Agencies use the goals in agency strategic plans and annual performance plans to inform annual budget decisions, longer-term investment planning, and human resource planning. The agency’s strategic goals and objectives are listed below.
Strategic Goal: Hire the Best: Help agencies recruit and hire the most talented and diverse Federal workforce possible to serve the American people.
Objective: Reform the Federal hiring process.
Description: – Promoting innovative and coordinated approaches to recruiting and hiring students, mid-career professionals, and retirees to meet agency talent needs
– Streamlining the end-to-end hiring process to create a positive experience for applicants, managers, and HR specialists
– Increasing manager engagement in the hiring process
– Improving USAJOBS and integrating other components of the on-line hiring system to create a world-class experience for job seekers and agency recruiters
– Providing targeted direction on Federal hiring to HR officials
– Promoting efficiency and effectiveness in hiring practices and processes compliant with merit principles
Priority Goal: Ensure high quality Federal employees.
Goal Statement: Ensure high quality Federal employees.
By September 30, 2013, increase Federal manager satisfaction with applicant quality (as an indicator of hiring quality) from 7.7 to 8.3 on a scale of 1 to 10, while continually improving timeliness, applicant satisfaction, and other hiring process efficiency and quality measures.
Description: President Obama’s Memorandum of May 11, 2010, Improving the Federal Recruitment and Hiring Process, outlined Phase I of the Administration’s comprehensive initiative to address major, long-standing impediments to recruit and hire the best and the brightest into the Federal civilian workforce. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is spearheading the government-wide initiative to reform recruiting, hiring and retention policies and procedures. This initiative will span multiple years and require sweeping changes to streamline and improve the hiring process. To date, OPM has partnered with agencies to eliminate the traditional essay-type application format (known as KSAs), to streamline the hiring process, and to require regular communications with applicants throughout the hiring process. Agencies have made significant progress reducing its time to hire a Federal employee from an average of 122 days in FY 2010 to an average of 87 days in FY 2012. This represents a reduction of almost 30% since 2010 and an improvement of 6.5% from 93 days in FY 2011. In FY 2012, the number of agencies hiring at 80 days or less doubled from FY 2011 while the number of agencies hiring at over 121 days decreased by 38%. OPM will continue to assist agencies to find, hire, and retain the best talent possible for the Federal government. As the human resources management agency for the Government, OPM leads efforts to ensure the Federal hiring process is merit based and protects veterans’ preference. However, inherent in this leadership role, OPM is also responsible for generating new ideas and efficiencies for the Government’s hiring system and monitoring and evaluating their effectiveness.
Objective: Promote diversity and inclusion in the Federal workforce.
Description: – Helping agencies create an environment that values workforce diversity and leverages diverse talent to achieve results
– Promoting policies and practices to ensure all segments of society, including people with disabilities, have an opportunity for employment and advancement
– Providing Federal employees and managers with educational and training opportunities aimed at creating and maintaining a culture where diversity is valued and promoted
– Pursuing recruitment and retention efforts focused on attracting diverse talent
Objective: Ensure agencies have timely and sufficient information to make decisions such as credentialing, suitability, and/or security clearance determinations.
Description: – Achieving a quality standard in investigations that meets Federal investigative standards to ensure agency protection and satisfaction
– Supporting reciprocity of both background investigations and the adjudications that result from such investigations to the maximum extent that is possible and appropriate
– Safeguarding personal information to protect individuals’ identities and preserve the public trust
Priority Goal: Maintain speed of national security background investigations.
Goal Statement: Maintain speed of national security background investigations.
Through September 30, 2013, maintain a 40 day or less average completion time for the fastest 90% of initial national security investigations.
Description: OPM conducts background investigations to determine if applicants or employees meet the suitability or fitness requirements for employment, or are eligible for access to Federal facilities, automated systems, or classified information. The scope of a background investigation varies depending on the duties and access requirements for the position. Simply put, they help ensure the federal government has the skilled employees it needs to the work of the people.
Over the last few years, the Federal government has made critical advances in reforming the security clearance process. While there is still work to be done, individuals seeking to work for the Federal government now face a substantially different clearance experience than they did just a few years ago.
