The People Factor

Federal News Radio cites The People Factor

Alan P. Balutis, writing for Federal News Radio, draws on The People Factor to illustrate the true size of the government. According to the book, although the number of civil servants directly employed by the federal government has declined over the past two decades, a rise in the number of private contractors has offset the decline.

- Read more in the article The Shadow Knows.

- Learn more about The People Factor.

THE PEOPLE FACTOR on GovernmentExecutive.com

On GovernmentExecutive.com, Brian Friel looks at the procedure for evaluating federal employees' performance. He finds that The People Factor offers a number of recommendations on how to improve the appraisals, such as shifting the emphasis from individuals to teams to better reflect today's work environment.

Read the full article.

A Human Capital Management Perspective

HR consultant Jon Ingham provides a thoughtful review of The People Factor on his Strategic HCM blog

He writes:

The book includes some nice examples of strategic HR - for example there’s a nice vignette explaining that the Federal Aviation Administration needs to “replace its entire workforce with highly skilled professionals – while at the same time safeguarding public safety and coping with increased air travel” which also describes how the FAA can meet this challenge by recruiting top-calibre candidates more quickly and investing in training (especially in state-of-the art, customised technology for simulating air traffic control) with all of this being supported by better mentoring, performance evaluation, feedback, supervision and a new ability to weed out poor performers early on.

Plus there are longer case studies on the Defence Logistics Agency and the Government Accountability Office.

Read the full review.

Linda Bilmes and W. Scott Gould in 'The Federal Manager'

Investing in the people who make government work

In the Summer 2009 issue of The Federal Manager, Bilmes and Gould discuss how the U.S. can deal with the some of the most serious challenges it has seen in a half century. They argue that overcoming the crisis will require a new and revitalized federal government on a scale and scope not seen for generations.

Read a synopsis of the article [pdf].

Tom Palmer's Journal on The People Factor

Tom Palmer, a former reporter and editor for The Boston Globe, interviewed Linda Bilmes and writes about The People Factor on his blog:

About 1.9 million people work for the federal government, and almost half of them will be eligible for retirement in the next five years. Linda Bilmes, a lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, says in a new book that the government can look to two agencies in particular to learn how to treat and value workers, and to get the most out of them.

Read the full article at Tom Palmer's Journal.

Linda Bilmes quoted in McClatchy Newspapers

Federal work force to expand, but rules need overhaul

Bilmes, who co-authored the recently released book "The People Factor: Strengthening America by Investing in Public Service," is concerned about younger workers who've grown up hearing politicians mock the federal system.

Read the full article.

Op-Ed by Linda Bilmes in The Boston Globe

Help wanted in public service

A SLOW FUSE is burning under the federal government that threatens to derail the Obama administration's ambitious plans for economic recovery, healthcare reform, financial regulation, and much else. That problem is the looming crisis in government staffing. Nearly half of all federal employees are on the verge of retirement - including 90 percent of the managers who run the biggest programs. Meanwhile, decades of neglect have left the rest of the government workforce chronically weak, poorly trained, understaffed, and facing an acute skills shortage.

Check out the full article.

Scott Gould on The Federal Drive

Federal News Radio's The Federal Drive program interviewed Scott Gould on Monday, April 6. They discussed The People Factor and why he believes more money needs to go into recruiting and training the federal workforce. Listen to Gould's interview.

Washington Post: What's the Big Idea?

The Sunday Washington Post featured The People Factor in its What's the Big Idea? column.

"Bilmes and Gould offer the archetype of Jim and argue that antiquated hiring systems, the wave of baby-boomer retirements and talented young people's lack of interest in civil-service jobs are conspiring to produce a "malfunctioning," low-tech, low-innovation federal government -- precisely when we're asking it to do more than ever before."

Read more at WashingtonPost.com.

Excerpt on National Journal Online

NationalJournal.com features an excerpt from the book: Why Government Is So Different From The Business World. (Subscription required).