ALEXANDRIA, Va.-According to the recently released 5-year Human Capital Management Plan section of NCUA's 2003-2008 Strategic Plan, NCUA has a much younger workforce than most federal agencies. Because of this fact, the agency expects a smaller wave of retirements in the next 10 years than other federal agencies. In fact, at the staff level, the peak for retirement eligibility is not expected until the year 2020. NCUA's largest number of retirements in the next 10 years will occur at the supervisory and executive level with almost 65% of the supervisory examiner workforce and about half at the executive level becoming eligible between 2005 and 2010. NCUA's staffing level remains steady at a 94% fill rate, which the report credits to the recruitment and retention programs in place, and planned reductions in staff throughout 2002. In creating the workforce analysis, NCUA surveyed 461 examiners last year to determine the necessary training, education and experience for the job. It was determined that diligent supervision on a forward-looking basis was necessary to handle 20% of credit unions that possess 80% of the aggregate credit union assets. The plan pointed out that NCUA was in the process of implementing the risk-focused examination process, "which will further enhance the credit union examiner's ability to best fulfill their role." This means that the senior examiners will have to specialize in at least one complex risk area, like technology, in addition to the current broader examination knowledge. Additionally, future training for examiners is likely to include computer-based delivery methods, as well as in-person training. In the plan, the agency recognizes the importance of its employees. "The NCUA staff is its most critical and valuable asset. The agency has invested substantial amounts of time and effort in recruiting, developing and maintaining its highly performing, qualified and diverse workforce," the Strategic Plan reads. Credit unions also have a vested interest in NCUA's staffing, which accounts for about 75% of the agency's budget that credit unions fund through operating fees and the insurance fund deposits. Federal credit unions exclusively pay the agency's operating expenses, while all federally-insured credit unions provide funding through the overhead transfer rate from the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund and their 1% deposits. Between 2000 and 2002, the agency staffing budget dropped 5.1% and the trend is expected to continue into 2003. NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar has promised to cut staffing through attrition by at least 4% by the end of 2003. NAFCU recently wrote the chairman, urging the swift release of the missing information from the originally released draft of the Strategic Plan before the public comment period ends July 12. Not yet completed sections aside from the workforce plan included the Strategic Program Evaluation and the Information Technology Resource Management portions of the overall plan. The workforce plan was released June 10, and the entire report is available at NCUA's Web site (www.ncua.gov). Dollar noted this in his response to NAFCU's letter and explained that the Strategic Program Evaluation (Appendix E) is expected to be available to the public by Friday June 14, and Appendix D, Information Technology Resource Management, will be available no later than June 24. "In providing the credit union community this opportunity to comment on our Strategic Plan 2003-2008, it is our belief we can learn from each other for the benefit of all credit unions," Dollar wrote in his letter to NAFCU. The NCUA Board and agency executives met June 4 and 5, 2002, for a two-day strategic planning summit to work on developing NCUA's 2003-2008 Strategic Plan. It was determined that several issues raised at the summit require further discussion by the internal Strategic Management Council before finalizing the strategic plan this fall. Over 200 focus and discussion groups contributed perspective in preparation for the agency-wide strategy session. The first Strategic Summit was held in January 2001, under the supervision of then-NCUA Chair Yolanda Wheat. [email protected]