How to Reimagine Federal HR Processes

With the government workforce now expecting a hybrid work environment, federal HR professionals are reimagining how they use technology to streamline hiring, onboarding and operational processes for employees and contractors.

In addition, as agencies continue to navigate the post-pandemic environment, creating HR interactions that attract and retain new and young talent for federal jobs has become critical. 

However, many federal HR departments are resource-stretched, still rely on cumbersome paper-based processes and find knowledge and data sharing extremely difficult.

The Docusign-sponsored Federal News Network “Workforce Reimagined Survey 2022” results highlight these and other federal HR trends.

Summary of findings

A variety of federal HR professionals provided vital insights into the challenges, successes and lessons learned when embracing new digital HR techniques. Heavily aligned with the 2022 OPM Federal Workforce Priorities, the survey focused on five main categories: Priorities, People, Process, Technology and Demographics.

One of the most significant takeaways is that federal HR departments are spread thin, and HR professionals must maximize existing (and limited) resources. Here are some of the key findings:

• 71% of respondents say providing a streamlined process to onboard new employees is an ongoing challenge

• 65% of respondents state their agency is in a position to automate and digitize HR activities.

• Assisting with hiring, performance and compensation and onboarding experience are the top 3 ways technology is leveraged to manage HR initiatives.

• Almost 62% of respondents don’t believe their current HR technology allows them to effectively manage hiring, employee management and offboarding requirements.

The survey results also show that federal HR employees are spending too much time on manual, paper-based processes:

• 31% of an average staff member’s time is spent on manual, paper-based tasks, preventing a focus on strategic HR priorities.

• 44% of information-collection processes are manual, and the average HR organization processes 582 forms per week.

• 68% of respondents say reducing time spent preparing and managing documents could deliver a streamlined experience when executing HR activities.

Knowledge transfer issues and cross-agency data silos are negatively impacting the overall employee experience:

• 55% of respondents believe their current HR technology does not allow them to leverage data as a strategic asset.

• 54% of respondents state that capturing institutional knowledge and employment feedback is one of the top offboarding challenges.

• 75% of respondents believe improving employee retention and remedying slow hiring practices are the top opportunities for strengthening and empowering the federal workforce.

Docusign enhances how agencies recruit and retain hybrid workforces

How can federal HR departments begin to address these challenges? To accelerate the hiring and onboarding process, agencies need to find opportunities to streamline how they move candidates through the hiring pipeline. And after onboarding, agencies need to automate previously manual, paper processes and allow employees to focus on meaningful and strategic work. With Docusign for Government, agencies can start to address the pain points uncovered in the survey and prepare and innovate for the future of work_._

Click here to download the full Federal News Network “Workforce Reimagined Survey 2022” report and findings.