The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA), signed into law in 2004, challenged the Federal government to address longstanding coordination problems that unnecessarily affected the timeliness and quality of security clearances. As a result of actions taken to meet the objectives of IRTPA, the speed of the average security clearance has increased dramatically.
IRTPA required all agencies to complete 90 percent of their security clearances in an average of 60 days, which includes 40 days to complete the investigation (generally OPM’s responsibility) and 20 days to adjudicate the investigation (responsibility of employing agency such as Department of Defense). At the time IRTPA was enacted, the Government-wide average was 205 days for both investigation and adjudication. Currently, 90 percent of the government’s clearances are completed within the IRTPA-required timeframe of 60 days.
OPM is sensitive to today’s fiscal environment and the need for customer agencies (i.e., the employing or sponsoring agencies) to have transparency into the costs of background investigations. To this end, OPM will continue its business efficiency studies to provide more detailed cost data and to optimize our value to our customers, which in turn translates into better value to taxpayers. OPM will implement a number of quality and automation initiatives while maintaining IRTPA’s overarching timeliness objectives. We will sustain our commitment to explore potential cost saving activities within the background investigation process. Additionally, OPM will continue modernization of information technology infrastructures to support timeliness objectives and expand (both internal and external) investigative and adjudicative training to satisfy reciprocity requirements. Together, these efforts attempt to find a balance between quality, time and cost.
OPM will work with Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) staff to develop enhanced, sustainable performance measures as we move through full implementation of security and suitability investigation process reforms.
Objective: Reduce skills gaps in targeted mission critical occupations and/or competency areas across government.
Description: – Assessing strategic management of human capital across government
– Articulating a strategy for identifying current and future skills gaps
– Ensuring that human capital officers have the knowledge and experience needed to guide agencies in improving effectiveness and efficiency of agency human capital management
– Measuring the effects of key initiatives to address critical skills gaps
Objective: Encourage increased manager involvement in the Federal hiring process.
Description: – Identifying and disseminating engagement tools to create strategic conversation with hiring managers to enhance workforce planning
– Marketing hiring manager satisfaction results to establish a value proposition and encourage participation
– Continuing to develop and promulgate best practices that address hiring manager accountability
Priority Goal: Ensure high quality Federal employees.
Goal Statement: Ensure high quality Federal employees.
By September 30, 2013, increase Federal manager satisfaction with applicant quality (as an indicator of hiring quality) from 7.7 to 8.3 on a scale of 1 to 10, while continually improving timeliness, applicant satisfaction, and other hiring process efficiency and quality measures.
Description: President Obama’s Memorandum of May 11, 2010, Improving the Federal Recruitment and Hiring Process, outlined Phase I of the Administration’s comprehensive initiative to address major, long-standing impediments to recruit and hire the best and the brightest into the Federal civilian workforce. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is spearheading the government-wide initiative to reform recruiting, hiring and retention policies and procedures. This initiative will span multiple years and require sweeping changes to streamline and improve the hiring process. To date, OPM has partnered with agencies to eliminate the traditional essay-type application format (known as KSAs), to streamline the hiring process, and to require regular communications with applicants throughout the hiring process. Agencies have made significant progress reducing its time to hire a Federal employee from an average of 122 days in FY 2010 to an average of 87 days in FY 2012. This represents a reduction of almost 30% since 2010 and an improvement of 6.5% from 93 days in FY 2011. In FY 2012, the number of agencies hiring at 80 days or less doubled from FY 2011 while the number of agencies hiring at over 121 days decreased by 38%. OPM will continue to assist agencies to find, hire, and retain the best talent possible for the Federal government. As the human resources management agency for the Government, OPM leads efforts to ensure the Federal hiring process is merit based and protects veterans’ preference. However, inherent in this leadership role, OPM is also responsible for generating new ideas and efficiencies for the Government’s hiring system and monitoring and evaluating their effectiveness.
Objective: Assist veterans to find a place in the Federal workplace.
Description: – Assuring veterans’ preference
– Helping veterans identify skills that match Federal opportunities
– Promoting a culture of respect for veterans contributions in all agencies
– Facilitating the transition of veterans into the Federal civilian workforce
Strategic Goal: Respect the Workforce: Provide the training, benefits, and work-life balance necessary for Federal employees to succeed, prosper, and advance in their careers.
