A New Civil Service Framework
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BUILDING THE ENTERPRISE A NEW CIVIL SERVICE FRAMEWORK APRIL 2014 The Partnership for Public Service is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works to revitalize the federal government by inspiring a new generation to serve and by transforming the way government works. Booz Allen Hamilton has been at the forefront of strategy and technology consulting for nearly a century. Today, the firm provides services primarily to the US government in defense, intelligence, and civil markets, and to major corporations, institutions, and not-for-profit organizations. Booz Allen offers clients deep functional knowledge spanning strategy and organization, engineering and operations, technology, and analytics—which it combines with specialized expertise in clients’ mission and domain areas to help solve their toughest problems. Booz Allen is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, employs approximately 25,000 people, and had revenue of $5.86 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2012. To learn more, visit www.boozallen.com. (NYSE: BAH) b b PARTNERSHIP PARTNERSHIP FOR FOR PUBLIC PUBLIC SERVICE SERVICE | BOOZ | BOOZ ALLEN ALLEN HAMILTON HAMILTON PREFACE In 2013 the Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen We have an opportunity and an imperative to plan for Hamilton articulated a vision for creating a federal gov- the future federal workforce, but to do it properly will ernment that acts as a single, integrated enterprise—not mean revamping the system that supports it. The Gen- a set of disconnected agencies and programs—in tackling eral Schedule, the pay and job classification system under the nation’s biggest problems and challenges. In no area which the majority of the federal workforce still operates, is this need for a unified, whole-of-government approach dates back to 1949. It reflects the needs and characteris- more critical than in the way the government manages tics of the last century’s workforce—not those required its talent. for today’s complex, interagency challenges. Throughout our discussions with numerous current The work of government has changed. The way we and former federal officials, academics and stakehold- work and the skills needed have changed. And the world ers about how to make government more effective, one has changed. Our civil service system has not kept pace. theme that emerged early and often centered on the in- To cope, some agencies, many of whom experienced a adequacy of the civil service system in helping our fed- crisis, were able to cut their own deals with Congress eral government recruit, hire, develop, retain and reward that enable them to operate under separate systems, with our nation’s top talent. higher pay rates and more hiring flexibilities. The result The Partnership is firmly committed to the idea that is a patchwork quilt of “have” and “have not” agencies, good government starts with good people. And to be where government competes with itself for high-caliber clear, our nation is fortunate to count some of the bright- employees instead of approaching talent at a strategic, est, most dedicated professionals among its ranks. But enterprise level on behalf of all of government. too often they succeed in spite of the current civil service In his 2015 budget proposal, President Obama reiter- system, not because of it, and it is getting harder to attract ated a commitment to taking executive actions that will highly qualified and skilled employees in this age of pay “attract and retain the best talent in the federal workforce freezes, ad hoc hiring freezes and tight budgets. and foster a culture of excellence.” These steps are critical. Only 9 percent of the federal workforce is made up But we are long overdue for fundamental reforms that go of people younger than 30—compared to 23 percent of beyond executive action for the civil service system. No the total U.S. workforce. By 2017 nearly two-thirds of the reform effort will be successful, however, without strong Senior Executive Service, our nation’s career leadership leadership to drive its successful implementation. corps, will be eligible for retirement, and about 31 percent Our hope is that the broad framework offered in the of the government’s permanent career employees will be pages that follow ignites a conversation on how to mod- able to head out the door. Given the state of the economy ernize our federal civil service and brings stakeholders over the past several years, government has held on to its together to create a system that our public servants de- experienced employees for longer than anticipated, but serve and that will produce the results our country needs. retirements are back on the rise. Max Stier Lloyd W. Howell Jr. President and CEO Executive Vice President Partnership for Public Service Booz Allen Hamilton Federal Workforce by the Numbers Today’s federal workforce is composed largely of knowledge-based, professional occupations—a much different picture than the largely clerical occupations that dominated the previous century’s workforce. The entire federal government is made up of 