2018 Federal Workforce Priorities Report

Effective April 11, 2017, Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 250, Subpart B, Strategic Human Capital Management requires the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to issue the quadren­nial Federal Workforce Priorities Report (the report). The report communicates key government-wide human capital priorities and suggested strategies and helps inform agency strategic and human capital planning. OPM requests that agencies align their human capital management strategies to support the Federal Workforce Priorities Report, as demonstrated in Human Capital Operating Plans (HCOP).

OPM established the report in regulation in response to the first recommendation in the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report Human Capital: Strategies to Help Agencies Meet Their Missions in an Era of Highly Constrained Resources (GAO-14-168). Therein, GAO recommended that OPM strengthen coordination and leadership of government-wide human capital issues. One of two key supporting actions was the development of a government-wide human capital strategic plan. Build­ing upon this idea, OPM committed to developing a report that establishes government-wide human capital priorities based upon current and emerging workforce challenges. The report, however, is not intended to serve as a plan that obligates the human capital community to specific actions, timeframes, and measures of success. Rather, the President’s Management Agenda and Cross-Agency Priority Goals create a process for establishing such government-wide requirements, and when developing human capital goals, the report may be considered as a source for useful strategies.