State Capacity Pillar 1: Personnel

Governments are, at their core, organizations made up of employees. Without the ability to hire and retain a competent workforce to carry out its goals, no policy can be successful. A strong personnel system is therefore a foundational element for a capable government.

Yet, our current system is slow and overly complicated. It reflects industrial-age ideas about the division of labor that no longer align with today’s dynamic labor market. It treats the federal government as a market-maker rather than a market-taker—even as the federal share of the workforce has declined steadily since the late 1960s.

The system overemphasizes internal equity and a lack of market competitiveness, assuming employees will remain in the same roles for decades in a labor market defined by mobility. In short, it is a living fossil: a model that functioned in the period between the end of World War II and the late 1970s, but is now fundamentally out of sync with modern realities.

Government must be able to bring in the right expertise into the right roles at the right times, develop people effectively throughout their careers, and take corrective action when performance falls short. It needs the ability to compete for top talent, compensate them appropriately, and reward them when they excel. And it needs guardrails that prioritize observable, objective merit—rewarding applicants and employees for the quality of their work and service, not for their political views or the pedigree of their résumés.

Objective

A federal personnel system that is simpler, faster, and more flexible; agencies can recruit top talent, remove poor performers, and manage teams effectively.

Policy change

Comprehensive Civil Service Reform legislation to modernize classification & pay, hiring & assessment, performance management & accountability, and labor relations.

How we’ll get there

This year, we are publishing a series of deep dive reports on elements of the civil service:

- Job Classification System

- Hiring & Assessment

- Performance Management & Accountability

- Putting It All Together (Merit & Administration Systems)

Each piece will include history, a diagnosis of current challenges, and recommendations for reform. This will culminate in model legislation for a rewrite of Title V.

We also provide high-quality analysis on proposed rules:

You can hear about our work here: