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Message from the Director

Official Portrait of Robert H. Shriver, III.
Robert H. Shriver, III
Acting Director

As Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), it is an honor to present OPM’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Agency Human Capital Review (HCR) report. This report summarizes the HCR discussions held with the 24 CFO Act agencies and provides agency leaders with a snapshot of current risks, barriers, and successful practices to help them reach their goals. The FY 2024 Human Capital Reviews centered around two overarching governmentwide topics:

  1. Use of human capital data to conduct data driven decision making through HRStat; and
  2. Integrating artificial intelligence into the workforce and HR operations.

In addition, agencies submitted their own HCR agenda items, including innovations in data management, evaluation techniques, recruitment and hiring, and workforce planning.

OPM strives to position the federal government as a model employer. As we carry out our mission to lead federal agencies in workforce policies, programs, and benefits, we remain committed to supporting and empowering agencies with the necessary tools to achieve their missions and strategic objectives.

Signature of Robert H. Shriver, III
Robert H. Shriver, III
Acting Director
U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Introduction

Human Capital Reviews (HCRs) are annual, evidence-based reviews conducted between the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Act agencies that allow agency human capital leaders to discuss the implementation and execution of human capital goals, including risks, barriers, and successful practices. These reviews serve as an opportunity for OPM to provide feedback, identify opportunities for cross-cutting human capital collaborations, and share leading practices with agencies.

Overview

HCRs were conducted with all 24 CFO Act agencies for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) from April 2, 2024, through June 13, 2024. The reviews entailed a conversation with agency executives, leaders, managers, and subject matter experts on two main topics:

  • Use of human capital data to conduct data driven decision making, such as:
    • using HRStat to measure and inform attainment of Human Capital Operating Plan (HCOP) objectives in support of the Agency Strategic Plan; and
    • incorporating data from the Agency’s Independent Audit Program to inform and adjust human capital strategies; and
    • ensuring necessary data analytics skills and processes are in place.
  • Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the workforce, including:
    • workforce planning efforts to identify and recruit AI talent; and
    • plans for using AI in HR.

This report summarizes and analyzes the 24 HCR discussions, including CFO Act agency efforts to use human capital data to conduct data driven decision making, and efforts to integrate AI into the workforce, as well as corresponding leading practices that may be replicated or adapted by other agencies.

Data Driven Decision Making

HRStat

HRStat is a strategic human capital performance evaluation process that agencies use to identify, measure, and analyze human capital data to assess the impact of an agency's human capital management on its organizational results and improve human capital outcomes. See 5 CFR 250.202. It is a quarterly review process and key component of an agency's strategic planning and alignment and evaluation systems of the Human Capital Framework. Id. When effectively used, partnerships are cultivated between stakeholders within agencies who may not have previously partnered to develop, implement and monitor human capital strategies together.

Trends

The HCRs found that all agencies understand the importance and utility of HRStat and are committed to improving their HRStat programs and processes. This includes using HRStat reviews to communicate accomplishments, planned actions, and goals for identified priorities. Additionally, some agencies are strengthening their HRStat programs and processes by expanding outreach among their components. This fostered collaboration by keeping components apprised of what is discussed in the HRStat reviews and enabling them to take action.

Most agencies hold HRStat meetings quarterly, as required. However, some agencies meet more frequently and for more in-depth monitoring and discussion of progress on metrics. Meeting attendance varies but typically includes C-Suite executives, human capital program leads, and the Performance Improvement Officer.

92 percent of agencies hold HRStat meetings at least quarterly.
20 percent of agencies hold them monthly.

The HCOP, each agency's human capital implementation document, describes how an agency will execute the human capital elements stated within Agency Strategic Plan and Annual Performance Plan (APP). Intended as a dynamic document, the HCOP includes milestones, outcomes, and performance indicators. Agencies refer to their HCOPs often during the quarterly HRStat discussions to assess progress in meeting performance targets and mission goals and objectives.

