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U.S. Government Accountability Office:
GAO:
The Human Capital Strategic Plan:
Fiscal Years 2004-2006:
Accountability:
Integrity:
Reliability:
A Message from the Comptroller General:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
GAO exists to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional
responsibilities and to help improve the performance and ensure the
accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the
American people. To accomplish its mission, GAO depends on a diverse
and knowledge-based workforce comprising individuals with a broad
spectrum of technical and program skills and institutional memory. This
workforce represents GAO's human capital--its greatest asset--and is
critical to the agency's success in serving the Congress and the
nation.
This strategic human capital plan is a key step in continuing GAO's
progress to build a highly effective, performance-based organization by
attracting, retaining, motivating, and rewarding a high-performing,
top-quality workforce. GAO believes that strategic human capital
management must be the centerpiece of any serious change management
initiative and effort to transform the culture and operations of any
large organization, including government agencies. This plan extends
and builds upon what GAO has already accomplished by using existing
administrative authorities and by pursuing incremental additional tools
and flexibilities legislatively. From the demonstrated results that GAO
has achieved, it is clear that we have been a leader in human capital
or people strategy within the federal government. At the same time,
this strategic human capital plan is intended to build on these
accomplishments and position GAO for the future. The plan includes a
continuing emphasis on the skills, knowledge, and performance of GAO's
workforce as the primary factors in connection with GAO's employment
and compensation policies. Additionally, achieving a diverse,
empowered, and enabled workforce while assuring opportunities for all
and preventing discrimination are also important elements in this plan.
Importantly, this strategic human capital plan is directly linked to
GAO's overall strategic vision of what it wants to accomplish and will
serve as a cornerstone in our future change management and agency
transformation initiatives.
Since maximizing performance and ensuring accountability are at the
heart of GAO's mission, the agency believes that it must lead by
example in all major management areas, including human capital. By
managing its workforce strategically, integrating its internal
strategic and workforce plans, and focusing on results, GAO is helping
to improve its performance and enhance accountability. By doing so, GAO
also hopes to demonstrate to other federal agencies that they can make
similar improvements in the way they manage their people within the
context of current law while also helping to identify the kinds of
more-comprehensive legislative reforms that should be enacted.
Signed by:
David M. Walker:
Comptroller General of the United States:
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION:
GAO Personnel Act of 1980:
Human Capital Challenges:
Public Law 106-303:
GAO Human Capital Reform Act of 2004:
How GAO Will Utilize These New Flexibilities:
Possible Budgetary Constraints:
Human Capital Office Transformation:
The Strategic Environment:
GAO's STRATEGIC HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT PLAN: FOUR HUMAN CAPITAL
CORNERSTONES:
Leadership:
Strategic Human Capital Planning:
Acquiring, Developing, and Retaining Talent:
Creating a Results-Oriented Organizational Culture:
APPENDIX I--MEASURING GAO's MANAGEMENT OF PEOPLE:
[End of Table of Contents]
INTRODUCTION:
GAO Employee Facts:
Number of Employees:
Total: 3,300;
75 percent in headquarters;
25 percent in 11 main field offices.
Primary job series:
Analyst: 54 percent;
IT Specialist: 8 percent;
Auditor: 7 percent;
Attorney: 4 percent;
Economist: 2 percent;
All others: 25 percent.
Highest degree:
Master's: 50 percent;
Bachelor's: 28 percent;
Doctorate: 11 percent;
JD/LLB: 4 percent;
Associate: 2 percent;
None: 5 percent.
Academic disciplines[A]:
Business Administration: 660;
Accounting: 622:
Political Science: 538:
Public Administration: 474:
Public Policy Analysis: 382:
Economics: 404:
History: 253:
International Relations: 253:
All other: 3,331:
Source: GAO.
Note: Numbers include mission staff and mission-support staff.
[A] Many employees have multiple degrees.
[End of table]
With approximately 3,300 employees, GAO is a multidisciplinary
professional services organization that conducts a wide range of
financial and performance audits, program evaluations, management
reviews, investigations, and legal services spanning a broad range of
government programs and functions. Given GAO's role as a key provider
of information and analyses for the Congress, maintaining the right mix
of technical knowledge and subject matter expertise as well as general
analytical skills is vital to achieving the agency's mission. GAO
spends about 80 percent of its resources on its people. And yet, like
other federal agencies, GAO has faced significant human capital
challenges--challenges that if not effectively addressed, could impair
the responsiveness and quality of its work for its congressional
clients and the American people they represent.
Carrying out GAO's mission today is a multidisciplinary staff
reflecting the diversity of knowledge and competencies needed to
deliver a wide array of products and services to support the Congress.
GAO's mission staff hold degrees in a variety of academic disciplines,
such as accounting, law, engineering, public administration, economics,
and the social and physical sciences. GAO is extremely proud of its
employees and the difference that they make for the Congress and the
nation. It is fair to say that while they account for about 80 percent
of GAO's costs, they constitute 100 percent of the agency's
intellectual assets.
Unlike many executive branch agencies, which have either recently
received or are just requesting new broad-based human capital tools and
flexibilities, GAO has had certain human capital tools and
flexibilities for over two decades. As a result, to some extent, GAO
has been able to develop and implement a human capital management
system with a degree of independence that most agencies in the
executive branch do not have. For example, GAO is excepted from certain
provisions of Title 5, which governs the competitive service, and GAO
is not subject to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) oversight.
GAO Personnel Act of 1980:
Until 1980, GAO's personnel system was indistinguishable from those of
executive branch agencies--that is, GAO was subject to the same laws,
regulations, and policies as they were. However, with the expansion of
GAO's role in the congressional oversight of federal agencies and
programs, concerns grew about the potential for conflicts of interest.
Could GAO conduct independent and objective reviews of executive branch
agencies such as OPM when these agencies had the authority to review
GAO's internal personnel activities? As a result, GAO worked with the
Congress to pass the GAO Personnel Act of 1980, the principal goal of
which was to avoid potential conflicts by making GAO's personnel system
more independent of the executive branch. Along with this independence,
the act gave GAO greater flexibility in hiring and managing its
workforce. Among other things, it granted the Comptroller General
authority to:
* appoint, promote, and assign employees without regard to Title 5
requirements in these areas;
* set employees' pay without regard to the federal government's
classification standards and requirements (e.g., those for General
Schedule); and,
* establish a merit pay system for appropriate officers and employees.
By excepting the agency from the above requirements, the GAO Personnel
Act of 1980 allowed the agency to pursue some significant innovations
in managing its people. One key innovation was the establishment of a
"broad banding," or "pay banding," approach for classifying and paying
the agency's analyst and attorney workforce in 1989. This was coupled
with the adoption of a pay-for-performance system for this portion of
the workforce. Therefore, while other agencies are only now requesting
the authority to establish broad banding and pay-for-performance
systems, GAO has had almost 15 years of experience with such systems.
