Federal Aviation Administration: Human Capital System Incorporates Many Leading Practices, but Improving Employees' Satisfaction with Their Workplace Remains a Challenge
GAO-10-89
Published: Oct 28, 2009. Publicly Released: Nov 30, 2009.
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Highlights
Aviation is critical to the nation's economic well-being, global competitiveness, and national security. The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) 48,000 employees guide aircraft, oversee safety, and maintain air traffic control equipment. FAA will need these skills and additional expertise to address evolving missions. As requested, GAO reviewed (1) how FAA's human capital system compares with practices of leading organizations and (2) how FAA employees' workplace satisfaction compares with that of other federal government employees. GAO reviewed documents and relevant studies, and interviewed FAA officials who implement human capital procedures and union representatives. GAO also reviewed survey data on workplace satisfaction.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Transportation | To ensure that FAA can hire, motivate, and retain the talented staff it needs to operate the national airspace system and implement the transition to NextGen, Secretary of Transportation should direct the FAA Administrator to ensure that key leading practices in diversity management are incorporated in future updates of FAA's plans to increase diversity in the controller and aviation safety workforces. | Aviation is critical to the nation's economic well-being, global competitiveness, and national security. The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) 48,000 employees guide aircraft, oversee safety, and maintain air traffic control equipment. FAA will need these skills and additional expertise to address evolving missions. In 2009, GAO reported that FAA's human capital system employs many leading practices in strategic workforce planning, training, recruitment and hiring, and performance management. However, in response to a congressional concern about diversity in FAA's controller and aviation safety workforces, the agency prepared plans and annual updates aimed at increasing diversity... in these workforces. FAA's recruiting efforts, as described in these plans and other FAA documents focus on attracting supply of qualified, diverse applicants for employment and FAA has implemented efforts that could serve to expand its applicant pool. FAA's actions were important steps toward creating a more diverse workforce, but they fall short of the full range of leading diversity management practices that GAO has observed in high performing organizations. GAO identified leading diversity management practices that could be instructive to FAA as it develops annual updates to its plans to increase diversity in its controller and aviation safety workforces. Therefore, GAO recommended that the Secretary of Transportation direct the FAA Administrator to ensure that key leading practices in diversity management are incorporated in future updates of FAA's plans to increase diversity in the controller and aviation safety workforces. In 2014, GAO confirmed that FAA implemented a number of efforts related to leading practices identified by GAO. For example, a leading diversity management practice is to ensure that top leadership provides a vision of diversity that it demonstrates and communicates throughout an organization. The FAA administrator communicated his diversity vision via a memo, dated January 15, 2013, to all FAA employees affirming his commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace following this leading practice. A second, leading practice is to establish a recruitment program that attracts a supply of diverse qualified applicants for employment. The FAA's Office of Civil Rights established the National Outreach Program for Diversity and Inclusion which is a recruitment program to ensure that all members of society have equal access to FAA's programs and projects that may lead to future employment and advancement opportunities through outreach, consultation, collaboration and education. A third, leading practice is to develop a diversity strategy and plan that are aligned with the organization's strategic plan. The FY2014 Air Traffic Organization Business (ATO) plan, which supports FAA's four strategic priorities, established a goal to enhance ATO leadership development, career progression, succession planning, performance management and diversity initiatives across the organization. Under FAA's strategic priority to empower and innovate with its people, ATO plans to build and retain a diverse highly skilled, motivated and productive workforce. By incorporating key leading practices for diversity management into its plans, FAA has taken the next steps to increase diversity in the controller and aviation safety workforces.
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| Department of Transportation | To ensure that FAA can hire, motivate, and retain the talented staff it needs to operate the national airspace system and implement the transition to NextGen, Secretary of Transportation should direct the FAA Administrator to hold its managers accountable for the outcomes of the Federal Human Capital Survey Action Plan by establishing a performance expectation that FAA managers will achieve the plan's stated increases in positive responses to designated survey items. | Aviation is critical to the nation's economic well-being, global competitiveness, and national security. The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) 48,000 employees guide aircraft, oversee safety, and maintain air traffic control equipment. FAA will need these skills and additional expertise to address evolving missions. In 2009, GAO reported that FAA employee responses to OPM's 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey placed the agency well behind the rest of the federal government in overall satisfaction with their leaders and their leaders' competencies in communications and building teamwork and cooperation. FAA is taking steps that could improve employee satisfaction with their leaders...
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| Department of Transportation | To ensure that FAA can hire, motivate, and retain the talented staff it needs to operate the national airspace system and implement the transition to NextGen, Secretary of Transportation should direct the FAA Administrator to hold the agency accountable to Congress and the American people by disclosing the plan, actions, goals, and outcomes in publicly available reports to Congress, such as the annual performance and accountability report. | Aviation is critical to the nation's economic well-being, global competitiveness, and national security. The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) 48,000 employees guide aircraft, oversee safety, and maintain air traffic control equipment. FAA will need these skills and additional expertise to address evolving missions. In 2009, GAO reported that FAA employee responses to OPM's 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey placed the agency well behind the rest of the federal government in overall job and organizational satisfaction, as well as satisfaction with their leaders. FAA was taking actions that could improve employee satisfaction with their leaders over time. For example, FAA developed a...
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AccountabilityAgency missionsBest practicesDiversity managementEmployee retentionEmployee trainingEmployee turnoverFederal employeesHiring policiesHuman capitalHuman capital managementHuman capital planningHuman capital policiesJob satisfactionJob satisfaction surveysKnowledge, skills and abilitiesOccupational surveysPerformance managementPersonnel managementPersonnel recruitingSkilled laborStrategic planningPolicies and procedures