Am working on a radio and print piece on USDA culture:1. Does the label "The Last Plantation" still fit?2. Does the institutional culture still target minorities and unfavored whites--as employes and clients?3. What is your experience/your family's experience with USDA and various sub-departments of USDA?Can anyone join me for a live podcast next week? would be via skype between 6 and 9PM CST, or individual interviews via phone. Day to be determinedMonica Davis 317-608-3303In William Milton's experience, human resources services at the Agriculture Department were pretty lame back in 2009.
The HR office at headquarters "couldn't help me on anything, and every time they gave advice or guidance, it was always wrong," said Milton, who was then deputy administrator for management at USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Things changed — dramatically.
Around mid-2009, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack cleaned house at the department's HR office. In December 2009, Vilsack appointed Milton the department's new deputy chief human capital officer, and he was promoted to CHCO last December.
"The secretary actually took everybody that was in HR and moved them into different jobs," Milton told a May 4 conference of Human Capital Management-Federal in Washington.
"One of the first things we said [after taking over] was, what was the problem we had? And that was, we didn't have at the department level the right mix, the right talent of individuals who could provide the best advice, knowing their customers, being strategic."
Milton set out to improve communication among the various HR offices throughout Agriculture. He and his assistants formed a team of HR directors, each representing Agriculture's seven mission areas, that meets every two weeks to review progress on HR initiatives such as hiring reform and how they're tackling the challenges they're facing.
"At the same time, we're giving them the same message about being responsible and accountable," Milton said. "It's not the old USDA."
The results so far are impressive, especially in the department's quest to speed up hiring.
In the first four months of this fiscal year, the department cut the average time to hire new recruits from 134 days to 108 days. At nine of the department's 17 agencies, the gains are even greater: Time to hire is down to fewer than 100 days.
And the department aims to bring that down to 90 days on average by October.
It accomplished this mostly by scrapping the requirement for job applicants to complete lengthy essays on their knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). Critics said the KSAs were ineffective and discouraged many job seekers from applying for government jobs. Instead, Agriculture just requires job seekers to submit a résumé and cover letter, like most companies do.
When it required KSAs, hiring employees took five months, seven months, sometimes eight months. "We often lost the talent we were trying to hire because of the lengthy process," Milton said.
Agriculture also notifies applicants of their status at each stage of the process, which it didn't do in the past, he said. In the past, job applicants have gone for months without hearing from agencies, and didn't know if they were even still in the running.
Besides speeding up the hiring process, Agriculture's overhaul of its HR office has also improved the advice and other support services it provides to program managers, he said.
President Obama last May ordered agencies to overhaul their hiring processes, and the Office of Personnel Management wants agencies to eventually hire new employees in 80 days or fewer.
Like Agriculture, other departments are moving away from KSAs.
Gene Sexton, the Labor Department's deputy CHCO, said that hiring reform has forced human resources officials to change the way they think.
"It was a major paradigm shift for our folks, to go from reading ridiculous KSA essays ... to do more critical thinking and analysis," Sexton said. "It calls for more interpretation skills and analytic skills and more out-of-the-box thinking."
Sexton said the current increased interest in government service, combined with the Obama administration's demands for aggressive HR reforms, make this an exciting time.
"This is the first time in my 33 years I've seen a time like this for HR professionals, in terms of both the opportunities and the challenges," Sexton said. "There's a lot going on. We at HR always wanted to be at the table. Now we're at the table, and so we've got to matter."
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jhines61196 wrote:
By far, this is the worst administration USDA has ever been subjected to. The waste of money under the leadership of Vilsak and Pearlie S. Reed is phenomenally astronomical. PSR will never be bought to justice because he puts nothing in writing. The 8M+ contract for the Jackson Lewis group, the hiring of Lloyd Wright at the SES level, the placing of marginally qualified employees by PSR into key positions (Vera Carey, Melvin Womack, Alma Hobbs and others) is astonishing. Long after PSR is gone, USDA will be saddled with these employees who were hired solely for PSR's comfort. Lloyd Wright has done NOTHING since he has been hired. The Jackson Lewis report was merely an marketing tool designed and sanctioned by PSR as a way to keep his hands & others in the pockets of USDA forever. Not only has this administration destroyed HR, they also destroyed the OCR, FSIS and NRCS. When will OIG stop the lawlessness and malfeasance engaged in by this group? Probably not ever. So sad.
