines an organizational business case for what resources are required to meet its mission as well as how the mission will be accomplished. If strategic planning is the massive engine that drives mission accomplishment, then budget alignment is the fuel that makes it possible.

The Purpose of Budgetary Linkage in the Federal Government Within the federal government, the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 was established under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to improve the confidence of the American people in the federal government by systematically holding federal agencies accountable for achieving program results. A series of pilot tests were instituted to improve federal agencies effectiveness and public accountability by focusing on results, service quality and customer service. GPRA also created a framework that allows managers to effectively plan for meeting organizational objectives.

This important level of planning helps support better

20

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

congressional decision making by providing unbiassed information related to statutory objectives that focus on effectiveness and efficiency of federal programs and spending.

Understanding the Federal Budget Process Each year federal agencies executive and senior leaders are fiducially responsible for developing budget plans that are tied directly to organizational performance. A six-phase process (Strategic Planning, Budget Formulation, Budget Presentation, Budget Execution, Performance and Evaluating Results) is conducted to accomplish this requirement.

1. Strategic Planning – identify new initiatives as well as expand existing programs. Defines recommendations for funding priorities.

2. Budget Formulation – prepare budget estimates and justifications based on guidelines reviewed and approved by Congress, OMB and agency.

3. Budget Presentation – justify budget requests before Congress and responds to questions by appropriation subcommittee.

BUDGET ALIGNMENT

21

4. Budget Execution – develop apportionments, spending plans, allotments, allowances and obligates funds.

5. Performance – achieve through evaluation and analysis and tracks progress of outcomes.

6. Evaluating Results – provide strategic direction by measuring the cost/benefits of performance that produces the best results.

Figure 2-1 FEDERAL BUDGET PROCESS

Strategic Planning

Evaluating Results

Budget Formulation

Performance

Budget Presentation Budget Execution

22

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

The following are recommended activities for each phase of the federal budget process: STRATEGIC PLANNING PHASE • Administration goals, themes, initiatives (includes President and Secretary) • Agency-wide priorities and mission-related activities • Congressional priorities • Constituent and Partner priorities • GPRA BUDGET FORMULATION PHASE There are three stages within the budget formulation phase.

Stage 1 (April-July): • Agency budget development and submission o Prepare budget estimates and justifications o Compile information for agency review • Agency review of budget o Presentation to the Secretary’s Budget Council o Performance report card for budget

BUDGET ALIGNMENT

23

o Funding levels provided to Agency Operational/Divisions/Business Units o Appeals o Final funding levels provided for OMB submission Stage 2 (August-November): • OMB Budget Development and Submission o Compile information for OMB review • OMB Review o Presentation to OMB staff o Respond to additional questions and concerns • OMB Pass-Back o Appeal o Final funding levels provided for President’s budget Stage 3 (December-February): • Enter information into OMB MAX database • Compile, edit, revise and complete budget narrative and exhibits to prepare for presentation for Congress • President’s Budget and Congressional Justification development and submission

24

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

PRESENTATION PHASE – (February-October) Includes: • Preparation for Congressional Appropriations Hearings • Agency Director testifies before House and U.S. Senate Appropriations Committees • Respond to formal questions submitted by Subcommittee members • Congress determines funding levels for Subcommittees for next fiscal year’s budget • Agency work closely with subcommittee staff • House & Senate markup • Appropriations Bill signed by the President EXECUTION PHASE – (October-September) Includes the following activities: • Appropriation, Allotments, Allowances and Funding Source • Obligations and expenditures • Funds control • Monitoring, analyzing and projecting resource utilization • Prevention and anti-deficiency violation

BUDGET ALIGNMENT

25

PERFORMANCE PHASE • Ensure performance is tied to strategic goals of the organization • Develop performance metrics used to gauge program performance • Ensure targets exist within performance metrics are quantifiable and measure characteristics that clearly indicate how well the organization is performing • Track progress of achieving outcomes EVALUATING RESULTS • Cost/Benefit Assessment • What produces the best value?

The above budget formulation phases represent what occurs prior to agency funding distribution among operational and staff division organizations.

Appropriated funds are managed by each respective organizational financial office or center. Funds are distributed among functional units based on business needs in support of advancing the organizational mission. Based on budget authority, each financial office or center issues operational/divisions/business units a budget ceiling that identifies the funding levels for each fiscal year spending. Funding includes

26

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

discretionary, mandatory and interest. Federal agencies and their respective operational and staff divisional organizations leverage diverse types of appropriations due to obligational authority. See appropriation types below: • Annual-Year – Obligational authority expires at the end of the first year of appropriation and is canceled at the end of the fifth year after expiration • Multi-Year – Obligational authority expires at the end of the designated time-period greater than one year and is canceled at the end of the fifth year after expiration • No-Year – Are available until expended Although many of you will rarely be required to take such an in-depth approach towards the budget formulation process, I felt it was necessary to provide a high-level overview in hopes of sharing a greater understanding of the importance of aligning budget with strategic planning. Moreover, it will help heighten awareness of the essentials that expenditures must be authorized and occur within the time limits applicable to obligations and amounts appropriated by Congress.

BUDGET ALIGNMENT

27

Note: The General Accountability Office (GAO) is responsible for analyzing and auditing program expenditures to determine if the appropriation was used properly.

Relevant budget related laws and regulations: • Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 • Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 • GPRA • Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) • Anti-Deficiency Acts of 1921 and 1950

CHAPTER III KNOWING THE BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS

“Asking the right questions takes as much skills as giving the right answer.”

ROBERT HALF Founder, Robert Half International

Kicking Off the Workforce Planning Process Prior to beginning the workforce data analysis phase, I strongly recommend leaders assess the readiness of their organizations by linking workforce planning to organizational goals and objectives. This level of engagement is guided by HR workforce planning professionals to assist executive and seniorlevel stakeholders with identifying the future-state of the organization. A critical part of this initial phase is 29

30

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

developing an understanding of the organizational strategic and operational plans. The strategic plan focuses on organizational direction covering three to five years, and the operational plan addresses 12 to 18 months of how the strategic plan will be executed. HR professionals should conduct an in-depth review of both strategic and operational plans to expand their knowledge and comprehension of organizational goals and objectives.

Through analysis, many HR professionals often discover that “one size” or “one approach” does not fit every organization. Different business units and divisions may have different focus areas based on their goals and objectives. To gain a better understanding after conducting a thorough organizational review, one approach is to conduct individual high-level planning sessions with business unit and division executives. This process allows HR professionals to validate information from the review and obtain feedback from executive leaders.

The goal is to ask open-ended questions without steering the discussion based on perceptions of the organization. These questions should be compelling in nature that help guide executive and senior leaders to

KNOWING THE BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS

31

being proactive rather than reactive to managing risk that impacts talent management. This approach is designed to provide the initial platform for executive and senior leaders on how they view future talent demands compared to current talent supply. This information is vital to establishing an effective baseline for moving forward with strategic workforce planning.

Below are recommended metric areas for formulating readiness assessment questions that will help drive strategic workforce planning discussions. ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖

Demographics and Diversity Planning Employee Engagement and Satisfaction Productivity Accession Attrition Retirement Eligibility Performance Management Staffing and Recruitment Succession Planning Training and Development Costs Impacting Budget (e.g., Health & Safety, EEOC Paid Claims)

32

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Each of the 12 metric areas may consist of multiple questions so having an excellent knowledge-base of your organizations will be crucial to the workforce readiness assessment question selection process.

These questions will aid in establishing the context for identifying top organizational priorities associated with the strategic plan. The process places additional focus on specific workforce issues affecting the organizational ability to meet mission requirements and address the desired outcome of workforce planning efforts.

To aid you with developing your workforce assessment question selection, I have provided some key focal points for consideration for each metric component: Demographics and Diversity • Identify age • Identify ethnicity/race • Identify disability (targeted) • Identify veterans’ status • Identify employee category • Identify gender • Identify position status • Identify supervisory ratio

KNOWING THE BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS

33

• Identify Tenure Planning • Identify current staffing levels • Identify capability gap between current and future state • Identify internal and external hire ratio • Identify strategic positions within the organization • Identify organizational mission critical occupations • Identify the number of vacant positions within the organization Employee Engagement and Satisfaction • Obtain federal employee viewpoint survey results • Obtain exit survey results • Identify Top three reasons why employee left the organization • Identify the average time of new hires who left the organization • Identify organizational turnover Rate due to dissatisfied employees

34

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

• Conduct employee satisfaction and work culture assessments • Identify number of EEO complaints or grievances filed annually • Conduct and obtain manager 360 assessment results Productivity • Identify key drivers of productivity • Identify percentage of new Employees hired at the fully-performance level • Identify percentage of workforce performing at the fully-performance level Accession • Conduct accession trend reporting • Identify accession rate • Identify number of new hires who onboard in a Fiscal Year • Identify number of new hires in mission critical positions • Identify number of new hires by functional unit • Identify number of new hires who transferred • Identify number of new hires with excepted appointments not-to-exceed

KNOWING THE BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS

35

Attrition • Attrition trend reporting • Determine attrition rate • Percentage of internal movement among business and functional units • Identify those business or functional units that attract high performers • Identify those business or functional units that lose high performers • Identify Percentage of annual retirements • Identify the percentage of annual voluntary separations • Identify the percentage of annual involuntary terminations • Identify the percentage of annual medical separations • Identify Percentage of annual deaths • Identify the attrition rate of those in mission critical occupations • Identify costs associated with early employee separations for one to three years

36

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Retirement Eligibility • Identify those employees who can retire now • Identify those employees who can retire within one year • Identify percentage of those eligible to retire now working in strategic positions • Identify percentage of those eligible to retire now working in a mission critical occupation • Identify those who can retire now and within one year by functional unit Performance Management • Identify percentage of mission critical positions staffed with employees performing under the minimum acceptable standards • Identify functional units that have a high concentration of high performers • Identify functional units that have a low number of high performers • Identify which gender receives the highest performance rating • Identify which ethnic/race group receives the highest performance rating

KNOWING THE BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS

37

• Identify Percentage of high performers who can retire now or within one year Staffing and Recruitment • Identify available hiring flexibilities to expedite onboarding process • Identify the most difficult age-generation category to hire within the organization • Identify those positions that are the most challenging to fill • Compare the current workforce composition against civilian labor force (CLF) stats • Determine the number of new-hire employees who separated from the organization within the first six months • Identify the percentage of mission critical occupations that are vacant • Identify the percentage of unused certificates • Determine the diversity mix or recruitment pipeline • Identify costs associated with recruitment activities • Identify the percentage of first-choice candidates who accept job offer

38

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

• Identify the percentage of job offers accepted • Identify organizational bench-strength for those difficult-to-fill positions Succession Planning • Identify the pipeline to back-fill strategic and mission critical occupations • Determine if one-off positions (those positions without a successor) exist within the organization • Determine the percentage of positions that have a pipeline for a successor • Determine the quality of successor pipeline • Determine if existing workforce possesses the skills and competencies for the workforce of tomorrow • Identify job-shadowing opportunities for difficult-to-fill positions • Determine if a pathway exists for transition from lower- to higher-grade positions Training and Development • Identify skills and competencies for mission critical occupations

KNOWING THE BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS

39

• Identify modern technologies and managerial skills for the next two to three years • Identify the ROI for training related to performance • Identify those underperforming managers and employees whose performance improved due to training • Identify the percentage of workforce that indicates its training needs are not met • Identify training pipeline for succession planning • Determine the percentage of employees with individual performance plans approved by management Costs Impacting Budgets • Identify external factors that may have an immediate impact on budget (e.g., changes in appropriation funding, etc.)

• Identify costs of employment-related injuries (loss productivity and financial resources) • Identify costs of short- and long-term disability absences and claims • Identify costs associated with EEOC claims

40

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

• Identify operational costs of paid-not-worked compensation • Determine costs associated with advancing new strategies, initiatives, etc.

These key focal points are not intended to be an exclusive representation of the workforce planning assessment question process. Multiple variables and organizational dynamics will influence this process and, done correctly, will promote both a top-down and bottom-up approach to meeting future demands of the organization.

CHAPTER IV DATA INTEGRITY

“Data! Data! Data! I can’t make bricks without clay!”

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Author, Sherlock Holmes

The Basic Building Blocks of Effective Analytics Clean data drives the workforce planning (WFP) analysis process. Executive and senior leaders rely heavily on the information presented by workforce planning analysts because it influences business decisions for effective optimization in achieving organizational results. Big data can be overwhelming and intimidating to manage, especially when multiple systems used to develop WFP products are not integrated. Determining what data elements are 41

42

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

important can be equally as challenging particularly in the absence of a baseline framework to operate. I strongly encourage workforce planners to become intimately knowledgeable of the systems from which data is retrieved. Specifically, understanding how naming conventions are captured that drive query tables for sorting data. This is a behind-the-scenes process that many system end users will not be familiar with, but is necessary in understanding data anomalies as they occur.

A routine issue that I have encountered over the years stems from how data is initially collected and entered within a workforce management system.

Often, coordinators and administrators who enter data into these systems do so through a freeform data entry process, rather than using drop-down menu features. The use of freeform data entry introduces typographical errors that can permeate throughout the system and go undetected until someone attempts to conduct an analysis. This issue is compounded exponentially based on the number of individuals performing data entry functions, the number of data elements being entered and the population size that is captured within the system. See Table 4-1.

DATA INTEGRITY

43

Table 4-1 Unclean Data OCCUPATIONAL SERIES

COUNT

Miscellaneous Administration and Program- (0301)

231

Miscellaneous administration and program- (0301)

228

MISCELLANEOUS ADMINISTRATION AND PROGRAM - (301)

187

Miscellaneous Administration and Program

135

miscellaneous administration and program

115

MISCELLANEOUS ADMINISTRATION AND PROGRAM

104

TOTAL

1,000

Table 4-1.1 Clean Data OCCUPATIONAL SERIES

COUNT

MISCELLANEOUS ADMINISTRATION AND PROGRAM - (0301)

1,000

TOTAL

1,000

The example in Table 4-1 illustrates how data may be captured in a system when freeform data entry is allowed. The example depicts how data of an organization with 1,000 staff working in job series 301Miscellaneous Administration and Program positions

44

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

may appear when workforce data is extracted and analyzed by workforce analysts.

Table 4-1 shows six variations of the 301occupational series. The workforce analyst conducting the analysis would need to have prior knowledge of how this data would be displayed to correctly apply the appropriate manual filtering function in Excel to obtain the accurate number of employees occupying this series. Table 4-1.1 represents how clean data for the above example should be displayed.

Depending on the size of an organization, the total number of occupational series can range upwards of 100 to 300 or more. Using Table 4-1 as an example, the top populated occupational series may each have multiple data entries resulting in an expanded data-set that would require massive data cleanup prior to reporting data results.

As illustrated in the example, there is no real substitution for clean data. Remember, accuracy of the data matters; the end analysis product will only be as good and as useful as the data that was used to develop the report. The time it will take to validate and

DATA INTEGRITY

45

cleanse the data will prove beneficial to the overall workforce analysis process.

Selecting the Right Data is Essential Knowing what data elements to select for workforce planning reporting is critical to the development of analysis that will address those business issues that are crucial to advancing the organizational mission. There are multiple variations of data profiles that can assist workforce planning analysts with presenting compelling analytical pictures that will help drive business decisions of executive and senior leaders. Although the analysis of a stand-alone data element can be compelling, the workforce picture comes into greater focus when combined with other data elements. To simplify this process, I subscribe to asking five essential questions that highlight five core data profiles: 1. Who has come into the organization?

(Accession Profile) 2. Who do we currently have onboard?

(Workforce Profile) 3. Which Vacant Positions Need to be Filled?

(Vacancy Profile)

46

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

4. Who is eligible to retire now or within one year? (Retirement Eligibility Profile) 5. Who has left the organization? (Attrition Profile) These questions and data profiles are not exclusive to the overall workforce planning process, but serve as a foundation from which strategic workforce planning can begin.

Accession Profile: Involves workforce analysis that reviews nature-of-action codes, specifically 100 series, that contributed to an increase within the workforce population, and help identify “Who came into the organization?” See Table 4-2.

Conducting a trend analysis on those employees hired over the past three or four fiscal years can illustrate patterns that may indicate both internal and external factors impacting the size and quality of workforce that onboarded over the period of time being observed. I have included some of the most commonly used nature-of-action codes for analyzing accession profiles. See Table 4-2.

DATA INTEGRITY

47

Table 4-2 Accession Nature of Action Code NATURE OF ACTION CODE 100-CAREER APPOINTMENT 101-CAREER-CONDITIONAL APPOINTMENT 108-TERMPORARY APPOINTMENT NOT-TO-EXCEED 115-APPOINTMENT NOT-TO-EXCEED 130-TRANSFER 140-REINSTATED-CAREER 141-REINSTATED-CAREER-CONDITIONAL 142-SES CAREER APPOINTMENT 145-TRANSFER SES CAREER 170-EXCEPTED APPOINTMENT 171-EXCEPTED APPOINTMENT NOT-TO-EXCEED

As mentioned previously, combining a mixture of data elements can aid workforce planners with presenting a powerful message to executive and senior leaders in guiding business decisions. I recommend centering workforce profiles around organizational mission critical occupations as these positions often account for 60% or greater of the overall workforce population. When analyzing accession data, consider combining functional organizational information with 100 series nature-of-action codes to identify how and where employees are onboarding into your agency.

