Despite workforce growth, EPA needs better human capital plan

Even though the Environmental Protection Agency's workforce grew by 18 percent during the 1990s, the agency does not have an adequate plan to ensure it has the human capital needed to meet its strategic goals, according to a new General Accounting Office report. In November 2000, EPA developed a strategy for refining its human capital policies and practices, identifying the agency's vision for its employees and setting six human capital goals to be accomplished in the next two years. The agency employs more than 17,000 people at 10 regional offices and its headquarters in Washington. In "Human Capital: Implementing an Effective Workforce Strategy Would Help EPA to Achieve Its Strategic Goals" (GAO-01-812), GAO assessed EPA's strategy and found it deficient in several areas. "EPA's … human capital strategy is a promising first stop towards improving the agency's management of its workforce," the report found. "However, it lacks some of the key elements that are commonly found in the human capital strategies of high-performing organizations." According to GAO, the agency's strategy did not explain how reaching its human capital goals would improve the agency's performance, nor did it include what was needed to meet the goals. The plan also did not list specific milestones or include performance measures for implementing its human capital goals. "EPA currently does not know the appropriate size, skills-mix and deployment of staff needed to achieve its strategic goals," the report found. The agency is also not prepared for the potential loss of employees in the next five years as many workers become eligible for retirement. It also lacks the means to recruit and develop staff with the scientific and technical skills needed to carry out its environmental programs, GAO found. GAO's report also honed in on human capital management in the agency's Office of Enforcement and Compliance (OECA) and found that this important enforcement branch does not use its workforce in a way that "ensures consistent enforcement of federal regulations throughout all EPA regions." To remedy the problems, the agency should develop a system for employee allocation that is directly linked to EPA's strategic goals, with major EPA offices identifying the size of their workforces, the places where employees are located geographically and organizationally, and the skills that are needed to support the agency's mission, the report said. EPA officials agreed with GAO's assessments.