On the basis of analyses and feedback from managers and employees, in
an effort aimed at continuous improvement, GAO is currently undertaking
a comprehensive classification and compensation review with respect to
its broad-banded systems. The overriding objective of this review is to
assure that our policies and practices enable GAO to attract, retain,
and reward top talent--both now and in the future. This main objective
is supported by four key principles: (1) classification and
compensation systems should result in equal pay for work of equal value
over time, (2) the classification program should be an accurate
reflection of what we expect our people to do, (3) classification and
compensation systems should be reasonable and competitive, and (4)
these same programs should be affordable and sustainable on the basis
of current and expected resource levels. In addition to reviewing and
updating our existing broad-banding and pay-for-performance systems,
work is under way to convert the agency's mission support
(administrative) staff to a broad-banded, pay-for-performance system
during the latter part of fiscal year 2004.
Human Capital Challenges:
A number of the human capital challenges that GAO has faced were
created by the significant reduction in the size of the agency
undertaken in the mid-1990s. Specifically, from fiscal year 1992
through fiscal 1997, GAO underwent budgetary cuts totaling 33 percent
in constant fiscal 1992 dollars. To achieve those budgetary reductions
while meeting other agency needs, GAO reduced the number of its
employees 39 percent through extensive field office closings and
targeted reductions in headquarters staff. To conform to the reduced
budgetary ceiling, GAO then instituted a virtual hiring freeze at the
entry level, cut training for all staff, suspended agencywide incentive
programs, and at times used mid-level promotions as a retention
strategy. Because of the reduction in hiring and the nature of the
then-existing reduction-in-force (RIF) rules, the average age of the
agency's workforce increased, and the retirement eligibility of staff
accelerated. Analyses showed that by the end of fiscal 2004, about 34
percent of all GAO employees would be eligible to retire. For upper-
level staff, the proportion eligible to retire was even larger: 48
percent of all band III management-level employees and 55 percent of
all Senior Executive Service members.
Thus, as at many federal agencies, GAO's human capital profile had come
to reflect a workforce that was smaller, older, and increasingly top-
heavy. In addition to the succession-related concerns raised by such a
profile, GAO also faced a range of skills gaps. As major policy issues
have become more complex and as technology has radically altered the
way the federal government conducts business, the types of skills and
knowledge needed by GAO staff have been evolving, and the need for
sophisticated technical skills has been increasing.
In the late 1990s, GAO's leadership recognized that GAO's human capital
profile and selected skills gaps presented serious challenges to GAO's
future ability to serve the Congress. The Comptroller General also
sought to have GAO become a model federal agency and a world-class
professional services organization that focuses on delivering positive
results for the Congress and the country. GAO's ability to operate in
an efficient, effective, and economical manner and meet the ever-
changing and increasingly complex needs of the Congress could be
seriously compromised if the agency's human capital challenges were not
effectively addressed.
As a first step in addressing these concerns, GAO utilized its internal
administrative authority to implement measures to improve the alignment
of its human capital with overall strategic goals and objectives as
contained in GAO's Strategic Plan. After our first strategic plan was
developed in 2000, we used it to restructure our organization to align
with the goals and objectives of the plan. GAO's restructuring resulted
in the elimination of a layer of management and the consolidation of 35
issue areas into 13 teams, and further reduced our field offices from
16 to 11. These changes have enabled GAO to become less hierarchical,
process-oriented, "siloed," and internally focused and more results-
oriented, partnerial, client focused, and externally aware. Other major
human capital initiatives included an overall human capital self-
assessment, the revitalization of the recruiting and college relations
programs, a workforce planning process, and the establishment of a
professional development program for entry-level analysts.
These and subsequent measures improved the "shape" of the agency by
decreasing the number of midlevel managers and by increasing the number
of entry-level and other staff with the skills and abilities needed to
accomplish GAO's work as shown in figure 1.
Figure 1: FY 1998 Actual, and FY 2004, 2005 and 2006 Projected:
SES/SL;
FY 1998: 3.9%;
FY 2004: 4.0%;
FY 2005: 4.0%;
FY 2006: 4.0%.
Analyst band III;
FY 1998: 12.2%;
FY 2004: 13.4%;
FY 2005: 13.2%;
FY 2006: 13.0%.
Analyst band II;
FY 1998: 45.6%;
FY 2004: 38.8%;
FY 2005: 39.4%;
FY 2006: 40.0%.
Analyst band I;
FY 1998: 13.1%;
FY 2004: 20.3%;
FY 2005: 20.1%;
FY 2006: 19.9%.
Attorney & Criminal Investigator;
FY 1998: 4.2%;
FY 2004: 4.5%;
FY 2005: 4.6%;
FY 2006: 4.6%.
Admin. & Professional Support;
FY 1998: 21.0%;
FY 2004: 19.0%;
FY 2005: 18.7%;
FY 2006: 18.5%.
Source: GAO.
Note: Profiles represent staffing at the end of each fiscal year.
[End of table]
Public Law 106-303:
In addition to these initiatives, GAO's leadership recognized that
additional steps to reshape the agency's workforce were necessary and
that preexisting personnel authorities did not allow the agency to
address these challenges effectively. Therefore, GAO sought legislation
establishing narrowly tailored flexibilities that would help to reshape
its workforce and recruit and retain staff with needed technical
skills. On the basis of a sound business case, Pub. L. No. 106-303--
known as the GAO Personnel Flexibilities Act (the act)--was enacted in
October 2000. The act authorized the Comptroller General to implement
the following personnel flexibilities:
* offer voluntary early retirement ("early out") to realign the
workforce to meet budgetary constraints or mission needs; correct skill
imbalances; or reduce high-grade, managerial, or supervisory positions;
* offer separation incentive payments to realign the workforce to meet
budgetary constraints or mission needs; correct skill imbalances; or
reduce high-grade, supervisory, or managerial positions;
* establish modified regulations for the separation of employees during
a reduction or other adjustment in force;
* establish senior-level scientific, technical, and professional
positions and provide those positions with the same pay and benefits
applicable to the Senior Executive Service, while remaining within
GAO's current allocation of super-grade positions; and,
* renew 3-year term appointments.
Since the act's implementation in 2000, GAO found that the loss of
higher-level staff through the early out authority, along with the loss
of other employees whose skills did not match the agency's highest
priority needs, has helped GAO address succession planning and skill
imbalance issues in addition to increasing the numbers of entry-level
staff who can be hired. During this period, GAO also used its authority
to establish and fill eight senior-level positions, including that of a
Chief Accountant, Chief Economist, Chief Statistician, and Chief
Actuary. The other flexibilities have not been used to date.