48

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Workforce Profile: This profile examines the organization from three perspectives: 1) Total Workforce; 2) Onboard Workforce and 3) Mission Critical Occupation Workforce. This combination of data profiles helps to answer the question “Who do we currently have onboard?”

Total Workforce Profile: Include full-time equivalents (FTEs) consisting of full- and part-time employees as well as non-employee-contractors. The use of demographical and diversity data elements (e.g., organization, pay plan, grade, occupational series, employee type, ethnicity/race, gender, etc.) are used to analyze the total workforce. In some instances, workforce analysts may have limited demographical and diversity information related to non-employee contractors as some workforce management systems are not equipped to manage this data. In the event of limited non-employee contractor data, I recommend focusing the analysis on identifying those contractors working in mission critical positions.

Onboard Workforce Profile: This profile follows the same data element methodology as the total workforce profile except for the exclusion of nonemployee contractor workforce. Similarly, onboard

DATA INTEGRITY

49

workforce profile leverages multiple data elements to provide a comprehensive pictorial view if the organizational current-state. Pairing organizational and position status data enables analysts to display how employees are disbursed across the agency. Pay plan and grade is another excellent combination to represent data to highlight those employees who are heavily and under-represented in pay and grade categories. Although graphs, charts and tables can provide an esthetically pleasing presentation, I caution workforce planners against overwhelming executives and senior leaders with an overabundance of data pictorial profiles. Instead, I recommend integrating dashboard icons that instantly attract the viewing audience to relevant information at an important level. I will address in greater detail on data visualization in Chapter V. Mission Critical Occupation Workforce Profile: This level of analysis is extremely crucial to the overall workforce planning process as it is the linchpin that connects all other profiles into a comprehensive view.

As with the other two workforce profiles, this level of analysis is combined with those demographical and diversity data elements for drawing greater focus to

50

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

mission critical profiles relevant to advancing the organizational mission.

As mentioned in the introduction, there are different viewpoints among some leaders and workforce planning professionals of what determines a mission critical occupation. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) defines mission critical occupations (MCOs) as, “Those occupations, agencies consider core to carrying out their missions. Such occupations usually reflect the primary mission of the organization without which mission critical work cannot be completed.” OPMs definition of MCOs provides a clear rationale for why workforce planning must be linked to strategic planning in support of the organizational mission. By focusing on occupational series that reflect the primary mission of the organization, WFP stakeholders ensure core business functions can continue uninterrupted.

Ideally, a simple method to determine those highpriority job series is to filter data-sets by occupational series in descending order to identify those most populated job series. Typically, the top 10 populated occupational series will include both mission critical and mission essential job series. In some instances,

DATA INTEGRITY

51

decision makers may have a challenging time discerning support positions from MCOs. Mission Essential Occupations (MEOs) is a term I refer to identify those occupational series that are essential to supporting MCOs. Remember, your organizational mission will ultimately determine those occupational positions that are responsible for advancing the organization forward.

Equally important, the total workforce profile is where I recommend workforce planners first consider using workforce segmentation principles. Workforce segmentation isolates the workforce into four priority areas; 1. Strategic Positions, 2. Mission Critical Occupations, 3. Mission Essential Occupations and 4.

Nonessential Positions. Since much of the WFP decision making will be driven by budget, knowing where to deploy resources becomes extremely critical when determining workforce priorities.

I will briefly describe the workforce segmentation process. These workforce priorities aid organizational decision makers in determining where to deploy funding resources for those positions critical to accomplishing the mission.

52

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

1. Strategic Positions are those positions responsible for establishing the strategic direction of the organization. Typically, these are executive- and senior-level positions and account for approximately 10% of the workforce.

2. Mission Critical Occupations are those occupational positions that are core to carrying out the primary mission of the organization and account for approximately 60% and higher of the workforce.

3. Mission Essential Occupations are those positions that serve in a supportive capacity to advancing the organizational mission and account for approximately 20-25% of the workforce.

4. Non Essential Positions are those positions that are misaligned with the organizational mission and often account for approximately 5% of the workforce. Note: Leaders should decide to repurpose or abolish Non-Essential Positions.

DATA INTEGRITY

53

Moreover, I want to address another area of focus that is also critical for decision makers and workforce planning professionals to consider as related to oneoff positions. These are positions that are occupied by individuals who are the only ones who can perform the job and no succession planning has occurred. Upon vacating these positions without a successor, an immediate stopgap in business operations is likely to occur due to the loss of institutional knowledge and subject matter expertise. Organizations with marginal workforce planning bandwidth are potentially at higher risk of this occurrence than those organizations with a more robust WFP footprint.

Vacancy Profile: This profile is the heart and soul of the workforce plan as it focuses on position openings that may be critical to the organization meeting mission objectives and answers the question of, “What Positions Need to be Filled?”

Within this area of workforce planning, having an enterprise-wide based position management system is imperative. As stated in the introduction, not all organizations are created equally. With that being stated, do not be alarmed if your organization is currently using an Excel spreadsheet to capture and

54

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

manage vacant positions. The important thing is to ensure that there is a process for consolidating vacant positions into a uniformed format for conducting data analysis. However, the combination of MCOs paired with vacancy categories listed in Table 4-3 will aid decision makers in identifying those vacant positions critical to meeting the mission of the organization.

DATA INTEGRITY

55

Table 4-3 Vacancy Profile Categories VACANCY CATEGORY ADMIN CODE OFFICE DESCRIPTION POSITION ID PAY PLAN

GRADE OCCUPATIONAL SERIES OCCUPATIONAL DESCRIPTION

CATEGORY DESCRIPTION COMBINATION OF ALPHANUMERIC AND NUMERIC CODES THAT IDENTIFY AN ORGANIZATION DESCRIPTION OF OFFICE ASSOCIATED WITH ADMIN CODE NUMERIC IDENTIFIER ASSIGNED TO A POSITION TWO-DIGIT ALPHA NUMERIC IDENTIFIER ASSIGNED TO A FEDERAL PAYMENT TYPE TWO-DIGIT NUMERIC IDENTIFIER ASSOCIATED WITH A PAY PLAN FOUR-DIGIT IDENTIFIER ASSIGNED TO A FEDERAL OCCUPATIONAL POSITION DESCRIPTION OF AN OCCUPATIONAL SERIES

EXAMPLE

NABC12 OFFICE OF HEALTH SCIENCE 12345 GS

13

0401 GENERAL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Note: Table 4-3 is not intended to be all inclusive to the vacancy analysis process and may vary among different agencies throughout the federal government due to naming-convention protocols.

The seven vacancy categories listed in Table 4-3 represent the minimum recommended data fields that may be required to conduct a vacancy analysis of an

56

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

organization. It is important to remember that vacancies identified in the analysis should consist of funded and approved vacant positions against the organizational FTE budget ceiling.

As mentioned in Chapter II, each organization is provided an FTE budget ceiling from its respective finance office. The budget ceiling provides the numbers of FTEs approved for the organization. I recommend securing verification of organizational FTE budget ceiling to vet against the workforce plan for position allowance integrity. As a basic rule, workforce planners can validate total FTE budget ceiling counts by adding the total number of FTEs onboard plus the number of vacant and approved positions (e.g., Onboard FTEs + Funded & Approved Vacancy Total).

The total of the two should equal the total FTE budget ceiling authorized by the local finance office. Please note, in some instances, not all vacant positions receive funding approval for a multitude reasons. If this occurs, be sure to account for unfunded vacancies and adjust for total FTE budget ceiling count by adding the unfunded total to the onboard and funded vacant position count (e.g., Onboard FTEs + Funded &

DATA INTEGRITY

57

Approved Vacancy Total + Unfunded & Approved Vacancy Total.)

Retirement Eligibility Profile: This profile focuses on data elements that highlight retirement eligibility statuses that factor employee’s age and number of years of creditable service; it answers the question, “Who can leave the organization now or within the one year?”

Below, I have included some of the most populated retirement eligibility status categories that you might encounter when conducting a workforce analysis. See Table 4-4.

Table 4-4 Retirement Eligibility Status RETIREMENT ELIGIBILITY-STATUS ELIGIBLE NOW ELIGIBLE WITHIN 12 MONTHS ELIGIBLE 13 - 36 MONTHS ELIGIBLE 37 - 60 MONTHS ELIGIBLE AFTER 60 MONTHS NOT ELIGIBLE

58

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Like other data profiles referenced in this chapter, a broad mix of demographical and diversity elements can be used to represent this data. The retirement eligibility profile is essential to the SWP process as it allows workforce planning stakeholders to determine which critical positions may become vacant in the future. In addition to retirement eligibility status profiles, there are multiple retirement plan codes that may be associated with an organization depending upon size. I highly recommend every workforce planning professional possess a copy of OPM’s Operating Manual “The Guide to Data Standards” (Part A; Human Resources). These data standards provide data codes and definitions that are designed to avoid duplication and incompatibility in the collection, processing and dissemination of data. Personally, this is my go-to resource tool when validating data; specifically, when data-sets display codes without descriptions. See Table 4-5 for several codes and descriptions that you may discover when analyzing retirement eligibility data.

DATA INTEGRITY

59

Table 4-5 Retirement Plan Codes and Descriptions RETIREMENT PLAN CODE K, KF, KR

CODE DESCRIPTION FERS & SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS

1

CSRS ONLY

C

CSRS & SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS

2

SOCIAL SECURITY ONLY

4

NONE

When combined with mission critical occupations the retirement eligibility profile can serve as a blueprint for executive and senior leaders with identifying potential succession planning strategies that will be pivotal during the demand planning phase.

Attrition Profile: This profile is the inverse of the accession profile as it focuses on, “Who left the organization?” rather than who came onboard.

Analysis of this profile addresses the 300-series nature-of-action codes that identify reductions or decreases within the workforce. Table 4-6 illustrates some of the most populated types of nature-of-action codes you may encounter when analyzing attrition profiles. Remember, the type of nature-of-action code

60

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

displayed will vary from organization to organization due to size and dynamics impacting each organization.

For additional details, reference OPM’s Operating Manual “The Guide to Data Standards” (Part A; Human Resources).

Table 4-6 NATURE OF ACTION CODES 301-RETIREMENT-DISABILITY 302-RETIREMENT-VOLUNTARY 317-RESIGNATION 330-REMOVAL 350-DEATH 352-TERMINATION-APPOINTMENT IN 353-SEPARATION-US 355-TERMINATION-EXPIRATION OF APPOINTMENT 357-TERMINATION 385-TERM. DURING PROBATION/TRIAL PERIOD

Attrition Nature-of-Action Codes Comparable to the accession profile, performing a trend analysis of attrition data will provide great insight into patterns of increases or decreases in yearover-year comparison analysis, as well as highlight those trends among mission critical positions and functional units.

DATA INTEGRITY

61

Depending on the type of nature-of-action code of attrition, workforce planning stakeholders should be encouraged to explore in greater depths why certain elevated employee separations occur. Depending on your organizational staffing limitations, and whenever possible, review employee engagement evaluations (e.g., the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey [FEVS], performance ratings, and exit survey data) to establish linkages between significant levels of separation occurrences in the organization. The information gained from this discovery analysis process will also prove to be essential to the demand planning phase.

The OPM Workforce Planning Model This workforce planning methodology is essential to the federal SWP process as it provides a starting point for developing the framework for supporting an endto-end workforce planning model. Diagram 4-7 illustrates OPM’s five-step workforce planning model, 1. Set Strategic Direction, 2. Analyze Workforce, Identify Skill Gaps, and Conduct Workforce Analysis, 3.

Develop Action Plan, 4. Implement Action Plan, 5.

Monitor, Evaluate and Revise. See Diagram 4-7.

62

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Diagram 4-7 OPM’s Workforce Planning Model

This guide is in alignment with OPM’s workforce planning model methodology. It is designed to serve as a resource tool to workforce planning practitioners by promoting linkage of the workforce planning process with your agency’s strategic plan, business plan, budget considerations and other work activities essential to achieving organizational goals and objectives. Chapters V through X will address each of the recommended WFP action-steps to ensure that a strategic workforce planning framework exists in your organization that support both short- and long-term talent management strategies.

CHAPTER V CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”

GENERAL, GEORGE S. PATTON

Understanding the Current Workforce Composition By this point in the workforce planning process, you should have a clear understanding of the business requirements based on the organizational assessment and have completed the data validation process.

Chapter IV outlined the five recommended data profiles: 1) Accession, 2) Workforce, 3) Vacancy, 4) Retirement Eligibility and 5) Attrition for conducting the current-state analysis process. These profiles will aid executive and senior leaders with knowing their 63

64

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

workforce composition, how the current workforce is deployed across the organization and the effectiveness of meeting current and future business demands.

Developing the Current-State Analysis Process It is important to begin development of the workforce current-state analysis with the executive summary as it serves as a high-level overview that highlights the organizational name and key personnel.

It also provides additional information about the organizational background, mission, vision and value, as well as FTE budget ceilings and fiscal-year budget.

Typically, this information can be found within both intranet and internet site locations. Moreover, the executive summary should also include a statement addressing the importance of strategic workforce planning to ensure the organization has a ready and capable workforce to advance current and future mission requirements.

Remember, workforce planning is linked directly to an organizational strategic plan/direction and budget.

The executive summary will serve as the linchpin to bridging workforce analysis designed to advance the mission of the organization. Below I have provided an

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

65

example of a mission statement and strategic direction representing a public health organization.

Mission Statement Example: ABC-PH’s mission is to identify and catalog living mechanisms, develop cures to diminish and eliminate public health threats for health advancement and extension of life.

Strategic Direction Example: • To identify causes and diagnose the prevention of human diseases globally.

• To detect, catalogue, respond and eradicate emerging health threats globally.

These two examples are interrelated and will drive how decision-makers will deploy resources to meet their organizational missions. Other examples throughout this book will refer to these examples to show the linkages with business connectivity in analyzing the composition of a workforce.

66

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Who Do We Have Onboard?

The workforce profile, as covered in Chapter IV, is designed to provide a complete overview of an organizational workforce composition outlined in three workforce viewpoints (1. Total Workforce; 2.

Onboard Workforce and 3. Mission Critical Occupation Workforce).

The total workforce profile identifies multiple types of position status (e.g., Permanent Full- and Part-Time and Non-Employee-Contractors. Depending on the organization, there may be other position-status categories (e.g., temporary, seasonal employees, etc.) to consider for analysis. I recommend the use of a variety of data-pictorials (charts, graphs and tables) for optimum data visualization to attract organizational leaders’ attention when displaying data. Table 5-1 is an example how to draw focus to key data profiles.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

67

Table 5-1 Total Workforce Utilization FTE BUDGET CEILING

NON-EMPLOYEE CONTRACTOR

STAFF ONBOARD

FUNDED VACANCIES

UNFUNDED VACANCIES

15,745

305

14,224

1,167

354

90.34%

7.41%

2.25%

% TOTAL

Table 5-1 provides an illustration of total workforce data that focuses on how well an organization is operating against its FTE budget ceiling.

At a glance, organizational leaders can easily identify the capacity level the organization is functioning. The data can also help drive other analysis in terms of attrition, recruitment and retention efforts of the organization as well as the total workforce population by employee and non-employee types. This level of analysis is extremely crucial when combined with mission critical occupation data. The example in Chart 5-1.1 shows the total workforce number (N = 14,529 Staff Onboard + Non-Employee Contractor) count.

68

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Chart 5-1.1 Total Workforce 2%

EMPLOYEE NON-EMPLOYEE

98%

N=14,529

Some of the leaders that I have supported throughout the years have asked, “Why is it important to represent non-employee-contractor data?” Here’s the rationale, although the percentage that typically account for non-employee-contractors is extremely low, the number of contractor personnel occupying mission critical positions is important to consider when gauging how the organizational mission is being met for both short- and long-term planning. An important

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

69

fact to remember is that the workforce plan also serves as a crucial business tool that allows organizational leaders to present their business case in support of budgetary decisions related to talent management.

Equally important, as shown in Table 5-1, is the FTE Budget Ceiling Utilization Rate. The rate is simply computed by dividing the FTE budget ceiling by the number of onboard staff positions. Using the Table 51 example, the organization is operating slightly above 90% of its FTE budget ceiling. The total vacancy rate is approximately 10%, consisting of funded and unfunded vacant positions. As mentioned in Chapter IV, some positions will go unfunded due to a variety of reasons as business priorities can shift throughout organizations.

Another strongly recommended total workforce visual display is combining organization, admin-code and position status data to highlight where current workforce is deployed. See Table 5-1.2.

70

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Table 5-1.2 Total Workforce

by Organization and Position Status ORGANIZATION

ADMINCODE

PERMANENT

NON-EMPLOYEE CONTRACTOR

COUNT

% TOTAL

ABCD

12345

4,788

102

4,890

33.66%

BABC

22345

3,564

69

3,633

25.01%

CABC

32345

2,645

57

2,702

18.60%

DABC

42345

1,809

46

1,855

12.77%

EABC

52345

1,418

31

1,449

9.97%

TOTAL

14,224

305

14,529

100.00%

% TOTAL

97.90%

2.10%

100.00%

Analyzing occupational series by position status can aid workforce planning stakeholders with identifying which occupational series is populated among the workforce. I recommend analyzing the top 10 occupational series as the total number of populated occupational series can reach more than 100. Generally, reviewing the top 10 occupational series will encompass those mission critical occupations essentials to meeting mission objectives.

