Workforce Reductions. Downsizing Strategies Used in Selected Organizations.
Abstract
During fiscal years 1994 through 1999, federal agencies must reduce employment levels by 272,900 full-time equivalent positions, or approximately 12 percent of the civilian nonpostal executive branch workforce. This requirement was incorporated into law by the Federal Workforce Restructuring Act of 1994. How can agencies ensure that they will be able to accomplish their missions with significantly fewer employees? What strategies will best accomplish the statute's objectives? How can employment levels be reduced in a manner that will effectively deal with employees who remain, as well as those who leave? Finding answers to these and other questions may be a daunting challenge for congressional and executive decisionmakers as the downsizing progresses. To obtain information that might be of value in carrying out federal downsizing, GAO contacted 17 private companies, 5 states, and 3 foreign governments, which had downsized in recent years. This report presents a compendium of the approaches these employers used, as described by management officials: the planning involved, the methods used to reduce their workforces, and the human resources aspects of the downsizing activities. (KAR) P. 4
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1995
- Accession Number
- ADA294048
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office