GAO Human Capital Reform Act of 2004 The Congress recently passed GAO's
most recent legislative proposal combining diverse initiatives that,
collectively, should further GAO's ability to enhance its performance
and ensure its accountability through helping to ensure that it can
attract, retain, motivate, and reward a top-quality, high-performing
workforce. Some of these provisions give GAO the permanent authority to
use certain human capital tools and flexibilities that it has
effectively utilized, especially in changing the shape of its
workforce.
These initiatives should also have the beneficial effect of helping
guide other agencies in their human capital transformation efforts.
Specifically, the Congress provided the agency with the following
additional human capital tools and flexibilities:
* makes permanent GAO's 3-year authority to offer voluntary early
retirement and voluntary separation payments;
* allows the Comptroller General to adjust the pay rates of GAO
employees separately from the annual adjustments authorized for
executive branch employees;
* permits GAO to set the pay of an employee demoted as a result of
workforce restructuring or reclassification at his or her current rate
with no automatic annual increase to basic pay until his or her salary
is less than the maximum rate for the new position;
* provides authority to reimburse employees for some relocation
expenses when that transfer does not meet current legal requirements
but still benefits GAO;
* provides 20 days of annual leave for certain employees with less than
3 years of federal service;
* authorizes an executive exchange program with private-sector
organizations working in areas of mutual concern where GAO has a
supply-demand imbalance; and,
* changes GAO's name from the "General Accounting Office" to the
"Government Accountability Office.":
How GAO Will Utilize These New Flexibilities:
GAO will continue to use its early out authority when necessary to
realign GAO's workforce in order to meet budgetary demands or mission
needs, correct skill imbalances, or reduce high-grade positions.
Although GAO has not yet used its buyout authority and has no plans to
do so in the foreseeable future, the agency sought to retain this
flexibility to maximize the options available to the agency to deal
with future circumstances, which cannot be reasonably anticipated at
this time.
The pay flexibilities in the GAO Human Capital Reform Act of 2004 (HC
II) will give GAO the flexibility to make changes in the manner in
which it annually adjusts the basic pay rates of employees and allows
greater discretion in determining the annual across-the-board and
locality pay increases for our employees. GAO has the discretion to set
annual pay increases by taking into account alternative methodologies
from those used by the executive branch and various other factors, such
as extraordinary economic conditions or serious budgetary constraints.
GAO is no longer required to provide automatic pay increases to
employees who are rated as performing at a below satisfactory level.
When the legislation is fully implemented, GAO will be able to allocate
more of the funding historically allocated for automatic across-the-
board pay adjustments to permanent base pay adjustments that would vary
on the basis of performance. In addition, this flexibility affects all
GAO non-wage-grade employees, including the SES and Senior Level staff.
Ultimately, all GAO employees who perform at a satisfactory level will
receive an annual base pay adjustment composed of purchase power
protection and locality-based pay considerations absent extraordinary
economic circumstances or severe budgetary constraints. GAO will
develop and apply its own methodology for annual cost-of-living and
locality pay adjustments. For example, pay ranges in Washington, D.C.,
and in other cities in which GAO employees reside, will be based on the
results of an independent compensation study conducted for GAO that
will be tailored to the nature, skills, and composition of GAO's
workforce. The performance part of an employee's annual raise will
depend on the level of the employee's performance and that employee's
pay band. It is estimated that a vast majority of the workforce will
qualify for an additional performance-based increase. However, under
this provision, employees who perform below a satisfactory level will
not receive an annual increase of either type. In addition, all
compensation actions will be informed by the pending compensation
study.
GAO now has the authority, in appropriate circumstances, to reimburse
employees for some relocation expenses when transfers do not meet
current legal requirements for entitlement to reimbursement but still
benefit GAO. Under current law, employees who qualify for relocation
benefits are entitled to full benefits; however, employees whose
transfer may be of some benefit or value to the agency would not be
eligible to receive any reimbursement. This provision would provide
these employees some relief from the high cost of relocating while at
the same time allowing GAO the flexibility to promulgate regulations in
order to provide such relief. GAO now also has the authority to provide
160 hours (20 10 leave to appropriate employees in certain positions
who have less than 3 years of federal service. This is a necessary
flexibility to aid in the recruitment and retention of highly skilled
employees with little or no previous federal service. The authority to
set the pay of an employee demoted as a result of workforce
restructuring or reclassification at his or her current rate with no
automatic annual increase to basic pay until the salary is less than
the maximum rate for the new position will further the principle of
equal pay for work of equal value over time.
The Comptroller General may now create an executive exchange program
between GAO and the private sector. In skill areas where GAO has a
supply-demand imbalance, judicious use of such a program will promote a
healthy exchange of ideas, methods, and practices, which should prove
beneficial to all concerned. Changing the name of the agency to the
Government Accountability Office is intended to more accurately reflect
the modern audit and evaluation entity GAO has become. At the same
time, the well-known acronym "GAO," which has over 80 years of history
behind it, will be maintained.
Possible Budgetary Constraints:
Given large current budget deficits and the nation's long-range fiscal
imbalance, the Congress is likely to place increasing emphasis on
fiscal restraint beginning in fiscal year 2005. While it is unclear as
to how GAO will ultimately be affected, it is reasonable to assume that
any attempt to exercise additional budgetary discipline will include
GAO and other federal agencies. GAO must plan and prepare for the
possibility of significant and recurring constraints on the resources
made available to the agency. Since over 80 percent of our budget is
composed of people-related costs, any serious budget situation will
have an impact on our human capital policies and practices. This, in
turn, will have an impact on our ability to accomplish our mission and
meet our performance targets. Using our recent human capital
flexibility as a framework, GAO would consider such options as
conducting one or more early out offers, reviewing our policies and
approaches to total compensation, delaying or reducing investments in
discretionary programs that support the workforce, rethinking our
current approach to hiring, and considering workforce restructuring
actions on the basis of organizational need and budgetary
considerations.
Human Capital Office Transformation:
GAO's Human Capital Office (HCO) has taken a number of steps to
transform itself from a support function involved primarily in managing
personnel processes to one that has the data and analytical tools
necessary to assess GAO's workforce requirements, manage risk, and
provide managers with the human capital services they require to attain
GAO's strategic goals and objectives.
The agency has identified between 15 and 20 workforce performance
indicators to track on a dashboard for comprehensive data reporting and
benchmarking. Metrics are represented in a balanced scorecard for HCO.
Senior GAO managers will have online access to unit-specific data such
as attrition rates, offer acceptance rates, and new hire performance
data.
For the first time, agency staff were surveyed on their satisfaction
with the human capital information and services they receive. HCO is
using the survey results to formulate a service improvement action
plan, focusing on those services most important to GAO staff.
Improvement efforts will be tracked through the office's balanced
scorecard and publicized throughout the agency. Follow-up surveys will
be conducted on an annual basis.
