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Priority of the President's Management Agenda

Strengthening and Empowering the Federal Workforce

Challenge

More than 4 million Americans—including more than 2.1 million federal civilian employees—work for our Federal Government, both at home and overseas.

To be a government for all of the American people, we need to focus on those who keep our government running and deliver services each day. Given the changing nature of work, new technology, and the evolving skills needed to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow, we must invest in our public servants who are the backbone of our government.

Opportunity

Federal agencies must attract, hire, develop, and empower talented individuals who are well suited and well prepared to face the challenges the government faces, both in the near and long term.

Agencies must also use what they have learned about the resilience and adaptability of the federal workforce to make the Federal Government an ideal, modern, and forward-thinking employer. As federal agencies continue to chart a path forward together on the future of federal work, they will engage with public servants as well as stakeholders within and outside of government to make every federal job a good job and give our workforce what they need to succeed.

Leadership
Kiran Ahuja
Director • OPM
Kathleen Hicks
Deputy Secretary • DOD
Janet McCabe
Deputy Administrator • EPA
Julie Su
Deputy Secretary • DOL

Activity

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April 2024

On April 4, OPM announced a final rule that clarifies and reinforces long-standing protections and merit system principles for career civil servants as they relate to the involuntary movement of federal employees and positions from the competitive service to the excepted service or from one excepted service schedule to another. The final rule, Upholding Civil Service Protections and Merit System Principles, is yet another way the Administration is showing its deep commitment to the federal workforce.

On April 11, OPM issued a final rule that revises the regulations governing the Pathways Programs and significantly expands opportunities for early career talent. Updates include expanding skills-based hiring through qualifying career and technical education programs, raising the ceiling for starting salaries for recent graduates, and easing the path for interns to be converted into permanent positions. This final rule strengthens the federal government’s early career talent pipeline and ensures federal agencies have even greater access to diverse talent across the country. 

On March 6, the President issued Executive Order (EO) 14119 on Scaling and Expanding the Use of Registered Apprenticeships in Industries and the Federal Government and Promoting Labor-Management Forums. The EO reinforces efforts under the PMA to make the Federal Government a model for the use and promotion of skills-based hiring, which reduces barriers to employment and attracts a diverse workforce. It does so by creating more Registered Apprenticeship programs in the federal workforce, encouraging agencies to give preference to recipients that hire individuals who have participated in Registered Apprenticeship programs, and increasing worker voice in federal programs and contracts.

On February 27, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the first-ever government-wide Military-Connected Strategic Plan for FY 2024-2028 to support agencies in their efforts to recruit, hire, and retain military-connected spouses, caregivers, and survivors within the Federal Government. The strategies in this plan help agencies take a comprehensive and collaborative approach to support military-connected families in the Federal Government, with the goal of increasing the number of military-connected spouses in the workforce and utilizing their talents to better serve the American people. The plan is yet another example of how the PMA is tackling barriers to recruiting, hiring, and retaining talent in the federal workforce. 

In support of EO 14110 on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, OPM released guidance on Pay Flexibility, Incentive Pay, and Leave and Workforce Flexibility Programs for Artificial Intelligence (AI), AI-enabling, and Other Key Technical Employees on February 27.

OPM launched the Level Up to Public Service Initiative in April 2023 to increase awareness of and interest in public service careers among early career talent, specifically college and high school students from underserved communities. On April 9, OPM was joined by 30 other federal agencies to deliver Level Up to Public Service at Delaware State University in Dover, DE, where the program included reviewing and supporting development of federal resumes, USAJOBS profiles and applications, participating in mock interviews, a job fair, and panel discussions.

Highlights

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February 2024

Agencies are making progress in bringing the most qualified and diverse people into government through internships, pooled hiring, and an AI talent surge, as well as to ensure that well-being is at the center of workplace culture. OPM has posted the comprehensive 2023 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) Governmentwide Management Report to OPM’s public website, showcasing an increasingly resilient and engaged federal workforce. Highlights include a one percentage point increase in the governmentwide employee engagement index, which moved to 72%, tying the five-year high set in 2020, and a two percent improvement in the governmentwide Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Index to 71%. The report delivers an expanded and in-depth perspective on the government-wide results, which are also available through the new dynamic public FEVS dashboard. On January 29th, OPM released a final regulation that prohibits the use of previous non-federal salary history in setting pay for federal employment offers. The regulation further positions the federal government as a model employer that prioritizes fairness and opportunity. By helping to close gender and racial pay gaps, the rule is one more step to attract and retain a qualified, effective workforce drawn from the full diversity of America. Finally, on February 22, OPM launched the Workforce of the Future Playbook, which provides concrete actions agencies can take to build and equip the workforce of the future, incorporating both groundbreaking strategies and underutilized practices that will serve as the cornerstone for a future workforce that is more effective and more efficient. Each play in the Playbook includes promising practices from other agencies as well as tools and resources. To support agency implementation, OPM will be hosting a series of webinars in the coming months for supervisors and managers to learn from subject matter experts and hear from agencies who have successfully implemented these efforts.

