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 encompass 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 the time to hire a Federal employee--from 122 days on average in 2010 to an average of 93 days as of October 2011 [FY12 data will be available in January 2013].

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.

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.

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 encompass 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 the time to hire a Federal employee--from 122 days on average in 2010 to an average of 93 days as of October 2011 [FY12 data will be available in January 2013].

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.

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 encompass 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 the time to hire a Federal employee--from 122 days on average in 2010 to an average of 93 days as of October 2011 [FY12 data will be available in January 2013].

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.

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) Director John Berry and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Controller Danny Warfel 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.

1. 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.

2. Align Employee Performance Management with Organizational Performance Management

a. 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.

b. 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:

3. Implement Accountability at All Levels Focus on:

a. Agency leadership accountability to the President’s Management Council and the White House;

b. Integration of and accountability for organizational performance management functions within the agency;

c. 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.

d. Fully utilize agency labor-management forums and the perspectives of management associations where a formal consultative relationship exists.

e. Improve third-level supervision (management of supervision) by implementing training on how to manage and evaluate supervision for higher-level managers.

4. 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.

5. Improve the Assessment, Selection, Development and Training of Supervisors

a. Focus the selection process for supervisors on identifying competencies required for effective performance as a supervisor, including employee performance management requirements.

b. 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.

c. 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.

d. 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.

f. 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.

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) Director John Berry and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Controller Danny Warfel 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.

1. 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.

2. Align Employee Performance Management with Organizational Performance Management

a. 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.

b. 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:

3. Implement Accountability at All Levels Focus on:

a. Agency leadership accountability to the President’s Management Council and the White House;

b. Integration of and accountability for organizational performance management functions within the agency;

c. 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.

d. Fully utilize agency labor-management forums and the perspectives of management associations where a formal consultative relationship exists.

e. Improve third-level supervision (management of supervision) by implementing training on how to manage and evaluate supervision for higher-level managers.

4. 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.

5. Improve the Assessment, Selection, Development and Training of Supervisors

a. Focus the selection process for supervisors on identifying competencies required for effective performance as a supervisor, including employee performance management requirements.

b. 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.

c. 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.

d. 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.

f. 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.

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) Director John Berry and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Controller Danny Warfel 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.

1. 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.

2. Align Employee Performance Management with Organizational Performance Management

a. 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.

b. 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:

3. Implement Accountability at All Levels Focus on:

a. Agency leadership accountability to the President’s Management Council and the White House;

b. Integration of and accountability for organizational performance management functions within the agency;

c. 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.

d. Fully utilize agency labor-management forums and the perspectives of management associations where a formal consultative relationship exists.

e. Improve third-level supervision (management of supervision) by implementing training on how to manage and evaluate supervision for higher-level managers.

4. 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.

5. Improve the Assessment, Selection, Development and Training of Supervisors

a. Focus the selection process for supervisors on identifying competencies required for effective performance as a supervisor, including employee performance management requirements.

b. 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.

c. 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.

d. 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.

f. 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.

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) Director John Berry and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Controller Danny Warfel 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.

1. 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.

2. Align Employee Performance Management with Organizational Performance Management

a. 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.

b. 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:

3. Implement Accountability at All Levels Focus on:

a. Agency leadership accountability to the President’s Management Council and the White House;

b. Integration of and accountability for organizational performance management functions within the agency;

c. 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.

d. Fully utilize agency labor-management forums and the perspectives of management associations where a formal consultative relationship exists.

e. Improve third-level supervision (management of supervision) by implementing training on how to manage and evaluate supervision for higher-level managers.

4. 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.

5. Improve the Assessment, Selection, Development and Training of Supervisors

a. Focus the selection process for supervisors on identifying competencies required for effective performance as a supervisor, including employee performance management requirements.

b. 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.

c. 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.

d. 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.

f. 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.

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.

The 48.6 million 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. The 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 the 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 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 Act, at least two Multi-State Plans (MSPs) will be offered on each Affordable Insurance Exchange (Exchange). MSPs will offer affordable health plans in each State and the District of Columbia to individuals and small employers through the Exchanges. MSPs will be one of several health insurance options from which individuals and small employers will be able to choose. Exchanges are expected to 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.   An MSP is a new type of insurance product that has never been offered before in the private insurance market or through public programs. MSPs are subject to a wide range of Federal laws and regulations as well as State laws and regulations. An MSP offered under a contract with OPM will be deemed certified to be offered on the Exchanges. MSPP issuers will not have to apply separately to each Exchange. States are in the process of establishing their Exchanges and some States are farther along in this process than others. OPM is implementing the MSPP during the same time period that Exchanges are being established.

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 Exchanges.
• Ensuring that MSP’s are not advantaged or disadvantaged in Exchange marketplaces, so that insurance companies can compete for business on a level playing field, driving down costs.