Challenges

While agencies are making great strides in HRStat, some agencies struggle with allocating resources and retaining experienced staff who possess data analysis competencies and capabilities. Additionally, there is little evidence that agencies are using the results of the HRStat reviews to update and adjust their HCOP and APP. Updating the HCOP with strategies, milestones, and targets, informed by the outcomes of HRStat reviews, would help agencies make more accurate, effective, and evidence-based decisions based on timely data. Additionally, agencies should consider implementing an annual review of their HCOP to ensure strategies are in alignment with the goals and objectives included in the APP.

Most strategies within agency HCOPs include actions, targets, and metrics. However, agencies would benefit from the addition of enhanced, quantifiable metrics that are incorporated into dashboards. Quantifying metrics is important because it provides a way to measure and evaluate performance objectively. Pairing them with dashboards adds transparency and access to real-time data. Quantifiable metrics also make it easier to track and evaluate progress made over time, as well as compare against benchmarks and targets in support of mission accomplishment.

Leading Practices – Spotlight On:

HUD
The agency has made great improvement in developing a human capital dashboard that provides real time information on key performance indicators (KPIs), such as planned vs. actual hires and process steps. Using dashboard data to identify steps in the hiring process has contributed to HUD reducing its time to hire by 23% since 2020 and achieving its FY23 annual performance plan target of 75 calendar days, while also filling 22% more positions than planned. As a result, HUD no longer deems time-to-hire as one of its top management challenges. HUD developed additional trackers for other human capital activities, including classification, job analysis, selection, personnel security and onboarding. Transparency in tracking its activities has provided HUD trends to analyze program processes and make timely decisions about whether departmental strategies, milestones, and KPIs are off track and what adjustments are needed to meet objectives.
HHS
The agency has cohesive leadership support in establishing and maintaining its HRStat program, with the inaugural session held in February 2023. Human capital leaders, including HHS headquarters program staff, as well as leaders from operating divisions of its components, found such value in these meetings that they extended them to allow for greater collaboration. HHS reported its multi-faceted scorecard makes it easier to generate relevant, consistent, and comparable data over time, providing it with insight on the programs’ performance trends. Each session includes a presentation that reviews the status of HCOP goals, milestones, and metrics, which are then adjusted based on the discussions. HHS notes that implementation of the HRStat process has helped the agency make meaningful connections between the HCOP, independent audit programs (IAP), and HCRs as the IAP prepares an annual roll up of findings, strengths, and challenges.

Data Governance

Trends

Image of a pie graph chart titled Data Governance Successes and Challenges. The pie chart shows Success with 21, In Progress with 10, Challenge with 9, Uncharacterized with 5, and Concern with 1.Most agencies have reported a significant increase in data analysis, data-driven conversations among leadership, and the use of dashboards and data visualizations. All CFO Act agencies have named a Human Capital Data Champion, most of whom attended the FY24 HCR conversations. Champions are senior level officials within agencies who drive the human capital data analytics function within their agency. They are responsible for ensuring quality agency data feeds to OPM and for driving appropriate agency utilization of OPM’s data services.

Many agencies have stood up a data analytics community of practice (CoP), or something similar, to share visualizations and analytics work they are doing across their organizations. This intentional collaboration and knowledge sharing has contributed to agency successes.  Data literacy is being weaved into dashboards, communities of practice, and leadership meetings. Some agencies seem to be quite advanced in their production of dashboards and tools to help leaders answer common operational questions and perform basic drill-down analysis.

Challenges

Unavailable, inaccurate, and contradictory data erodes trust among leaders and impedes the ability of an organization to understand its current environment or forecast into the future with confidence. The lack of complete and available data governance policies, guidance, and strategies have hindered improvement in data governance practices. Absence of data dictionaries to identify, apply, and manage digital policies, as well as legacy platforms, contribute to many of the challenges with data governance as agencies struggle with common data languages and opposing terminology. 

Additionally, agencies must overcome cultural challenges. Reluctance to provide transparency with human capital data among agency components is one example. The challenges associated with lack of transparency and trust across large agencies and departments are longstanding.