Highlights

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December 2023

The Workforce Priority teams have continued to advance initiatives that strengthen and empower the federal workforce. This quarter, we are able to report significant updates in building a culture of workforce data across the Federal Government, enhancing onramp experience for early career talent, and expanding cross agency hiring. The Biden Administration exceeded its goal of hiring more than 5,800 targeted positions to support implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).

Over the last two years, Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has served as a strategic workforce partner for seven federal agencies and supported surge hiring for key positions, including engineers, scientists, project managers, Information Technology (IT) & Human Resource (HR) specialists, construction managers, and many more. OPM has deployed five interactive workforce dashboards to the 24 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies including the OPM Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA), Attrition, Time-to-Hire, and Cyber Workforce dashboards. OPM has also launched five pooled hiring efforts to support multi-agency hiring for Human Resource Specialists, Data Analysts, IT Product Managers, IT Specialists (Data Management), and entry level IT Specialists. Looking ahead, OPM will continue to support multi-agency pooled hiring efforts for mission critical occupations, with the goal of launching eight in FY24.

OPM co-hosted the October National Tech to Gov Virtual Forum and Job Fair in coordination with its agency and private sector partners, with over 3,000 registered participants representing 49 states. At the event, there were 3,200 one-on-one agency conversations across the 1,400 people who attended. Two-thirds of attendees said that they were more interested in government after the event than before. Leading up to the event, OPM, Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) U.S. Digital Service (USDS), and Tech to Gov partners hosted a five-part training series for HR, hiring managers, and technical leaders to better recruit and hire technical talent from the private sector.

Additionally, the President issued Executive Order 14110 on Oct. 30, 2023, for the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that aims to seize the promise and manage the risks of AI, including providing the building blocks for the coming AI federal sector workforce.

Finally, on the policy front, OPM issued final regulations to prohibit federal agencies from requesting criminal history during hiring, linked below, thereby expanding opportunities for people who have been incarcerated. These regulations also establish a framework for a complaint process that job applicants may use if they believe agencies have inappropriately requested criminal history too early in the hiring process.

Highlights

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August 2023

The Workforce Priority has continued to deliver on its commitments to strengthening and empowering the federal workforce. In May 2023, OPM released an Employee Wellness Program Guide for agency leaders. The discovery phase for a Job Exploration Tool was also completed, which will enable users to match their ideal careers and ways of working to federal job series. Additionally, OPM’s free hybrid work environment training has reached over 22,000 federal employees, with OPM planning to provide additional training sessions across the country and to expand via a “train the trainer” model for further adoption. In July, OPM proposed a regulation on Recruitment and Selection Through Competitive Examination, and Employment in the Excepted Service (known as the “Rule of Many”) that will provide expanded flexibility to agencies during candidate selection. OPM also issued guidance on new skills and competencies needed for positions related to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Looking ahead, the Workforce Priority team will double down on efforts that improve hiring, internships, employee experience, access to data, and many more initiatives which can be explored further in the strategy pages.

Highlights

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May 2023

The Workforce Priority has begun delivering several products to support agencies’ abilities to strengthen and empower their workforce. Some examples include: a training for managers on “Thriving in a Hybrid Environment,” new OMB guidance on improving Organizational Health and Organizational Performance across agencies, new OPM memo on Advancing Future of the Workforce Policies and Practices to Support Mission Delivery, new functionality on USAJOBS—called Talent Pools—to facilitate the sharing of hiring certificates across agencies, issuance of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Advancing Pay Equity, and public data products to better understand workforce insights.

Inter-agency teams continue to work collaboratively to support outcomes related to hiring, retention, employee engagement and well-being, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), leadership and skill development, and data-driven decision making. In the coming period, the Workforce Priority team will focus its efforts on empowering agencies to take action in support of the PMA’s objectives and continue its focus on enabling data-driven workforce decision making. For example, OPM will develop a method to track pooled hiring actions and candidates hired through pooled hiring actions in future quarters.

Highlights

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March 2023

The Workforce Priority has an ambitious set of goals and objectives to make progress for ederal employees and will be actively looking for ways to further engage agencies in supporting this work. PMA cross-agency Workforce Priority teams have begun implementing projects designed to further progress on the goals across each of the four strategies. Teams have launched government-wide working groups and communities of practice (CoPs), including the inter-agency Mental Health & Well-Being and Recruitment & Outreach CoPs. OPM has also released priority policy guidance to address central challenges identified by agencies to agencies, such as internship guidance designed to strengthen and diversify agencies’ pipelines for early career talent. To help promote a data-driven approach and create accountability across Government, agency guidance was delivered and agencies are making progress toward the four PMA Workforce Priority metrics, supported by guidance from the Priority Area Leaders; the metrics can be viewed on the new data page.

Highlights

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November 2022

In order to meet the opportunities outlined above, cross-agency teams representing almost 20 CFO Act agencies have identified a suite of activities to address some of the biggest opportunities and challenges facing the Government workforce. Across each of the strategies described below, these teams continue to keep diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) goals front and center as they consider and test solutions. Teams are now working to identify potential pilots for testing and evaluation, and to implement near-term actions. These actions could include, for example, new guidance for agencies or the development of shared tools or data. Below is a sampling of initial milestones that are guiding cross-agency groups as implementation gets underway. The PMA team has continued to engage stakeholders. Priority Area Leaders have developed guidance for agencies to support the adoption of Priority-level metrics.