Objective: Improve training opportunities for Federal employees.
Description: – Promoting workforce training and development as a critical element of civil service reform
– Holding agencies accountable for providing training opportunities for their employees
– Identifying and encouraging training programs to help employees evolve with changes in agency mission, prepare them for promotion, and position them for successful careers
– Designing and deploying leadership development programs
– Providing consultative services for leadership and training development programs
Objective: Ensure that available benefits align with best practices and employees needs.
Description: – Evaluating benefit survey results of both public and private sector organizations
– Communicating benefit options to ensure potential candidates and current employees understand the flexibilities and benefits available
Objective: Improve Federal employee engagement and satisfaction with health, wellness, and work-life flexibilities.
Description: – Giving agencies tools to promote health and wellness among employees
– Evaluating and revising agency telework and other work schedule policies, in conjunction with agency partners, to encourage increased use by agencies and managers
– Helping agencies to address employee satisfaction with work-life flexibilities and benefits
– Leading agencies in delivery of work-life programs
Priority Goal: Improve performance culture in the GEAR pilot agencies to inform the development of government-wide policies.
Goal Statement: Improve performance culture in the GEAR pilot agencies to inform the development of government-wide policies.
Improve performance culture in the five GEAR pilot agencies to inform the development of government-wide policies. By September 30, 2013, employee responses to the annual Employee Viewpoint Survey in each of 5 agencies participating in a performance culture pilot project will increase by 5 percent or greater for portions of agency covered by the pilot on the results-oriented culture index and the conditions for employee engagement index, using 2011 survey results as the baseline.
Description: President Obama created the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations (LMR Council) as “[a] non-adversarial forum for managers, employees, and employees’ union representatives to discuss Government operations [that] will promote satisfactory labor relations and improve the productivity and effectiveness of the Federal Government.” Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Acting Director Elaine Kaplan and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel currently co-chair the LMR Council. At the LMR Council’s April 2011 meeting, they raised the prospect of the Council, in conjunction with the Chief Human Capital Officers Council (CHCO Council), examining the Federal Government’s employee performance management accountability framework and making recommendations for improvements.
The Nation expects its Federal employees to be engaged and enabled to deliver and improve Government services. Federal employees work hard to make their agencies successful in carrying out their missions and strive to ensure that American taxpayers obtain the best from their Government. Over the years, there have been numerous attempts to reform and improve employee performance management in the Federal sector. Some attempts were based on a belief that employees were not being held accountable enough for their performance. Others determined that stronger employee performance management systems help employees realize their potential to do better work. However, the same problems and challenges persist today.
This initiative will improve the federal employee performance management system by changing the culture of our agencies. By engaging front-line employees and agency managers through their labor unions and chief human capital officers, OPM developed ways to do a better job of selecting the right people to be supervisors, training them well, and then supporting them as they do their jobs. Beginning in late May 2011, workgroup members representing various Federal agencies, labor unions, and management organizations from the LMR Council and the CHCO Council discussed ways to strengthen the existing system of employee performance management.
The group members consistently asked, What will make this effort different than previous attempts? The workgroup made remarkable progress by agreeing to set aside the mechanical elements of the employee performance appraisal system, such as rating levels and awards, to focus on the relational elements that make any system useful, such as clear expectations, frequent formal and informal feedback, and reliable, impartial treatment for good and bad performance. The workgroup realized that to be successful, the organizational performance processes typically managed by the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Performance Improvement Officer (PIO), and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) must be brought together with the individual employee performance management processes that are heavily influenced by employee and labor relations and led by the Chief Human Capital Officer in consultation with the Chief Learning Officer (CLO), or equivalent, and individual supervisors. After discussing the full scope of our recommendations, the group decided upon the Goals-Engagement-Accountability-Results (GEAR) model as a way to describe the philosophy. It is important to understand that the recommendations found in this report are not sequential steps. Instead, they are a set of interrelated processes that will improve employee and organizational performance.