Solutions

In cases where agencies have built communities of practice to promote sharing, collaboration, and communication, agencies report experiencing fewer challenges and are building more trust and skill around data analytics. Some agencies are starting to name chief data officers for their components as a strategy to build a culture of data fluency and collaboration where it has not existed historically. OPM encourages agencies to continue working towards a mutual understanding of data dimensions and definitions to strengthen data governance and allocate space for data practitioners to collaborate as data infrastructure is developed. OPM also manages a data analytics community of practice with over 70 agencies participating, and hosted three educational sessions in 2024. The community of practice (also discussed separately in this report) promotes a common understanding of human capital data analytics tools and products.

Data Integration and Access

Trends

Data integration is a significant concern that surfaced in most HCR conversations. Interestingly, as we summarized the information agencies shared, it became clear that while agencies report nearly twice as many successes than challenges with data governance (a ratio of 2.3 to 1), the reverse is true with data integration. Overall, agencies report nearly twice as many challenges than successes – virtually the same ratio (1.7 to 1) – when it comes to integrating their data, highlighting the work yet to be done in the areas of data integration and access.

Agencies cite a lot of manual work in collecting data to respond to OPM data calls. Most agencies rely heavily on their shared service providers to obtain and collect the data they analyze. Interior Business Center (IBC) customers use IBC’s Oracle Analytic Service (OAS), previously referred to as Data Mart. DOT uses OAS directly as its analytic platform, whereas most agencies pull the data back in-house into a data warehouse. There they combine the data with other in-house data and analyze the results. National Finance Center customers also report they regularly pull data from the NFC platform and complete their analysis in-house.

Challenges

A contributing factor to data integration challenges is the fragmentation of in-house HR information technology (IT) ecosystems. These ecosystems have evolved over time as a set of “best of breed” systems for various functions. This has left agencies in the precarious position of pulling together data from various IT systems to answer seemingly straightforward questions.

Multiple agencies cited telework/remote work as an example that illustrates the challenges with data integration. Relevant data exists across core HR, timecard, and payroll systems. However, agencies must combine data from all three systems to answer questions about their workforce. The complexities and difficulty with integration increase for agencies with multiple systems for a single function, such as HHS that uses four different timecard systems. Some agency representatives, such as DOI, were quite proud of the skills they built to combine seemingly non-interoperable data sets and to “MacGyver” solutions.

Agencies are proud of the “MacGyver” strategies they have developed out of necessity to combine non-interoperable data sets.

In general, agencies are challenged by gathering disparate data from multiple systems. However, agencies do report growth and development in their ability to govern and display data once it is gathered for all systems/sources (or for agencies that have fewer collection sources). Overall, integrating data from all sources increases accuracy and positively impacts data driven decision making.

Data Competence

There is great variability in what agencies are doing to raise data literacy and competency levels. Examples include:

  • webinars or forums where internal staff teach a skill,
  • creating sets of data literacy courses to teach staff how to read and use data more effectively, and
  • outsourcing or buying training from companies that offer general training in this discipline.

Multiple agencies discussed the need to educate users on specific aspects of data, such as definitions and timing and transfer schedules, so they can draw the right conclusions and not misinterpret what they are seeing in the data. There is an opportunity for agencies to cross-collaborate by sharing with each other more about what they are doing in this area.

Strategic Planning

Most agencies indicated they use data to inform strategic planning and have real time data they use to track progress on organizational goals and objectives, as outlined in the HRStat section. However, many agencies lack the skills to conduct meaningful workforce planning activities. Though many agencies agree that the OPM workforce planning guide is beneficial, they still lack workforce planning expertise and must acquire talent in this area. OPM recently launched a Governmentwide Workforce Planning Community of Practice to support agencies in their workforce planning efforts. The community held engagement sessions to share, collaborate and discuss topics such as leadership buy in, agency dashboards, and how to define workforce planning. The topics for the engagement sessions are developed by a cross-agency volunteer board. One large agency just recently added a workforce analytics team to its headquarters’ office to support the use of data in strategic and workforce planning.

