The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is asking agencies to take a number of actions to better track progress on the first priority in the President’s Management Agenda (PMA), which aims to strengthen and empower the Federal workforce.
In guidance issued on Nov. 30, OPM Director Kiran Ahuja, Defense Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks, and Labor Deputy Secretary Julie Su – who are the workforce priority area leaders for that section of the PMA – set a number of actions for agencies in order to better track data collection.
The workforce priority area – identified by OMB last year as one of three primary PMA goals – serves to advance the Biden-Harris administration’s vision to have the Federal government be a model employer, operated by a talented, diverse, and engaged workforce.
“PMC [President’s Management Council] members should ensure their agencies track progress on each of the below success metrics identified for these four target outcomes, as they develop and execute agency actions – and participate in interagency efforts – to advance the strategies and goals of the PMA Workforce Priority,” the three officials wrote. “PMC members, supported by their CHCOs [chief human capital officers], and in collaboration with broader agency leadership teams, should work to set ambitious yet achievable multi-year goals for their agencies as it relates to these success metrics.”
The first of the four outcomes identified in the guidance is to “increase agency OPM Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (OPM FEVS) Employee Engagement Index (EEI) scores by narrowing agency-identified gaps in EEI by employee group or organizational unit by 20 percent.”
To meet this goal by the end of 2024, the administration is asking agencies to review their OPM FEVS EEI scores and analyze the results to identify areas of success or improvement. Agencies should submit their EEI analysis by Jan. 30, 2023, to MAX.gov.
The second outcome is to “increase the percentage of hiring manager satisfaction with the hiring process.”
To do so, agencies are instructed to encourage hiring managers to complete the existing CHCO Hiring Manager Satisfaction survey, and continue to analyze the results to determine challenges and opportunities in the hiring process.
The third goal is to “increase the percentage of agencies meeting projected mission-critical occupation (MCO) hiring and staffing targets.”
Agencies will be required to provide their hiring projections by Jan. 30, 2023, for fiscal year 2023 to the MAX portal. The guidance also instructs agencies to review other hiring factors, including applicant flow data, outreach and recruitment efforts, and the use of hiring authorities.
Finally, the last goal set forth in the guidance is to better measure “OPM FEVS DEIA [diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility]” efforts, promoting DEIA strategies and practices across all human capital activities.
To make this happen, the guidance instructs agencies to collaborate with agency chief diversity officers and other diversity leaders to “review ways employees report barriers to implementing DEIA practices to identify areas of possible inequity.” Additionally, agencies should connect the outcomes from the DEIA OPM FEVS measures to their DEIA strategic planning.
