Human Capital

The success of the transformation and implementation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is based largely on the degree to which human capital management issues are addressed. Recognizing this, the legislation creating DHS provided it with significant flexibility to design a modern human capital management system. Congressional requesters asked GAO to describe the process DHS has in place to design its human capital system and involve employees, and analyze the extent to which this process reflects elements of successful transformations.

The effort to design a human capital management system for DHS generally reflects important elements of effective transformations. (1) Leadership: One of the strengths of the effort to transform the culture of organizations going into DHS has been the on-going commitment of both DHS and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) leaders to stimulate and support the effort to design a human capital system. (2) Strategic Goals: DHS is currently developing a strategic plan. Although DHS human resource leaders are included on the strategic planning team, it will not be complete until the end of September 2003. Consequently, DHS will need to ensure that the development of the human capital policy options is integrated with the accomplishment of DHS programmatic goals as defined in the forthcoming strategic plan. Such integration is important to ensure that the human capital system enables the department to acquire, develop, and retain the core competencies necessary for DHS to accomplish its programmatic goals. (3) Key Principles: The DHS Secretary and OPM Director outlined four principles to serve as a critical framework for the human capital system. These principles appropriately identify the need to support the mission and employees of the department, protect basic civil service principles, and hold employees accountable for performance. (4) Timeline: Agency officials established an ambitious 9- to 10-month timeline for completing the design process, aiming to issue final regulations in early 2004. Some DHS stakeholders we interviewed expressed concerns about the compressed schedule. Officials leading the design effort report the aggressive schedule is necessary to relieve employee anxiety and maximize the time available for implementation. (5) Design Team: The design team includes staff from multiple organizational units within DHS, OPM, and the three major unions. (6) Communication: DHS recently finalized a communication plan that provides a structured and planned approach to communicate with DHS stakeholders regarding the human capital system. Moving forward, DHS will need to provide adequate opportunities for feedback once the options are released. (7) Employee Involvement: Employees are provided multiple opportunities to be included in the design process, including participation in the Core Design Team, the Town Hall meetings, the field team, the focus groups, and an e-mail mailbox for employee comments. Experience has shown that in making major changes in the cultures of organizations, how it is done, when it is done, and the basis on which it is done can make all the difference in whether it is ultimately successful. The analysis of DHS's effort to design a human capital system can be particularly instructive in light of legislative requests for agency-specific human capital flexibilities at the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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