MEMORANDUM

To:                   Solicitor
                        Inspector General
                        Assistant Secretaries
                        Heads of Bureaus and Equivalent Offices

From:               P. Lynn Scarlett (Signed By)
                        Assistant Secretary - Policy, Management and Budget

Subject:           Departmental Workforce Planning Policy

A major initiative in the Departmental Plan for Citizen-Centered Governance is the strategic management of our human capital.  Included in the plan is our commitment to ensure we have the right number of employees, with the proper skills, in the right positions at the right time to meet our mission and performance goals.  This requires a dedicated workforce planning effort led by managers with the assistance of human resource professionals, budget analysts, strategic planners, and Equal Employment Opportunity Specialists.  A systematic workforce planning process will provide a strategic basis for justifying budget allocations to support the staffing levels we need to achieve our overall performance goals and program objectives.

A milestone in the Plan for Citizen-Centered Governance requires all bureaus and offices to have comprehensive workforce plans in place by FY 2004 (September 30, 2003).  To assist in meeting this requirement, the Department published, in a cooperative effort with bureau Human Resources (HR) Offices, two documents to help those engaged in the workforce planning process.  The first document is "Right People, Right Place, Right Time: A Guide to Workforce Planning in the Department of the Interior."  The second document is a "Workforce Planning Instruction Manual" that provides step-by-step instructions on how to develop a workforce plan.  Both documents are available through your HR Office or on the Department’s HR website at http://www.doi.gov/hrm/workforceplanning.html.   Department and bureau HR staff will provide further indoctrination on these documents during the FY 2002 performance year.

I ask for your full commitment and support to strategically manage our human capital by implementing workforce planning across the Department.  This critical activity directly supports the President’s Management Agenda to ensure that resources entrusted to the federal government are well managed and wisely used.  It is important that it be pursued in a way that reflects decisions made in the context of other elements of the agenda, such as Competitive Sourcing, Budget and Performance integration and E-Government, all of which may affect workforce issues.

For additional information on workforce planning, please visit the Department’s website at www.doi.gov/hrm, contact the Office of Personnel Policy at 202-208-6761, or email Dave Anderson at dave_anderson@os.doi.gov or Steven Mauldin at steven_mauldin@os.doi.gov.