Phantom Management Cuts

EXECUTIVE MEMO

Phantom Management Cuts

xecutive branch agencies have met congressional downsizing requirements but have failed to follow Clinton Administration guidelines to cut the percentage of managers in the federal workforce, the General Accounting Office reported in August. And where agencies did reduce management slots, in many cases they did so simply by reclassifying supervisors as non-supervisors.

Nineteen of the 24 agencies GAO surveyed said they reduced supervisory positions by reclassifying supervisors as non-supervisors or team leaders. In some agencies this practice accounted for a considerable portion of their management downsizing. At NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, for example, reclassification was responsible for 41 percent of the supervisory reductions. At the Department of Health and Human Services, 28 percent of the reduction in the managerial ranks was due to reclassification.

Several agencies told GAO that the National Performance Review's announced goal of a 50 percent reduction in management positions by fiscal 1999 was unrealistic. The NPR had recommended that govern- mentwide, the ratio of supervisors to employees should change from 1:7 to 1:15.

The GAO study concluded that while civilian employment in executive agencies declined about 10 percent (230,500 employees) from January 1993 to March 1996, the proportion of management positions to the total workforce has stayed roughly the same. That's because while agencies reduced the number of management positions sub- stantially, they also eliminated a large number of non-supervisory jobs.

In Defense agencies, the supervisory ratio went from 1:6.9 to 1:7.4, while in civilian agencies, the figures changed from 1:7 to 1:7.6. In the Defense Department, there were actually slight increases in managers in personnel, budget, accounting and headquarters positions.

Half the agencies GAO surveyed said that downsizing hindered their ability to carry out their missions. Agencies who planned ahead for workforce reductions felt less strain from buyouts and downsizing. Those that did not make strategic plans often regretted losing crucial employees in the downsizing process.