Agencies Slash Hiring Times

Federal agencies have slashed the time it takes to hire a new employee down to 105 days, according to a new report by the Office of Personnel Management.

OPM's fiscal 2010 performance report noted that since December 2009, agencies have been mapping their hiring processes and tallying the average number of days it takes to hire a new employee. The fiscal 2010 average number of days to hire was 105 days, an improvement over the 2009 number of 122 days, OPM said.

"All agencies are focused on achieving dramatic reductions in their overall hiring time and reducing hiring time to 80 calendar days for the most commonly filled positions," the report states.

Applicant satisfaction with the hiring process dipped slightly, however, from 5.36 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 to 5.20 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, the report noted. At the same time, average manager satisfaction with the quality of new hires improved from 6.77 in fiscal 2009 to 8.06 in fiscal 2010, OPM found.

Meanwhile, the government is doing a decent job at retaining information technology managers in their first two years of employment. Nearly 90 percent of IT managers hired two years ago are still with their agency, OPM found.

Still, some of OPM's top management challenges are strategic human capital, management of the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, wellness and work-life balance, and information technology security, the report said.