Human Resources Wasted in Government? - Who's counting?

Abstract

U.S. taxpayers spend over $80 billion a year to meet the Federal civilian payroll. Yet there are signs that a significant part of this investment is being wasted. For example, about $ 2 billion of the total is spent to pay employees who are on sick leave and, in a recent year, over 18 percent of the workforce left government service.While controls are placed on many government assets to guard against waste, similar concern is not directed at the waste of human resources. There are many questions we can't answer, such as what it costs when workers file grievances and EEO complaints, what it costs for excessive use of leave, and whether supposed cost saving steps (e.g. cutting training funds) really save money in the long run.Pressure to improve government's productivity, cut the deficit, and improve quality of service to taxpayers makes better control of our human resource i

Establishing a Senior Executive Service: The New South Wales Experience

“…Expenditure on training and development in the US Civil Service has been described as "absurdly low" (Lane & Wolf 1990, p.81), mainly, it seems, because training is viewed as a cost rather than an investment (Newell 1987). What limited opportunities have been provided for training and development have tended to focus on financial aspects rather than people management, and few SES members have a positive view of the SES development programs as they exist (Renfrow 1989, p.94).…”