See Table 5-1.3.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

71

Table 5-1.3 Top 10 Occupational Series by Position Status TOP 10 OCCUPATIONAL SERIES BY POSITION STATUS NON-EMPLOYEE OCCUPATIONAL SERIES EMPLOYEEE CONTRACTOR *0601-GENERAL HEALTH 3,548 87 SCIENCE *0685-PUBLIC HEALTH 3,354 57 PROGRAM SPECIALIST 1,920 17 *0602-MEDICAL OFFICER 2210-INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST/INFO SEC 0301-MISCELLANEOUS ADMINISTRATION AND PROGRAM *0403-MICROBIOLOGY 0343-MANAGEMENT AND PROGRAM ANALYSIS 1001-GENERAL ARTS AND INFORMATION *0401-GENERAL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE 1530-STATISTICIAN TOTAL % of EMPLOYEE CATEGORY

COUNT 3,635 3,411 1,937

587

7

594

534

8

542

489

4

493

487

8

495

534

18

552

434

8

442

389

5

394

12,276

219

12,495

86.30%

71.80%

86.00%

In the example provided in Table 5-1.3 the occupational series denoted with an asterisk indicate mission critical occupations. This table shows 86% of the current workforce population, and nearly 72% of non-employee-contractors who occupy a top 10

72

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

occupational position. More importantly, 173 out of 305 non-employee-contractors occupy mission critical positions. This represents 57% of the non-employeecontractor workforce. Developing a data-view shown in Table 5-1.3 can be beneficial among organizational decision makers when determining how and where to deploy resources.

As illustrated in the examples, multiple variations and combinations can be displayed to represent a total workforce data profile. I caution workforce planning professionals against attempting to include too many data-views in the total workforce profile. Strive to keep this profile at an elevated level as contractor data may be limited and may present an issue with comparing against current onboard workforce data.

Another viewpoint within the current workforce profile is the onboard workforce. This data-view provides an overview of the current employee workforce minus non-employee-contractor data and serves as a focal point of the current-state-analysis process. Onboard workforce analysis allows workforce planning professionals to examine the organization in greater detail and build data themes that will provide a supporting platform for other data-profiles.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

73

As a priority rule, address data elements that place emphasis on strategic positions held by executive and senior leaders. Remember, these positions drive the strategic direction of the organization and are critical to long-term success and sustainability. Consider combining multiple demographical and diversity elements (e.g., Pay Plan, Grade, Organization, Gender, Age, Ethnicity/Race, Disability, Veterans’ status, Education, etc.). Chances are, there will be greater data fields to select from within this data-view, and provide a more expansive data analysis approach that can be taken regarding demographical and diversity data elements.

Additionally, to reduce the number of tables, graphs and charts in the workforce plan, I recommend the use of dashboard icons to display those frequently viewed data elements. This approach will help eliminate numerous pages of analysis content and allow decision makers the ability to focus on organizational priority areas. See Figure 5-1.4.

74

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Figure 5-1.4 Workforce Dashboard

Y

62%

45%

8%

87%

Female

Minorities

Millennials

Bachelor’s or Higher

The above dashboard allows workforce planning professionals to streamline data that focuses on those important business characteristics desired in a diverse workforce. Workforce analysts can use enormous creativity when developing the workforce dashboard profiles. Note: Some organizations struggle with data accuracy of the elements pictured in Figure 5-1.4 due to self-reporting of demographical and diversity data.

Reporting education-level data is an example of a data reliability issue that often becomes contested among workforce planning stakeholders as the data is rarely updated to reflect the most current educational disposition of the workforce. Some organizations elect not to include the data for reporting purposes. I do not

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

75

subscribe to this business paradigm as the data provides an approximation of the current workforce composition and is relevant to the workforce reporting process.

A proposed solution involves conducting workforce assessments to update demographical and diversity data elements. This process can be conducted annually by working closely with your corporate level Human Resources Office and designating analysts at the business and functional unit levels to monitor the process. Since the request of employee information is voluntary, span of control becomes limited among workforce analysts and organizational leaders. It is important to remember that strategic workforce planning is not intended to be an exact science, but serves as a barometer from which workforce patterns and trends are assessed for future planning of organizational talent management priorities.

Analyzing the workforce by mission critical occupation is the third and final assessment viewpoint within the workforce profile for gauging how well an organization is performing in meeting mission objectives. Unlike the previous two workforce profiles (total and onboard workforce), Mission critical

76

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

occupation profile only focuses on those critical positions that are truly essential to advancing the organizational mission. An organization may have populated occupational series greater than 100 that can add considerable man-hours and other resources when developing a comprehensive workforce plan. In most instances, mission critical positions will account for roughly 60% or greater of the workforce and fall in a range of 1-10 occupational series depending on the size of the organization. The recommended approach is to focus more attention on those critical positions to ensure that the organization can recruit and retain the right people, at the right place, and at the right time.

When examining the data in Table 5-1.3, you will notice five occupational series (401 - Biological Science, 403 - Microbiology, 601 - General Health Science, 602 - Medical Officer and 685 - Public Health Programs Specialist) were identified as mission critical occupations. Based on the examples provided in the executive summary segment discussed earlier in this chapter, these five-occupational series show a direct correlation to the organizational mission and strategic objectives and represent nearly 69% of the onboard workforce population (N=14,224). See Table 5-2.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

77

Table 5-2 Mission critical occupations OCCUPATIONAL SERIES

EMPLOYEEES

% TOTAL

*0601-General Health Science

3,548

24.94%

*0685-Public Health Program Specialist

3,354

23.58%

*0602-Medical Officer

1,920

13.50%

*0403-Microbiology

489

3.44%

*0401-General Biological Science

434

3.05%

9,745

68.51%

TOTAL

The mission critical occupation data-view provides the greatest impact highlighting alignment of the organizational strategic direction and employee talent management. Countless combinations of data elements can be featured to fully examine the current workforce composition. Like the onboard workforce data-view, leveraging dashboard icons will help place focus on those key demographical and diversity data elements that serve as primary drivers to ensuring a mission-ready workforce. An example of how to display mission critical positions is provided in Table 52.1.

78

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Table 5-2.1 Mission critical occupation by Organization MISSION CRITICAL OCCUPATION

ABCD

BABC

CABC

DABC

EABC

COUNT

% TOTAL

1298

845

564

487

354

3548

25%

984

453

332

1130

455

3354

24%

862

156

245

456

201

1920

13%

233

74

65

117

0

489

3%

189

47

123

75

0

434

3%

TOTAL

3,566

1,575

1,329

2,265

1,010

9,745

69%

% TOTAL

25%

11%

9%

16%

7%

69%

*0601-General Health Science *0685-Public Health Program Specialist *0602-Medical Officer *0403Microbiology *0401-General Biological Science

Mission critical occupation data shown in Table 52.1 provides an overview on the distribution of MCOs among organizational business units. The data provided in the example indicates business unit ABCD should be viewed as a focal area of interest as it represents 25% of all MCOs within the ABC-PH Agency.

Comparably, business unit EABC is represented as being least aligned with the agency’s strategic objectives, reflecting only 7% of mission critical positions assigned to the organization.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

79

Upon further observation of each organization by population size and percent total of mission critical positions, the workforce landscape comes into greater focus in terms of strategic and budget alignment. The five business units listed in the example will each have their own strategic direction, budget and mission that is directly connected with the strategic direction and mission of the ABC-PH Agency. This establishes a relationship to how funds are allocated among each business unit. These relationships drive business decisions as organizational priorities fluctuate.

Essentially, each business unit will have its own set of mission critical occupations in accordance with their respective strategic plan/direction. Leaders within the business units are responsible for the development of separate workforce plans that link to the corporate level. Workforce planning professionals must have a clear understanding of how each business unit is interrelated with the corporate strategic direction.

Doing so, enable leaders to successfully establish linkages between strategic planning and management of the employee life-cycle when developing an enterprise-wide workforce plan.

80

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Who Came into the Organization?

The accession profile provides a crucial aspect to workforce planning stakeholders. This is accomplished by determining who came into the organization and how employees are onboarded in relation to the type of hiring authority under which they were hired.

Accession profile reflects leadership investment to ensuring organizational mission success. Done correctly, the demand planning that is responsible for recruiting and hiring future talent ensures employees who onboard today possess the knowledge, skills and abilities of the workforce of tomorrow. This content will be addressed in greater detail in Chapter VI. Accession assessments can provide reliable data analysis through trend and year-over-year comparison analysis. It is important to remember, not all data systems are created equally. Availability of historical data content will vary by organization due to various data limitations of enterprise workforce-planning systems. With that said, strive to report trend data that covers three to four fiscal years to include an organizational average. See example in Charts 5-3 and Table 5-3.1.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

81

Chart 5-3 Accession Trend Chart 14,224 8.30% 13,926 13,811 5.73% 13,591 3.49%

FY2013

FY2014

FY2015

Population

10.00% 9.00% 8.00% 13,888 7.00% 6.62%6.00% 5.00% 4.00% 3.00% 2.00% 1.00% 0.00% AVG

8.83%

FY2016

ACCESSION RATE

WORKFORCE POPULATION

ACCESSION TREND 14,300 14,200 14,100 14,000 13,900 13,800 13,700 13,600 13,500 13,400 13,300 13,200

Accession Rate

Chart 5-3 highlights trends of those employees who have come aboard the organization over the past four fiscal years. At a glance, the chart shows a drop in new hires for FY-2014. Understanding historical events that have impacted the organization over time can prove to be of added benefit when analyzing data. This level of knowledge helps answer questions related to internal and external factors that can affect operational outcomes, such as, “Did a reorganization take place?” or “Were there reductions in funding or a federal hiring freeze instituted?”

82

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Table 5-3.1 Accession Trend Table DESCRIPTION

FY2013

FY2014

FY2015

FY2016

AVG

Population

13,926

13,591

13,811

14,224

13,888

Accession

798

474

1147

1256

919

5.73%

3.49%

8.30%

8.83%

6.62%

Accession Rate

Table 5-3.1 represent a different data-view of displaying accession data. This field of view includes the number of employees hired for a specific fiscal year. Using the data in Table 5-3.1, workforce planning stakeholders may consider excluding FY-2014 accession data from forecasting as the data could represent an exception to onboarding new hires rather than the rule. This is an excellent example of the importance of knowing the business environment and executing organizational background research.

Be sure to analyze accession profiles from both a macro perspective observing the organization at the corporate level in relation to nature-of-action codes and a micro approach regarding MCOs. Assessing the 100-series nature-of-action codes will drive analysis of accession data. See Table 5-4.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

83

Table 5-4 Accession by Nature-of-Action and Fiscal Year FY2013

FY2014

FY2015

FY2016

COUNT

34

12

22

14

82

145

88

67

54

354

67

43

189

298

597

12

3

132

78

225

130-TRANSFER

66

55

73

54

248

140-REINSTATED-CAREER

7

23

34

49

113

3

2

3

1

9

2

0

2

1

5

11

2

3

0

16

164

142

265

348

919

287

104

357

359

1,107

798

474

1147

1256

3,675

NATURE OF ACTION CODE 100-CAREER APPOINTMENT 101-CAREER-CONDITIONAL APPOINTMENT 108-TERMPORARY APPOINTMENT NOT-TOEXCEED 115-APPOINTMENT NOTTO-EXCEED

141-REINSTATED-CAREERCONDITIONAL 142-SES CAREER APPOINTMENT 145-TRANSFER SES CAREER 170-EXCEPTED APPOINTMENT 171-EXCEPTED APPOINTMENT NOT-TOEXCEED TOTAL

Similar to Table 4-2 in Chapter IV, the above natureof-action codes in Table 5-4 represents only a sample and is not all-inclusive of the 100 nature-of-action code family series. For additional details, reference OPMs Operating Manual “The Guide to Data Standards” (Part A; Human Resources). Based on the data provided in

84

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Table 5-4, many new-hire actions occurred in natureof-action codes 170: Excepted Appointment and 171: Excepted Appointment Not-To-Exceed.

Excepted appointments are hiring mechanisms provided by OPM to fill special or unusual positions or extraordinary circumstances under hiring authorities Schedules A, B, C and D. These appointments may be permanent, temporary or term and employees can be hired in the federal government without competition.

This level of hiring flexibility allows agencies to hire when it isn’t feasible or practical to use traditional competitive hiring procedures and provides a streamlined pathway to filling critical positions. This is an example of hiring flexibilities available to managers to onboard new talent. Hiring flexibilities will be addressed in greater detail in Chapter VII. The above examples are intended to illustrate how combining multiple data elements can aid workforce planning professionals in identifying operational patterns and trends among the new-hire workforce.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

85

Which Vacant Positions Need to be Filled?

The vacancy profile serves as the lifeblood of strategic workforce planning as this profile focuses on identifying the best talent to fill vacant positions.

Organizational leaders must plan for a strategic mix of FTE and non-FTE talent to optimize costs, effectiveness and flexibility for short- and long-term success.

Both internal and external influencers can impact the hiring of new talent. Executive and senior leaders should develop contingency plans to maintain a proactive stance. To manage risk, stakeholders should consider implementing three talent management hiring strategies (Build, Buy or Borrow) for onboarding talent. Doing so allows stakeholders to examine the current capabilities of internal staff, shift or develop staff where needed in the organization and seek outside talent when internal supply cannot meet business demands. This process promotes greater optimization of aligning talent with the strategic objectives of the organization, leveraging talent market (internal and external) and enhancing flexibility with leadership decision making.

86

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Building Talent – consists of long-term employee training and development initiatives as supported by organizational leadership. It is designed to ensure the workforce has the skills, knowledge and competencies required to meet current and future workforce needs.

A process internal to the organization, it promotes growth of the existing workforce and presents a lowcost solution through a broad range of training modalities (e.g., career-ladders, job-shadowing, jobsharing, on-the-job-training, detail, mentoring, etc.).

This talent management option allows leaders to fully develop their workforce and enhance organizational bench-strength towards achieving succession planning strategies.

Buying Talent – provides a long-term organizational commitment and investment to ongoing mission critical business objectives. This talent management option seeks talent outside the organization and is a by-product of effective strategic workforce planning where the ultimate end goal is to hire the best talent for the position.

Developing recruitment strategies becomes an essential function to establishing viable talentpipelines and partnerships for locating the best talent.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

87

Leveraging the “Buying” option may signify talent management gaps (e.g., specialized skills not available in the organization, lack of succession planning, high attrition, promotion, churn, etc.) and is the highestcost option among these three talent management strategies. Ultimately, the use of this onboarding option should ensure that the talent hired today possesses the skills and competencies needed for tomorrow. Doing so strengthens the high-potential pipeline for “Building” a future succession workforce.

Borrowing Talent – is a process that allows decision makers to close workforce gaps with talent that exists outside of the organization. The use of outsourcing to private contractors becomes a viable option in managing talent shortage risks. This option serves as a contingency labor force strategy and is intended to support short-term business requirements for certain non-critical roles to temporarily increase capacity or when organizational capability is exceeded or is different than the capability for accomplishing routine mission requirements.

Organizations seeking individuals who possess specialized skills in information technology is an example where borrowing talent may present a viable

88

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

option to onboarding FTEs with associated long-term salary and benefits costs. In some instances, the “Borrowing” hiring option may potentially become a “Buying” opportunity should funds become available and certain hiring flexibilities exist.

These recommended talent management strategies may be employed separately or in any combination to meet the desired business need. There are countless factors and business dynamics that can impact which talent management option(s) will work best. It is imperative that workforce planning stakeholders have a clear understanding of the organizational climate and workforce business needs to strategically interchange these talent management solutions for providing an array of hiring choices.

Now that I have provided some baseline strategies for managing vacancy risks, let’s look at some vacancy data-views. Similar with the previous data profiles highlighted in this chapter, the combining of multiple data elements will be essential to providing leadership with a comprehensive overview of the current vacancy workforce composition along with analyzing those vacancies by mission critical occupation.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

89

Note: Diversity data will not be included in the profile as the goal is to focus on the position rather than a person.

In determining which data-views will best represent the current vacancy state of your organization, consider identifying vacancies by business-unit, which provides a high-level overview where vacant positions exist within the organization. The tables and chart in this chapter further highlight some of the data-views I recommend for analyzing vacancy data.

90

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Graph 5-5 MCO Vacancy Comparison

MCO VACANCY COMPARISON *0601 0685 *0602 *0403 *0401

3548 3354 1920

251 178 108 98 54

489 434 0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

*0401 434

*0403 489

*0602 1920

0685 3354

*0601 3548

VACANCY

54

98

108

178

251

% TOTAL

11%

17%

5%

5%

7%

COUNT

Graph 5-5 provides an illustration of the number of critical-positions occupied in the workforce compared to the total number of vacant positions. Note: The above example assumes that all vacant positions are funded as viewed. In the event there were unfunded vacant positions, simply adjust the data-table with an unfunded data-field to reflect total position count for the represented occupational series. The percent total reflects current vacancies divided by the combined totals of filled and vacant positions for each criticaloccupation. An advantage of this data-view is that it

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

91

allows workforce planning stakeholders to vet staffing totals against current staffing plans for accuracy as well as, identify vacancy gaps or data anomalies.

Another data-view I recommend analyzing are pay plan and grade elements. See Table 5-5.1.

Table 5-5.1 MCO Vacancy by Pay Plan and Grade PAY PLAN

00

11

12

13

14

15

C0UNT

% TOTAL

GS

0

32

143

187

176

44

582

84.47%

GP

0

3

0

2

12

23

40

5.81%

AD

32

0

4

3

0

3

42

6.10%

RG

12

2

6

2

0

1

23

3.34%

RS

0

0

0

0

2

0

2

0.29%

TOTAL

44

37

153

194

190

71

689

100.00%

% TOTAL

6.39%

5.37%

22.21%

28.16%

27.58%

10.30%

100.00%

This data-view is a favorite of mine, due to the instance feedback the table provides viewers.