Essential to every successful organization is that they must have clear, aligned goals, engaged employees and supervisors, and accountability for every employee at every level. These elements combine to produce results. As agencies look to implement these recommendations, they may find that their existing goal alignment, employee engagement or accountability processes are incomplete or not in synch with one another. Some processes may appear effective in isolation but performance will be maximized only by improving the way all the gears are working together.
Articulate a High-Performance Culture – Agencies identify and articulate their desired agency culture, and focus on employee engagement, development, performance, accountability, and how that culture fits in with Government-wide performance improvement.
Align Employee Performance Management with Organizational Performance Management:
– Drive ongoing alignment and cascading of established organizational performance objectives down through executive, manager, supervisor, and employee performance goals via an agency’s management board (vest authority with an existing or newly-established board) responsible for improvement of organizational and employee performance.
– Establish a formal mechanism for internal agency coordination of alignment and accountability for performance management at the organizational and employee levels. Agencies may choose to establish a new agency Employee Performance Management Integration Board or vest authority in existing governance processes to implement this mechanism. This will provide oversight of the employee performance management program and inform reviews at the President’s Management Council (PMC) and White House levels. To create high-performing organizations that are aligned, accountable, and focused on results, the following goals were established.
Implement Accountability at All Levels Focus on:
– Agency leadership accountability to the President’s Management Council and the White House;
– Integration of and accountability for organizational performance management functions within the agency;
– Ensuring that performance expectations and consequences of poor performance are clearly communicated to all employees and that both employees and supervisors are held accountable for their performance;
– Fully utilize agency labor-management forums and the perspectives of management associations where a formal consultative relationship exists; and,
– Improve third-level supervision (management of supervision) by implementing training on how to manage and evaluate supervision for higher-level managers.
Create a Culture of Engagement – Improve employee and supervisor engagement through two-way communication as an integral part of employee performance management, and foster and require a culture of ongoing feedback via an improved cycle of regular formal progress reviews, informal interactions, and continuous learning for employees at every level on giving, receiving, requesting, and utilizing feedback.
Improve the Assessment, Selection, Development and Training of Supervisors:
– Focus the selection process for supervisors on identifying competencies required for effective performance as a supervisor, including employee performance management requirements;
– Require that supervisory performance plans include an element to ensure that all supervisors are given time for and are rated on their exercise of supervisory responsibilities, including timely and effective employee performance management and feedback;
– Implement mandatory training for supervisors on: The Employee Performance Management Roadmap (Appendix A), including employee feedback and engagement. PIO delivered training on agency organizational performance management systems, including Strategic Plan, goals, high priorities, and key performance targets;
– Agencies should also implement programs designed to identify and develop future leaders by making training on supervisory and people management skills broadly available throughout the workforce; and
– These recommendations should be carried out fully utilizing agency labor-management forums and should also include the perspectives of management associations where a formal consultative relationship exists.
OPM’s role to these ends will be to collaborate with and lead the pilot agencies through the initial development of their processes and implementation efforts, this using the framework articulated in the November, 2011 Report. The pilot program identifies best/useful practices and then provide to other agencies. In all of this, OPM will lead by example.
Objective: Improve Federal labor-management relations across the government.
Description: – Meeting regularly with national and local leadership of organizations which represent employees and management
– Facilitating opportunities for labor and management to meet regularly across the government
– Helping agencies develop best practices, training, and metrics on labor-management relations and dispute resolution
– Promoting collaboration as a means of achieving organizational objectives
Objective: Promote the safety of the Federal workforce through emergency preparedness.
Description: – Developing and implementing policies and procedures to help agencies prepare and respond to emergency situations
– Supporting the Federal Executive Boards to ensure coordinated responses to all hazards events
Strategic Goal: Expect the Best: Ensure the Federal workforce and its leaders are fuly accountable, fairly appraised, and have the tools, systems, and resources to perform at the highest levels to achieve superior results.
Objective: Help agencies become high-performing organizations with the use of HR tools.
Description: – Designing performance management systems that are integrated with agency program planning and clearly show employees how their actions drive agency results
– Creating fair and credible standards for individual performance appraisal and accountability
– Evaluating agency performance management systems using OPM’s Performance Appraisal Assessment Tool
– Strengthening partnerships with public and private organizations allowing for knowledge transfer and the sharing of promising practices
Objective: Recognize, select, and sustain individuals who provide strong leadership and direction for agencies.