GAO is also looking internally at the organizational structure and
skill base of HCO to identify changes necessary to become a more
consultative, decision support organization. A number of our internal
human capital processes have been reengineered to improve the
timeliness of delivering services to GAO employees. For example, the
number of calendar days to print and distribute personnel action
notification forms (SF-50s) to staff decreased by an average of 80
percent.
Over the last several years, GAO has undertaken a wide array of
initiatives to improve its human capital strategies. Table 1 highlights
a few of GAO's recent activities and accomplishments designed to
address its human capital challenges. (See p. 12.):
Table 1: Selected GAO Human Capital Administrative Actions:
* Updated self-assessment of GAO's human capital profile to better
understand the distribution of GAO's workforce by pay level, attrition
rates, retirement eligibility rates, projected retirements, and ratios
of managers to employees.
* Constructed and analyzed a detailed workforce planning model to
ensure that GAO hired, retained, and contracted for the appropriate
number of staff with the needed competencies.
* Developed certain "people measures" as part of GAO's balanced
scorecard to assess GAO's performance in human capital management,
including measures for attracting and retaining staff, staff
utilization and development, and organizational leadership.
* Intensified recruiting efforts targeted at the entry level through
aggressive college outreach and a streamlined application and hiring
process using Web-based systems.
* Implemented a new competency-based performance management system for
analysts and specialist staff that links individual employee
performance to the accomplishment of GAO's strategic goals and
objectives.
* Conducted annual employee feedback surveys to understand the status
and progress of the agency's improvement efforts and employee
satisfaction.
* Provided student loan repayment program of up to $6,000 per year for
employees willing to commit to remaining with GAO at least 3 years.
* Conducted biannual knowledge and skills inventory survey (KSIS) using
a Web-based tool to capture information about the knowledge and skills
of the workforce for use in workforce planning and engagement staffing.
* Achieved an elected Employee Advisory Council to facilitate open
communication and direct input from line employees to the Comptroller
General and other senior leaders on a wide range of agency policies and
programs including items such as workforce restructuring, performance-
based pay, and the employee preference survey.
* Conducted biannual employee preference surveys that give employees
the opportunity to be considered for reassignment to enrich their
skills and better accommodate personal interests while simultaneously
meeting organizational needs and priorities.
* Implemented early out authority to meet budgetary constraints,
correct skills imbalances, and help reduce the number of high-grade
managerial and supervisory positions.
* Revitalized analysts' learning and development curriculum to address
gaps in GAO's capacity for supporting analysts' core skills development
and undertaking the executive candidate development program.
* Established the Office of Opportunity and Inclusiveness to oversee
GAO's efforts to foster a work environment that is inclusive, fair, and
unbiased and values opportunity and diversity.
* Implemented additional family-friendly benefits such as business
casual dress and public transportation subsidies.
* Completed an agency organizational realignment, including eliminating
a layer of management, reducing the number of organizational units, and
closing 5 of 16 field offices, to enhance GAO's ability to achieve
strategic goals and objectives.
* Established career transition services to provide confidential career
transition services such as career assessment and planning, job search
assistance, résumé and cover letter writing, and interviewing
techniques.
* Established a professional development program (PDP) to help with the
transition of, maximize the productivity of, enhance the job
satisfaction of, and encourage the retention of newly hired, entry-
level staff.
* Developed knowledge transfer/retention program to transfer
institutional and individual knowledge, as well as train and mentor
less experienced employees until they are ready to assume higher-level
duties, by reemploying selected retiring employees with key skills and
knowledge for a temporary period without reducing their salary.
* Implemented an employee suggestion program that awards employees for
suggestions on ways to improve GAO's performance and accountability.
* Continued GAO's Executive Candidate Assessment and Development
Program to identify individuals at the GS-15/Band III level with
potential to take on executive-level responsibilities and provide them
with training to enhance their leadership skills.
Source: GAO.
[End of table]
The Strategic Environment:
GAO periodically scans the environment to identify current and emerging
worldwide, national, and regional trends that have implications for the
federal government and GAO's strategic priorities. A fuller
understanding of the strategic environment that informed the
development of this human capital strategy can be gained by accessing
GAO's updated Strategic Plan for 2004-2006 on the agency's Web site at
www.gao.gov. Some of the trends that are particularly significant in
the context of strategic human capital management include the
following:
National Environment:
* The national and global response to terrorism and other threats to
personal and national security.
* The increasing interdependence of enterprises, economies, civil
society, and national governments, referred to as "globalization.":
* The shift to market-oriented, knowledge-based economies.
* An aging and more diverse U.S. population.
* Advances in science and technology and the opportunities and
challenges created by these changes.
* Challenges and opportunities to maintain and improve the quality of
life for the nation, communities, families, and individuals.
* The increasingly diverse nature of governance structures and tools.
* Significant current and projected budget deficits.
Federal Environment:
As part of its transformation efforts, the federal government needs to
create a culture that moves from:
* process to results,
* "stovepipes" to matrixes,
* hierarchical and vertical to flatter and more horizontal structures,
* an inward focus to an external (citizen, customer, and stakeholder)
focus,
* micromanagement to employee empowerment,
* reactive behavior to proactive approaches,
* avoiding new technologies to embracing and leveraging them,
* hoarding knowledge to sharing knowledge,
* avoiding risk to managing risk, and,
* protecting "turf" to forming partnerships.
GAO:
* GAO has a commitment to lead by example and to be in the vanguard of
the federal government's overall transformation efforts, including
those in the critically important human capital area.
* GAO recognizes that its people are its most valuable asset.
* By managing its workforce strategically and focusing on achieving
positive and measurable results, GAO is helping to maximize its own
performance and ensure its own accountability.
* In light of achieving organizational results, GAO will continue to
strengthen the link between individual performance and pay/recognition.
* GAO will revise its comprehensive training and development program to
better target the competencies identified for its analyst workforce.
* GAO will continue to identify, make use of, and share a wide variety
of tools and flexibilities to strengthen its human capital programs.
* GAO will continue to make efforts to improve its human capital
management program in the following four overarching areas:
* Leadership.
* Strategic Human Capital Planning.
* Acquiring, Developing, and Retaining Talent.
* Creating a Results-Oriented Organizational Culture.
[End of section]
GAO'S STRATEGIC HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT PLAN: FOUR HUMAN CAPITAL
CORNERSTONES:
Leadership:
Top leadership must provide the committed, consistent, and inspired
attention needed to address human capital and related organizational
transformation issues. An effective organization includes a senior
leadership team committed to developing more-effective ways of doing
business, accomplishing results, and investing in human capital.
Perhaps the most important element of successful management reform is
the demonstrated commitment of top leaders to change. The Comptroller
General and GAO's top management team have clearly and consistently
demonstrated their commitment to GAO's human capital transformation
efforts.