Workforce planning stakeholders at a glance can quickly identify critical data-points that may adversely impact business operations due to workforce shortages in mid- and senior-grade positions. Table 55.1 shows nearly 85% (582) of vacant positions exist

92

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

within the General-Schedule (GS) pay plan and 59% (407) of GS senior grades 13-15 represent the total vacancy count of mission critical positions, N=689.

Paired with the staffing plan, this data-view serves as a barometer to gauging appropriate staffing-levels within the organization.

Further examination of Table 5-5.1 shows a direct relationship and alignment with the strategic direction of the ABC-PH Agency. To advance the mission of the organization, the effort requires midand senior-level graded positions such as medical officers, public health scientists, biologists, etc.

Examples in Table 5-5.1 illustrate the type of pay plans that may be associated with public health positions. Pay plans RG and RS are research scientist related consisting of fellows and senior-biomedicalresearchers and are compensated under Title 42. Pay plan GP represents physicians and dentists under compensation plan Title 38 and administratively determined (AD), which is the most flexible of these pay plans as agencies may possess independent authority to administratively determine pay rates for any group or category of employees. As such, this compensation plan is more attractive to hiring top

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

93

talent. Within the public health arena, mid- and seniorlevel staff typically occupy these positions. It is important to note that the type of pay plan will differ based on the mission which will determine the level of talent required to meet organizational strategic objectives. Remember, knowing the history of the organization is critical to planning its future.

The third recommended data-view for analyzing vacant position data focuses on vacancy by mission critical occupation. This data-view provides workforce planning stakeholders with the greatest amount of information related to workforce composition by mission critical occupation. See Table 5-5.2.

94

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Table 5-5.2 Vacancy by Mission Critical Occupation MCO SERIES

PAY PLAN

GRADE

CURRENT

VACANCY

GAP

11

97

5

5

12

104

18

18

13

122

12

12

14

92

8

8

15

15

6

6

AD

00

2

3

3

RG

00

1

1

1

RS

00

1

1

1

434

54

54

GS *0401-GENERAL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE

TOTAL

Of all the data-views that will be discussed in this guide, I place the greatest value on this field because this data-table isolates each MCO of the organization and combines current pay plan, grade and vacancy data for a single comprehensive view. Again, the example in this table assumes all vacancies are funded.

When paired against organizational staffing plans, the table can aid with validating and identifying data inconsistencies and workforce gaps. Analyzing the Current and Vacancy columns allows observers to quickly identify where resources exist and are needed in the organization. Observation of these data-fields

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

95

can alert stakeholders to imbalances among juniorand senior-graded positions and how they relate to succession planning. Executive and senior leaders should leverage relationships with their HR client service partners to determine the appropriate allocation of workforce talent. The gap column simply illustrates the difference between current supply and the demand for future talent. This column should mirror the vacancy column count. Remember to develop a table for each MCO represented in the analysis. Another added benefit is that this data-view provides stakeholders with enormous insight when analyzed against retirement eligibility data.

Who can Retire Now or Within One Year?

As more baby-boomers exit from federal service, executive- and senior-level positions become more prevalent with every passing year. The retirement eligibility profile is designed to allow workforce planning stakeholders to rapidly identify those positions that may become vacant due to retirement now or five years and greater. A recommended area of focus involves analyzing those employees who can retire now and within one year. Consider conducting the initial analysis of this profile from a macro

96

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

perspective to clearly identify where potential workforce shortages may appear. This process serves as a precursor to developing succession planning strategies. See Table 5-6.

Table 5-6 Retirement Eligibility by Position Status RETIREMENT ELIGIBILITY

PERMANENT

TEMPORARY APPOINTEE

COUNT

% TOTAL

1,993

117

2,110

14.83%

631

24

655

4.60%

Eligible 13 - 36 Months

1,437

57

1,494

10.50%

Eligible 37 - 60 Months

1,688

78

1,766

12.42%

Eligible After 60 Months

7,416

783

8,199

57.64%

13,165

1,059

14,224

100.00%

Eligible Now Eligible Within 12 Months

TOTAL

The example in Table 5-6 shows nearly 19% of ABCPH workforce is eligible to retire now and within one year. A follow-up analysis to this data-view is to identify the time between retirement eligibility and when an employee separates from federal service.

Depending on the historical data archival system of your organization, this process may present a challenge. Work closely with the gatekeepers of HR

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

97

personnel system data to obtain data if it is not readily available.

Multiple data-views can be developed when analyzing the retirement eligibility profile. Standard data-points such as, organizational, demographical and diversity should be among the leading data elements used to represent retirement eligibility data.

Leadership preference will help guide the process based on organizational priorities at the time.

Marrying data-views with mission critical occupation data for optimum benefit of analysis remains a primary focus. Using the Table 5-6’s example, nearly 15% of ABC-PH workforce is eligible to retire now. Refocusing on this area of analysis is a crucial step to developing a road map for the demand analysis phase. See Table 56.1.

98

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Table 5-6.1 Retirement Eligibility-Now

by Mission critical occupation RETIREMENT ELIGIBILITY

Eligible Now

TOTAL

MISSION CRITICAL OCCUPATION

COUNT

% TOTAL-WF

*0601-General Health Science *0685-Public Health Program Specialist

784

5.51%

642

4.51%

*0602-Medical Officer

433

3.04%

*0403-Microbiology *0401-General Biological Science

170

1.20%

81

0.57%

2,110

14.83%

The overview in Table 5-6.1 provides a granular focus on those employees eligible to retire now and removes extraneous information from the analysis process. This data-view allows analysts to highlight those target-rich areas that may have an immediate impact on the organizations ability to meet future workforce demands.

Examining the retirement now eligibility profile alerts workforce planning stakeholders to the impending need to identify the best methods for transferring knowledge. This level of analysis aids decision makers by establishing them at the forefront

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

99

of delivering proactive solutions rather than being reactive to organizational shifts in manpower.

Analysis of this data-view is designed to encourage stakeholders to examine their current workforce infrastructure for supporting a “Building” strategy by ensuring a knowledge-transfer process exists in the organization. Recruitment and retention strategies are recommended to attract new talent or retain the current workforce. Isolating data-views to analyze each MCO by retirement now eligibility can help determine where specific loss of talent may occur. See Table 5-6.2.

100

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Table 5-6.2 Retirement-Now Eligibility

by Mission Critical Occupation, Pay Plan and Grade MCO SERIES

PAY PLAN

GRADE

CURRENT

VACANCY

ELIGIBLE-NOW

11

97

5

11

12

104

18

15

13

122

12

19

14

92

8

22

15

15

6

12

AD

00

2

3

0

RG

00

1

1

1

RS

00

1

1

1

434

54

81

GS *0401-GENERAL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE

TOTAL

Overall, Table 5-6.2 reflects a greater number of employees eligible to retire now than there are position vacancies with the exception of a couple of pay plans and grades. This data-view allows decisionmakers to identify potential workforce gaps and develop succession planning strategies to mitigate risk.

Combining this data-view with attrition-trend data will help highlight separation rates of different pay plans and grades in developing a predictive model for the demand phase of workforce planning.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

101

Workforce Planning Challenges The retirement eligibility profile serves as a primary indicator to effectively address workforce planning challenges. Depending on the agency, as much as 60% of the federal workforce may be eligible for retirement within the next five to 10 years. Workforce planning stakeholders are at the mercy of external factors that may deplete current workforce supply. According to the GAO, in 2016, nearly a third of the federal workforce was eligible to retire; this pattern is projected to increase in the coming years.

An August 2013 Washington Post article reported that baby-boomers in senior positions are exiting from federal service in waves. Other factors, including federal hiring freezes and employee uncertainty, further exacerbate this issue. More alarming, nearly half of the approximately 7,000 Senior Executive Service (SES) workforce will be eligible for retirement during the current administration. Within the next decade, this number is projected to soar to approximately 85% of the SES workforce being retirement eligible. To complicate matters, the federal government is experiencing a challenging time attracting millennials to federal service. Data obtained

102

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

from OPM’s FedScope indicates federal employees ages 30 and younger represent only 7.9% of the total workforce population.

The deficit between those eligible to retire and the number of millennials who enter the federal government is creating a recipe for disaster. Without a younger workforce available to gain critical institutional knowledge from senior staff, the ability to grow and develop this generational segment into leadership roles becomes extremely difficult to manage. Workforce planning stakeholders must be vigilant in ensuring all viable options are available to effectively manage talent shortage risks. Developing a talent management pipeline or feeder system between external partners (e.g., high schools, universities, technical institutions, veteran and social organizations, etc.) is crucial to bridging this gap.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

103

Who Has Left the Organization?

The attrition profile provides a view into the future based on past organizational activities. This data-view is analyzed using the 300-series nature-of-action codes. Like the accession profile, the use of trend analysis is a recommended option for examining separation data. Analyzing employee turnover allows workforce planning stakeholders to focus on separation trends for predicting future outcomes of hiring new talent. The attrition-rate (number of employee separations divided by total workforce population) helps decision-makers develop solutions to meet changing dynamics in business operations that can impact workforce composition. See Chart 5-7.

104

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Chart 5-7 Attrition Trend Chart

14,400 14,200 14,000

6.38% 6.36% 6.34% 13,888 6.32% 6.31%6.30% 6.28% 6.26% 6.24% 6.22% 6.20%

14,224 6.36%

13,926 6.33%

13,800

13,811

6.28% 13,591

13,600

6.26%

13,400 13,200 FY2013

FY2014

FY2015

Population

FY2016

ATTRITION RATE

WORKFORCE POPULATION

ATTRITION TREND

AVG

Accession Rate

Chart 5-7 shows an average attrition-rate of 6.31% for ABC-PH Agency. Analysis of this data-set combined with retirement eligibility and vacancy data against mission critical occupations data provides a much sharper picture of potential staffing shortages in critical positions. See Table 5-7.1.

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

105

Table 5-7.1 Attrition Trend DESCRIPTION Population Accession Accession Rate

FY2013

FY2014

FY2015

FY2016

AVG

13,926

13,591

13,811

14,224

13,888

881

854

865

904

876

6.33%

6.28%

6.26%

6.36%

6.31%

Comparable with the attrition trend in Table 5-3.1, the data-view in Table 5-7.1 provides viewers with an additional data field that highlights the number of employees who separated in each fiscal year. Further examination of Table 5-7 for FY-2014 shows a slight increase in attrition-rate compared to FY-2015 even though the number of employee separations is slightly higher in FY-2015. The decline in onboard workforce for FY-2014 is a contributing factor impacting attritionrate percentages among the two fiscal years. As stated earlier in this chapter, knowing the history of your organization is critical to conducting effective workforce analysis. Relevant on-hand information enables stakeholders to connect the dots in identifying root causes and developing timely workforce planning solutions.

106

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

The attrition profile provides an enormous opportunity to develop creative analysis that highlights key focal points for executive and senior leaders to consider during the demand forecasting phase of planning. The 300-series nature-of-action codes is the driver of turnover analysis. See Table 57.2.

Table 5-7.2 Attrition by Nature of Action and Fiscal Year FY2013

FY2014

FY2015

FY2016

COUNT

301-RETIREMENT-DISABILITY

22

21

18

17

78

302-RETIREMENT-VOLUNTARY

277

263

321

303

1,164

317-RESIGNATION

223

213

256

279

971

330-REMOVAL

5

4

2

3

14

350-DEATH

11

18

12

17

58

352-TERMINATION-APPT IN

29

42

44

55

170

NATURE OF ACTION CODE

353-SEPARATION-US

0

3

1

8

12

355-TERMINATION-EXP OF APPT

287

266

144

187

884

357-TERMINATION

22

14

61

18

115

385-TERM. DURING PROB/TRIAL PERIOD

5

10

6

17

38

TOTAL

881

854

865

904

3,504

Evaluation of Table 5-7.2 show approximately 61% of all employee separation occurring during the observation periods were attributed to voluntary retirement and employee resignations. Combining this

CURRENT-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

107

level of analysis with organizational, pay plan, grade, etc., against MCOs can provide greater clarity of future position vacancy risks.

Managing Through Attrition Managing workforce by attrition is becoming more of a business rule rather than the exception for workforce planning stakeholders. The January 2017 Presidential Memorandum enacting a governmentwide federal hiring freeze presented greater challenges among decision makers who were required to maintain optimum workforce levels and meet mission objectives. Controlling costs in the federal government remains a focal point among political leaders as employee salaries, future retirement benefits and health insurance account for a substantial portion of federal spending.

Lasting for a period of 90 days, the hiring freeze allowed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and OPM to work in concert outlining a plan to reduce the size of the federal government through attrition. A preview of a reduction-in-force plan was outlined in an article written by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in December 2016. The proposed plan would

108

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

reduce the number of federal workers in certain agencies by 10%, restricting those agencies to hire no more than one new hire for every three employees who left the organization. Like the Presidential Memorandum, there would be provisions for exemptions under certain conditions. The CBO estimated by instituting this proposed option, along with current federal attrition rates, the federal workforce would reduce by 70,000 employees by year 2021. Furthermore, agencies would be limited from replacing employees with contractors due to reduced appropriations.

I shared the information above as it represents a real-world business issue to workforce planning stakeholders. Forecasting attrition plays a critical role in identifying future workforce risks. Attrition profile analysis rounds out the workforce data profile cycle to comprehensively evaluate the current-state of the workforce. The data trends, patterns and lessons learned will allow decision makers to establish connections that segue to the demand phase of workforce planning.

CHAPTER VI FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

“Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: Now.” DENIS WAITLEY MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER

Building the Workforce of Tomorrow Predicting the future-state of an organization presents an enormous challenge for many executive and senior leaders. The process can be a heavy-lift depending on the size of the organization as a multifunctional approach is required among a variety of stakeholders to effectively forecast staffing levels for a new organizational direction paired with the 109

110

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

competencies necessary to fill critical vacant positions.

Leaders may experience trouble with coordinating and scheduling this effort due to the amount of time required to plan for such an endeavor.

Demand forecasting may be accomplished using either a qualitative or quantitative approach. Each contributes to delivering a future-state depending on size, scope, capability and capacity of the organization as related to data availability. The greater the systems/technologies capabilities in an organization, the greater the capacity to forecast new business direction of the organization. The qualitative approach is used when data is limited. This process may require organizational leaders to rely heavily on existing institutional knowledge and experience within the workplace. Comparatively, the quantitative approach leverages the use of historical data from stable system environments. The use of statistical techniques and mathematical models drive this process, highlighting trends and patterns that aid decision makers with development of new organizational direction.

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

111

“With Whom Should I Consult?”

Knowing which stakeholders to involve in the demand forecasting phase is critical to ensuring that a future organizational state can be projected. The process requires the assembling of executive and senior-level participants to deliver a 360-degree perspective for advancing the forward direction of an organization. Stakeholder composition may vary depending on organizational size. At a minimum, I recommend the following stakeholder structure to begin the necessary planning in outlining workforce forecasting strategies. See Table 6-1.

112

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Table 6-1 Workforce Planning Stakeholder Structure

Executive Leaders

Leaders are accountable for recognizing the need for workforce planning, demonstrating commitment and accountability for executing workforce planning.

Business Unit (Division) Leadership (Executive/Senior Leaders)

Division managers are responsible for using the strategic workforce plan as a process for aligning the right people actions, such as recruitment and selection, with strategic goals and objectives.

Budget/Finance Officer (Executive/Senior Leaders)

HR Professionals (Strategic and Operational) (Executive/Senior Leaders)

Budget officers ensure linkages between the organizational financial limits against strategic plan.

HR professionals provide support, workforce data, and HR strategies (Classification and Staffing). They should work closely with department managers to implement the process. Also, ensure linkages between organizational strategic plans and workforce plans.

EEO/Diversity & Inclusion (Consults with Legal Department) (Executive/Senior Leaders)

Ensure organizational strategic direction is in alignment with applicable policies, regulations and guidance for fair, equitable treatment and diverse representation of an employee workforce.

Training Department (Executive/Senior Leaders)

Ensure competencies are in alignment with current and future workforce requirements to meet strategic direction of organization.

Information Technology (Executive/Senior Leaders) Labor Union Representative(s)

Ensures organizations have the technology capacity for managing, maintaining and securing sensitive data.

Ensure fairness of bargaining union labor practices within organization.

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

113

The list of stakeholders in Table 6-1 represents key contributors responsible for lending subject matter expertise and guidance in formulating the next evolution of the organization. It is imperative that a 360-degree stakeholder representation exists during the forecasting phase to ensure all areas of operations are accounted for throughout the entire process.

Determining future strategic direction and those internal and external influencers impacting the new direction of the organization plays a pivotal role with identifying those competencies, skills and abilities required to fill critical projected positions.

The Forecasting Process The current-state analysis phase focuses on supply and demand where analysis provides an overview of how well the current workforce meets current work demands in advancing the mission. Comparatively, the forecasting phase shifts focus to demand and supply by identifying the future-state of an organization over three to five years and projecting staffing levels that will be required to meet new business demands.

114

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

“Where Should I Begin?”

Establishing a starting point to begin the forecasting process may present challenges among executive and senior leaders. A recommended approach entails conducting scenario planning paired with quantitative and qualitative analysis that address both internal and external factors that may impact the future direction of the organization.

