WASHINGTON Federal worker revamp sought

One provision of the Voinovich bill would allow the federal government to give bonuses to attract and retain employees.
By DAVID ENRICH
STATES NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- Warning that many federal agencies are facing critical shortages of highly skilled employees, Sen. George V. Voinovich said that he would introduce legislation next year to revamp the way the federal government hires and treats its workers.
"The federal government has ignored that very, very important ingredient -- that is the best and brightest people and retaining and attracting them," Voinovich, an Ohio Republican, said Tuesday at a luncheon sponsored by the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan group that deals with federal personnel issues.
"Today, with companies more interested in securing their places, these people that are in the security business are on the market. People want them," Voinovich said.
"And if we want to make sure that we keep our best and attract the best to us, then we better recognize that we're in the real world."
Not only is the federal government having trouble competing with the private sector in recruiting skilled employees -- it also is facing an imminent wave of retirements.
Voinovich said that about half of the federal work force is expected to leave the government by 2004, including a disproportionate number of senior executives.
The homeland security bill that Congress passed and President Bush signed last month included several Voinovich-authored provisions meant to help cope with the growing worker shortage and the personnel issues involved in transferring 170,000 employees from 22 agencies into a new department.
What's proposed
The bill creates chief personnel officers in all major federal agencies and an inter-agency council of those officers. It also authorizes managers in the new Department of Homeland Security to transfer workers among agencies.
Other government-wide provisions in the bill are meant to encourage workers to receive academic and occupational training.
But many of the homeland security bill's work force provisions -- which were lifted from an earlier Voinovich bill -- dealt exclusively with the new Homeland Security Department.
About half of the provisions from Voinovich's original bill were left out of the homeland security legislation.
"Not only does Homeland Security need the help, but all of our federal agencies need the help," Voinovich said.
The senator said the bill he will introduce next year would include planks from his original plan that are meant to give federal agencies a competitive edge in luring workers who are being recruited by private-sector companies.
New authority
The bill would give agencies new authority to use financial bonuses to recruit and retain workers and to offer more generous annual leave plans.
It also would instruct agencies to devote more resources and personnel to training workers, a benefit that also could help recruiting workers.
When Republicans reclaim control of the Senate when the new Congress convenes in January, Voinovich is slated to become chairman of a Senate panel that oversees government management issues.
He said that his new perch will allow him to make the federal human capital crisis a priority in Congress.
Voinovich said that he and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the incoming chairwoman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, plan to have oversight hearings on human capital issues and the Homeland Security Department.