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04/20/23 OURPUBLICSERVICE.ORG
Human Capital Issues in the Financial Management ArenaSurvey Results and Findings
March 12, 2009
Presented byKen Bresnahan, PartnerGrant Thornton LLP
Four things CFOs should focus on in human capital management:
Developing the right skills mix
Recruiting and retaining talent
Training the workforce
Creating career opportunities
Are we back where we started?
These were the same issues we tried to focus on in 1996.
Has anything changed?
Positive Changes
Individual agencies have taken steps to improve human capital management in the financial arena.
Internship programs
Effective training
Motivating the workforce
BUT…
The Bad News from Grant Thornton’s 2008 CFO Survey
Despite instances of progress,financial managers still cite human capital as the top concern by a 2 to 1 margin.
Primary human capital concerns from Grant Thornton’s 2008 CFO Survey
Federal hiring procedures are too complex
Looming retirements will cause “brain drain”
Intragovernmental “churn” (i.e., competition among federal agencies for financial management talent)
Primary human capital concerns from Grant Thornton’s 2008 CFO Survey
Low salaries leave government unable to compete for financial talent with the private sector—and with financial regulatory agencies within government.
Too many compliance mandates create burnout
Solutions
Local solutions: solutions that can be implemented quickly and are within a CFO’s span of control
Global solutions: long-term policy changes that cut across management disciplines and affect the entire Federal government
Solutions (Local)from Grant Thornton’s 2008 CFO Survey
Establish and invest in succession plans
Cross-train and rotate staff
Use intern programs
Train employees to develop new skills
Reduce non-value-added work
Solutions (Global)from Grant Thornton’s 2008 CFO Survey
Streamline the federal hiring process
Make it easier to re-hire annuitants
Focus on quality-of-life flexibilities (e.g., telework, flextime)
Solutions (Global)Global solutions—and human capital concerns—mentioned in the CFO
Survey mirror those mentioned by interviewees in all Grant Thornton surveys.
Acquisition Defense Financial InformationOfficers Managers Technology
CHCOs’ Advice to President Obama in the 2008 Survey
Make people issues a presidential priority
Create 21st century systems to support a 21st century workforce
Improve our federal workforce by investing in the human resources workforce
Don’t automatically hit the reset button on previous workforce reform efforts
General Schedule (GS) Pay System
Only 14% of CHCOs thought the Federal government should stick with the GS
60% advocated for its gradual elimination
Do you think the GS pay system should be:
Alternative Work Schedules
The most useful personnel flexibility, according to CHCOs, is the use of Alternative Work Schedules
Direct Hire Authority
Fewer than half (47%) of CHCOs said that direct hire authority as it is currently structured is useful to a great or very great extent.
Dual Compensation Waiver Authority (Authority to re-hire annuitants without forfeiting retirement benefits)
CHCOs said this is the least useful personnel flexibility as currently structured because the process is to cumbersome.
What does this mean for the CFO Community?
Think globally, but act locally.Local solutions: act on what you can implement and control, share best
practices
Global solutions: make use of government-wide flexibilities, communicate with other management disciplines within your agency and take an active role in the CFO Council