To address current and emerging human capital challenges, GAO will
continue to identify and implement targeted human capital flexibilities
and reforms while assuring that adequate safeguards are incorporated to
prevent abuse. For these flexibilities and reforms to be effective, GAO
will obtain stakeholders' input to establish clear, well-documented,
and transparent policies and procedures and will help ensure employees'
input, understanding, and acceptance by communicating information on
design implementation and the use of the flexibilities to all staff.
GAO's October 2000 human capital legislation gave the agency additional
tools to realign its workforce in light of mission needs and overall
budgetary constraints; to correct skills imbalances; and to reduce
high-grade, managerial, or supervisory positions without reducing the
overall number of GAO employees. This legislation allowed the agency to
(1) create a technical and scientific career track at a compensation
level comparable to that of the SES and (2) give greater consideration
to performance and employee skills and knowledge in any RIF actions.
GAO has recently been granted additional human capital flexibility
legislation to enable the agency to better manage its people. These
flexibilities will, among other things, facilitate GAO's continuing
efforts to recruit and retain top talent, develop a more-performance-
based compensation system, help realign its workforce, and facilitate
its succession planning and knowledge transfer efforts.
To ensure that GAO has the workforce needed to accomplish its work for
the Congress, the agency must have policies and practices in place that
attract, retain, motivate, and reward top-quality staff. The following
two key efforts focus on the implementation and evaluation of existing
and potential human capital flexibilities. By undertaking these key
efforts and related initiatives, GAO will enhance organizational
performance by having a high-performing and skilled workforce in place
to achieve GAO's strategic goals and objectives now and in the future.
Key Efforts:
Key Effort 1: Implement and evaluate the effectiveness of human capital
flexibilities granted by Congress to assist GAO in managing our
workforce:
Expected Outcomes:
* GAO's human capital flexibilities address known challenges of
attracting, retaining, motivating, and rewarding a high-performing and
skilled workforce.
* Adequate safeguards are in place to ensure that employees are treated
consistently and fairly and that managers are held accountable.
* Managers and employees are familiar with GAO's human capital
flexibilities and use them effectively.
Measures:
* Documented policies, procedures, and evaluation plan are available to
all employees.
* Extent to which program objectives are met by implemented
flexibilities.
* Employee feedback data.
Initiatives:
* Develop clear, documented, and transparent policies and procedures to
implement approved flexibilities. (FY 2004-2006.):
* Educate managers and employees on the availability and appropriate
use of approved flexibilities through new or ongoing communication
mechanisms and management-training initiatives. (FY 2004-2006).
* Develop and implement a plan to evaluate the effectiveness of
approved flexibilities. (FY 2005-2006).
[End of figure]
Key Effort 2: Continuously assess GAO's need for additional workforce
flexibilities to enhance organizational human capital management and
seek changes where appropriate:
Expected Outcomes:
* Business case requesting additional and/or modified workforce
flexibilities linked to the accomplishment of organizational goals
presented to Congress.
Measures:
* Analysis of emerging workforce challenges completed.
* Additional and/or refined workforce flexibilities identified.
Initiatives:
* Determine need for seeking additional flexibilities through ongoing
analysis of emerging workforce challenges and evaluation results
examining the effectiveness of implemented flexibilities. (Ongoing):
[End of figure]
Strategic Human Capital Planning:
Effective organizations integrate human capital approaches as
strategies for accomplishing their mission and defined programmatic
goals and desired outcomes. The effectiveness of this integration is
judged by how well it helps achieve organizational goals. Furthermore,
high-performing organizations stay alert to emerging mission demands
and human capital challenges and remain open to reevaluating their
human capital practices in light of their demonstrated successes or
failures in achieving their strategic objectives.
The extent to which human capital approaches support the accomplishment
of programmatic goals can be evaluated through the use of workforce
planning. Workforce planning efforts, including succession planning
linked to strategic goals and objectives, can enable an agency to
remain aware of and be prepared for its current and future needs as an
organization, such as the size of the workforce; its deployment across
the organization; and the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for
the agency to pursue its mission.
To ensure that GAO more fully integrates its human capital policies,
systems, and strategies for accomplishing its strategic objectives, the
agency will continue to monitor and evaluate emerging mission demands
and related human capital challenges through an annual workforce
planning process. The workforce planning process will ensure that GAO
hires, retains, or contracts for the appropriate number of staff with
the competencies needed to achieve the agency's mission.
This planning will entail the collection of valid and reliable data on
such indicators as the distribution of employee skills and
competencies, attrition rates, and projected retirement rates and
retirement eligibility by occupation and organizational unit. In
addition to the following key efforts and supporting initiatives, GAO
will use its organizationwide knowledge and skills inventory to
identify current problems in its workforce and plan for future
improvements.
Key Effort 3: Enhance GAO's strategic human capital planning efforts to
more fully integrate them with the agency's strategic goals and
objectives:
Expected Outcomes:
* An improved human capital planning process that enhances the ability
to evaluate GAO's performance against established goals.
Measures:
* Size, shape, and competencies of the workforce meet targets necessary
to achieve organizational goals.
* Each human capital initiative has a clearly defined goal.
* GAO units have the opportunity to provide input to the human capital
strategic planning process.
Initiatives:
* Facilitate ongoing strategic human capital planning in support of
annual updates to GAO's strategic plan. (Ongoing):
* Ensure that each human capital initiative has clearly defined goals
and objectives that are linked to goals and objectives in GAO's
strategic plan. (Ongoing):
[End of figure]
Key Effort 4: Use workforce planning to more closely align GAO's human
capital assets with organizational needs and goals:
Expected Outcomes:
* Continued alignment of human capital resources with GAO's strategic
goals and objectives.
Measures:
* GAO's target work force is defined in terms of size, shape, and
competencies needed to accomplish organizational goals.
Initiatives:
* Align process for annual workforce planning and staffing needs
assessment with goals outlined in GAO's strategic plan. (Ongoing):
* Integrate succession planning into overall workforce planning
efforts. (FY 2005):
[End of figure]
Acquiring, Developing, and Retaining Talent:
GAO is committed to continuously improving recruiting, hiring,
professional development, and retention strategies to ensure that it
has the needed talent to accomplish its mission. Organizations that
effectively embrace the principles of modern human capital management
realize that as the value of their people increases, so does their
performance capacity. They also realize that investing in and enhancing
the value of employees is a win-win goal for employers and employees
alike.
Strategies for investing in human capital need to be fully integrated
with needs identified through the strategic planning process and the
annual workforce planning process. The goals and expectations for these
investments need to be transparent, clearly defined, and well
documented, and their rationale must be consistent across the range of
human capital programs. The efficiency of the investments needs to be
continuously monitored, and the effectiveness should be periodically
evaluated and reported.
