The People Factor

"In recent decades, we have allowed the quality of public service in America to deteriorate badly and we are all paying the price. Bilmes and Gould have written exactly the right book at exactly the right time – a thoughtful, wise plan for overhauling government that will inspire a new generation of men and women to serve their country." - David Gergen, Professor of Public Service and director of the Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School

"Ultimately our welfare as a nation depends on the quality of our government, and government in turn cannot be better than the people who staff it. Government staffing rarely makes the front pages but it is profoundly important to our future. This important book shows how we as a country can do much better." - Lawrence H. Summers

WASHINGTON, March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Facing its greatest domestic challenges since the Great Depression, America is waking up to the realization that government remains a crucial force in their lives. In the new Brookings Institution Press book, The People Factor: Strengthening America by Investing in Public Service (April 2, 2009), Harvard professor Linda J. Bilmes and IBM Vice President W. Scott Gould argue that the country cannot prosper without a strong, highly functioning federal workforce to manage the government.

The authors call for an investment of $10 billion to improve recruiting, training and management of the federal workforce, predicting that investment will yield $300 to $600 billion in productivity gains. Packed with cost and performance data as well as new research on what motivates applicants for government jobs, these former government executives provide a compelling business case for investing in the civil service so that it may better serve the nation.

Highlights include:

• A detailed blueprint for how to attract the best and the brightest talent into government, including reform of the recruiting and hiring systems, employment of skills assessments, expansion of internship, mentoring, mid-career hiring and exchange programs, and introduction of innovative HR tools.
• A startling new study of 1,200 college students from across America, showing that the federal government is turning away talent because of its poor image among students, its rigid personnel system and its slow and cumbersome hiring process.
• Extensive new research on best HR practices from the public and private sectors and the military. These data show that the world’s best performing organizations invest heavily in their employees and use this strategy to outperform their peers in terms of financial returns, innovation and job creation.
• An innovative plan for investment in the federal workforce through a "Civil Service GI Bill" that would provide leadership, supervisory and managerial skills training at community colleges and universities across the country.
• Budget justification for an investment of $10 billion over the next five years, which the authors project will yield $300 to $600 billion in benefits for taxpayers through improved productivity, better management and reduced waste and duplication.

   

The authors see an unprecedented opportunity to reinvigorate the federal workforce, and they believe it is fully achievable with presidential leadership. But they warn that Americans will witness a steady decline in the way our nation is governed if we do not strengthen public service. The People Factor will transform the way people work for the government — and how government works for the people.

The Authors

Linda J. Bilmes is a lecturer in public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a nationally recognized expert on public finance. She is coauthor with Joseph Stiglitz of the New York Times bestseller, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict. She has served as CFO and Assistant Secretary for Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce and as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.

W. Scott Gould is vice president, public sector strategy and growth, at IBM Global Business Services. He has also served as CFO and Assistant Secretary for Administration at the Department of Commerce and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for finance and management at the Treasury Department. Gould is a captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve (Ret.) and a former White House fellow.

The Brookings Institution is a private nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and innovative policy solutions. For more than 90 years, Brookings has analyzed current and emerging issues and produced new ideas that matter — for the nation and the world.

The People Factor: Strengthening America by Investing in Public Service

By Linda J. Bilmes and W. Scott Gould

Published by Brookings Institution Press

April 2, 2009

6 x 9 – 375 pages – paper – ISBN 978-0-8157-0141-5 – $19.95/pounds Sterling 11.99

SOURCE Brookings Institution