General
Questions and answers
No. It’s up to the agency to establish the number of supervisory training hours considering the needs of the supervisor/s.
By regulations, agencies are required (under 5 CFR 412.202) to provide:
- Initial supervisory training within one year of the new supervisor’s appointment
- Retraining at least once every three years
- Training on mentoring employees
- Training on improving employees’ performance and productivity
- Training on conducting performance appraisals; and
- Training on identifying and assisting employees with unacceptable performance
Agencies must also provide training when employees make critical career transitions, for example, from a non-supervisory to a supervisory position. Most agencies offer additional training to new supervisors on topics such as:
- Recruiting and Hiring
- EEO
- Working with Leave
- Developing Others
- Strategic Leadership
- Prohibited personnel practices
- Diversity and inclusion
- Reasonable accommodation
- Labor and employee relations
- Union participation rights
- Collective bargaining agreements
- Financial management
- Upper management expectations
- Key leadership competencies from OPM’s Leadership Journey Models, including continual learning, integrity/honesty, interpersonal skills, oral communication, public service motivation, and written communication
You should include guidance on Supervisory Training in your agency training policy manuals. For more information on supervisory training, refer to the Training Administration Fast Facts Index.