Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer
The mission of the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) is to contribute to GSA’s business success by providing human capital management strategies, policies, advice, information, services, and solutions consistent with merit system principles. In order to remain focused on this mission, the OCHCO will continue to lead the implementation of the Strategic Management of Human Capital in support of the PMA, as well as other Agency-specific objectives in GSA’s Human Capital Strategic Plan (HCSP).
At GSA, human capital is integral to the Agency’s ability to achieve its mission. Recognizing the strategic importance of human capital, the Agency is committed to maintaining a world-class workforce and a world-class workplace.
GSA’s HCSP established seven goals to support GSA’s business and performance objectives and meet PMA requirements.
Performance Highlights
The following summarizes key OCHCO accomplishments in these areas during FY 2007:
- Strategic and Organizational Alignment: During FY 2007, the OCHCO provided workforce information and met strategic human capital needs with GSA Heads of Services and Staff Offices and Regional Administrators to ensure organizational and strategic alignment and focus. Furthermore, the OCHCO worked closely with its largest internal customers to implement organization-specific human capital strategies. One of the primary areas of focus for this fiscal year was the establishment of the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS). The OCHCO provided the human capital tools necessary to establish this worldwide organization of over 4,000 employees. Strategies included assessing and enhancing the skills of employees, hiring new talent, organizational realignment, succession planning, and competitive sourcing. In support of realignment and competitive sourcing initiatives, the OCHCO continued to assist its customers in the utilization of workforce-shaping tools such as Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment and Voluntary Early Retirement Authority. The OCHCO was also involved in a number of other major reorganization efforts, including the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and the Board of Contract Appeals.
- Executive Leadership: GSA’s internal leadership talent pipeline continues to replenish supervisory vacancies effectively. During FY 2007, GSA hired 30 Senior Executive Service (SES) employees, which represents 26 percent of the SES cadre at GSA. Over 85 percent of GSA’s supervisory vacancies were filled with internal GSA employees. GSA’s Leadership Institute is used to enhance the effectiveness of current and future leaders. The Advanced Leadership Development Program (ALDP) is an intensive and highly selective program designed to prepare employees for executive careers, and the Leadership for New Supervisors (LNS) course provides new supervisors with the tools and information to effectively manage their organization. During FY 2007, 30 GSA employees participated in the ALDP and 141 participated in the LNS program, which was a significant increase from last year’s program.
- Mentoring Program: GSA launched a mentoring program to foster future leadership and compliment its succession planning work. The mentoring program pairs talented, experienced employees (mentors) with employees (protégés) who need to enhance their leadership and other business skills. A mentoring relationship benefits both participants. Protégés have a chance to learn from a seasoned professional and mentors get a chance to see things from a new perspective.
- Talent: During FY 2007, the OCHCO completed its skill gap analysis for mission critical workforces and is developing strategies to close gaps. This analysis used competency-based models to target training, recruitment, and selection efforts to respond to current and emerging organizational needs. GSA continues to implement improvements in the hiring process to improve effectiveness and efficiency outcomes. GSA established a talent center to work on mission critical workforce announcements and hiring process improvements. GSA is achieving more efficient hiring timelines, using both the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and GSA models. GSA is also receiving increased satisfaction rates from hiring managers on the quality of applicants.
- Diversity: During FY 2007, the OCHCO worked to establish a more robust liaison with community groups and organizations representing diverse backgrounds. The OCHCO further developed plans to address under-representation of women and minorities in SES positions and wants to focus on increased percentages of representation among people with disabilities.
- Performance Culture: The OCHCO continued to revise GSA’s employee performance management and recognition policies to reinforce GSA’s business goals and strategies. As a result, there was an increased ability to hold managers accountable for their performance management responsibilities, enhanced data capture, and the ability to link employee performance to GSA’s recognition program. The automation of the Performance Management Process (PMP) allows employees to access their performance plans and completed appraisals through the Internet, and enables GSA Human Resources offices to generate reports on activity at each stage, and use that information to drive behavior. GSA’s first full year of implementation of the awards processing program from FEDdesk to the Comprehensive Human Resources Integrated System (CHRIS) was very successful. The new custom-built awards process is easier for managers and administrative staff to use and supports an increased level of accountability, data retention, and compliance. This ensures fairness in the program and recognizes high-performance throughout the Agency. OPM rated GSA’s performance management and recognition system as an “effective strategy,” the top category in their ranking methodology.
- Learning and Knowledge Sharing: During FY 2007, the OCHCO promoted Online University as a cost effective distance learning method to deliver training. During the fiscal year, there were 37,941 course completions. GSA also migrated to a new Learning Management System provider (Learn.com) that offers a number of additional features, which are currently being reviewed for possible implementation. These include Individual Development Plan Module; Competency Management System Module; Instructor Led Training/Classroom Scheduler Module; Learning Content Management System Module; and the SF 182, Authorization, Agreement and Certification of Training Module. Additionally, this new contract will enable GSA to have one Learning Management System for the Agency, which will lead to a complete training dataset for each GSA employee.
- Workplace and Environment: GSA continued to enjoy the recognition of being named in the top ten agencies in the Federal government by the Best Places to Work organization. This recognition is based on employee survey feedback to which employees scored GSA in the top ten agencies for Talent Management, Leadership and Knowledge Management, and Job Satisfaction. GSA implemented a Workforce Engagement Survey in FY 2007 to comply with the new annual employee survey requirement.
The following section presents the OCHCO performance by GSA strategic goals.