Insights on the Federal Government’s Human Capital Crisis: Reflections of Generation X Winning The War for Talent by Amit Bordia Tony Cheesebrough MASTER OF PUBLIC POLICY CANDIDATES HARVARD UNIVERSITY JOHN F. KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT Professor Steve Kelman, Faculty Advisor Professor Alyce Adams, HLE Seminar Leader Professor Tom Patterson, PAL Seminar Leader Acknowledgements We are deeply grateful to our client, The Partnership for Public Service, for providing us with the opportunity to work on this challenging and incredibly important problem. In particular, we wish to thank Max Stier, John Palguta, and Kevin Simpson, who provided us with valuable insights and resources. We are extremely thankful for each of our 45 interviewees and several other respondents, who in their busy schedules found time to talk to us and share their insights candidly and patently. We owe our gratitude to Professor Steve Kelman for being a guide, a kibitzer, and a source of ideas, for being patient and flexible with us, for helping us when we hit a roadblock and for giving feedback at short notice. We thank Professor Alyce Adams and Professor Tom Patterson for their year-long guidance, inputs and help as our seminar leaders. We are thankful to Professor Elaine Kamarck for her input and guidance early on in our work. We also thank Professor Archon Fung for his inputs. Thanks to all those who helped, who inspired, and all those who supported, as we went through more than 500 man-hours working on this project. Insights on the Federal Government’s Human Capital Crisis: Reflections of Generation X i Table of Contents I Executive Summary I.1 Problem and Background ........................................................................................................... v I.2 Methodology .............................................................................................................................. v I.3 Findings...................................................................................................................................... v I.3.1 Roles and Responsibilities............................................................................................... v I.3.2 Management....................................................................................................................vi I.3.3 Evaluation .......................................................................................................................vi I.3.4 Career Progression..........................................................................................................vi I.3.5 Reaching Out ..................................................................................................................vi I.4 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................vii I.4.1 Roles and Responsibilities.................................................................................................vii I.4.2 Management ......................................................................................................................vii I.4.3 Evaluation..........................................................................................................................vii I.4.4 Career Progression.............................................................................................................vii I.4.5 Reaching Out.....................................................................................................................vii II Problem and Background II.1 Introduction to the Problem ...................................................................................................... 1 II.2 Recruitment and Retention........................................................................................................ 1 II.2.1 Recruitment........................................................................................................................ 1 II.2.2 Retention ............................................................................................................................ 2 II.3 The Opportunity........................................................................................................................ 3 III Methodology III.1 Introduction—Mapping the Territory...................................................................................... 4 III.2 Literature Review .................................................................................................................... 4 III.3 Interviews ................................................................................................................................ 4 III.3.1 Additions to the Interview Guide...................................................................................... 5 III.3.2 Insights.............................................................................................................................. 5 III.4 Sample Selection...................................................................................................................... 5 III.4.1 The Sample Spread ........................................................................................................... 6 III.4.2 Compromises .................................................................................................................... 6 III.4.2.1 Compromise 1: Educational Difference............................................................... 6 III.4.2.2 Compromise 2: Harvard....................................................................................... 7 III.4.2.3 Compromise 3: Size............................................................................................. 7 III.4.3 Sample Biases................................................................................................................... 7 III.4.3.1 Sample Bias 1: Government Talent with Masters Degrees ................................. 7 III.4.3.2 Sample Bias 2: Selection Bias ............................................................................. 7 III.5 Output ...................................................................................................................................... 8 III.5.1 Quotes and Examples........................................................................................................ 8 III.5.2 Factoids............................................................................................................................. 8 III.5.3 Caveat to Output ............................................................................................................... 8 Insights on the Federal Government’s Human Capital Crisis: Reflections of Generation X ii IV Findings IV.1 Introduction to Findings .......................................................................................................... 9 IV.2.1 Introduction to Roles and Responsibilities......................................................................... 10 IV.2.2 Tasks and Responsibilities are Similar............................................................................... 10 IV.2.3 Access to Senior Organization Officials is Higher in Government.................................... 11 IV.2.4 The Consequences of Work in Government are More Far-Reaching................................. 11 IV.2.5 Differences in Roles: Support to Senior Decision Maker Vs. Authority............................ 12 IV.3.1 Introduction to Management .............................................................................................. 14 IV.3.2 Good management is critical to retention in large bureaucracies....................................... 14 IV.3.3 Government Talent is Independent but Alone.................................................................... 14 IV.3.4 Good Supervisors, Happy Talent........................................................................................ 15 IV.3.5 Such Cases are Far and Few Between ................................................................................ 15 IV.3.5.1 Poor Management Practices ........................................................................................ 16 IV.3.5.2 Poor Direct Supervisors............................................................................................... 17 IV.3.5.3 Systemic Management Faults and Poor Decision-Making.......................................... 17 IV.3.6 The Causes.......................................................................................................................... 18 IV.3.6.1 There is a lot of Management Deadwood.................................................................... 18 IV.3.6.2 Lack of Experience...................................................................................................... 18 IV.3.6.3 Managers are not Promoted Based on Their Leadership Potential.............................. 18 IV.3.7 Political Appointees, Political Change ............................................................................... 19 IV.3.8 The Vents are Choked ........................................................................................................ 20 IV.3.8.1 There is Very Little Mentoring.................................................................................... 20 IV.3.8.2 There is Almost no Upward Communication.............................................................. 21 IV.4.1 Introduction to Evaluation.................................................................................................