A National Academy of Public Administration report identified five challenges that pose substantial risks to effective government.

A National Academy of Public Administration report identified five challenges that pose substantial risks to effective government. Stephen Schildbach/Getty Images

The Challenge of Modernizing the Civil Service

What has been done over the past few years to prepare the federal workforce for the 21st century? Virtually nothing.

The federal civil service, with its merit-based foundation, is essential to delivery of critical services to the American people. Hiring and retaining skilled workers are essential aspects of the civil service that need immediate attention.

More than four years ago, the National Academy of Public Administration issued No Time to Wait, Building a Public Service for the 21st Century, a report that identified five challenges that pose substantial risks to effective government. Successfully meeting those challenges with civil service rules that are 74 years old is just not going to happen.  

Building on three principles – Mission First, Principles Always, and Accountability for Both – No Time to Wait made specific recommendations to improve hiring, accountability, retention, and effectiveness of the civil service.

Sadly, we have been waiting four years and virtually nothing has been done. Partisan politics seems to make meaningful civil service reform impossible. Rather than more moderate voices on both sides of the aisle combining to lead reform, those on the extremes dominate debate. 

Should there even be a debate over the size of government? Sure. But reasonable people should also agree that a government of any size must be effective for the American people. 

Calls for civil service reform are not new. Everyone knows that the federal hiring processes are a nightmare that no one would deliberately design. The process is so miserable that it appears to be designed to see how desperately an applicant wants to work for the government. Government pay is equally opaque, and the combination of a byzantine hiring process and inflexible pay make it difficult for the government to recruit top talent, especially in high demand occupations. There is also a widespread belief that agencies neither adequately reward high performers, nor deal effectively with poor performers. Even common-sense solutions that could satisfy most reasonable people have not made their way through the politics and bureaucracy.

So why does common sense not prevail? Why does a system that many believe simply does not meet the challenges of a 21st century workplace continue without significant change? Discussions with interested parties typically lead to the same result – interest groups agree reform is necessary, but partisan and interest group differences lead to widely diverging solutions. Most groups insist their favorite aspects of the existing rules must remain untouched. There is no consensus on specific changes that would comprise comprehensive civil service reform.

Tackling Critical Issues to Address the Most Compelling Federal Workforce Challenges

A working group of Fellows of the National Academy of Public Administration, with government HR and management expertise, including former career and political executives, concluded that proposing a comprehensive reform of the civil service would be futile. Instead, the group decided to adopt a targeted approach to modernization that focuses on issues of broad agreement that could address the hiring, pay and accountability issues that comprise the biggest weaknesses in the civil service.

Over the coming four months, the Academy will release a series of white papers that address these challenges and our recommendations. We will start with the Merit System and the future of work, and the reasons that a merit-based civil service is essential for a federal government that serves the needs of the people. Next we will bring our recommendations on hiring, along with a proposal (including specific legislative language) to modernize veterans’ preference in a way that dramatically simplifies federal hiring while providing more employment and advancement opportunities for Veterans. 

In the third installment we will address pay and job classification, with specific legislative language that would speed the adoption of modern pay practices and provide agencies with more tools to compete effectively for talent in the rapidly evolving 21st century workplace. In May we will address accountability, including the questionable data comparing federal employee and private sector accountability, and the challenges of rewarding good performers and dealing effectively with poor performance. 

We believe we must balance the compelling need for modernization with the political realities. We will propose reforms that can gain acceptance across a broad spectrum of interest groups that are active in civil service issues, along with bipartisan support in Congress. We cannot wait until the government faces a crisis without the talent to solve it – that will be too late. 

Jeffrey Neal, former chief human capital officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.