Agencies recognize the importance of incorporating data into their strategic planning efforts and many have set this as a focus area moving forward. One example is DHS’ enhanced data visualizations that provide a visual summary of human capital trends, insights, and anomalies to inform senior leader decisions. The data provides insight into workforce trends such as hires and separations, mission critical occupations onboard and the fill rate, and data that reflects females in the law enforcement field. Demographic data such as gender, ethnic and racial diversity, and individuals with disabilities also is included in the visual summary. This type of dashboard plays an important role when analyzing data for planning purposes.

Remote Work/Telework Policies and Practices

Many agencies are still working to implement data standards for payroll and ensure data quality. Some agencies have not added or updated payroll systems with proper codes to track work hours by category. For example, one agency has not added remote workers to their payroll system and instead count them as teleworkers. This nuance could skew the data and the environment of their current workforce.

Agencies recognize the need for a consolidated approach to implementing data standards. However, as mentioned in the Data Integration and Access section, there are challenges with compiling data from multiple systems such as HR, payroll, and timecard. Agencies are interested in working together, and with OPM, to adopt common data standards that will improve data quality.

  • Accurate data standards are key and remain a challenge.
  • Remote work and telework are different and must be tracked accordingly
  • Nuances among the standards skew data leaving agencies to base decisions on misinformation.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

Trends

Agencies continue to rely primarily on the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) index to measure the state, progress, and success of DEIA programs. Many agencies supplement the FEVS data with additional agency-specific DEIA surveys, pulse checks, and focus groups to dive deeper into unique agency culture and needs. Custom agency-created dashboards are used to comprehensively monitor and report on internal key performance metrics outlined in DEIA Strategic Plans, while OPM’s DEIA Dashboard facilitates external comparison against similarly sized agencies and Government as a whole.

Agencies may also use applicant flow data they collect as a primary determinant of outreach and recruitment needs, particularly of underserved communities. Mission support and mission critical occupations are often considered in tandem. The inherent digital nature of social media (e.g., LinkedIn, Handshake, OPM Talent Portal) allows agencies to report on recruitment successes more readily than traditional recruitment avenues.

While not all agencies conduct DEIA training, those who do often concentrate such training at the supervisor/manager level with a focus on creating cultures of respect, belonging, and psychological safety. Training delivery vehicles vary both among and within agencies, with digital and in-person training formats equally utilized. Agencies often lack unified agency-level training programs, with subagencies/components conducting and/or procuring their own training.

Challenges

Limited or lack of dedicated funding hinders more robust DEIA data collection and analysis with respect to both internal skill and capacity and sourcing external applicants. Agencies reference this shortage as a barrier to exploring interest in analysis of hiring authorities, as well as barriers to using the 3Rs (recruitment, relocation, and retention incentives) and student loan repayment programs. Agencies who have explored analyzing the impact of hiring and pay authorities on DEIA goals are in the early stages.

OPM Dashboards

Trends

Agencies are not yet using OPM’s enterprise dashboards extensively. The consensus is the dashboards are new, so agencies were just starting to use them. Additionally, agencies stated that limited access impedes their ability to retrieve data from OPM’s dashboards. Our analysis of HCR conversations with agencies about the dashboards reveal that 56 percent of them currently classify OPM dashboards as useful.

Instead, most agencies have built their own enterprise solutions for demographic, attrition, FEVS, and other financial and performance metrics, with varying levels of sophistication. Many subagencies/components are even more advanced than the agencies in these efforts. However, it is not always straightforward to integrate data at the agency level.  These integration challenges are due to the multiple systems/sources and data governance issues described elsewhere in this report.

Agencies see the greatest value of OPM dashboards is the ability to benchmark and make comparisons. Agencies would like to analyze performance and challenges across agencies, as well as with private sector equivalencies. They also would like to see more benchmarking features built into OPM dashboards.

The greatest value of OPM’s dashboards is the ability to benchmark and compare performance and challenges across agencies and with the private sector.

