Archive

Personnel Reform

"Filling out the prescribed government job application
used to discourage a lot of people. For many, it was
their first dose of red tape. It was almost like saying to
somebody who wanted to work for the federal government,
Welcome to the fun house'."

- Vice President Al Gore, in a speech
to the Office of Personnel Management

In 1883, two years before the first gasoline-powered automobile and six years before the White House had electric lights, the U.S. Civil Service laws were written. (14) Not only is the civil service system old, our first report called it "elaborate, complex, and over-regulated, preventing agencies and their managers, employees, and unions from designing effective and mission-supporting human resource management programs." No one argued with us about that.

We have done what we could to fix it. We have done quite a bit.