Description: – Driving agencies to close leadership competency gaps through succession management and developmental opportunities
– Evaluating the agency’s effectiveness in holding leaders accountable for agency performance
– Ensuring agencies make meaningful distinctions in evaluating and recognizing different levels of management performance
Objective: Provide leadership and direction to government-wide HR programs.
Description: – Partnering with agencies on strategic and operational issues
– Evaluating HR programs ability to drive agency results
– Promoting OPM products and services
– Improving the interoperability of government-wide HR systems and providing oversight and assessment of HR service delivery at shared service centers
– Collaborating with agencies and multi-agency field locations through the Chief Human Capital Officers Council, the Federal Executive Boards, and interagency employee and labor relations groups
– Providing agencies with tools, resources, guidance, education, and evaluation to improve human resources operations
Objective: Hold agencies to account for improvements in strategic human resources management.
Description: – Providing agencies with designated human capital officers for ongoing direction and consultative support
– Monitoring compliance with civil service laws and regulations and appropriate use of flexibilities/authorities
– Encouraging agencies to see human resource offices as strategic business partners with top agency leadership
Objective: OPM will lead by example to implement human resources reforms and reinvigorate our approach to individual and organizational performance management.
Description: – Building leadership and staff capacity to further develop OPM as a high-performing organization
– Working with the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations to design and implement a performance management system that would align employee performance with agency performance
– Improving business operations and providing exemplary internal customer service
– Making better use of financial resources to meet program needs
– Using performance results to inform management decisions
– Improving collaboration and partnership within OPM
Objective: Implement certain provisions of the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010.
Description: – Providing policy guidance to agencies covering broad issues and agency specific program goals
– Overseeing major revisions to www.telework.gov to include the establishment of a web page dedicated to information on the Act
– Supporting agency efforts to train both managers and employees by providing free web-based telework training
– Encouraging agencies use of telework to improve continuity of operations, reduce management costs, and increase employee satisfaction
Strategic Goal: Honor Service: Ensure recognition and reward for exemplary performance of current employees and honor the careers of Federal retirees.
Objective: Develop a 21st century customer focused retirement processing system that adjudicates claims in a timely and accurate manner.
Description: – Investing in information technology tools and solutions to facilitate benefits payments
– Using performance measures to ensure quality customer service
– Strengthening quality assurance processes, policies, and procedures
– Delivering optimal customer service experiences by improving processes
Priority Goal: Reduce Federal retirement processing time.
Goal Statement: Reduce Federal retirement processing time.
By July 31, 2013, Retirement Services will have reduced its case inventory so that 90 percent of all claims will be adjudicated within 60 days.
Description: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is responsible for the administration of the Federal Retirement Program covering over 2.7 million active employees and 2.5 million annuitants. This responsibility is shared with agency partners who counsel their employees and administer the initial retirement application process, and submit the employee’s application, with all supporting documentation, to OPM’s Retirement Services. Because some of the information contained in retirement applications is payroll data this process is coordinated with Payroll Shared Service Centers (SSC), with whom agencies contract to provide payroll services. When the records submitted by the agencies and the SSCs are accurate and complete, processing is much faster. However, when data elements are missing, OPM must request the documentation necessary to process the request – a significant time and labor burden which contributes to OPM’s inability to quickly process its current or new inventory. In order to reduce the inventory to a steady state of 13,000 claims within 18 months so that all but the most complex retirement cases are processed within 60 days, OPM will focus on the following four pillars: People; Productivity and Process Improvement; Partnerships with Agencies; and Partial, Progressive IT Improvements.
Objective: Improve OPM service to Federal agency benefit officers.
Description: – Developing an agency benefit officers service delivery model emphasizing shared responsibility for benefits/retirement among employees, OPM and agencies
– Defining standards for agency benefit officers, measuring their results, and recognizing them for exceptional customer service
Strategic Goal: Improve Access to Health Insurance: Develop and administer programs that provide high quality and affordable health insurance to uninsured Americans who are seeking health insurance through Affordable Care Act exchanges, uninsured Americans with pre-existing medical conditions who cannot otherwise purchase coverage, and employees of tribes or tribal organizations.