Agency Requests

Agencies would like to see more effort to increase awareness of OPM dashboard offerings. Additionally, they want an access management solution that allows quick authorization and access to as many users as needed. They say this will help drive greater utilization and value of the dashboards.

Agencies also pointed out the limited ability to “drill down” in OPM dashboards to lower levels within their organizations for greater data granularity. This limitation is due to the disparity in EHRI of organizational identifier data across agencies. Thus, the EHRI-based OPM dashboards are currently limited to reporting data only at the agency and subagency levels.

One exception to the availability of data at more granular levels is the FEVS dashboard. The FEVS dashboard provides data at all organizational levels, giving greater insight into employee perceptions and experiences among components and various program offices. Agencies would like to see earlier release of the data as well as more insights into:

  • mission critical occupations,
  • time to hire metrics,
  • applicant flow data,
  • and better context with telework information (e.g., occupational series that are typically not telework eligible).

Solutions

Benchmarking is crucial for continuous improvement and measuring success. Comparing agency performance to other similar agencies and across Government helps agencies analyze market trends, identify strengths and weaknesses, and develop plans to drive change and meet performance objectives. The most recent release of the FEVS dashboard now provides agencies with the ability to benchmark their results on items such as response rates, various indices, and core survey items against Government-wide data, similarly sized agency data, or agencies with similar missions. OPM continues to incorporate customer feedback in the product roadmaps and will prioritize needs and requests accordingly.

Data Analytics Maturity - Predictive Analytics

Trends

Agencies are beginning to experiment with predictive analytics, but no agency currently is reporting great strides. Multiple agencies indicate their initial attempts are to predict where they will end the year in terms of workforce planning. For example, they look at trends in hiring, retention, and voluntary attrition (such as resignation, transfers, and retirement) to project staffing levels. Using prediction models provides agencies with an opportunity to course correct or make operational or strategic adjustments while there is time to affect the outcome, such as succession planning for potential losses.

75 Percent of agencies have started initial attempts at using predictive analytics to inform human capital management.

Solutions

OPM’s Human Resources Quality Services Management Office launched a document sharing repository for the Data Analytics CoP in October 2024 on Connect.gov (formerly Max). The human capital Data Analytics CoP provides a forum for human capital data analytics practitioners to share methods, tools, and insights. The new document repository enables agencies to improve their data analytics capability by viewing and downloading methodologies, technical guidance, and templates submitted by contributing agencies for replication and reuse. It also includes contact information for contributors to facilitate collaboration among the community. While still in the early stages of implementation and deployment, a goal of the shared document repository is to be comprehensive across all human capital data topics, including in the area of predictive analytics.

Leading Practices – Spotlight On:

NASA
Analyzes FEVS data to predict where they are likely to have attrition or staffing problems based on morale and engagement trends.
VA
Uses predictive modeling to determine if employee responses to the Annual Employee Survey (AES) predict VA retention the following year.

Independent Audit Program (IAP)

Trends

Most agencies use evaluation results from their IAP as a data source to inform human capital goals and strategies in their HCOPs. However, some agencies could improve this practice by looking at more impactful data, rather than what is easy to measure. Agencies use IAP data to identify and monitor HRStat metrics. Agency accountability program managers participate in HRStat meetings and most report using evaluations to explore root causes of off target data metrics. While agencies are at various stages of using evaluation data to inform human capital strategies and objectives, four agencies have in place, or are currently developing, processes that are potential leading practices.

Leading Practices – Spotlight On:

Education
Aggregates their annual evaluation findings into a CHCO Roll-Up Report that highlights overall evaluation findings. The CHCO uses this report to inform strategic conversations across the organization as well as HCOP objectives.
DOI
Developed a Virtual Accountability, Compliance, and Evaluation (VACE) system that aggregates evaluation findings into visualizations. The system was deployed at the beginning of FY24, and use is required for all IAP evaluations.
DOC
Is developing a standard evaluation template for data collection. Once complete, the template will be used across all IAP evaluations to aggregate data and develop visualizations.
NASA
Practices a process of “self-evaluation” for all types of ratings and non-ratings-based awards conducted by the awards program manager with feedback provided to managers. This approach to transparency and visible accountability has generated “a lot of trust,” and people view the accountability program, by extension, to be “an opportunity for growth for their program and how they operate."

