OPM chief seeks flexibility, consistency

The Office of Personnel Management will pursue legislative proposals that provide flexibility in federal human resources management, but will also seek to reaffirm its own role in guaranteeing consistency across government, OPM director Janice Lachance said Tuesday.

"The philosophy that guides our reality is that both flexibility and consistency are essential to create and maintain the federal workforce for the 21st century," Lachance told participants at the joint annual conference of the National Academy of Public Administration and Public Administration Forum.

In March, OPM released an outline of upcoming human resources management initiatives. The agency said its top priority for 1998 is to "equip agencies with the flexible systems they need to manage their human resources effectively."

Specifically, OPM is pursuing legislation that would authorize broad-band pay systems for all agencies, not just those with demonstration project authority. But the proposal would not mandate such systems or do away with the General Schedule, Lachance said.

"In our view, it is time to follow through on the original intent of the demonstration project authority and make successful strategies available on a governmentwide basis," she said.

OPM also wants to give agencies permanent buyout authority.

"This does not mean agencies would have to, or would want to, offer buyouts continually," she said. "It means this humane and economically efficient downsizing tool would be available without a case-by-case legislative process."

While OPM continues to seek to decentralize personnel systems, Lachance said, the agency is also concerned with maintaining consistency in the federal personnel system.

"We must remember that the sometimes seemingly arcane rules and regulations that guide federal employment evolved over time for a reason--even if that reason has been largely forgotten by some among the present generation of workers, managers and lawmakers," Lachance said.

Lachance said OPM will seek legislation to make it clear that OPM has oversight responsibility and authority over any executive branch agency subject to the merit system or its equivalent.

"The need for continual improvement of the federal human resources environment is obvious; and the direction we must go seems clear. The choice is not between unfettered flexibility and unyielding centralized control," Lachance said. "As is true of the very nature of our own government, the answer is found by blending and balancing."