In order to be a model organization, GAO is building and will maintain
a diverse work environment that is conducive to performance excellence;
encourages full participation by the workforce; and supports personal,
professional, and organizational growth. GAO wants to be regarded as an
employer of choice--one that recruits, develops, retains, and rewards
high-quality employees and is considered one of America's best places
to work. The following key efforts and supporting initiatives are
designed to ensure success in this endeavor:
Key Efforts--Attracting and Retaining a High-Quality Workforce:
Key Effort 5: Examine state-of-the-art recruiting programs, identify
best practices, and plan implementation of recommended actions to
enhance GAO's hiring program:
Expected Outcomes:
* Continued ability to recruit, hire, and retain a highly skilled,
diverse, and capable workforce.
Measures:
* Attrition and retention data.
* New hire survey data.
* Exit survey data (for interns and permanent hires).
* Employee feedback survey data.
* Candidate and new hire quality data.
Initiatives:
* Enhance GAO's hiring program by working with organizational units to
develop strategies for identifying and acquiring staff with needed
skills and competencies.
* Review the effectiveness of GAO's strategy to recruit, hire, and
retain a broad spectrum of candidates for employment and recommend
changes as appropriate. (Ongoing):
* Evaluate the impact and effectiveness of student loan repayment
program designed to recruit and retain highly qualified employees with
critical knowledge and skills. (FY 2004-2005):
* Use new flexibilities to remove barriers to addressing hard-to-fill
hiring needs (e.g., additional leave for upperlevel hires, private-
sector exchange program, and reimbursement for relocation expenses. (FY
2005):
[End of figure]
Key Effort 6: Identify and implement human capital sourcing strategies
for addressing workforce gaps not to be met by hiring:
Expected Outcomes:
* Workforce gaps filled by a competent and cost-effective workforce
solution other than hiring.
* Improved transfer of knowledge among GAO employees.
Measures:
* Return on investment analysis.
Initiatives:
* Study sourcing strategy options, including contracting out and the
use of consultants, and make recommendations as appropriate. (FY 2005-
2006):
* Continue implementing and evaluating GAO's knowledge retention
(phased retirement) program. (Ongoing):
* Continue implementing and evaluating the effectiveness of new
flexibilities that allow GAO to establish senior level positions to
meet critical scientific, technical, and professional needs. (Ongoing):
[End of figure]
Key Efforts--Developing the Skills and Competencies of GAO's Workforce:
Key Effort 7: Identify methods to improve staff development and
utilization:
Expected Outcomes:
* Enhanced utilization and development of GAO staff, including entry-
level analysts.
* Increased ability to attract, retain, motivate, and reward a highly
skilled, diverse, and capable workforce.
Measures:
* Employee satisfaction data on staff utilization.
* Percentage of staff working on matrix assignments.
Initiatives:
* Analyze and implement changes to the processes used to staff audit
and evaluation engagements, including multitasking and matrix
assignments. (FY 2004-2006):
* Enhance and modify the professional development program (PDP) in
response to GAO's and new hires' changing needs. (FY 2005):
* Track and assess assignment and training opportunities given to
individuals to assure that all staff are given the opportunity to
maximize their performance and make recommendations as appropriate. (FY
2005):
[End of figure]
Key Effort 8: Design and deliver a training and development program
that focuses on GAO's core competencies and creates a unified learning
architecture:
Expected Outcomes:
* Improved training and development program that prepares staff to
achieve GAO's strategic goals.
* GAO will better leverage learning dollars by creating capability for
desktop learning.
* GAO's learning expenditures will be better aligned with overall
organizational strategy and performance goals.
* Supervisors are better prepared to create and sustain a productive
work environment and to assume responsibility for developing staff.
* Save time and improve productivity, as more employees master
practical applications of technology to carry out assigned tasks.
Measures:
* Employees are able to search current curricula by competency, grade
level, topic, job title, role, and delivery mode.
* 25% of existing curricula content will be converted to allow Web-
based access.
* GAO can calculate the total cost of learning and prioritize spending
to support specific competency goals.
* Every supervisor and manager has timely access to leadership support
training.
Initiatives:
* Develop and communicate coherent, unified, role-based curricula that
support development of the competencies identified in GAO's performance
management system. (FY 2004):
* Provide GAO employees with "one-stop shopping" Web-based access to
information on learning resources, enterprisewide. (FY 2004):
* Create a learning board as a means to develop organizationwide
consensus on learning needs and prioritize learning investments. (FY
2004):
* Design, develop, and deliver integrated leadership and management
curricula that support GAO's values and carry out mission goals. (FY
2005):
* Develop integrated technology curricula on working smarter (i.e.,
more productively) via available tools. (FY 2005):
[End of figure]
Key Efforts--Developing the Skills and Competencies of GAO's Workforce:
Key Effort: 9: Knowledge-sharing and knowledge-transfer strategy:
Expected Outcomes:
* Institutionalized processes for capturing, maintaining, and sharing
institutional knowledge.
* Improved sharing of relevant information with all GAO employees.
* Capitalize on the intellectual assets of GAO.
Measures:
* Employees have timely access to clearly identified information
repositories, reference services, and staff expertise.
* Employee feedback data on employee's awareness of knowledge
collections and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
* Employee feedback data on whether GAO's workforce competencies meet
targets necessary to achieve organizational goals.
Initiatives:
* Identify and explore strategies for enhancing organizational
knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer. (Ongoing):
* Develop communications strategies for identifying and sharing
information across GAO. (Ongoing):
* Incorporate subject matter expertise review as an active and visible
part of GAO's annual needs assessment process for workforce planning
and staffing. (Ongoing):
[End of figure]
Creating a Results-Oriented Organizational Culture:
GAO is committed to creating an organizational culture that promotes
high performance, ensures accountability, and empowers and includes
employees in setting and accomplishing programmatic goals. As in many
cases in the human capital area, how an organization does something is
as important as what it does. The involvement of employees both
directly and through employee organizations is crucial to success.
Involving employees in the planning process helps to develop agency
goals and objectives that incorporate insight about operations from a
front-line perspective.
Organizations that promote and achieve a diverse workplace can attract
and retain high-quality employees and increase client and customer
loyalty. In an effort to foster an environment that is responsive to
the needs of diverse groups of employees, these organizations create a
work environment that maximizes all employees' ability to fully
contribute to the organization's mission. They also identify
opportunities for resolving disputes fairly and efficiently and create
a workplace free of discrimination.
GAO is also seeking to shift the orientation of individual performance
expectations and accountability systems from an adherence to process
and the completion of activities to a greater focus on individual
contributions to organizational results. One way to embed a results
orientation is to align individual employee performance expectations
with agency goals so that individuals understand the connection between
their daily activities and their organization's success.
