4.5 Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO)

The agency CHCO plays an important role in supporting agency strategic planning and performance improvement efforts by ensuring human capital plans, strategies, and investments advance organizational goals set forth in the agency’s strategic and annual plans. Each CHCO serves as their agency’s chief policy advisor on all human resources management issues and is charged with selecting, developing, training, and managing a high-quality, productive workforce. The chief functions of the agency CHCO include:

Setting the workforce development strategy of the agency;
Assessing workforce characteristics and future needs based on the agency's mission and strategic plan;
Aligning the agency's human resources policies and programs with organization mission, strategic goals, and performance outcomes;
Developing and advocating a culture of continuous learning to attract and retain employees with superior abilities;
Identifying best practices and benchmarking studies, and
Applying methods for measuring intellectual capital and identifying links of that capital to organizational performance and growth. (Public Law 107-296. Chief Human Capital Officers Act of 2002.)

CHCO Council
The CHCO Council was formally established by the Chief Human Capital Officers Act of 2002. The Act provides that the Director of OPM serves as Chairperson of the Council, and the Deputy Director for Management of OMB serves as Vice Chairperson. The members of the CHCO Council include the Director of OPM, the Deputy Director for Management of OMB, and Chief Human Capital Officers of Executive Departments. Other members may be designated by the Chairperson including CHCOs of other Executive Agencies and members designated on an ex officio basis.

The purposes of the Council are to:

Advise OPM, OMB, and agency leaders on human capital strategies and policies, as well as on the assessment of human capital management in Federal agencies.
Inform and coordinate the activities of its member agencies on such matters as modernization of human resources systems, improved quality of human resources information, and legislation affecting human resources management operations and organizations.
Assist member CHCOs and other officials with similar responsibilities in fulfilling their individual responsibilities to:
- Implement the laws governing the Federal civil service, as well as the rules and regulations of the President, OPM, and other agencies with regulatory authority that affects Federal employees;
- In accordance with those laws and regulations, advise and assist agency heads and other senior officials in carrying out their responsibilities for selecting, developing, training, and managing a high-quality, productive workforce in accordance with merit system principles;
- Assess workforce characteristics and future needs and align the agency’s human resources policies and programs with the agency’s mission, strategic goals, and performance objectives;
- Advocate and assure a culture of continuous learning and high performance, developing and implementing effective strategies to attract, develop, manage, and retain employees with superior abilities;
- Identify human capital best practices and benchmarks and apply those exemplars to their agencies and the Federal Government as a whole.
- Provide leadership in identifying and addressing the needs of the Federal Government’s human capital community, including training and development.

CHCOC.gov is where the Council shares priorities, key technology policies, news, and the programs and events sponsored by the Council. (Ibid.)