The Office of Personnel Management wants agency managers to learn how to better communicate with workers, and a new engagement training course shows how.
The web-based course, "Maximizing Employee Engagement," debuted on Jan. 15 and is available for coordinators in the SES Candidate Development Program, executive development program as well as executives.
The course is part of OPM's plan to better train its managers on employee engagement to help keep a skilled workforce active in the federal government.
On Jan. 12, acting OPM director Beth Cobert released a new guidance on employee engagement called Performance Management Plus, which focuses on frequent "light check-ins" between managers and employees to foster communication and also attention to needs and feedback.
OPM officials encouraged managers to incorporate the course "where appropriate" as part of a strategy to foster inclusion within agencies.
"The course is designed to help educate and provide Federal leaders with knowledge and strategies to successfully support employee engagement – an objective consistently shown through workplace studies as a critical enabler of organizational success, financial performance, and positive human capital management outcomes in critical areas including recruitment and retention," said Mark Reinhold, associate director of Employee Services, in a letter released on Jan. 15.
The new course is available for free to executives through the HR University website or on CD by request.