To build a culture that promotes high performance and ensures
accountability, GAO will continue involving employees in defining and
accomplishing organizational goals and refining its compensation and
performance management systems to more closely link rewards and
recognition to employees' knowledge, skills, and contributions to
organizational results. By involving employees directly and through
GAO's Employee Advisory Council, the agency hopes to increase
employees' understanding and acceptance of organizational goals and
objectives and improve overall motivation and morale. GAO's ongoing
commitment to fostering a workforce that is inclusive and draws on the
strengths of employees at all levels and of all backgrounds will also
contribute directly to mission accomplishment. GAO's efforts in all
these areas are reflected in the following key efforts and initiatives:
Creating a Results-Oriented Organizational Culture 25:
Key Efforts:
Key Effort 10: Promote an environment that is fair and unbiased, and
values opportunity and inclusiveness:
Expected Outcomes:
* Enhanced work environment that recognizes and appreciates diversity
and is free of bias.
* Improved family-friendly policies that help staff balance work and
family lives.
* A more productive workforce.
* Enhanced ability to attract, retain, motivate, and reward a highly
skilled, diverse, and capable staff.
Measures:
* Employee feedback data on satisfaction with work environment and
family-friendly programs.
* Percentage of employees who concur that GAO's work environment is
fair and unbiased.
* Employee feedback data on satisfaction with communications from
senior leadership.
Initiatives:
* Monitor and recommend changes to GAO's human capital policies and
practices to ensure that they are fair and unbiased and promote
workplace excellence. (Ongoing):
* Identify artificial barriers that deter GAO employees from realizing
their full potential and work with management officials to eliminate
such barriers. (Ongoing):
* Improve GAO's tools and measures to assess GAO employee feedback.
(Ongoing):
* Enhance senior leadership communications with GAO workforce (e.g., CG
chat, etc.). (Ongoing):
* Enhance GAO's offerings of family-friendly and work life programs.
(Ongoing):
* Undertake Tiny Findings Child Care facility expansion study. (FY
2004-2005):
[End of figure]
Key Effort 11: Establish competency-based appraisal systems for all
staff and make enhancements to these systems as needed:
Expected Outcomes:
* Enhanced appraisal systems that are perceived as fair and unbiased,
and promote workplace excellence.
* Better alignment of individual employees' performance to GAO's
strategic plan and core values.
* Workforce has candid and constructive information designed to
maximize their individual potential and contributions to the agency.
* Management has the information needed to recognize and reward top
performers and deal with poor performers.
Measures:
* Employee feedback data on satisfaction with the competency-based
appraisal system.
* Evaluation of selected components of analyst/specialist competency-
based appraisal system.
* Appraisal data analysis.
Initiatives:
* Develop and implement competencybased appraisal system for
Administrative, Professional, and Support Staff (APSS).
* Monitor and recommend changes to the competency-based appraisal
systems.
[End of figure]
Key Efforts:
Key Effort 12: Establish performance-based compensation systems for all
staff, and make enhancements to these systems as needed:
Expected Outcomes:
* Compensation systems that are directly linked to performance and
results.
* Productive employees who are fairly compensated for their work.
* Enhanced performance-based compensation systems that are perceived as
fair and unbiased, and promote workplace excellence.
Measures:
* Employee feedback data on satisfaction with performance-based
compensation system.
* Employee compensation data.
* Assessment of GAO salaries versus market salaries.
Initiatives:
* Develop and implement broad banding for APSS and investigators. (FY
2004):
* Develop and implement performance-based compensation system for APSS.
(FY 2005):
* Monitor and recommend changes to performance-based compensation
systems. (Ongoing):
* Conduct a market-based salary analysis to identify options for making
changes to GAO's compensation system. (FY 2004-2005):
* Implement a new annual pay adjustment system that places greater
emphasis on performance, while, at a minimum, protecting the purchasing
power of employees who are performing at the "meets expectations"
level. (FY 2005):
* Implement changes to GAO's awards and recognition programs on the
basis of results of internal analysis and benchmarking the private and
public sectors' best practices awards programs. (FY 2005):
[End of figure]
[End of section]
APPENDIX I--MEASURING GAO'S MANAGEMENT OF PEOPLE:
The following are excerpts from GAO's Performance Plan for Fiscal Year
2005 focusing on our human capital performance measures. This plan and
related GAO publications are available free of charge through our Web
site at www.gao.gov/sp/sp.html.
Preliminary Performance Measures Related to People:
As our most important asset, our people determine our capacity to
perform. Therefore, beginning with fiscal year 2005, we are adding
performance measures that will help us determine how well we are
acquiring, maintaining, and maximizing our human resources. Table 2
describes the measures that we are using to assess our performance in
this area. Each year, we will set an agencywide target for each of
these measures. The information needed for these measures will come
from a variety of sources, including the Department of Agriculture's
National Finance Center database--which handles payroll and personnel
data for GAO and other agencies--and our annual confidential survey of
employees.
Table 2: Preliminary Measures Related to Our People:
Measure: New hire rate;
Description: The ratio of the number of people hired to the number we
planned to hire.
Measure: Acceptance rate;
Description: The ratio of the number of applicants accepting offers to
the number of offers made.
Measure: Retention rate[A];
Description: The ratio of the number of people who did not leave GAO
during the fiscal year to the average number of people on board during
the year.
Measure: Staff development;
Description: From the annual employee survey, the percentage of people
responding favorably to questions on internal, external, and on-the-job
training.
Measure: Staff utilization;
Description: From the annual employee survey, the percentage of people
responding favorably to questions on our use of staff's knowledge and
skills.
Measure: Leadership;
Description: From the annual employee survey, the percentage of people
responding favorably to questions about specific qualities of our
managers, such as whether leaders treated staff fairly, made timely
decisions, demonstrated GAO's core values, implemented change
effectively, and dealt effectively with diversity issues.
Measure: Organizational climate;
Description: From the annual employee survey, the percentage of people
responding favorably to questions on teamwork, morale, and overall
satisfaction.
Source: GAO.
Note: N/A indicates that the data are not available.
[A] Retention rate reflects all attrition, including retirement by
approximately 5 percent of the workforce annually.
[End of table]
Agencywide Performance Related to Our People:
Table 3 reflects our agencywide performance during the last 2 fiscal
years for our people measures, along with the agencywide targets for
fiscal year 2005.
Table 3: Agencywide Annual Performance Results and Targets:
Performance measure: New hire rate;
2002 Actual: 96%;
2003 Actual: 98%;
2004 Target: N/A;
2005 Target: 97%.
Performance measure: Acceptance rate;
2002 Actual: 81%;
2003 Actual: 72%;
2004 Target: N/A;
2005 Target: 75%.
Performance measure: Retention rate;
2002 Actual: 91%;
2003 Actual: 92%;
2004 Target: N/A;
2005 Target: 90%.
Performance measure: Staff development;
2002 Actual: 71%;
2003 Actual: 72%;
2004 Target: N/A;
2005 Target: 70%.
Performance measure: Staff utilization;
2002 Actual: 67%;
2003 Actual: 71%;
2004 Target: N/A;
2005 Target: 70%.
Performance measure: Leadership;
2002 Actual: 75%;
2003 Actual: 78%;
2004 Target: N/A;
2005 Target: 75%.
Performance measure: Organizational climate;
2002 Actual: 67%;
2003 Actual: 71%;
2004 Target: N/A;
2005 Target: 70%.
Source: GAO.
