Original Broadcast Date: 12/14/25

Scott Kupor, Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), is approaching his workforce agenda with a clear-eyed assessment: the federal government is not attracting enough early-career talent. Today, only about 7% of federal employees have fewer than ten years of experience—far below the roughly 22% seen outside government. Kupor sees this gap as both a warning sign and an opportunity to modernize how agencies recruit, reward, and support the next generation of public servants, especially in technology fields.

Kupor begins with the story government tells about federal service. The traditional pitch—come work for the government and stay for decades—doesn’t resonate with many younger professionals. Instead, he says early-career candidates want to understand the impact of their work, the quality of leadership they’ll experience, and how federal service will strengthen their long-term career prospects, even if they eventually move to the private sector. For Kupor, this is as much a communications challenge as a policy one: government must highlight mission, growth, and career-building value.

But messaging alone isn’t enough, he argues. Kupor points to the federal “tenure-based system,” where promotions and pay progression are closely tied to years of service. He believes this approach treats time as a stand-in for merit and makes it harder to retain high-performing early-career employees. His aim is to update those norms so that strong performers can be recognized, promoted, and compensated in ways that reflect their contributions—regardless of tenure.

When asked what tools he has that previous administrations may not have used, Kupor cites strong presidential support as the most significant. He highlights a new “merit hiring plan,” created through executive order, that is designed to reduce barriers such as degree requirements and tenure-based hurdles. The goal is to make merit—and the skills needed to do the job—the primary consideration for entering and advancing in federal service. He also notes that much of this work can be done through regulation, without needing new authority from Congress, as long as leadership stays focused and consistent.

A major theme of Kupor’s agenda is improving the federal hiring process. He describes OPM as a “convening authority” that can market opportunities across government and serve as a unified front end for evaluating applicants. His vision is to eliminate the scavenger-hunt experience many candidates face when trying to find relevant openings across agencies like HHS or State. Instead, he wants applicants—especially early-career candidates—to see the federal government as one employer hiring for broad skill sets such as engineering. Under this model, OPM would conduct initial assessments and produce shared certificates of qualified candidates that multiple agencies could interview. Kupor says this creates efficiency, enhances the candidate experience, and still preserves agency decision-making.

This approach ties directly to government-wide workforce planning. Kupor explains that OPM and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) now ask agencies to submit broad headcount plans for fiscal year 2026, providing long-missing visibility across government. Identifying overlapping needs—such as several agencies hiring similar program managers—allows OPM to centralize recruitment and assessment. Agencies can then compete for top candidates by articulating the unique strengths of their missions and roles.

Kupor also addresses the challenges of gathering basic workforce data. With roughly 119 different HR IT systems across government—likely more—that don’t communicate with one another, OPM struggles to access fundamentals like organizational charts. To fix this, OPM has issued a request for proposals to consolidate these systems into a single, mandatory shared platform that OPM will manage for agencies. As part of the FY 2026 and FY 2027 budget process, OMB has set aside funding for agencies to cover their share of the transition while OPM handles implementation.

When Kupor talks about “refocusing” the federal workforce, he breaks it into three priorities. First, aligning resources with administration goals. Second, questioning longstanding activities to determine whether they still add value, rather than simply layering new work onto old. Third, improving efficiency—not simply by cutting costs, but by delivering better service to the public while being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. He emphasizes that technology will be central to this effort; while innovation won’t slow down, government must leverage it to improve services without continually increasing staffing and budgets.

Kupor acknowledges that talk of “efficiency” can create anxiety among employees who fear reductions in headcount. He stresses the importance of clear communication and points to examples where organizations have streamlined while still improving service quality, thanks to clearer expectations, reduced bureaucracy, and effective use of new technology.

On leadership accountability, Kupor turns to the Senior Executive Service (SES). He notes widespread “ratings inflation,” with 80–90% of SES members receiving top scores on a five-point scale. Kupor argues this undermines a high-performance culture because it fails to distinguish exceptional performance and makes it harder to address underperformance. He calls for a system that meaningfully recognizes excellence while also ensuring leaders receive honest feedback—and, when necessary, are held accountable.

He also outlines plans to modernize leadership training. Traditional programs have been academically dense, classroom-centered, and costly. OPM is redesigning training to include updated curricula delivered through electronic, self-paced modules, supplemented with optional in-person sessions. Kupor emphasizes that if senior leaders are expected to meet higher standards, they must have access to modern, practical development tools.

Kupor closes with a focus on culture. He describes federal workplaces as risk-averse, shaped by decades of oversight and fear of negative attention. Real cultural change, he says, requires actions that give employees permission to innovate, take measured risks, and incorporate those expectations into performance objectives. He ends with a personal note: the federal workforce is full of talented, dedicated professionals. The challenge now is removing barriers and giving them the support—and the freedom—they need to excel.