Highlights

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July 2022

Cross-agency teams are advancing the PMA Workforce Priority across the identified Strategies and Goals, with cross-functional representatives from many agencies participating. These teams have been scoping the activities to support their goal statements, working to understand challenges, and exploring a broad range of solutions. Milestones included in this update represent initial foundational work to implement this Workforce Priority.

Hire Top Talent

One application, many jobs. One posting, many hires.

Typically, agencies engage in “one-for-one” hiring, where the agency posts one job announcement, resulting in one hire for one job at one agency. Pooled hiring can use one announcement to yield many hires for many jobs across many agencies.

Projects and Milestones

Completed

  • Launched three pooled hiring efforts in FY23 to support multi-agency hiring:
    • Human Resources Specialist, GS-0201-9/11;
    • Program Analyst (Data Analytics), GS-0343-13; and
    • IT Product Manager, GS-2210-13 certificate.

In progress

  • Launch eight pooled hiring efforts to support multi-agency hiring in FY24.

Agency Spotlight

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is launching an AI hiring action that all government agencies can leverage.

Expand Federal Internships

Make federal internships a part of Americans’ careers

Initiatives to support early career talent in government include improving the intern experience and developing tools to increase opportunities for hiring managers to convert eligible interns into career civil servants.

Projects and Milestones

Completed

  • Launched the intern conversion database in the USAJOBS Agency Talent Portal for agencies.
  • Published proposed regulations to update Pathways Programs.

In progress

  • Launch the 2024 summer internship experience program in FY24 Q3.
  • Establish a government-wide Mentoring Program for interns in FY24 Q3.

Agency Spotlight

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is committed to building the young talent pipeline. EPA is working towards doubling their interns by the end of Summer 2024.

Embed DEIA Throughout Government

Advance and integrate DEIA across the Federal Government

Recent efforts to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) strategies across all human capital activities include accelerating agencies’ ability to utilize and analyze applicant data to review barriers in the hiring process.

Projects and Milestones

Completed

  • Launched a Chief Diversity Officer Executive Council.
  • Launched the second annual national Employee Resource Group/Affinity Group Summit.

In progress

  • Create resources for agencies to manage, access, or analyze Applicant Flow Data (AFD) in FY24 Q3.
  • Develop a final report of observations, findings, and recommendations to accelerate an agency’s ability to conduct barrier analysis in FY24 Q4.

Agency Spotlight

The Department of Interior (DOI) has conducted a robust “Barrier Analysis” study with multiple DOI offices to understand the barriers to diverse applicants for Mission Critical Occupations.

Strengthen Government with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Tech Talent

Bring top-tier tech expertise to federal agencies

As technology rapidly evolves, with advancements in artificial intelligence, and digital infrastructure reshaping industries and societies, the government’s role in harnessing these developments responsibly has become increasingly crucial. Recognizing this, the recent AI Executive Order (EO) and Priority 1 of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) define a clear direction towards integrating top-tier tech expertise into federal agencies.

Recognizing technology’s growing importance across agencies, the Federal Government is actively recruiting talent in AI, cybersecurity, and other tech fields.

Projects and Milestones

Completed

  • Launched a Tech to Gov Working Group to bring together human resource teams, hiring managers, tech leadership, and others involved in bringing more tech, cyber, AI, and data talent into government.

In progress

  • Improve recruiting pipeline for hard-to-fill federal occupations (STEM, program management, mission support) by sponsoring and coordinating “value of public service” campaigns to non-traditional job applicants and sources in FY23 Q4 and continuing on an ongoing basis.
  • Accelerate the hiring and onboarding of STEM roles in engineering and science occupations in FY23 Q3 and continuing on an ongoing basis.

Agency Spotlight

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched the AI Corps, a first-ever hiring sprint to recruit 50 AI professionals in 2024.

Prioritizing Employee Engagement and Well-being

Healthy organizations need healthy employees

Strengthening the performance of the Federal Government is inseparable from employee health. The Workforce Priority is committed to identifying leading practices, resources, and strategies for agencies to help foster cultures within that support mental health and well-being. 

Initiatives include launching the Chief Human Capital Officers’ (CHCO) Council Employee Engagement Working Group and Community of Practice and the Mental Health & Well-Being cross-agency steering committee and Community of Practice.

Projects and Milestones

Completed

  • Launched a Mindfulness Community of Practice offering services including mindful space and guided meditations to help cultivate wellbeing and resilience in the federal workplace.
  • Issued resources and/or tools for agencies on well-being and mental health.
  • Launched an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) revitalization effort.
  • Released an Employee Wellness Program (EWP) Guide for Agency Leaders.

In progress

  • Deliver employee development programs and service options based in mindfulness practices and strategies on an ongoing basis.
  • Release EAP training for agency coordinators, supervisors/managers and employees in FY24 Q4.
  • Launch an education campaign about EAP to maximize awareness and impact of use in FY24 Q3.

Agency Spotlights