Government Economy and Manpower Utilization

• NCJ Number: 70302
• Journal: US Army Audit Agency Bulletin Dated: (September 1965) Pages: 5-11
• Author(s): E B Staats
• Date Published: 1965
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Article is based largely on Mr Staats' talk before the Financial Management Roundtable in Washington, D.C., in May 1964.

Annotation

Government economy and manpower utilization must be the goals of the Bureau of the Budget, of departments within the Federal Government, and of the Civil Service Commission, but not at the expense of personnel morale and productivity.

Abstract

Manpower provides the greatest range of opportunity for constructively assuring economy in Government. In the 1960's, employment was cut consistently, despite growing workloads, and the 'comparable pay' legislation was introduced, whereby comparable pay was to be accorded to comparable performance. Yet caution must be taken in arbitrarily cutting back on numbers of personnel and in establishing controls on employment, because total employment figures used often give equal weight to a full-time permanent employee and to part-time, temporary, and intermittent employees. Agencies' overall numbers are being cut, forcing them to hire more full-time employees in the hopes of getting full-time productivity out of their 'total numbers personnel allocation.' Yet more full-time and part-time persons cost more than a mixture of full-time and part-time employees so that budget costs are pushed up and even more employees are unnecessarily eliminated. More worthwhile would be the assurance of full productivity from each person currently employed. Productivity measures developed in private industry are being tested for Government organizations. Management reviews should be developed that would establish procedures for clarifying the national purpose of major programs, improve organizational structures, relate workload to manpower requirements, and construct alternative methods to achieve objectives. Agencies are being encouraged to link work measurement with broader aspects of management by recognizing the relationship of projected workloads to the end objectives of the agency. Automatic Data Processing is shifting job responsibilities among employees and offering ways to save manpower. Finally, management information systems can be used by all agencies to improve their managerial control of productivity. For related documents, see NCJ 70301 and 70303-70305.