5/19/2011 2:43:52 PMmilphil wrote:
This has got to be the biggest piece of horse manure I've read in a while. Billy Milton is piling it high in this interview. He is not part of the solution but part of the problem. I guess if u tell enuf lies u start to believe it yourself. From my first hand knowledge of this organization it is worse now than ever. They only kept a few of the good ones that worked in the HR group but kept a bunch of non performers. There is no leadership or supervisory abilitiesin USDA including BM. The USDA SES group should all be canned. The biggest thing that I have seen is that if you are wothless to the efforts of HR you wil be promoted, if you are a hard worker you will be stagnated and never see another promotion. As people leave no new hires are done, just shift the work to a real performer but then hire a load of people for the new diversity branch. Some one else wrote about a RIF, no, watch for that VERA/VSIP. Yes, they'll lose that last bit of talent with that. DUNGHEAPS GROW.
5/19/2011 11:04:50 AMsoscared wrote:
The Federal Times must have wrote this story so that they could get the real story from the employees. Why else would they go to the liars for the liars to tell how they are doing? What crook would stand up and say, "yes, I'm a crook. I broke all the OPM rules. I violated the law. Sure the Secretary knows, he directed me to do this. No, we don't practice transparency. Yes, we make President Obama look bad, and yada, yada"
Thanks for the few commenters who are setting the record straight. Where is the Office of Inspector General in this?
The Secretary's response to the Jackson-Lewis is a lie contrived to make it look like he is doing something. Check this out after the Obama-ites are out of office and the truth comes out. No change, but the result will be worse.
5/19/2011 5:51:17 AMFedlawyer wrote:
This really is a travesty of justice. The so called re-structuring which included offering those former employee's Early Retirement (VERA) and Buyouts (VSIP) is a farce. When you offer those (VERA)/(VSIP)...the agency (USDA) is not suppose to back-fil those "ABOLISHED" positions in any way shape or form...this is the law!! However, the Secretary, ASA's office, and the rest of their cronies have proceeded not only to fill those positions but to increase the grade and salary levels of those replacements. And now the Secretary is burrowing political appointee's! How is it that Ms. Alma Hobbs his deputy and Mr. Victor Vasquez Jr. both political appointee's in this administration are now "Career SES" employee's? This in a time when the agency is on the cusp of a Reduction In Force "RIF"!!!No wonder USDA is in a major budget crisis! Talk about waste, fraud and abuse!
5/18/2011 1:10:40 PMfedempundercover wrote:
I see someone over there in HQ is clickin the "report abuse" link on our comments. Lets hope that Federal Times realizes that it's the same people lying about how great they are. Defintely don't want the truth out there do they?!?
5/18/2011 12:23:05 PMDaboyzlvr wrote:
WOW - all I can say is USDA needs to start drug testing their senior mgmt officials because it's evident from this article someone is "tweaking" during the day. Departmental Adminisrtation's HR (operations) function has gotten WORSE for customer service and work products. If employees were not afraid of being reassigned/demoted/pushed out from the ASA's office you would be able to get the truth. If this is the broad sweeping change this administration is PROUD of - them we all need to be VERY afraid! The only saving grace is if the employees can hold on until the elections (whether President Obama gets re-elected or not) so this administration can take that long dead man walking walk out the door!!
5/18/2011 11:56:28 AMfedempundercover wrote:
-cont.- And the guy talking here (Billie) is covering himself because he doesn't want to get "reassigned" once again. Promoted? It would mean something if it wasn't given by a bunch of no nothing blow-hards in the Assistant Secretary for Administration Office (Yeah, I'm talking about you... Pearlie and Alma). Their "premier" organization is a far cry from what is stated in this article. It has gotten worse in my estimation. Waiting on phone calls to be returned, emails to be answered, it is not better, but then again this Administration and definitely the one running USDA want people to believe lies, not facts. They don't listen to their customers, they just sit over there patting themselves on their backs of what a great job they're doing, when instead they should be flogged for lying to the Federal Times and its readers. Oh well, good for you Billie, spread the word, even though it's not the "TRUE" word!
5/18/2011 11:09:12 AMfedempundercover wrote:
What an amusing article. They ask the guy (Billie Milton Jr.) who was thrown out of FSIS, excuse me....reassigned, to USDA to comment on the status of USDA HR after the fiasco of last year? The Secretary made his decision and we ALL know what a great decision maker he is right? Just look at the Ms. Sherrod fiasco. Didn't get his facts straight, just MADE a decision based on what he heard. He sure made himself look smart then too didn't he? Obama should've fired him for making him, his Administration, and everyone at USDA look so stupid!! What's laughable is the press drinks the Administration's Kool-Aid and comes back for seconds. The media doesn't ask for facts, they just believe when a crook speaks. cont.-
5/18/2011 11:07:10 AMkmkmiles wrote:
All I can say is "WOW"...if only some of this propaganda was based in truth!
5/16/2011 5:55:47 AM
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Re: Seeking interviews: personal experiences with USDA, your understanding of what USDA culture is and how it affects you for national podcast--you can join via skype, also individual phone interviews
On Sat, May 21, 2011 at 9:24 PM, m davis <davis4000_2000@yahoo.com> wrote:
