The aging federal work force presents a massive management challenge, plunging
agencies into a cycle of retirements and training of replacements.
A perfect example lies in the Department of Veterans Affairs. At the
VA's Veterans Benefits Administration, 40 percent of 12,000 employees will
become eligible to retire over the next three years.
"These are people retiring who have significant experience and skills,"
said George Wolohojian, director of employee development and training for
the VBA. "We have begun an aggressive recruitment process. [But] we can't
hire people from the outside that know our business. We're too unique. We've
got to create a system that will help us deliver training as well as track
and manage training."
The VBA has turned to Saba Software Inc., a provider of Internet-based
learning networks, to help develop that system. The agency soon will launch
two pilots using the Saba Learning Network Solution, a World Wide Web-based
system that VBA managers and employees can access via a desktop browser.
The system will be loaded with a customized matrix of skills the VBA has
determined that employees should have, Wolohojian said.
David Martin, vice president of marketing for Saba's federal division,
said the system captures information from annual manager assessments and
uses them — combined with employee self-assessments — to compare with the
VBA-defined skills matrix.
"The system is designed to, as unobtrusively as possible, begin to understand
which skill level each person should have...and where they are," Martin
said. "We want to fit in with nature...observe things that are going on
anyway. It basically targets the required skills managers say are the skills
people need to be successful."
By combining the manager's assessment with an employee's self-assessment,
the system can create a personalized training and development regimen for
each employee. According to Martin, this method eliminates mass training
courses that are not tailored to individual employee needs.
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