Solutions

In FY25, OPM is committed to reestablishing a community for agency accountability program managers to work collaboratively and explore methods to improve accountability within their own programs, as well as across Government. An environment to share information on topics such as effective systems to collect data, methods to analyze findings, and strategies to address common challenges will strengthen independent audit programs. Leading practices, especially those that focus on innovative techniques for using evaluation data to support and adjust strategies in the HCOP, will be showcased to demonstrate effective use of evaluation results from the IAP.

Artificial Intelligence

Trends

Image of a pie graph chart titled Number of Agencies That Include AI in Workforce Planning Activities. The pie chart shows In Progress with 10, Yes with 6, Not Addressed with 5, and No with 3.Agencies are at different levels of maturity when it comes to AI. In terms of AI-specific workforce planning activities, many are in the early stages. Most agencies are working to identify the AI and AI-enabling talent already on board while exploring opportunities to upskill the existing workforce. Sixteen of the 24 agencies either have workforce planning strategies in place to meet AI needs or are in progress of developing them. Having these strategies in place to retain and upskill potential AI talent is a step agencies can take to be well-equipped to meet AI requirements.

Within many agencies, internal communities of practice and working groups have been formed; some formally and others ad hoc. These groups are serving as collaboration hubs, and they are commonly being used to support training initiatives and information sharing. Some agencies are using their formal working group and governance bodies to identify and prioritize skill and position needs.

Recruitment and hiring efforts for most are centered around the AI Executive Order (EO) requirement to establish the Chief AI Officer position, along with other core advisory and technical roles (e.g., governance, risk management, infrastructure). In each of the agency meetings, OPM shared available AI-related resources including Pay Flexibility, Incentive Pay, and Leave and Workforce Flexibility Programs for AI, AI-enabling and Other Key Technical Employees; the AI Classification Policy and Talent Acquisition Guidance; and Guidance and Policy on Skills-based, Federal Government-wide Hiring of AI, Data, and Technology Talent. A number of agencies indicated they were leveraging Direct Hire Authorities, Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPAs), and fellowships (e.g., Presidential Management Fellows and U.S. Digital Corps) to address AI hiring needs.

Some agencies described progress with hiring and gap analysis and use of AI skills assessments, including the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Department of Defense (DoD). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) described establishing an internal AI Corps that would serve as a centralized talent pool to be deployed based on need. Multiple agencies referenced a desire to weave AI skills into the broader workforce, and that they were incorporating AI language into position descriptions and job postings.

There is agreement across agencies that implementing AI will impact how work roles are designed and that keeping a people-first mindset will be critical as agencies integrate AI into the workforce. The need for training to enhance AI capacity was consistently referenced, specifically foundational and leadership training. Many agencies highlighted their ability to build upon data literacy efforts, to include AI, through related course tracks. NASA, for example, described Digital Academy content for data literacy, sandbox trainings, AI, and digital engineering topics available on its training platform. NASA also described its “Summer of AI” activities, designed to spread awareness and connect the workforce to AI-related resources and experts.

Across the board, agencies highlighted the importance of partnering throughout their components to reduce duplication of effort and to share resources. Additionally, many agencies included representatives from their data, CIO, DEIA, and learning teams in the HCR discussion on AI.

