Secretary of State John Kerry releases the 2015 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review on Tuesday, along with Special Representative for the QDDR Tom Perriello.

Secretary of State John Kerry releases the 2015 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review on Tuesday, along with Special Representative for the QDDR Tom Perriello. State Department

How One Agency Will Use Sabbaticals and Rotations to Retain Employees

State Department plans major workforce initiatives to enhance flexibility and manage "people's entire careers."

The State Department plans to give its workforce more flexibility to move within and outside of government, provide better training and hold managers more accountable as part of a series of sweeping reforms across the organization.

State released its second ever Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review on Tuesday, which included recommendations ranging from how to promote democratic societies to combatting climate change to internal structural shifts. One-third of the multi-year review was dedicated to how State could better invest in an “agile, skilled workforce.”

A major theme of the workforce initiatives was mobility for State employees. Proposals included employees moving within different department bureaus, rotations between State and the U.S. Agency for International Development, stints at other federal agencies and even a pilot program for workers to take a “sabbatical” from federal service.

“We’re managing people’s entire careers, not just managing them to the next tour,” Tom Perriello, a former Virginia congressman who was tasked by Secretary of State John Kerry to lead the review, told Government Executive. “One of the things we have found from that process is people want a little more flexibility.”

He added State employees “should get exposure to a wide range of experiences.” Time at the Treasury Department, he cited as an example, could both expand an employee’s knowledge of economics and provide a new perspective on problem solving and management at another federal entity. Additionally, the separate sabbatical pilot program will allow employees to take up to five years of unpaid leave for “personal, professional or educational” purposes.

State is also seeking to improve flexibility in employees’ work schedules to support families. The department has boosted those with telework agreements by 50 percent since 2013 and will continue to find opportunities for employees to work remotely. State also promised to “make clear our expectation that managers enable a healthy balance between work and personal life.”

Perriello said the department has not yet fielded many work-life balance complaints, but it did not “want to wait until we have a problem to adjust to that.”

State will also seek to fill vacancies more quickly through special hiring authorities as well as streamlining the overall process. The review called for better identification of staffing gaps and more diversity in hires. To boost retention, the department will increase its use of Senior Level and Senior Technician designations.

New State hires can expect “lifelong professional training,” including a core curriculum upon entering the department. Perriello stressed the development of “blended” learning, meaning both in-classroom and virtual sessions.

Part of that training will focus on managers, increasing accountability in evaluations and promotions. The department will update performance plans to better align them with the objectives of each supervisor’s office.

Accountability measures will take place earlier in employees’ careers “so people are not developing bad habits,” Perriello said.

The QDDR proposed a data-driven approach to harnessing information and the knowledge of the department’s workforce, which would in turn bolster State’s diplomatic agenda. The department will “establish a hub for analytics, data science, strategy and knowledge management” to increase the “flow of information” among offices, bureaus and overseas posts.

The review did not call for the same reshuffling of offices as did the first QDDR, which Perriello attributed to a desire to allow the shakeups of four years ago to play out.

State said its two greatest assets are its people and its institutional knowledge, and it wants to protect and develop both.

“We will further invest in effective, accountable leadership at the State Department and USAID, strengthen the skills of our people, and ensure that our organizational culture and business practices reflect contemporary American society and continue to attract and retain top talent,” the department wrote in the report. 

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.