Zients Hopes to Change Federal Government Hiring and Appraisal Systems

Jeffrey Zients, the federal Chief Performance Officer, wants to change the federal government hiring and performance appraisal systems to make both processes more efficient.

According to the Washington Post, Zients said in a speech at the National Treasury Employee Union luncheon last week that, “Many of our [personnel] policies are bureaucratic, cumbersome and outdated. Too often, we don’t focus on ‘people’ as a primary tool for achieving our missions, and we under-invest in management and development.”

He also said “To attract and retain the best people, we need to fundamentally rethink how we both hire and develop our employees.” Zients went on to explain in his speech how he hopes to cut the administration’s hiring time in half because the current process is a confusing maze of paperwork and signatures.

Some of the other changes Zients believes would be necessary to reform these processes are improved job training, more job performance ratings and improved IT. He also hopes to bring the government’s retirement records up to speed with the present time and ultimately foster more effective and positive relationships between personnel and management.