2.1 million civilian employees, 1.8 million of whom work in full-time, permanent, nonseasonal positions. Nearly two-thirds of these employees work in profes- sional and administrative positions. But what does this portion of the overall federal workforce look like today? Which agencies do these employees work in, and in which fields? The figures in the following pages focus on federal civilian employees in the executive branch, excluding the intelligence community and U.S. Postal Service. The nature of the work performed by federal employees has evolved over time. The percentage of FEDERAL WORKFORCE BY OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORY the federal workforce in professional and administrative occupations—those focused on knowledge- based work and often requiring college education—has risen steadily for the past 15 years. At the same time, the percentage of employees in clerical occupations—those that primarily require mastery of a specific task or skill—has fallen 4.6 percent. PROFESSIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE TECHNICAL BLUE COLLAR CLERICAL OTHER WHITE COLLAR 70 PERCENT 60 50 40 30 20 10 1998 2013 1998 2013 1998 2013 1998 2013 1998 2013 SINCE 1998 the PERCENTAge of professional and the PERCENTAge of CLERICAL ADMINISTRATIVe emplOyees has risen 9.8% EMPLOyees has dropped 4.6% SIZE OF THE TOTAL FEDERAL WORKFORCE TOP EmploYERS: PROFESSIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE OCCUPATIONS Defense and security-related agencies dominate the composition of the professional and 2013 FEDERAL administrative workforce. Employees in these agencies account for 62.8 percent of the professional 2010 WORKFORCE and administrative workforce, with civilian employees at Department of Defense agencies alone accounting for 34 percent. 2.1 MILLION 2000 VETERANS AFFAIRS 14.1% % PROFESSIONAL 62.8 OF EMPLOYEES WORK AND ARMY 12.0% ADMINISTRATIVE FOR DEFENSE AND 1990 SECURITY-RELATED EMPLOYEES NAVY 9.4% AGENCIES MILLION 1980 1.2 HOMELAND SECURITY 8.4% AIR FORCE 7.4% 1970 JUSTICE 6.3% DEFENSE 5.2% 1960 TREASURY 4.7% 1950 TRANSPORTATION 4.2% HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 4.2% 1940 0.5 1.5 2.5 MILLION OTHER 24.1% TOP 10 GROUPS: PROFESSIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE OCCUPATIONS ADMINISTRATION, MEDICAL, OPERATIONS AND DENTAL AND INVESTIGATION ENGINEERING AND GENERAL MGMT. PUBLIC HEALTH AND INSPECTION ARCHITECTURE PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL WORKFORCE BY OCCUPATIONAL GROUP 17.1% 11.2% 9.4% 8.4% TOTAL EMPLOYEES 203,756 134,097 112,487 100,793 A profile of professional and administrative federal employees This new civil service framework proposes reforms that would affect the professional Employees under 30 years of age account for only AGE about 6 percent of the professional and administrative and administrative workforce, which comprises 65 percent of the federal workforce. The workforce. This stands in contrast to the civilian work- figures in this spread focus on the 1.2 million civilian, full-time, permanent employees in force (including the private sector), where 23 percent of professional and administrative occupations and are designed to provide an overview of employees are under 30 years old. Many of the reforms in this proposal could help government better attract the characteristics of this workforce segment. and retain younger talent. While the racial diversity of the federal workforce varies from one segment of the < 25 0.6 RACE AND ETHNICITY workforce to another, the racial diversity of the professional and administrative workforce closely mirrors that of the entire federal workforce. For example, 30 per- 25-29 5.3 cent of the professional and administrative workforce is composed of individuals of a minority racial group, compared to 33.2 percent of the entire federal workforce. 30-34 10.0 WHITE 70.0 35-39 10.1 BLACK OR AFRICAN 15.9 15.9 40-44 12.2 AMERICAN ASIAN 6.3 45-49 15.8 HISPANIC OR LATINO 4.9 50-54 18.7 AMERICAN INDIAN 1.3 OR ALASKA NATIVE 55-59 14.9 MIXED RACE 1.3 60-64 8.6 NATIVE HAWAIIAN OR 0.3 PACIFIC ISLANDER > 65 3.8 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 10 20 GENDER DISABILITY STATUS Data Sources: Unless otherwise noted below, all data are from FedScope (fedscope.opm.gov), from the Office of Personnel Management, for Women account for 43.7 percent of the entire professional Nine percent of all professional and administrative employees all full-time, nonseasonal, permanent employees and administrative workforce. report having a disability. (Sept. 2013). FEMALE EMPLOYEES WITH DISABILITIES Veteran Status: Partnership for Public Service analysis of the Central Personnel Data File (now MALE EMPLOYEES WITHOUT DISABILITIES called the EHRI-SDM) for full-time, nonseasonal, permanent employees (Sept. 2012). Disability Status: Partnership for Public Service 9.0 analysis of the Central Personnel Data File for full- time, nonseasonal, permanent employees (Sept. 2011). 43.7 Data on the civilian labor force: “Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population by age, sex, and race,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 56.3 http://1.usa.gov/1geGOD3 (accessed Feb.