Planning
FYI is skilled in helping organizations in the areas of workforce planning and strategic planning. What skills are needed right now? In two years? Five? Should an organization train current resources in those skills, or recruit them into the organization? Not only can we advise on prudent workforce investments, but we often can provide the necessary training or recruiting services to carry out the workforce plans that are developed.

FYI works with three Federal, quasi-judicial Boards. Some time ago, their respective docket divisions held many paralegal specialist and legal assistant positions. The docket divisions were merging into a single office; the judges and administrative officers requested FYI's guidance in how to plan for the upcoming reduction in force. This also included a reorganization, and establishment of new performance standards, position descriptions and reporting/supervisory protocols. FYI provided two consultants to guide senior management in this endeavor, and worked up various scenarios, facilitated inter-Board meetings and discussions on the matter, and offered advice to affected employees on how to plan for the upcoming changes.

Recruitment and Internal Placement
FYI excels at progressive recruiting and staffing operations. We make it our business to learn our clients' missions and create customized recruitment plans that support them. And unlike many HR consulting firms, we stand by our products by implementing them, too, on the clients' behalf. Competitive Service, Excepted Service, Executive Service, Wage Grade, automated recruiting, or pen-and-paper -- we do it all.

FYI provides full-time or hourly staffing specialists, at all levels, to help post jobs and deliver accurate and correct candidate slates to hiring managers in customer agencies. We recruit a full range of employees, including attorneys and paralegals, analysts and secretaries, accountants and security specialists.

Position Classification
We employ only top-notch, accomplished classifiers to compose position descriptions, or to advise on HR issues related to classification. We believe that classification is as nuanced, as it is stringent. Not all firms can recognize that.

FYI currently classifies positions, designs organizations, and advises on position management principles for many agencies in the U.S. Department of Labor, including:

Bureau of International Labor Affairs
Office of Public Affairs
Center for Policy, Planning and Research
Business Operations Center
Civil Rights Center
Employee Benefits Security Administration
Veterans' Employment and Training Service
Office of Disability Employment Policy
Office of the Secretary
Employment Standards Administration
Bureau of Labor Statistics

Personnel Actions
Attention to detail and a thorough familiarity with Federal guidelines are essential for an HR contractor. Let FYI use its experience with automated and manual systems of processing and documenting personnel actions to benefit your organization.

A file room that stored official personnel files (OPFs) was terribly neglected and in disarray. Files were not stored in correct alphabetical order. New forms that needed to be filed were in piles or stuffed in drawers. FYI provided a file clerk to set the room up in a reasonable fashion, and a management analyst to create a set of operating rules and procedures so that missing files and disorganization could be eliminated.

FYI processes payroll actions like grade changes, reassignments with not-to-exceed dates, adjustments to employee benefit designations, pay setting, and new employee orientation and form completion.

Training
For over 20 years, FYI has been committed to employee training. Whether in technical areas like computer programming or the Code of Federal Regulations , or in more general areas like human resources, finance and interpersonal skills, FYI can design and deliver curriculum tailored to the needs of each customer.

FYI trains one agency's National Office and regional staff how to create and apply crediting plans that do not involve narrative/KSA formats. Written comments on the evaluation forms included: "excellent presentation" and "best training I have received in the federal government."

Candidate Development Program: Every few years an agency runs a program for emerging executives, as a way to plan to replace retiring senior executives in the Department with seasoned, experienced, internal candidates. FYI staff served as writing coaches for the program participants.

Employee Relations
If there ever were an area where level-headed, outside resources were needed to manage union relationships, or to represent management with employee complaints, it is in the areas of labor and employee relations. Including performance management, the area of employee relations helps define the fundamental way an agency will be accomplishing work into the foreseeable future, and the relationship that management will have with its employees, moving forward.

A senior budget analyst had a staff of subordinate budget analysts, including a non-performing GS-14. She wanted to provide incentives to the employee to improve performance or move on to a different job. While the supervisor worked overtime to complete the work that her subordinate would not (or could not), FYI put together a performance improvement plan (PIP). FYI advised the supervisor on documents to maintain, and timelines for next steps. In addition to serving as experts on U.S. Code, Federal regulations, Departmental policies and union contract provisions dealing with employee performance, FYI also served as a personal coach to the supervisor, who felt like she was "swimming upstream" in implementing the PIP. The affected employee accepted a new assignment, a demotion and downgrade, and a $20,000 pay cut as a direct result of the PIP. The supervisor could then recruit a more competent employee to carry out that work.

FYI provided one customer agency, which had no personnel officer, with a top human resources technical expert, who advised the acting personnel officer on many HR matters, including labor and employee relations. When a RIF or a re-organization was foreseen, FYI staff researched the necessary notifications that were to occur. When a Federal staff member was insubordinate, FYI staff analyzed available options and advised the acting personnel officer on recommended actions. When the agency had an underperforming or non-performing employee, FYI designed rehabilitative action plans that complied with Departmental and Title 5 rules.