{"id":72201,"date":"2023-03-29T18:00:58","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T18:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/03\/29\/vet-agency-chief-calls-onboarding-times-for-new-hires-indefensible\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:31:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:31:50","slug":"vet-agency-chief-calls-onboarding-times-for-new-hires-indefensible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/veterans\/2023\/03\/29\/vet-agency-chief-calls-onboarding-times-for-new-hires-indefensible\/","title":{"rendered":"Vet agency chief calls onboarding times for new hires \u2018indefensible\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2023\/03\/23\/va-leaders-arent-worried-about-looming-budget-fights-yet\/\" target=\"_blank\">Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough<\/a> called the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federaltimes.com\/management\/hr\/2020\/02\/25\/opms-hiring-time-measurement-makes-room-for-innovation\/\" target=\"_blank\">months-long onboarding process<\/a> for new department employees \u201cindefensible\u201d and promised improvements by the end of the year to get those individuals on the job faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI pray to God the next time I appear before this committee that we\u2019ve reduced these numbers,\u201d McDonough told members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/election-2022\/2022\/11\/15\/top-republican-on-house-defense-appropriations-panel-wins-re-election\/\" target=\"_blank\">House Appropriations Committee<\/a> on Wednesday. \u201cBecause if we don\u2019t, we won\u2019t meet our hiring goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Official VA employee documents warn that background checks, paperwork filing and other onboarding tasks can take up to two months to complete before candidates can start work.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/hr\/2020\/02\/25\/opms-hiring-time-measurement-makes-room-for-innovation\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-921353736.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">OPM\u2019s hiring time measurement makes room for innovation<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Office of Personnel Management hopes to give agencies a broader understanding of their hiring times and the factors that influence them.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But under questioning from lawmakers, McDonough acknowledged that for key medical posts within the Veterans Health Administration, the process can take much longer: nine to 12 months, in some cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lawmakers called that timeline unworkable, saying that potential new hires are likely to be scared away by the wait or stolen away by private-sector businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou can\u2019t take almost a year to bring a physician online,\u201d said Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In January, researchers from the Government Accountability Office criticized VA leaders for poor tracking of many of those onboarding processes, saying that better oversight could speed up the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA officials last fall held a series of events designed to analyze the problem and bring in new hires more quickly. From the start of October 2022 to the end of December 2022, nearly 13,000 new staff completed the onboarding process, the most ever for that time period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McDonough said onboarding for January was also up about 12% over the previous year. He credits the change to improvements implemented after the events last fall, but said his department still needs to do more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere are about 12 steps for new employees in onboarding, and we need to contract some of those steps out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2023\/03\/21\/dept-of-veterans-affairs-union-spar-over-staffing\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1237664865.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Dept. of Veterans Affairs, union spar over staffing<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">VA officials said hiring and retention levels are at record highs, but workers groups say even more staff is needed to keep up.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, drug testing through private-sector companies could be quicker and more efficient than handling that work internally. Other certification and background checks can be improved with updated technology, automating tasks such as uploading documents and contacting references.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McDonough said he expects to see more changes to the system throughout the rest of the year. The department has set a goal of 52,000 new hires in fiscal 2023. Through the first four months of the fiscal year, VA managers have brought in more than 18,500 new workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA secretary said he does not see the need for congressional action to grant him new authorities to deal with the problem, but lawmakers on the committee said they would continue to monitor the issue as they consider the department\u2019s budget request throughout the summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Physicians can wait as long as a year to start working even after they&#8217;ve been hired, department officials acknowledged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":62386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":21,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,12,24,89,16,26,65,21],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3328],"class_list":["post-72201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-education-transition","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"BPLRF5XTH5EX3MAOZMMR47ZXAM","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2023\/03\/29\/vet-agency-chief-calls-onboarding-times-for-new-hires-indefensible\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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