People First

Enhancing AI capacity through training and other initiatives is underway in the following agencies:

  • Department of Labor
  • Small Business Administration
  • Department of Transportation
  • Department of State
  • Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Department of Treasury

AI Use Cases

In terms of HR use cases, most agencies are in the brainstorming stage, although many shared that AI had been used in other parts of their agencies for some time. Ideas on the use of AI in HR include training curation and search features, onboarding, processing functions (e.g., awards, personnel actions), classification, and HR assistant capabilities.   Agency use cases include:

NASA – developed NASA’s OCHCO Virtual Assistant (NOVA), a software program designed to simulate human-like conversations in response to user requests and queries

State – developed the Civil Service Career Pathing tool, a career development resource for Civil Service employees to learn about career mobility options and development opportunities based on self-identified skills and interests

DOI – working on machine learning prototypes for competency matching with the “My DOI Career” tool

SBA – introduced an AI-simulated coach through the agency Learning Management System that provides a safe space to practice important business conversations (e.g., providing performance feedback)

NRC – exploring knowledge management and search capabilities

DoD – exploring a tool that allows the extraction of skills, experiences, and characteristics from resumes and applicant information

DOL – has a number of use cases for form recognition, including benefits and claims

Challenges

The challenges at the forefront of agencies’ minds are:

  • budget
  • data and IT infrastructure
  • risk management

To best leverage available tools, agencies want to establish a foundational understanding amongst the workforce before implementing AI broadly. This is both to develop AI awareness and to mitigate fears and uncertainty around the impact of emerging technologies. Agencies including NASA, State, and SBA referenced multi-pronged approaches to providing AI resources to the workforce, including training offerings, communities of interest, working groups, office hours, brown bags, and communication campaigns.

Recruitment and retention surfaced as concerns, specifically how to be competitive with the private sector and how to keep highly sought after talent long term. Some approaches to assist recruitment and retention are leveraging pay and leave flexibilities, bringing on early career talent, improved storytelling around mission and public service, and taking advantage of resources such as shared certificates and hiring events. DoD and NSF referenced their use of partnerships to supplement their technical workforce, DoD through an industry consortium that helps them meet talent needs, and NSF through its Visiting Scientist, Engineer, and Educator (VSEE) authority.

People First
Agencies that establish a foundational understanding of AI develop awareness and mitigate fears and uncertainty of the impact of the emerging technologies on the workforce and roles.

Solutions

In support of agency efforts to hire the right people with the right skills to leverage AI, OPM will continue to build on its work to support federal agencies to bring on AI talent. In the first quarter of FY25, OPM hosted its first ever Federal Human Capital AI Summit. In consideration of CHCO feedback and input from key stakeholders across OPM, the one-day event, held in person at OPM’s Theodore Roosevelt Building, brought together over 200 attendees representing over 40 agencies and components. Human capital and transformation leaders, data experts, IT professionals, privacy officers, and learning officers from across Government heard from both federal and private industry leaders grappling with how to leverage AI in the human capital space while mitigating risks. OPM’s goal is to continue building and cultivating a federal AI community positioned to drive innovation in the human capital space by providing:​

  • Opportunities to share thought leadership in the use of AI in federal human capital.​
  • Rich discussions around AI foundational knowledge, guidance, strategy, tools, commonality, and support available for federal agencies to advance human capital goals and priorities.​
  • Space for federal agency HR leaders and staff to connect with one another on AI topics and activities.​

In support of Executive Order 14110 on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence and Public Law 116-260, the AI in Government Act of 2020 (the Act), OPM issued skills-based hiring guidance and a competency model for AI, data, and technology talent on April 29, 2024. The guidance assists agencies in identifying key skills and competencies needed for AI professionals and increases access to these technical roles for individuals with nontraditional academic backgrounds. Additionally, OPM plans to publish an AI and Tech Talent playbook. This playbook consolidates Federal resources from OPM, the Office of Management and Budget, and others to allow agencies to recruit and effectively utilize AI and tech talent. OPM has also hosted Tech to Gov Virtual Hiring Forms, including an AI focused event, to help attract prospective federal employees, attracting over 10,000 prospective federal employees. Lastly, OPM developed and delivered an AI Fundamentals learning series to nearly 18,000 employees, supervisors, and senior executives across more than 100 agencies, providing a foundational understanding of AI and preparing them to engage in informed discussions and effectively implement approved AI tools.

Resources

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