Scenario planning provides alternate futures that are multi-layered and reveal possibilities within the business environment that may change over time. Like conditional statements, the process leverages “if then” scenarios allowing leaders to be proactive rather than reactive regarding changes in day-to-day operational occurrences that can impact business outcomes.

Strategy driven, the process should contain detail specifics for meeting the goals and objectives that are aligned with new organizational direction. Effective scenario planning should include two to four challenge areas that support staffing narratives. To minimize this process, I highly recommend workforce planning stakeholders to focus on four target challenge areas:

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

1.

2.

3.

4.

115

New Policy/Initiative(s) Regulatory/Budgetary Mandates Planned Growth/Reorganization Other Factors Affecting Staffing

New Policy/Initiative(s) consists of new legislative or program initiatives that may significantly impact staffing.

Regulatory/Budgetary Mandates addresses business requirements that result from federal appropriations.

Includes mandates in the form of court orders or collective bargaining agreements that may impact staffing levels or workload limitations.

Planned Growth/Reorganization focuses on shifts in business priorities that require increases or decreases in workforce population.

Other Factors Affecting Staffing accounts for unforeseen occurrences that are outside the range of the other challenge areas that may impact changes with staffing levels.

Each of these challenge areas are designed to address the likely impact on staffing levels by considering which occupational series, pay plans and grades may be affected due to shifting priorities within

116

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

these focus areas. Stakeholders involved at this phase of planning provide value-added solutions to determining which internal and external factors to consider when projecting organizational future-state.

The following steps outlines the process for conducting organizational demand analysis.

Step 1: Scenario Planning Begin by formulating forecast projections with a scenario description that links to one or more of the challenge areas described. Determine the likely impact to the organization (e.g., increase/decrease in work, productivity, quality, timeliness, etc.). Provide a narrative describing the projected impact to staffing.

Be specific regarding which occupational series, pay plans and grades will be affected. Documenting this section will help establish an organizational business case by providing rationale in support of a business justification when seeking funding. This process must be performed for each fiscal year being forecast. See Table 6-2.

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

117

Table 6-2 Forecast-Scenario Table SCENARIO DECRIPTION

PLANNED GROWTH/REORGANIZATION

FY2018

PROJECTED

FY-2018 planned reorganization will create a new Biological Research Branch within Division ABCD to meet new mission requirements.

Likely Impact on the Organization (e.g., increase/decrease in task, productivity, etc.

Anticipate agency workforce reductions due to FY-2017 hiring freeze established by New Administration. After 90-day hiring freeze period, the CBO projects a 10% reduction for certain Agencies. Based on analysis, we project ABCD-PH will incur a 5% workforce reduction. Current attrition rate is 6.3% which indicates the organization can withstand the projected workforce reduction without being adversely impacted. The new Branch will require 5 FTEs to support new mission requirements. 81 employees are eligible to retire now with a projected attrition rate of 5.8% for the 0401General Health Science occupational series or approximately 5 FTEs agencywide.

SERIES 401-GENERAL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE 401-GENERAL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE 401-GENERAL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE

INCREASE/DECREASE

PAY PLAN

GRADE

1

GS

15

1

GS

14

3

GS

13

Table 6-2 is a representation of scenario planning conducted at the corporate level based on business unit-/division-level stakeholder collaboration. Note: This phase of workforce planning should focus on those strategic and mission critical positions crucial to accomplishing the new direction of the organization.

Be sure to conduct an analysis for each occupational

118

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

series that will be impacted by the scenario.

Remember to capture each occupational series, pay plan and grade as this information will become critical to your HR partners regarding classification and staffing assessments. The initial strategy planning session ultimately establishes the new path of the organization; as each business unit/division level stakeholder must perform scenario planning activities to forecast staffing requirements that link to work demands to advance new strategic direction. These plans will roll up to the corporate level to form the overall agency workforce plan.

Step 2: Forecast Summary Develop a forecast summary that captures the total number of staffing increases/decreases by challenge area. See Table 6-2.1.

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

119

Table 6-2.1 Forecast Summary Table FORECAST SUMMARY CHALLENGE AREA

STAFFING INCREASE/DECREASE

POLICY/NEW INITIATIVE

0

REGULATORY/BUDGETARY MANDATES

0

PLANNED GROWTH/REORGANIZATION

5

OTHER FACTORS AFFECTING STAFFING

0

TOTAL

5

The example in Table 6-2.1 illustrates which challenge area is impacting change in the future-state of the organization based on assumptions through scenario planning. The forecast summary example is reflective of assumptions provided from Table 6-2.

Note: These assumptions should be supported through data obtained from a series of analysis conducted in the current state analysis phase (e.g., attrition projections, retirement eligibility, current supply and vacancies, etc.), as well as external sources.

Using the Chapter V example provided in Table 56.2 analysis of the occupational series 401 - General Biological Science revealed 65% (53) of the senior staff in GS-grades 13 thru 15 are eligible to retire now.

120

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

N=81. Furthermore, the current occupancy rate is staffed approximately 89%. This level of observation indicates the need for succession planning to ensure effective knowledge transfer and institutional knowledge integrity is maintained. I will address gap closure strategies in greater detail in Chapter VII. It is important to note that leveraging internal and external information will bring greater focus to each scenario.

This process will allow stakeholders to track key drivers of the future state that will transition to the next step of demand of the organizational forecasting process.

Step 3: Demand Forecast Analysis Segment analysis into three sections (Demand Forecast, Internal Supply Forecast and Gap/Surplus). ➢ Demand-Forecast – includes current workforce population and vacancies along with projected increases/decreases in workforce change.

These aggregates represent the required staffing levels of the organization. ➢ Internal-Supply-Forecast – includes the current workforce population and projected vacancies less projected attrition. These aggregates represent the organizational internal supply.

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

121

Gap/Surplus – Includes organizational required staffing level minus internal supply. These aggregates represent the total gap/surplus of demand forecast.

Each of these sections are interrelated and intersect with key information obtained from the current-state analysis phase. Additionally, a demand forecast analysis is required for each position identified during the forecast scenario planning phase. See Table 6-2.2.

122

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Table 6-2.2 Demand Forecast Analysis Table 0401-GENERAL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE DEMAND FORECAST CURRENT FILLED

434

CURRENT VACANT

54

CURRENT STAFFING LEVEL (FILLED + VACANT)

488

INCREASE/DECREASE FROM PROJECTED WORKFORCE CHANGES REQUIRED STAFFING LEVEL

5 493

INTERNAL SUPPLY FORECAST CURRENT FILLED

434

PROJECTED VACANCIES FILLED

59

LESS ATTRITION

28

INTERNAL SUPPLY

465 GAP/SURPLUS

REQUIRED STAFFING LEVEL

493

MINUS INTERNAL SUPPLY

465

TOTAL GAP/SURPLUS

28

Demand Predictive Analysis Depending on where an organization exists with its workforce planning efforts, some may have more robust, refined WFP systems, software or in-house workforce planning tools to aid their forecasting initiatives than others. For those organizations with limited capability and capacity, I recommend the use

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

123

of the following method as a simplified approach to accomplishing the predictive analysis process. See Table 6-2.3.

Table 6-2.3 Gap/Surplus Summary Table ENTER PROJECTED VACANCY FILL RATE: ENTER PROJECTED ATTRITION RATE:

100% 6%

SUMMARY OF GAP / SURPLUS: SERIES

GAP / SURPLUS

0401-GENERAL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE

28

TOTAL GAP / SURPLUS:

28

Information in Table 6-2.3 provides a sample representation of the characteristics that may be found in a more expansive table due to greater occupational series projections. The important nuances of this table are its interrelationships with Table 6-2.2. In lieu of expensive dynamic software to perform predictive calculations, an easier and more cost-effective method exists with developing an Excel workbook that captures the data provided in this chapter by linking those data fields to an in-house WFP

124

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

tool that is scalable and repeatable throughout the organization.

Understanding the Demand WFP Tool?

Link the Projected Vacancy Fill-Rate and Projected Attrition-Rate in Table 6-2.3 to the Internal Supply Forecast section in Table 6-2.2 Projected Vacancies Filled and Less Attrition data fields. Note: The Projected Vacancies Filled data field includes Current Vacant and Increase/Decrease from the Projected Workforce Change data located in the Demand Forecast section of Table 6-2.2. Likewise, the Less Attrition includes the Current Staffing-Level Filled + Vacant data field located in the Demand Forecast section of Table 6-2.2.

Ensure each of the Occupational Series Headers and Total Gap/Surplus data fields in Table 6-2.2 are linked to the Series and Gap/Surplus data fields in Table 62.3. By establishing these connections, workforce predictions can be accomplished by simply changing the percentages in either the Projected Fill Rate or Projected Attrition Rate data fields.

The data shown in Table 6-2.2 is based on the Projected Vacancy Rate of 100% and Attrition Rate of

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

125

6% from table (6-2.3), e.g., (Projected Vacancies Filled=59, and Less Attrition=28). Coincidentally, the Total Gap/Surplus matched the less attrition total of 28. However, if either the vacancy fills or attrition rates percentages is changed, the data in Table 6-2.2 will adjust accordingly.

Using the assumption that the Projected Vacancy Fill-Rate will remain relatively unchanged from the current occupancy rate of 89% for occupational series 0401-General Biological Science, the data in Table 62.2 will only update once 89% is entered in the Projected Vacancy Fill-Rate data field. The adjustment occurs in the Internal Supply Forecast section of Table 6-2.2 within the Projected Vacancies Filled data field to 53 vacant positions filled. This results in a decrease in Internal Supply from 465 to 459 and an increase in Total Gap/Surplus from 28 to 34 count totals. See Example 6-2.4.

126

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Example 6-2.4 ENTER PROJECTED VACANCY FILL RATE:

89%

ENTER PROJECTED ATTRITION RATE:

6%

SUMMARY OF GAP / SURPLUS: SERIES

GAP / SURPLUS

0401-GENERAL HEALTH SCIENCE

34

TOTAL GAP / SURPLUS:

34

0401-GENERAL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE DEMAND FORECAST CURRENT FILLED CURRENT VACANT CURRENT STAFFING LEVEL (FILLED + VACANT) INCREASE/DECREASE FROM PROJECTED WORKFORCE CHANGES REQUIRED STAFFING LEVEL

434 54 488 5 493

INTERNAL SUPPLY FORECAST CURRENT FILLED PROJECTED VACANCIES FILLED LESS ATTRITION INTERNAL SUPPLY

434 53 28 459

GAP/SURPLUS REQUIRED STAFFING LEVEL MINUS INTERNAL SUPPLY TOTAL GAP/SURPLUS

493 459 34

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

127

The examples in this chapter provide a roadmap to identifying future staffing level requirements and leveraging predictive analysis methods and techniques for effectively forecasting a future workforce that will meet the new strategic direction of an organization.

The workforce projection planning tool provides leaders and analysts with the flexibility to augment projected changes as scenario variances occur. This process is one of two parts of the demand forecast process. Once staffing positions have been identified, leadership must ensure those positions are accompanied with the right competencies to meet future work demands of the organization.

Competency-Based Assessment Competency-Based Assessments, when performed correctly, also help leaders determine if the current workforce possesses the appropriate level of competencies to meet the workforce needs of tomorrow. The second part of the demand forecasting process—competency assessments—focuses on the knowledge, skills, behaviors, attributes and characteristics that are associated with “Best Qualified” job candidates. The process employs a

128

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

combination of assessment methods for evaluating staff and occupational competencies.

Staff Competency Assessment Methods Multiple employee competency-based assessment techniques can be used to evaluate staff job readiness.

The following staff competency techniques are recommended approaches to conducting an employee competency assessment: Observation – is an objective evaluation of employee performance in a natural work environment. This process enables observed staff to perform tasks unimpeded and allows the observer to monitor work characteristics and behaviors associated with job competencies.

Structured Interviews - are open-ended questions that engage employees by addressing specific job-related competencies in greater detail.

Simulation Exercises – represent situational work activities that the employee may experience during a typical work setting. This form of assessment may be accomplished by three methods:

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

129

1. Role Play – involves the observer providing leading questions to help elicit behaviors being observed.

2. In Basket – consists of sending emails, memos and other information that require observed employee to act after prioritizing tasks. It often includes time-sensitive tasks and requires the employee to explain his/her decisions.

3. Case Study – provides employees with a problem theme that requires analysis and research of a business issue and provide a conclusion that supports logical rationale for decision.

Psychometric Assessment – a method that measures conceptual problem solving, business and financial acumen as well as understand employee strengths and personality types. Psychometric assessments explore three target areas: o How job candidates perform tasks o How job candidates behave in certain situations o Candidates’ preferences and attitudes

130

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

These target areas allow hiring officials to identify if applicants meet job specialized experiences that are in direct alignment with technical and core competency assessments. Once staff competency assessments are complete, conduct an analysis of current and futurestate job-competencies.

Occupational Competency Assessment Method Technical and core competencies are evaluated in five proficiency categories. See Table 6-3.

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

131

Table 6-3 Competency Proficiency Scale Definitions Proficiency 1 - Awareness

Competency Proficiency Scale Definitions Description -Applies the competency in the simplest situations -Requires close and extensive guidance -Demonstrates awareness of concepts and processes

-Applies the competency in somewhat demanding situations 2 - Basic -Requires frequent guidance -Demonstrates familiarity with concepts and processes -Applies the competency in demanding situations 3 - Intermediate -Requires occasional guidance -Demonstrates understanding of concepts and processes -Applies the competency in considerably demanding situations 4 - Advanced -Generally, requires little or no guidance -Demonstrates broad understanding of concepts and processes

5 - Expert

-Applies the competency in exceptionally demanding situations -Serves as a key resource and advises others -Demonstrates comprehensive, expert understanding of concepts and processes Source: Office of Personnel Management

These proficiency assessment ratings are assigned to competency categories that are associated with specific occupational series and grades. Subject matter experts (SMEs) and other contributors are responsible

132

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

for selecting competencies that are aligned to future business workforce demands.

Competency Assessment Steps 1. Conduct a task assessment for occupational series and grades. Multiple methods may be used to assess task associated with each job (e.g., SME, job analysis, position description, career mapping, etc.).

2. Identify both technical and core competencies required for position using proficiency scale.

3. Compare staff competency assessments (current and future-state) competencies using the proficiency scale.

Note: This process can be accomplished during the current state analysis phase, but I recommend conducting this analysis simultaneously with the current and future state assessments to ensure continuity and consistency of analysis. See Table 6-3.1.

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

133

Table 6-3.1 Workforce Competency Comparison Rating Table COMPETENCY

Research

Data Collection and Management

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Collaboration/ Partnering

Customer Service

COMPETENCY DEFINITION

Applies scientific principles and techniques to develop or enrich knowledge of a topic and advance the state of the science.

Designs methods and tools to collect valid and reliable qualitative and quantitative information.

Identifies and applies appropriate analytical methods and techniques to accurately interpret data.

Establishes and maintains relationships for achieving business goals.

Commits to satisfying internal and external customers.

CURRENTLY POSSESSED

CURRENTLY REQUIRED

REQUIRED IN THE FUTURE

3

4

4

3

4

5

3

3

4

3

4

4

4

4

5

Source: Office of Personnel Management

Using staffing projections from the demand forecast scenario, Table 6-3.1 illustrates a mock example of an employee competency assessment that matches current and future job-competency assessments for

134

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

occupational series 0401-Biological Health Science, GS-13. Both technical and core competencies are represented. Please Note: Employee competency assessments are conducted on a voluntary basis and may require notification of the collective bargaining unit official for bargaining unit employees. The example reveals staff competency gaps for both current- and future-states, indicating requirement of skills proficiency training for the identified deficient competency areas.

Once the comparison assessment is complete, continue to Step 4.

4. Develop a list of job assessment questions that align with each competency. Note: Each question will have an assigned value, typically 0 through 2, which factors into the overall weighted score. See Assessment Question Rating: 0– Does Not Meet Requirement 1– Partially Meets Requirement 2– Fully Meets Requirement 5. Develop a questionnaire repository to foster a shared assessment resource environment

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

135

among workforce planning stakeholders for future assessment questionnaire use.

When developing occupational questionnaires, I recommend the use of randomization methodologies to present applicants with a random set of response options for selection. This method is designed to capture candidate responses that are closely aligned with desired job competencies related to the vacancy job announcement.

Connecting the Dots for Competency Assessments As provided to this point, there are multiple moving parts when conducting competency assessments.

Blending and connecting these various sections can be a demanding process. Managers and supervisors play crucial roles ensuring the appropriate competencies are aligned with positions under their purview, as they are closely connected to where work is performed. To be an effective impact player, leaders must work in concert with high-performing employees and SMEs to identify changes in how duties are performed as related to methodologies, techniques, best practices and behaviors. This level of engagement is the initial process for developing clear staffing and occupational

136

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

competencies. The following provides a recommended approach for connecting each touchpoint of the competency assessment process: Manager/Supervisory Review – determine if changes have occurred with the mission of the organization and strategy. If so, identify any changes that impact position descriptions and employee performance plans.

Determine New Competency Requirements – work closely with high-performing employees and SMEs for each position, occupational series and grade that will be impacted by changes in organizational mission and/or strategy. Update competencies as needed.

Update Position Description (PD) – incorporate new competencies in position description to ensure most current methodology, techniques, best practices and behaviors are represented for optimum job performance proficiency.

Update Performance Plan – ensure new competencies captured in PDs are reflected in performance elements that are relevant to advancing organizational mission.