Objective: Contract with multi-state health plans to be offered on affordable insurance exchanges.
Description: – Reviewing regulations and guidance issued by the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Treasury, and Labor related to affordable insurance exchanges, qualified health plans, reserve and reinsurance requirements, eligibility, enrollment, and premium and cost sharing subsidies to determine the impact on the policies OPM will need to follow in offering multi-state plans
– Developing regulations, policies and guidance for the multi-state plan program
– Entering into contracts with at least two issuers to offer multi-state plans on affordable insurance exchanges
– Providing appropriate oversight of the multi-state plan compliance with State laws as part of the contract management process
Priority Goal: Increase health insurance choices for Americans.
Goal Statement: Increase health insurance choices for Americans.
By October 1, 2013 expand competition within health insurance markets by ensuring participation of at least 2 multi-state health plans in State Affordable Insurance Marketplaces.
Description: The 48.6 million who are uninsured face significant social and economic problems. Lost health, decreased workforce productivity, developmental and educational losses among children, and shorter life spans have all been linked to being uninsured. Those who are uninsured are less likely than those with insurance to receive preventive care and services for major health conditions-which leads to more serious health problems for many and significantly higher mortality rates.
Uncompensated care and lost productivity are problems of consumers who are uninsured that directly affect all Americans by wearing down the healthcare system’s ability to provide health care services to all, even those with insurance, and impacting the nation’s economic vitality as a result of the poorer health and premature death or disability of uninsured workers.
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has been designated as the agency responsible for implementing and overseeing the Multi-State Plan Program (MSPP). In accordance with the ACA, at least two Multi-State Plans (MSP Options) will be offered on each Marketplace (i.e., Health Insurance Marketplace, also known as the Affordable Insurance Exchange).
MSP Options will offer affordable health plans in each State and the District of Columbia to individuals and small employers through the Marketplace. In addition, MSP Options will be one of several health insurance options from which individuals and small employers will be able to choose. The Marketplace will provide health insurance coverage for as many as 25 million Americans. The initial enrollment period will begin on October 1, 2013, and coverage for enrollees will first become effective on January 1, 2014.
Basically, MSP Options are a new type of insurance product that have never been offered before in the private insurance market or through public programs. They are subject to a wide range of Federal laws and regulations as well as State laws and regulations. All MSP Options offered under a contract with OPM will be deemed certified to be offered on the Marketplace. MSPP issuers will not have to apply separately to each Marketplace. OPM is implementing the MSPP during the same time period that Marketplaces are being established by the States and the Federal government. To successfully implement this priority goal, OPM must meet the following challenges:
– Creating a program that will attract issuers with the capability to provide coverage in 50 States and the District of Columbia to apply to participate.
– Establishing program rules that appropriately balance State and Federal regulatory interests in a manner that will enable MSPP issuers to compete and thrive in the Marketplace.
– Ensuring that MSP Options are not advantaged or disadvantaged in marketplaces, so that insurance companies can compete for business on a level playing field, driving down costs.
Objective: Offer Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) to employees of eligible Tribes and tribal organizations.
Description: – Establishing an OPM policy and technical team to implement a program allowing tribes and tribal organizations to purchase FEHB program coverage for their employees
– Conducting consultations and outreach to tribal leaders, members, and organizations to obtain input on program implementation
– Implementing an enrollment capability for tribes to purchase health insurance
– Establishing the capability to monitor quality access and cost of healthcare for tribal employees through the healthcare data warehouse
– Analyzing the Tribal employee experience along with Federal employees health care cost, access, and quality
Objective: Manage a contract with a health insurer to provide health insurance coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Description: – Establishing an OPM policy and technical team to manage a program allowing people with pre-existing conditions to obtain health insurance
– Assisting HHS in establishing a PCIP contract with a health insurer
– Conducting an open season for PCIP enrollees to choose among the Plan options
– Providing actuarial, demographic, economic, and statistical analyses to HHS
– Preparing for the conclusion of the PCIP program in 2014 when affordable insurance exchanges become operational
