OPM Changes ‘Time to Hire’ Reporting Instruction Based on Agency, Stakeholder Feedback

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued a memo to agencies notifying them of a change in how they should calculate and report “time to hire” (T2H) results. OPM hopes the change will be in effect for reporting due on March 20, 2020 to cover FY 2019. The changes are based on feedback the agency has received from agencies during human capital reviews (HCR) and other stakeholder feedback.

According to the memo issued today by OPM Director Dale Cabaniss, the two fundamental changes in reporting will “more accurately capture the total number of hires that agencies are making and should have a positive impact for those agencies who are taking full advantage of hiring flexibilities, such as direct hire authority, shared certificates, and other available resources.”

The two major changes are:

1.        T2H should now be counted for all hires, not just those hires where a job opportunity announcement was posted on USAJOB; and

2.       Agencies will now report T2H from the time the manager validates the need, until the tentative offer is accepted and until entrance on duty (EOD).

The memo reminds agencies that while they are only required to report to OPM on an annual basis, agencies should be analyzing results quarterly, giving them the opportunity to immediately address high risk areas and quickly analyze if implemented actions are yielding improvements.

The memo is divided into four parts which outline the T2H reporting requirements; the T2H chart agencies should be using for FY 2019 and in the future; the definitions needed to understand the new requirements; and frequently asked questions, including questions on agencies impacted by furloughs in the early weeks of 2019.

“The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has added the additional T2H timeframe to the reporting requirement because agencies have indicated that this data point will more accurately account for time that may be outside the agency’s control,” Cabaniss explained in the memo. “Agencies that are able to submit the second T2H timeframe for FY 19 should do so, but are not required to do so until January 8, 2021.”