Note: Elements should cascade from executive leadership performance plans. Additionally, ensure

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

137

SMART (Strategic, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely) objectives are incorporated throughout the performance plan.

Update Assessment Questionnaire – ensure new competencies exist that will integrate with assessment questionnaires to induce candidate responses that are in alignment with position vacancy requirements.

Ultimately, managers/supervisors serve as primary initiators for developing the competency assessment process. Routine engagements with frontline employees (e.g., one-on-ones and staff meetings, with mid-year and end-of-year performance evaluations, etc.) serve as a barometer for gauging staff performance and occupational assessments against the strategies and mission objectives of the agency.

“Out with the Old; in with the New” Over the past several years, I have observed a shift in business paradigm in how organizational leaders approach talent acquisition issues using the job assessment questionnaire. In years past, hiring officials have inundated USAJobs.gov with job announcements that allowed job seekers to rate themselves as “Expert,” the proverbial firewall “E” self-

138

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

assessment. This process produced an overabundance of job applications to be validated through the HR staffing process. Thus, hiring managers received certificates consisting of potential candidates who fell below managers’ desired specialized-experience requirements, resulting in high percentages of expired certificates returned to HR unused.

The above example is a classic case of the “garbagein, garbage-out” expression where poor-quality input yields a poor deliverable outcome. Avoid using outdated stock or canned templates to build job assessment questionnaires. The front-loaded effort to develop a randomization approach will yield huge dividends over time. Table 6-4 provides an example of an approach that is not recommended for developing occupational assessment questionnaires.

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

139

Table 6-4 Standardized Job Assessment Questionnaire STANDARDIZED JOB ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE For each task in the following group, choose the statement from the list below that best describes your experience and/or training A

I have not had education, training or experience in performing this task.

B

I have had education or training in performing the task, but have not yet performed it on the job.

C

D

E

I have performed this task on the job. My work on this task was monitored closely by a supervisor or senior employee to ensure compliance with proper procedures.

I have performed this task as a regular part of a job. I have performed it independently and normally without review by a supervisor or senior employee.

I am considered an expert in performing this task. I have supervised performance of this task or am normally the person who is consulted by other workers to assist them in doing this task because of my expertise.

Non-Recommend Approach

Organizational leaders have begun to alter their business views towards external job-announcement strategies. The realization of squandered resources exhausted to attract new talent that does not produce an ROI has necessitated the need to pursue a different approach. The approach focuses on transitioning from a standardized approach to a randomization method for announcing external job postings.

140

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

The process involves assembling focus groups of SMEs for each occupational series associated with demand phase for staffing projections. Typically, these experts are comprised of GS-13 and above or other pay plan, grade-level equivalents who are familiar with the knowledge, skills and job-specific characteristics performed by highly qualified employees.

These SMEs are well versed with the latest industry methodologies, techniques, trends, technology, best practices and behaviors that can aid leaders with identifying those competencies required to meet future work demands. The SMEs often work in concert with hiring officials, industrial psychologists, supervisors, training personnel and human resources workforce analysts, classification and staffing specialists to develop a battery of weighted assessment questions that will assist organizations with identifying the “Best-Qualified” job candidate for vacant positions.

Table 6-5 provides the recommended approach of a randomization job assessment questionnaire.

FUTURE-STATE ANALYSIS PROCESS

141

Table 6-5 Randomization Job Assessment Questionnaire RANDOMIZATION JOB ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE Which of the following best describes your experience implementing communication with agency personnel, colleagues and the public?

I have no experience in this area.

A B

I have conducted analysis of biological data to respond to public or U.S. government or partner agency queries.

C

I have listened to others explain basic biological principles to nonbiologists and lower-level biologists.

D

I have demonstrated the ability to explain basic biological principles to non-biologists and lower-level biologists.

E

I have discussed biological principles with others.

Recommended Approach

142

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Benefits of a Randomization Approach The randomization job assessment approach provides many benefits through its weighted scoring methodology of random question response options.

This process promotes an environment for identifying job applicants who possess the skills that are more closely aligned with desired specialized-experience expressed by hiring managers.

Applicants are less likely to know which questions carry the greatest weight compared to a standardized method when responding to the assessment questionnaire. The number of applicants who advance through the HR adjudication phase is reduced, which promotes a faster turnaround time for both applicant and hiring official. More importantly, hiring managers receive certificates with a higher talent pool of “BestQualified” candidates for selection. The overall number of returned unused certificates is reduced or eliminated, which saves valuable time and resources.

CHAPTER VII GAP ANALYSIS PROCESS

“The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.”

BRUCE FEIRSTEIN SCREENWRITER

Gap Closure Challenges The lead-in quote of this chapter is indicative of how gap closure strategies may be viewed depending on outcome. Throughout the federal government, gap closure processes continue to present many challenges for organizational leaders. An independent, nonpartisan agency, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the investigative arm in support of the U.S. Congress. Serving as a congressional “watchdog,” 143

144

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

the GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers’ dollars. The organization began tracking skills gaps within the federal workforce in 2011 to address substantial risk in government programs for mismanagement and other issues. GAO’s 2015 report identified skills gaps in six governmentwide occupations (cybersecurity, auditor, human resources specialist, contract specialist, economist and STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics]) that pose considerable risk to the nation while meeting federal commitments due to manpower shortages and cost inefficiencies. In total, more than two dozen occupational series have been identified as mission critical positions throughout the federal government.

As a result, OPM has directed agencies chief human capital officers (CHCOs) to develop methods of eliminating skills gaps in mission critical positions over the next 10 years. Each agency CHCO is responsible for identifying risks germane to their agencies and adhere to new quarterly and annual reporting requirements.

This change in business paradigm has created the need for robust workforce planning strategies and best practices more than ever before. Developing sound

GAP ANALYSIS PROCESS

145

gap closure strategies is essential to meeting current and future demands in better serving the American public.

Gap Closure Strategies Gap closure focuses on two key areas: staffing gaps, which address an insufficient number of employees required to meet agency work demands; and competency gaps, which identify staff who do not possess the appropriate knowledge, skills, abilities or behaviors to successfully accomplish the work. The following are recommended strategies for closing staffing and competency gaps.

Staffing Gap Closure Strategies In Chapter V, I addressed the three talent management strategies of Build, Buy and Borrow. Of the three strategies, buying is the most challenging to successfully execute as hiring officials can often have trouble identifying where to locate individuals who possess the desired competencies for open positions.

Developing a recruitment pipeline can help mitigate this challenge. The following are recommended approaches to enhancing the recruitment pipeline within your organization.

146

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Determine Talent Pipeline Composition • Organizational fit in terms of work culture is equally important as identifying competencies for hiring the best-qualified staff. Ensure the ideal candidate profiles are aligned with the mission, vision and values of the organization.

• Determine what success looks like for both the organization and candidate, and how it will be measured.

• Develop an organizational recruitment calendar that highlights job vacancies and recruitment venues to attract new talent.

• Review and address recruitment challenges.

Develop solutions that can be integrated into the organizational recruitment calendar.

• Develop recruitment community of practice (COP) for information sharing and collaboration of methods, techniques and best practices.

Identify Where Talent Pipeline Exists • Identify targeted recruitment site locations that can attract specialized talent (e.g., science, technology, engineering, mathematics, high

GAP ANALYSIS PROCESS

•

•

•

•

•

147

schools, colleges, universities, armed services, other federal agencies, etc.).

Develop strategic partnerships with external organizations (e.g., veteran organizations, local community-based organizations, churches, etc.).

Use strategic partnerships to develop a future talent pipeline through customized curriculum provided by high schools, colleges, universities, technical institutions, etc., to meet projected work demands. Link training to “Pathways” or other internship staffing options.

Develop job shadowing opportunities to provide staff with exposure, growth and developmental opportunities to meet future work demands.

Develop in-house training positions and institute a Rotational Detail Program to provide staff with real-world experience and managers with an assessment framework for developing internal talent.

Develop understudy positions to provide a path for knowledge transfer for those one-off,

148

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

executive, and senior-level positions (i.e., SES, GS 13-15).

• Develop career ladders to provide a path to senior level positions. Avoid hiring 100% of job placements at the full performance level; provide a path for growth and sustainability of the workforce.

• Use shared certificates that allow hiring officials to reduce time to hire and select “Best Qualified” candidate from certificate lists that have been adjudicated by HR. • Use social media to expand agency advertising footprint across a broad range of potential job seekers who may not be aware of USAJob.gov.

Social media can be used to leverage targeted recruitment strategies to attract candidates for difficult to fill jobs.

GAP ANALYSIS PROCESS

149

Incorporate Hiring Flexibilities • Veteran Appointments – transitioning veterans are an excellent talent acquisition resource to meet future hiring demands. The following are hiring flexibilities for veterans: o Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA) of 1998, as amended, provides that agencies must allow eligible veterans to apply for positions announced under merit promotion procedures when recruiting outside the agency’s own workforce. o Veterans Recruitment Appointments (VRA) is a special authority under which agencies can appoint veterans up to GS-11 or equivalent grade level without competition. o 30% or more disability rating is a noncompetitive appointment authority for certain disabled veterans with a disability rating of 30 percent or more, or with a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more. There is no grade-level limitation for this authority. Agency may convert the employee’s appointment, without a break in service, to a career

150

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

conditional appointment at any time during the employee’s temporary or term appointment. Appointee must meet all qualification requirements, including any written test requirements. o Non-competitive for certain military spouses – this authority allows agencies to appoint a military spouse without competition under certain circumstances. In certain situations, military spouses are eligible if active duty spouse receives a Permanent Change of Station (PSC) move, has a 100% disability rating or died on active duty.

• Pathways for Students and Recent Graduates – provides a streamlined pathway into federal service for students and recent graduates under EO 13662, December 27, 2010. The Pathways Program consists of: o Internship Program - replaced the prior student program Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP). Designed to target students from high school to graduate level. The program provides

GAP ANALYSIS PROCESS

151

students with opportunities to explore federal careers while being paid for work performed. o Recent Graduates Program, is a oneyear developmental program that enable agencies to recruit from recent graduates of trade, vocational schools, community colleges, universities and other qualifying educational institutions or programs up to two years after graduating. o Presidential Management Fellows Program (PMF) - serves as the federal government’s premier leadership development program for candidates with advanced degrees. The program is designed to develop a cadre of potential government leaders. Candidates have two years from completion of their degree programs to apply. Successful candidates are placed in a two-year career development program. The program offers PMFs noncompetitive

152

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

conversion to competitive service at the agency’s discretion.

• Direct-Hire – OPM may issue a noncompetitive direct-hire authority for one or more of the following: occupational series, grades (or equivalent) and geographical location when a severe shortage of candidates or critical hiring need has been determined. Agencies that possess delegated examining authority can hire an employee to a position that meets OPM approval.

• Special Appointing Authorities – Excepted Service, Schedule A and Schedule B are hiring authorities that are used when the President or OPM determines that the use of competitive examination process is not practical when filling positions (e.g., attorney positions, persons with intellectual, severe physical or psychiatric disabilities [that prevents one or more life activities from occurring]). For persons who are hired under these authorities, positions may be exempted from competitive service for which it

GAP ANALYSIS PROCESS

153

is not practical to hold a competitive examination.

• Job Sharing and Other Permanent Positions that are Not Full Time – is an approach to managing fluctuating and less than full-time workforce needs. These varying appointments include job-sharing, intermittent and seasonal employment that attract applicants who prefer less than full-time work.

• Workforce Restructuring – allows agency managers to develop substantive organizational goals based on fiscal constraints made by executive branch managers and other highlevel leaders within the agency, legislative action, or judicial or other appellate actions.

Restructuring may consist of reshaping, downsizing, realignment, reorganization, etc., to meet the business requirements of the organization.

154

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Competency Gap Closure Strategies Bridging competency gaps is essential to both shortand long-term strategic success of the organization. As federal agencies leaders encounter the challenges of managing constant change in a 21st century workculture, skills gap closure is becoming increasingly important to meet mission critical needs. OPM has developed several strategies to aid federal agencies with closing competency gaps. The following are recommended competency gap closure strategies that can be implemented within your organizations.

• Leverage HR and Agency Universities – these learning platforms serve as a resource to the federal HR community for workforce development and training needs.

• Training and Career Development – a knowledge management process that facilitate and assist employees with learning specific skills to improve work performance. The process aligns employee training and development with organizational mission, goals and objectives.

GAP ANALYSIS PROCESS

155

• Ensure Employee Individual Development Plan is Updated – the individual development plan serves as a tool to assist employees in achieving their personal and professional development goals. The individual development plan allows supervisors and employees to establish expectations for specific learning objectives and competencies.

• Develop Career Maps – serves as a career development tool that is designed to educate employees on career path and explore professional options that best match specific needs and interests. The process provides guidance on obtaining the level of proficiency necessary to progress along a selected career path.

• Develop Curriculum Framework – an essential mechanism to ensuring workforce training needs are met through competency-based learning that prepares employees to meet current and future work demands. These courses are offered through each agency’s learning management system.

156

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

• Develop Course Catalogues – contains a list of training courses that are aligned with the mission, goals and objectives of the organization. Provides brief descriptions of various learning programs offered through the agency’s learning management system. Courses also help employees grow and develop professionally and personally while acquiring knowledge and practical skills that support long-term career development.

• Develop Course Registration – provides secure access to training and development courses through agency’s learning management portal.

• Develop Online Courseware and Learning Resources – serves as the agency’s learning portal that provides course details to include dates and specific course requirements pertaining to pre-work and prerequisites.

• Institute Inter-Agency and Cross-Agency Mentoring Opportunities – a developmental process that leverages mentoring as a strategy to increase retention, job performance and career advancement of federal employees.

Promotes cross-pollination that promotes the

GAP ANALYSIS PROCESS

157

learning of ideas, concepts, methodologies and best practices that can be instituted across the organization.

• Develop Site for Supervisors/Managers to Develop Their Talent Management Skills – provide a vital central learning resource environment that ensures leaders have access to training principles, concepts, methodologies and best practices for improving their talent management skills.

• Institute Cross-Agency Rotations – consists of developmental assignments and project-based work that is designed to build sustainable skills.

Offer learning opportunities for developing new methodologies, techniques and best practices from other agencies.

• Develop Internal Certification Programs – provides a low-cost solution to ensure federal employees have access to certification training that is in alignment with the CLF and can meet current and future work demands of the organization. Leverage both internal trainers and outside vendors to conduct agency onsite training.

158

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

The list of staffing and competency gap strategies provided is a representation of those solutions available to closing workforce competency gaps.

Applied correctly, these strategies will allow workforce planning stakeholders to rapidly address staffing and competency gaps to mitigate high-risk issues such as vacancies, right skill mix and other talent management challenges among mission critical occupations. To further assist you with this effort, I have included an example of a gap strategy matrix that will allow you to easily identify staffing and competency gaps and provide strategies for gap closure. See Table 7-1.

GAP ANALYSIS PROCESS

159

Table 7-1 Gap Closure Strategy Matrix 0401-GENERAL BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE GAP CLOSURE STRATEGY MATRIX GAP

GAP DESCRIPTION

STRATEGY

Career Ladder Development

Staffing Gap

Gap between developmental grades (e.g.,9, 11, 12), and fully-performance at GS-13 level

Use Pathways for Students and Recent Graduates (Recent Graduates Program)

Veteran Appointment (30% or more Disability Rating)

STRATEGY DESCRIPTION Provide a path to seniorlevel positions. Avoid hiring 100% of job placements at the fullperformance level, provide a path for growth and sustainability of workforce.

A one-year developmental program that enables agencies to better recruit from recent graduates of trade, vocational schools, community colleges, universities and other qualifying educational institutions and programs.

A non-competitive appointment authority for certain disabled veterans.

There is no grade level limitation for this authority. Agency may convert the employee’s appointment without a break in service, to a career conditional appointment at any time during the employees temporary or term appointment. Appointee must meet all qualification requirements, including any written test requirements.

ACTION Announce vacant position at the GS09/11/12 grades

Conduct job fairs at academic and vocational partners (be prepared to make tentative job offer) Partner with local armed forces, Veterans Administration and VA associations to host career fairs and share job openings

160

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

The gap closure strategy matrix in Table 7-1 serves as an aid to leaders by quickly identifying gaps and strategies along with recommended actions to close staffing and competency gaps. Under the “GAP” heading, workforce planning stakeholders can select which gap (staffing or competency) is being referenced. Table 7-1 provides multiple strategies to close the staffing gap identified for occupational series-0401. It is important to explore multiple strategic solutions to provide the greater number of options for gap closure. Note: Develop a gap closure strategy matrix for each occupational series being analyzed. This process will prove beneficial when developing organizational strategic recruitment calendars and action plans.

CHAPTER VIII SUCCESSION PLANNING

“One of the things we often miss in succession planning is that it should be gradual and thoughtful, with lots of sharing of information and knowledge and perspective, so that it’s almost a non-event when it happens.”

ANNE M. MULCAHY FORMER XEROX CHAIRPERSON AND CEO

Developing Federal Leaders of Tomorrow Ensuring federal agencies can thrive beyond the business thresholds of today and well into the challenging events of tomorrow requires exceptional leadership who embodies a selfless commitment towards long-term organizational success. Succession

161

162

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

planning ensures a continuous supply of best-qualified leadership talent exists within the organization.

Succession planning is a continuation of the gap analysis process and is essentially a plan within a plan.

Meaning, many of the workforce analysis approaches used to develop the workforce plan up to this point, are applied to produce succession planning. Workforce segmentation plays a crucial role in identifying those strategic positions that are critical to organizational advancement and meeting future work demands.

Information obtained from the gap analysis will highlight those strategic leadership positions that require leadership focus. The plan should represent a proactive process for recruiting, reorganizing, developing and retaining top leadership talent to fill vacant leadership positions.

To ensure your organization possesses substantial bench strength within its talent leadership pipeline, develop a framework for identifying high-potential candidates. Ensure the organization has a structured leadership development program to prepare current and future leaders with the requisite skills to effectively manage the workforce, deliver leadership

SUCCESSION PLANNING

163

continuity and preserve a learning environment that drives continuous performance improvement.

Succession Planning Risk Assessment Conducting a readiness assessment of organizational leadership talent in the pipeline is essential to determining risk related to bench strength availability, competencies requirements, recruitment challenges, attrition, etc. OPM recommends using the 9-Block Matrix approach, (also known as the “9-Box” method), to identify the readiness level of the current workforce for leadership positions. The 9-Block Matrix approach is a straightforward and dynamic tool to gauge your organizational talent management and succession planning efforts. This process allows leaders to: • Evaluate the performance and potential of employees and offices • Identify high-potential employees who can transition into new roles • Identify employees who require further development • Identify potential hidden performance trends • Evaluate ratings and ensure consistent scoring across organization

164

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

An advantage of the 9-Block Matrix is that it provides an in-depth chart of an organization’s bench strength. It also serves as a snapshot and quick reference tool for leaders to rapidly identify internal staff and their readiness level for taking on increased leadership roles. Employee performance ratings and competency assessment evaluation questionnaires serve as key drivers to developing the tool. The following are additional resources for extracting performance and potential data: ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

360 Evaluations Self-Assessments Supervisory Assessment Career Development Surveys

Historically, employee performance was the sole driver to determining succession, reward and employee recognition. However, a new trend has shifted focus on considering employee potential when creating development plans and performance strategies.

SUCCESSION PLANNING

165

Identifying High-Performers and High-Potentials High-Performers – provide immediate return on investment, and outperforms the average employee by as much as 100%.

High-Potentials – are those employees who are highlevel contributors who demonstrate organizational values, they are promotable over time and possess the ability to assume increased responsibility.

Understanding Where Your Employees Rate The 9-Block Matrix consist of nine areas: • Apprentice – Low-performing, high-potential employees. These individuals lack the skills needed to perform in their role but possess enormous potential. Goal: Intervene and explore roles.

• Rising Star – Moderate-performing, highpotential employees. These employees will become superstars once they master their roles. Goal: Develop skills and plan for career growth.

• Super-Star/Future Leader – High-performing, high-potential employees. These employees are

166

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

•

•

•

•

•

•

key candidates for promotions and leadership.

Goal: Retain, reward and promote.

Perplexed – Low-performing employees who may or may not have potential. Goal: Requires intervention to assess fit in role and if performance can be developed.

Bedrock – The area where most employees are expected to fall. Goal: Develop employees with potential and monitor performance as it can change in any direction.

Star – High-performing employees who can still grow in their current role (often highly technical) but are likely not leaders. Goal: Reward, develop and recognize.

Red-Alert – Low-performing, low-potential employees. Goal: These individuals need to be assessed and addressed quickly to ensure they are not a bottleneck to organizational success.

Journeyman – Moderate-performing employees who have reached their job potential. Goal: Develop skills where possible and motivate performance.

Master/Mentor – High-performing, lowpotential employees. These employees are

SUCCESSION PLANNING

167

masters at their job and are likely to stay in the same role. Goal: Retain and ensure skills are kept up to date.

A sample of the 9-Block Matrix is provided in Diagram 8-1.

Rising-Star

Super-Star/ Future Leader

Perplexed

Bedrock

Star

Red-Alert

Journeyman

Master/ Mentor

80%

Apprentice

40%

Potential

Diagram 8-1 9-Block Matrix

60%

90%

Performance

To ensure the effectiveness of the tool, leaders must determine the best method to score and apply employee performance and employee potential ratings. The evaluation should include three to five years of performance (if available), consider assessing

168

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

development needs and plan for succession gaps for employee potential questionnaire.

Gauging employee potential can be an arduous process. A recommended approach is to develop questionnaires related to the competencies that address the knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors that are aligned with leadership positions. The questionnaire is provided to managers to evaluate employee potential and is rated by assigning a value of Yes (1) and No (0) responses. Ten to 20 questions will typically satisfy this objective. Once you have acquired your total count of “Yes” responses, simply divide the total “Yes” responses by the total number of questions to obtain the potential rating (e.g., 7[Yes]/10 = 70%).

To determine the performance rating, take the average of the number of performance ratings and divide by the highest performance rating scale number (e.g., 4.4/5 = 88%). See example in Table 8-1.2.

SUCCESSION PLANNING

169

Table 8-1.2 Performance and Potential Rating Table EMPLOYEE NAME

PERFORMANCE SCORE

PERFORMANCE %

POTENTIAL SCORE

POTENTIAL %

DAVID RICE

5.0/5

100%

9/10

90%

WENDY WU

4.6/5

92%

3/10

30%

KAREN SMITH

4.5/5

90%

5/10

50%

4.4/5

88%

6/10

60%

4.0/5

80%

7/10

70%

3.8/5

76%

8/10

80%

ERIC DIAZ

3.5/5

70%

3/10

30%

GEORGE MILES

2.9/5

58%

9/10

50%

CAROL MANN

2.7/5

54%

4/10

40%

TANYA PYANE

2.3/5

46%

3/10

30%

DARRYL CLARK CHERYL TAYLOR MICHAEL CRUM

Once the performance and potential ratings have been established, a threshold will be required for each rating segment in order to gauge where employee performance and potential assessments fall. A rule of thumb for establishing the performance threshold is to adopt the formal performance plan rating scale as a benchmark. Meaning, a rating of 4.5 and above represents the upper end of the performance threshold, and a rating of 2.99 and below represents the lower end of the performance threshold.

Comparatively, I recommend dividing the potential

170

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

threshold into thirds as the threshold range will vary depending on the number of questions used in the assessment. Using this methodology, the potential upper threshold range in this example would be 80% and above, with a lower threshold range that falls below 40%. See examples in Figures 8-1.3 and 8-1.4.

Figure 8-1.3 Performance Threshold Example 90%

60%

Figure 8-1.4 Potential Threshold Example 40%

80%

After determining the performance and potential ratings and establishing the thresholds for each segment, plot the results in the 9-Block Matrix to view where each observed employee falls within the organization. See Diagram 8-2.

SUCCESSION PLANNING

171

Diagram 8-2

Rising-Star

Super-Star

GEORGE MILES

MICHAEL CRUM

DAVID RICE

Perplexed

Bedrock

Star

CAROL MANN

DARRYL CLARK CHERYL TAYLOR

KAREN SMITH

Red-Alert

Journeyman

TANYA PYANE

ERIC DIAZ

Master/ Mentor

80%

Apprentice

40%

Potential

Plotted 9-Block Matrix

WENDY WU

60%

90%

Performance

Diagram 8-2 displays an example of the talent pool within an organization. The information in the matrix will aid leaders by quickly identifying staff within the organization who are ready to assume increased leadership roles and where to invest other resources to further develop internal staff. The 9-Block Matrix is intended to work in concert with the example in Table 7-1 (Gap Closure Strategy Matrix) with developing internal talent management gap closure solutions. An important note to remember is although the 9-Block

172

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Matrix provides a straightforward approach to examining workforce succession bench strength, the process is less than perfect and should be revisited to manage any subjectivity that may occur from supervisory assessment of employee as well as account for low employee engagement that may be attributed to countless workplace factors. This is a recommended area of exploration for executive leaders to ensure a fair, equitable and unbiased talent management process throughout the organization.

At this juncture, executive and senior leaders have evaluated organizational bench strength for key leadership positions. Prioritizing tasks is essential to allowing leaders to outline strategies on how to invest in its frontline supervisors and managers to ensure they possess the competencies to efficiently direct daily business activities of the organization. Instituting a method for monitoring the succession planning process is pivotal for remaining on track and meeting business objectives. See Table 8-3.

SUCCESSION PLANNING

173

Table 8-3 Succession Management Action Plan ACTION STEPS Establish Strategic Direction

Identify Succession Targets & Analyze Talent Pool

Develop Succession Management Plan

Implement Succession Management

Evaluate Succession Planning Strategies

ACTIVITIES -Formulate first business priority (e.g., retirement projections) -Identify leadership vision and obtain commitment -Identify targets and analyze workforce data relating to targets -Assess bench strengths -Identify competencies for identified positions -Assess competencies for identified positions -Identify talent pools for filling target positions -Develop succession planning strategies -Develop implementation plan for strategies -Develop budget required to implement strategies -Determine how to evaluate strategies -Complete action plan (project dates and responsible owner[s]) -Develop and execute communication plan -Reemphasize executive- and seniorlevel commitment -Conduct quarterly monitoring and planning -Measure the closure of competency gaps -Examine selection rates from leadership development programs -Examine graduates’ retention rates of from leadership development programs -Track placement of leadership pool employees -Assess improvements of enhancements to succession planning -Update business priorities (retirement projections) -Reaffirm executive leadership’s strategic vision and commitment

OWNER(S)

DUE DATE

174

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

The action steps outlined in Table 8-3 ensures a consistent flow of leadership direction that transitions to continuous career development of those employees who have demonstrated and/or been deemed eligible as having potential leadership qualities to take on new leadership roles and responsibilities. These succession management action steps along with implementation strategies, should be integrated into the overall agency workforce action plan for continuity and consistency.

CHAPTER IX IMPLEMENTATION/ACTION PLANNING

“Action expresses priorities.”

MAHATMA GANDHI CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER

Transitioning from Planning to Execution The best well-developed plan means nothing without action. By now, most of the heavy lifting has been accomplished regarding workforce planning development. You have completed your analysis of the current and future-state of your organization and have identified staffing and competency gaps. Strategies have been outlined to close workforce gaps that 175

176

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

support recruitment, selection, development and retention of workforce talent. Executive candidate development strategies have been addressed along with identifying a succession candidate pool that can take on new and prospective leadership roles. The culmination of these efforts now requires a plan of action that details the action steps, tactics, owners, required resources, statuses and due dates of deliverables.

Timelines and business priorities aligned with organizational strategic direction serve as key drivers to action plan implementation. Ensure that a nexus exists throughout the action planning process that links desired outcomes to organizational strategic direction, action plan objectives, goals and leadership performance elements. This process enables leaders and managers to establish business continuity with cascading points of connectivity among all phases of business operations. The following are recommended elements for developing a workforce action plan.

Strategic Direction – serves as the foundation for action planning development and is the primary linkage between action plan objectives/goals and leadership performance elements.

IMPLEMENTATION/ACTION PLANNING

177

Action Plan Objectives/Goals – outlines and prioritizes steps to be accomplished that address specific workforce challenges.

Leadership Element – represents leadership commitment to accomplishing action objectives/goals.

Shows a direct correlation with strategic direction.

Should cascade among all leaders responsible for accomplishing the objective.

Action Strategies – specifically provides how key business challenge will be addressed.

Tactics – specifically provides how action strategies and objectives will be accomplished. Also lists the individual steps required to achieve stated goals.

Owner(s) –individual(s) who is/are accountable for the completion of each task.

Resources – represents other partners and resources that are required to complete tasks.

Status – represents which stage of completion (Not Started, In-Progress or Completed) that has been accomplished. This information field may also be represented by color mapping (Red = Not Started, Amber = In-Progress and Green = Completed).

178

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Due Date – represents a specific timeframe for task completion.

Performance Measures – identifies which measures or milestone will determine successful completion of action items. Note: Tying performance measures into a leadership action plan scorecard provides a high-level snapshot of performance.

Director/Executive Champion – this signature block confirms leadership’s commitment to the plan and also establishes the leadership example for other leaders to follow.

See Table 9-1 for an example of the workforce planning action plan matrix.

IMPLEMENTATION/ACTION PLANNING

179

Table 9-1 Workforce Planning Action Plan Matrix

ACTION PLAN OBJECTIVE/ GOAL:

ABC-PH WORKFORCE ACTION PLAN FY-2017 Detecting, cataloguing, responding and the eradication of emerging health threats globally.

Strengthen the National Health and Human Service Disease Response Close gap for 401 General Biological Science Positions

LEADERSHIP ELEMENT:

Element 1: Provide leadership across the agency that support biological disease detection, analysis and eradication.

STRATEGIC DIRECTION:

ACTION STRATEGIES Announce career ladder GS09/11/12 positions

DIRECTOR/ EXECUTIVE CHAMPION

TACTICS Conduct targeted recruitments Use hiring flexibilities, (Pathways and Veteran Appointment)

OWNERS OfficeDirector Deputy Director Finance Official

RESOURCES

STATUS

Human Resources, Classification Staffing, Recruitment, Special Emphasis

InProgress

DUE DATE 3/9/17

PEFROMANCE MEASURES

New hires are onboarded on or before due date Track Timeto-Hire against OPM 89 Day Model.

DATE

Developing the Communication Plan Once the workforce action plan is complete, leaders must determine how to communicate the plan across the organization. Securing workforce buy-in is essential to gaining and maintaining support for the new business direction of the organization. It is incumbent of leaders to ensure that transparency exists throughout their communication processes.

180

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Stakeholder engagement is crucial. Each leader involved in developing the workforce and action plans should conduct workforce action plan discussions with their respective management teams to ensure the messaging is clear, concise and understood by teammembers. It is extremely important to obtain frontline manager/supervisor feedback to ensure the action plan elicits a 360-degree perspective for smooth transition of implementation.

Take a thoughtful approach that explains changes in terms of how it will impact the workforce rather than how the agency will benefit. Be proactive with anticipating how employees will react and the questions that may arise. Develop a Q&A based on feedback obtained from frontline managers and other employee stakeholders. Communication should be designed to answer employee concerns immediately.

Develop a forum to capture workforce concerns and encourage employee participation throughout the implementation process.

Remember the workforce plan is a fluid business tool that is designed to be agile for accepting change.

Actively listen to employee input and solicit recommendations and adjust the plan as needed.

IMPLEMENTATION/ACTION PLANNING

181

Most importantly, continue to communicate regarding organizational changes and the implementation process. Take time to recognize and celebrate successful milestones throughout the process. The following are recommended key points to developing your communication strategy: ✓ Explain the importance of workforce planning ✓ Explain how the workforce plan was developed ✓ Discuss the findings of the workforce plan analysis ✓ Discuss organizational changes expected to occur because of the workforce analysis ✓ Explain how the changes will be applied across the organization ✓ Discuss how changes will affect staff To effectively manage the workforce action planning communication process, create a WFP communication workgroup that can oversee the following: • Develop a communication timetable and ensuring timely updates on the process • Inform staff through town hall meetings, staff meetings, newsletters, SharePoint sites, etc.

182

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

• Share vision from strategic plan and how it relates to workforce planning and the implementation process • Ensure transparency by providing online access to workforce and action plans • Post communications in well-traveled work locations • Publicly recognize those involved with the WFP process • Identify key audiences: o Executive/Senior leaders o Frontline Managers o HR Professionals o Employees o Union Officials • Develop key message • Develop WFP policy statement Table 9-2 provides an example of a recommended communication plan.

IMPLEMENTATION/ACTION PLANNING

183

Table 9-2 Workforce Planning Implementation Communication Plan STEP NO.

WFP STAKEHOLDERS

1

Agency Head

2

Executive Champion/Workforce Stakeholders

3

HR Executive Champion

4

Executive /Senior Leadership

5

Frontline Managers

6

WFP Project Lead WFP Workgroup

7

HR Executive Champion

8

Communication Workgroup

STEP Announce new strategic direction of agency.

Develop Communication Strategy for agency-wide distribution.

Inform union representative about the WFP action plan implementation process and expected results.

Share information with frontline managers regarding WFP action plan implementation process.

Discuss WFP implementation process with employees. Share general information with all employees about the initiative to ensure they understand what WFP is and why the agency is undergoing the process.

Also, solicit volunteers for sub-workgroup.

Brief Executive Champion on the status of WFP action plan implementation progress.

Brief union representative on the status of WFP action plan implementation progress.

Provide agency-wide update on the plan and the evaluation process.

DELIVERY METHOD Town Hall Meeting

DATE/DATE RANGE TBD

Communication Workgroup

Ongoing

Meeting

Quarterly

Manager Meeting Emails Workgroup Newsletter

Ongoing

Staff Meetings

Ongoing

Report

Weekly

Meetings

Quarterly (As-needed)

Town Hall Meeting Email Leadership Newsletters

Quarterly

184

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

“How Can I Replicate Workforce Planning Across the Organization?”

After developing the WFP action and communication plans, leaders are responsible for creating an environment for replicating enterprisewide workforce planning that supports an evaluation process for monitoring, analyzing and reporting future workforce changes. Developing a community of practice will ensure that your organization has an established platform for collaborating and sharing information that fosters and enhances workforce planning methodologies, tactics, techniques and best practices.

Begin by engaging each management official responsible for staffing and budget within the organization. Typically, these engagements are led by the agency’s workforce program manager. The goal is to have each management official identify a primary, secondary and possibly a tertiary person to participate on the workforce COP forum. The objective is to ensure that more than one person is responsible for WFP activities and that a successor can easily intervene in the absence of the primary COP participant. I highly recommend scheduling biweekly

IMPLEMENTATION/ACTION PLANNING

185

meetings to avoid meeting burnout. Meetings may be conducted in person or virtually. The virtual format is becoming increasingly popular as more organizations extend telecommuting to their employees. Develop a charter; doing so gains leadership support and ensures the COP’s sustainability. The charter should include the needs, scope, justification, resource commitments and intended audience.