Note: N/A indicates that data are not available.
[End of table]
Verification and Validation of Performance Data:
To assess our performance in fiscal year 2005, we plan to use
performance data that are complete and actual (rather than projected)
for all of our performance measures. We expect the data to be reliable
because we will follow the verification and validation procedures
described here to ensure the data's quality.
The specific sources of the data for our qualitative performance goals,
procedures for independently verifying and validating these data, and
the limitations of these data are described in table 4.
Table 4: How We Ensure Data Quality for Performance Measure Related to
People:
New hire rate: Background and context: Annually, we develop a workforce
plan that takes into account projected workload changes, as well as
other changes such as retirements, other attrition, promotions, and
skill gaps. The workforce plan for the upcoming year specifies the
number of planned hires and, for each hire, specifies the skill type
and the level. The plan is conveyed to each of our units to guide
hiring throughout the year. Progress toward achieving the workforce
plan is monitored continuously by the Chief Administrative Officer.
Adjustments to the workforce plan are made throughout the year, if
necessary, to reflect changing needs and conditions.
New hire rate: Data sources: The workforce plan is developed and
maintained by the Chief Administrative Officer. Data on accessions-that
is, new hires coming on board-is taken from the Department of
Agriculture's National Finance Center database, which handles payroll
and personnel data for GAO and other agencies.
New hire rate: Verification and validation: The Human Capital Office
continuously monitors and reviews accessions and attritions against the
contents of the National Finance Center's database. They follow up on
any discrepancies. In addition, on a periodic basis, the IG
independently examines our process for calculating the new hire rate.
For example, the IG plans to examine this process during fiscal year
2004.
New hire rate: Data limitations: There is a lag of one to two pay
periods (up to 4 weeks) before the National Finance Center's database
reflects actual data. We generally allow sufficient time before
requesting data for this measure to ensure that we get accurate
results.
Acceptance rate: Background and context: Acceptance rate is a proxy for
GAO's attractiveness as an employer and an indicator of our
competitiveness in bringing in new talent.
Acceptance rate: Data sources: The information required is the number
of formal, written job offers made (excluding interns), the number of
offers declined, and the number of individuals who come on board. Our
Chief Administrative Officers' staff maintain a database that contains
the job offers made and accepted or declined. The Department of
Agriculture's National Finance Center maintains the database containing
the data on the number of individuals who come on board.
Acceptance rate: Verification and validation: Human Capital Managers
and the Human Capital Office work with the Chief Administrative Officer
to assure that each formal, written job offer made and its outcome
(declination or acceptance) are noted in the database that is
maintained by the Chief Administrative Officer's staff; periodic
checking is performed to review the accuracy of the database. In
addition, on a periodic basis, the IG independently examines our
process for calculating the acceptance rate. For example, the IG plans
to examine this process during fiscal year 2004.
Acceptance rate: Data limitations: None.
Staff development, staff utilization, leadership, and organizational
climate: Background and context: We strive to continuously improve our
organization and our people in order to ensure that we remain a world-
class professional services organization. One way that we measure how
well we are doing and identify areas for improvement is through our
annual employee feedback survey. This Web-based survey, which is
conducted by an outside contractor, is administered to all of our
employees once a year.
Through the survey, we encourage our staff to indicate what they think
about GAO's overall operations, work environment, and organizational
culture and how they rate our managers-from the immediate supervisor to
the executive committee-on key aspects of their leadership styles. The
survey consists of over 100 statements to which staff are asked to
indicate a response on a 5-point scale. Several questions address
issues relating to staff development, staff utilization, leadership,
and organizational climate.
Staff development, staff utilization, leadership, and organizational
climate: Data sources: These data come from our staff's responses to an
annual Web-based survey. The survey includes 21 questions that are
rolled up into the measures of staff development (3 questions), staff
utilization (3 questions), leadership (10 questions), and
organizational climate (5 questions). From the staff who expressed an
opinion, we calculate the percentage of staff selecting the two
categories that indicate satisfaction with or a favorable response to
the statement. For example, to measure organizational climate, we
looked at the responses to five statements: I am treated fairly and
with respect in my work unit; overall, I am satisfied with my job at
GAO; sufficient effort is made in my work unit to get the opinions and
thinking of people who work here; a spirit of cooperation and teamwork
exists in my work unit; and my morale is good. For each question, we
calculated the percentage of respondents that indicated they generally
agreed or strongly agreed with the statement. We then averaged the 5
percentages to obtain the composite percentage by which we measure
satisfaction with our organizational climate.
Staff development, staff utilization, leadership, and organizational
climate: Verification and validation: The employee feedback survey
gathers staff opinions on a variety of topics. The survey is password
protected, and only the outside contractor has access to passwords. In
addition, when the survey instrument was developed, extensive focus
groups and pretests were undertaken to refine the questions and provide
definitions as needed. We have historically achieved a high response
rate (over 85%) to the survey, which indicates that its results are
largely representative of the GAO population. In addition, many teams
and work units conduct follow-on work to gain a better understanding of
the information from the survey.
In addition, on a periodic basis, the IG independently examines our
process for calculating the percentages for staff development, staff
utilization, leadership, and organizational climate. For example, the
IG plans to examine this process during fiscal year 2004.
Staff development, staff utilization, leadership, and organizational
climate: Data limitations: The information contained in the survey is
self-contained and, therefore, there is no information to validate the
views expressed by staff. We do not plan any actions to remedy this
limitation because we feel it would violate the pledge of
confidentiality that we make to our staff regarding the survey
responses.
Source: GAO.
[End of table]
[End of section]
Photos:
Front Cover: GAO staff;
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U.S. Flag;
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Message from the Comptroller General:
David M. Walker;
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U.S. Capitol;
Source: GAO.
Page 4:
Photo and GAO staff;
Source: GAO.
Page 15:
Leadership (pp. 15 and 16);
Source: Corbis.
Strategic Human Capital Planning (pp. 15 and 18);
Source: Comstock.
Acquiring, Developing, and Retaining Talent (pp. 15 and 20);
Source: Photo Disc.
Creating a Results-Oriented Organizational Culture (pp. 15 and 24);
Source: Photo Disc.
Inside Back Cover:
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Source: GAO.
Back Cover:
U.S. Capitol;
Source: GAO.
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Source: GAO.
U.S. Flag;
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