Summary: The Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) approach to managing people does not effectively support its strategic management efforts. In the dynamic environment facing it today, VA needs a collaborative and future-oriented approach to human resource management, with proactive human resource planning as its cornerstone. Human resource planning is needed to focus VA's attention on the people dimension of its strategic vision. For example, VA might well need a different mix of jobs and skills to support the shift it envisions from inpatient care to an array of services--from outpatient to extended care--needed by an aging veteran population. Without Department-wide execution of the fundamentals of human resource planning, VA's goal of becoming the best-managed federal service organization will be difficult to achieve. VA needs to systematically monitor and assess external environmental trends affecting its people, thereby anticipating emerging labor force issues before they become crises. It needs to identify and address the human resource concerns of its managers, such as concerns about the effectiveness of its system of rewards and incentives. VA also needs to help line managers project human resource needs to ensure that enough people with the right skills are available when--and where--needed.
