About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

PEMD-88-27 1 (1988-08-04)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabgfh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Chapter 4 Assessing the Entering Workforce The next three chapters outline our proposal for an ongoing program of assessment of workforce quality. The overall question of quality is to be addressed by a repeated assessment of the current workforce, at inter- vals, to assess changes, which will be supplemented by periodic studies of those entering and leaving the workforce. For each of these three approaches to studying quality we propose new data-gathering by sam- ple surveys; the three chapters discuss the details of our proposal in each case. This chapter presents the initial segment on assessing the entering workforce. New staff serve to replenish the lifeblood of an organization and in fis- cal year 1987 the federal government hired 40,573 new people for full- time permanent civilian professional and administrative jobs. Assess- ment of the quality of workers entering the federal workforce is of great interest for judging whether the capabilities available for federal work are being adequately kept up and for use with other data in reviewing policies such as pay and benefits or processes such as recruitment and selection. Questions in this area are increasingly important as profes- sional and administrative jobs expand in significance in the federal sec- tor, which places government more and more in competition with others for employees with advanced knowledge and skill. This chapter outlines major questions to be answered about the entering workforce, evaluates alternative sources of data, and proposes a basic design. Questions About the Entering Workforce Any assessment in this area must answer two basic questions: How good are those attracted to federal jobs and how do they compare with others hired elsewhere? Within the framework of this general question, how- ever, it is important to draw the proper specific comparison. The stereo- typed view held by managers and co-workers is that newcomers at any particular time are rarely as good as those who are in or are leaving federal jobs. But such a comparison of entering versus current or exiting employees is inappropriate since by definition the newcomers come from a different labor market, may have been selected using different criteria, and will always lack the old-timers' federal job experience. If there were data on newcomers at a series of points going back in time, today's entering workforce could be contrasted properly, not with today's experienced workers but with yesterday's newcomers. By start- ing the proposed assessment of incoming employees in comparable fed- eral and nonfederal jobs and repeating it, such a series will be established. GAO/PEMD-88-27 A Framework For Studying the Federal Workforce Page 39

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most