This process will help eliminate poor habit-forming techniques and practices by introducing uniformed tools, methods, techniques and best practices in a shared environment. Agencies benefit from having greater continuity and consistency in how workforce planning is conducted across the organization.

Updating workforce plans for future use becomes less exhaustive in overall time delivery without sacrificing quality and data integrity. The following are some recommended goals that you may consider adopting when developing your COP:

186

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

COP Goals: • Work towards solutions for issues identified as priorities for strategic workforce planning • Evaluate the success of the COP on a regular basis • Seek collaboration points with SWP external partners (i.e., other federal agencies) • Develop and support SWP best practices • Share new techniques, methods and practices • Encourage and commit to standard adoption

CHAPTER X EVALUATE, MONITOR AND REVISE

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”

PETER DRUCKER CONSULTANT & AUTHOR

The Art of Measuring Workforce Planning Outcomes Effective workforce planning focuses on successful implementation of gap closure strategies. Evaluating and monitoring performance measures associated with each gap closure strategy allow executive and senior leaders to assess the ROI and make modifications to workforce and action plans as needed. This process promotes sustainability of the 187

188

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

organization to meet long-term business goals and objectives. Workforce sustainability is crucial to ensuring multiple touchpoints intersect with organization strategic priorities, from recruitment and retention, to building and maintaining a resilient highperformance work culture, while fostering a work-life balance among employees. Ensuring your organization has a mechanism for evaluating, monitoring and revising workforce plans will enable you to effectively gauge the ROI of talent management initiatives.

“What is the Return on Investment?”

Determining the ROI is essential to any organization to effectively maximize the use of resources and shifts efforts to meet changing business priorities. A recommended approach to gauging ROI involves measuring gap closure strategies against six performance measure elements: Recruitment, Selection, Performance Management, Professional Development, Retention and Succession Planning. Each of these elements focus on four performance management categories—Number Counts, Outcomes, Behaviors and Costs. These performance management categories enable leaders to conduct comparison analysis of current and previous counts to determine

EVALUATE, MONITOR AND REVISE

189

which direction the organization is trending for each performance measure element. Measuring outcomes allows WFP stakeholders to evaluate how well expected outcomes are being met. Evaluating behaviors provides a barometer to gauging both supervisor and employee satisfaction levels. Cost assessments quantify how financial and human capital resources are being utilized. It enables leaders to determine cost risks and adjust funding allocation where needed. As a good business practice, be sure to link performance objectives and elements that are aligned with action plans to produce desired outcomes. The following objectives are recommended performance elements and for evaluating success of an agency’s action plan implementation strategies.

Performance Measure Elements Recruitment – Objective: Improve recruitment strategies, attract better qualified applicants for selection and reduce the number of unused/returned certificates. Incorporate key performance indicators (KPIs) to better gauge organizational performance.

Selection – Objective: Implement competency-based selection strategies to select and retain employees

190

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

who have the experience and competencies to excel in the position.

Performance Management – Objective: Implement a competency-based performance management process to improve employee performance by clearly articulating what is expected of employees; provide constructive feedback and formulate development plans for continuous growth.

Professional Development – Objective: Implement a series of competency-based professional development strategies to provide developmental resources and opportunities to that are consistent with employee’s individual development plans in effort to strengthen current performance and future potential.

Retention – Objective: Implement competency-based retention strategies as a multilayered approach to retain identified high-performing employees who have demonstrated experience and competencies to excel in the position.

Succession Planning – Objective: Implement competency-based succession planning strategies to develop a pool of high-potential employees who can assume increased leadership roles in high-level

EVALUATE, MONITOR AND REVISE

191

positions as senior and executive leaders exit federal service.

“When Should I Review My Workforce Plan?”

The frequency of reviewing your agency workforce plan is crucial to maintaining the end-to-end hiring initiatives of the organization. Agency leaders, at a minimum, should review their workforce plans quarterly to monitor changes in their organization due to fluctuating business priorities.

Routine monitoring of staffing plans allows leaders to manage day-to-day personnel workflow to meet current fiscal year staffing needs to fill vacant positions. The combination of quarterly and routine staffing reviews ensures updates are ongoing to monitoring an agency’s annual workforce plan. I recommend linking each workforce planning phase to a Gantt chart or other project management solutions to ensure timetables are tracked and communicated to meeting plan objectives.

CONCLUSION The workforce planning methods, techniques and best practices that I have shared in this guide is the combination of time-honored practices and strategies applied by both federal- and private-sector leaders along with my professional experiences that span over three decades. My passion for developing a streamlined workforce planning process for federal government use drove me to writing this book to fill a void that many workforce planning stakeholders have been seeking for quite some time.

There are countless WFP methods, techniques and best practices that are available to private-sector organizations, but few targets addressing the federal workforce in a meaningful capacity. Often, many federal agencies workforce planning processes are conducted in a vacuum. Using the recommended processes in this guide, stakeholders’ interaction in collaborating and sharing information can lead to an end-to-end WFP process that can be replicated and 193

194

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

scaled to accommodate fluctuating changes in organizational business priorities. The principles and practices shared in this guide represent a tailored approach to eliminating isolations (bottlenecking), barriers and other challenges that can impede effective workforce planning processes.

This guide is designed to serve as a one-stop resource for federal agency executives, senior leaders and other workforce planning stakeholders by adopting a simplified approach to a complex and laborintensive process for recruiting and retaining talent.

Each chapter provides high-level overviews along with action-steps for accomplishing an end-to-end SWP process within your organization. No matter the starting point of your organizational workforce planning initiatives, this guide can aid stakeholders with reviewing current practices and adopting updated methods, techniques and best practices for successful WFP implementation.

To effectively use this guide, executives, senior leaders and other practitioners must have a firm understanding of their business environments in terms of connecting the dots throughout all phases of the workforce planning process. It is extremely imperative

CONCLUSION

195

that leaders avoid conducting recruitment and succession planning activities without first developing a validated workforce plan that supports talent management strategies. Remember to ensure that a strategic framework exists that is tied to budget prior to starting workforce planning efforts.

Establish timetables and communication plans that link each WFP phase (Supply, Demand, Gap Analysis and Gap Closure Strategies, Succession Planning, Implementation and Evaluation).

By applying these practices and principles, leaders and stakeholders can ensure they are well prepared to attract and retain the best qualified employees to meet both current and future work demands by transforming workforce data analysis into insight.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kimbertly’s career spans over 30 years across multiple work sectors, including military, corporate, entrepreneurial, non-profit and federal. He has amassed a broad wealth of experiences consisting of human capital, workforce and career development, human resources, business analytics, policy, training and development, operational and program management. Currently, Kimbertly serves as a Management Official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. In this role, he performs research, qualitative and quantitative data analysis for implementing enterprise-wide workforce planning, evaluation and program development.

197

198

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

Prior to joining CDC, Kimbertly has held multiple executive and senior leadership roles as President and Chief Executive Officer of Double Eagle Enterprises; Director of Training and Workforce Development, Culpepper & Associates Security Services; Operations Management, FedEx Express; and Communications and Logistical Management, United States Air Force.

Kimbertly also serves as a board member for various non-profit organizations as well. Throughout his career, Kimbertly has been an innovator of developing systems, tools, methodologies and best practices designed to allow organizational leaders to make informed decisions in hiring the right people, at the right place and at the right time.

Kimbertly is a 2015 President Management Council Fellow, sponsored by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Federal Executive Board (FEB) and holds a Master’s in Business Administration and Bachelor’s in Business Management from the University of Phoenix. He is certified as a Strategic Workforce Planner (SWP) through the Human Capital Institute (HCI).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing this book has been an amazing journey! One that I could not have completed without the love and support of outstanding family and friends. I first must thank my beautiful wife Sheryl, who has stood by my side through the peaks and valleys of life. Thank you for helping to keep me grounded and being my best friend. I love you dearly! Next, my mother Loretta, who has been my greatest champion of life! Thank you for instilling in me the strength and courage of believing in oneself! Mere words cannot express how much you mean to me. And to my sister, the beautiful and talented Shangra-la. Thank you for lending me your creative talents with promoting my book and being my sounding board, you will forever hold a special place in my heart. To my sons De’Sean and Cortrell, thank you for inspiring me to be a model example. I am so proud of the men who each of you have become. I look 199

200

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

forward to watching each of you raise your families and navigate your life journeys. To my brother Ernie, the best friend a man could have! Your brilliance, counsel and practicality are unmatched. Thank you for all that you do!

To my mentors, Avis, Sandra, Susan, Tracy, Louis and Reggie; each of you have left an indelible impression upon me that I wear as a badge of honor. I thank you for your knowledge, time, straightforwardness, patience and, the greatest gifts of all, your insight and friendship. My journey would be incomplete without you! Al, thank you for peerreviewing the book and providing excellent input!

Sheila, thank you for writing the Foreword! It seems like only yesterday when we first met; where has the time gone? You are an amazing talent and I am truly fortunate to have you as my friend and colleague! To my copy editor Nancy, simply phenomenal! Thank you!

My list of acknowledgements is too long to name.

To my family and friends who I did not mention, please know I appreciate and love each of you for your support and love throughout the years. I am truly fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my life.

Thank you!

NOTES INTRODUCTION 1. Lakein, A (no date [n.d.]). Alan Lakein quotes & sayings. http://www.searchquotes.com/quotes/author/Ala n_Lakein/ (Accessed January 6, 2017).

2. Strategic workforce planning (n.d.). http://www.haygroup.com/en/yourchallenges/strategic-workforce-planning/ (Accessed January 6, 2017).

3. OPM.gov (n.d.). Human capital management. https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-0208/pdf/2016-02112.pdf (Accessed January 6, 2017).

201

202

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

CHAPTER ONE 1. Crosby, P (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/ philcrosby178059.html (Accessed January 7, 2017).

CHAPTER TWO 1. Schwartz, J (2016; February 18). How HR can improve the business bottom line.https://www.visier.com/hr-leadership/howhr-can-improve-the-business-bottom-line/ (Accessed January 7, 2017).

2. Brown, D (2013; April 9). Improving performance in government. https://www304.ibm.com/events/wwe/grp/grp00 4.nsf/vLookupPDFs/Brown_Results%20Driven%20 Budgeting/$file/Brown_Results%20Driven%20Bud geting.pdf (Accessed February 19 , 2017).

3. OMB Circular A-11 (2017; August 11). Overview of the budget. https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a11_ current_year_a11_toc (Accessed August 19, 2017).

NOTES

203

CHAPTER THREE 1. 15 Great Quotes on The Importance of Asking the Right Question (2012; February 25). http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/archive s/2012/02/1_its_not_that.shtml (Accessed February 20, 2017).

2. SAP Success Factors (2014). 100 Critical human capital questions. (How well do you really know your organization?) https://www.sap.com/docs/download/2015/08/2 e95bcfd-377c-0010-82c7-eda71af511fa.pdf (Accessed February 20, 2017).

CHAPTER FOUR 1. Doyle, AC (n.d.). AZ quotes. Retrieved from http://www.azquotes.com/quote/417582 (Accessed March 5, 2017).

2. OPM.gov (n.d.). Human capital management (reference materials). https://www.opm.gov/policy-dataoversight/human-capital-management/referencematerials/ (Accessed March 5, 2017).

3. Human Capital Institute (2010). Role segmentation. http://www.acina.org/static/entransit/Strategic%20Workforce%2 0Planning.pdf (Accessed March 5, 2017).

204

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

4. OPM.gov (2014; November 15). The guide to data standards (Part A: Human Resources). https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/dataanalysis-documentation/data-policyguidance/reporting-guidance/part-a-humanresources.pdf (Accessed March 5, 2017).

5. OPM.gov (n.d.). OPM’s workforce planning model. https://www.opm.gov/policy-dataoversight/human-capital-management/referencematerials/strategicalignment/workforceplanning.pdf (Accessed March 5, 2017).

CHAPTER FIVE 1. Patton, G S (no date [n.d.]). General Patton. http:// http://www.generalpatton.com/quotes/ (Accessed March 10, 2017).

2. Brenner, L (2017; March 10). Build, buy or borrow? Determining your talent strategy game plan. http://talentgrowthadvisors.com/resources/blog/ build-buy-or-borrow-determining-your-talentstrategy-game-plan (Accessed March 10, 2017).

3. Accenture (2005). Creating public sector value in a rapidly aging world (Aging workforce in government white paper).

NOTES

4.

5.

6.

7.

205

http://www.beta.mmb.state.mn.us/doc/wfp/Agin gWorkforce.pdf (Accessed March 10, 2017).

Chief HRO.com (2016; March 2). The ticking time bomb in the federal workforce. https://chiefhro.com/2016/03/02/the-tickingtime-bomb-in-the-federal-workforce/ (Accessed March 10, 2017).

Ogrysko, N (2016; June 22). Agencies see low interest in joining SES as most executives near retirement. https://federalnewsradio.com/ses/2016/06/agenc ies-see-low-interest-joining-ses-executives-nearretirement/ (Accessed March 10, 2017).

Rein, L (2013; August 26). Wave of retirements hits federal workforce. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/waveof-retirements-hitting-federalworkforce/2013/08/26/97adacee-09b8-11e38974f97ab3b3c677_story.html?utm_term=.a2fb28df3e 31 (Accessed March 10, 2017).

The White House (2017; January 23). Presidential memorandum regarding the hiring freeze. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pressoffice/2017/01/23/presidential-memorandum-

206

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

regarding-hiring-freeze (Accessed March 10, 2017).

8. Congressional Budget Office (2016; December 8).

Reduce the size of the federal workforce through attrition. https://www.cbo.gov/budgetoptions/2016/52222 (Accessed March 10, 2017).

CHAPTER SIX 1. Waitley D (n.d.). Denis Waitley quotes. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8memorable-quotes-importance-data-webanalytics-chris-bennington (Accessed March 18, 2017).

2. SME Toolkit (2016). Demand Forecasting. http://www.smetoolkit.org/smetoolkit/en/con tent/en/416/Demand-Forecasting (Accessed March 18, 2017).

3. Ogilvy, J (2015; January 7). Scenario planning and strategic forecasting. https://worldview.stratfor.com/weekly/scenari o-planning-and-strategic-forecasting (Accessed March 18, 2017).

4. Management Study Guide (n.d.). Assessment Methodologies to evaluate competencies. http://www.managementstudyguide.com/asse

NOTES

207

ssment-methodologies.htm (Accessed March 18, 2017).

5. CPS Human Resource Services (2007; December 1). Workforce planning tool kit: Supply/demand analysis and gap analysis. http://www.cpshr.us/workforceplanning/docu ments/ToolKitSuppDemGapAnalysis.pdf (Accessed March 18, 2017).

6. HR University (n.d.). Human resources management competency modelcompetencies confirm for training and development. https://hru.gov/Career/HR_Competencies.aspx (Accessed March 20, 2017).

CHAPTER SEVEN 1. Brainy Quote (n.d.). Bruce Feirstein quotes. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes /b/brucefeirs161982.html (Accessed April 8, 2017).

2. Performance.gov (n.d.). PG4 closing the skills gap for HR workforce. Retrieved from https://www.performance.gov/content/pg4closing-skills-gap-hr-workforce (Accessed April 8, 2017).

208

STRATEGIC WORKFORCE PLANNING FEDERAL GUIDE

3. United States Office of Personnel Management (2013; August). Human resources flexibilities and authorities in the federal government. https://hru.gov/documents/MentoringStudio/ humanresourcesflexibilitiesauthorities.pdf (Accessed April 8, 2017).

4. CPS Human Resource Services (2007; December 1). Workforce planning tool kit: Supply/demand analysis and gap analysis. http://www.cpshr.us/workforceplanning/doc uments/ToolKitSuppDemGapAnalysis.pdf (Accessed March 18, 2017).

CHAPTER EIGHT 1. Brainy Quote (n.d.). Anne M. Mulcahy quotes. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes /a/annemmulc566869.html (Accessed April 14, 2017).

2. OPM.gov (n.d.). Workforce & succession planning. https://www.opm.gov/services-foragencies/workforce-successionplanning/succession-planning/#url=SuccessionRisk-Assessment (Accessed April 8, 2017).

3. CRG emPerform (n.d.). Build your own ninebox talent matrix. http://www.employee-

NOTES

209

performance.com/pdf/Build-your-own-ninebox.pdf (Accessed April 8, 2017).

CHAPTER NINE 1. Brainy Quote (n.d.). Mahatma Gandhi quotes. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes /m/mahatmagan120119.html (Accessed April 22, 2017).

2. CPS Human Resource Services (2007; December 1). Developing a communication plan for your WFP implementation. http://www.cpshr.us/workforceplanning/docu ments/GuidelinesCommPlanforWFPImpl.pdf (Accessed March 18, 2017).

CHAPTER TEN 1. Drucker Institute (2013; July 4). Measurement myopia. http://www.druckerinstitute.com/2013/07/me asurement-myopia/ (Accessed April 29, 2017).

2. CPS Human Resource Services. (2007; December 1). Evaluating workforce planning results. http://www.cpshr.us/workforceplanning/docu ments/EvalTool3EvalResults.pdf (Accessed March 18, 2017).