Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Kiran Ahuja, who gave the keynote address at FMA’s National Convention in March, spoke in June about her first year at the helm, OPM’s accomplishments and goals looking forward. Last month she became the first Senate-confirmed OPM Director to stay in her position for a full year since 2015.

Ahuja is hoping to enact reforms to enhance recruitment and retention to the federal workforce, renovate the retirement claims process, and follow recommendations from the National Academy of Public Administration to enhance the agency. She noted OPM is currently working on several legislative and regulatory efforts to modernize the civil service, as part of its four-year strategic plan.

Among the proposed regulations OPM has under development are “delegating the authority to waive caps on recruitment, retention and relocation incentives, grant agencies greater flexibility in appointing interns through the Pathways program and discouraging the use of salary histories in the federal hiring and pay-setting process.”

FMA has endorsed legislation to enhance the federal internship program through OPM and hiring reform legislation to codify and improve hiring to the federal workforce. We look forward to working with Director Ahuja on these and other issues affecting federal managers.