The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is driving a landmark federal human resources IT modernization initiative — commonly referred to as HR 2.0 — that presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the way the federal government manages its most vital asset: its people. Yet technology alone does not transform organizations. Systems succeed or fail in the lived experience of the employees, HR professionals, managers and leaders who must ultimately adopt them, trust them, and integrate them into their daily work.
This is why human-centered design (HCD) must be at the heart of the HR 2.0 initiative. But it is important to be clear-eyed about what “at the heart” means in this specific context. HR 2.0 is built around a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product operating on an aggressive implementation timeline. OPM and its agency partners will not be designing a system from scratch. The architectural decisions, the core data model and most of the workflow logic are already embedded in the platform. What remains — and what is fully within scope for human-centered practice — is how that platform is configured, communicated, trained, supported and continuously refined in the hands of real federal employees and HR professionals.
That is not a lesser challenge; in some ways, it is harder. In practical terms, it is more akin to renovating and reconfiguring a plane while flying it than constructing a new aircraft on the runway. In this context, HCD is the decisive factor that will determine whether HR 2.0 becomes a transformational success or another well-intended modernization effort that struggles to achieve adoption, trust and sustained impact. More importantly, it creates an opportunity to reorient federal HR toward business outcomes — because when the business is human experience and organizational performance, designing around people is not a luxury; it is a necessity.
Building on a history of HCD in federal HR
Human-centered design is not new to the federal government. Over the past decade, agencies have increasingly embraced HCD as a core discipline in digital service delivery. Within the federal HR domain, OPM has been a leader in this movement.
HCD influenced foundational frameworks such as the Human Capital Business Reference Model (HCBRM), which helped define standard HR processes across government. The HCBRM recognizes that consistent, user-aligned processes are critical for interoperability, shared services and scalable modernization. Its underlying premise reflects HCD principles: clarity of process, shared understanding and alignment to outcomes.
The HR 2.0 initiative builds on this history. However, unlike previous efforts focused on standards or pilots, HR 2.0 will embed design choices into a governmentwide COTS platform. The scale and permanence of this transformation require a shift from viewing HCD as a supporting capability to leveraging it as a foundational operating principle.
Avoiding the traps of system modernization
Modernization inevitably disrupts established workflows, habits and identities. People fear loss of control and loss of the familiar. Even if the new system is objectively better, the transition period introduces uncertainty and discomfort.
New processes and user interfaces may initially lead to confusion and temporary loss of productivity. HR professionals may fear that automation, integration or AI-enabled features signal that their roles are shrinking or disappearing altogether.
There is also the risk of superficial compliance. Employees and HR staff may technically “use” the new system while simultaneously maintaining offline workarounds — Excel spreadsheets, shadow tracking tools, email-based parallel processes — to feel secure. Required training may be completed and marked as successful, yet users may not feel confident or competent.
If unaddressed, these dynamics can undermine data integrity, erode trust in leadership, and compromise expected return on investment.
How HCD mitigates these risks
Human-centered design works by deeply understanding users before, during, and after implementation. In a large-scale transformation, this means:
- Conducting ethnographic research and contextual inquiry with HR specialists, supervisors and employees.
- Mapping end-to-end employee journeys to identify “moments that matter.”
- Rapidly prototyping configuration options within the COTS platform and testing them with real users.
- Iterating based on observed friction rather than assumed requirements.
HCD complements, rather than replaces, formal change management. Traditional change management often focuses on communications, training and stakeholder alignment. HCD enhances these by ensuring that communications are grounded in actual user pain points, that training addresses real scenarios and that stakeholder engagement includes co-creation.
Identifying “moments that matter” is particularly important. For example, onboarding, performance evaluations, leave requests during emergencies, retirement processing — these are emotionally and professionally significant events. If the system fails during these moments, trust is disproportionately damaged. HCD helps prioritize design attention where it will have the greatest human and organizational impact.
OPM and agencies can leverage HCD in principle and practice to achieve concrete gains by taking actions such as:
- Involve users early in co-design workshops and pilot testing to reduce fear of losing control and familiar workflows. Listening sessions and focus groups early in the implementation process can be instrumental here, not to gather design requirements but to surface what people most fear losing and what they most hope to gain.
- Use targeted job aids, role-specific quick-reference guides, and “moment of need” support resources embedded within workflows to help users overcome confusion from new interfaces. Combine this with usability testing and iterative interface refinement to ensure it is working.
- Identify where users feel compelled to create workarounds and look for opportunities to redesign those friction points to reduce the likelihood of shadow systems popping up like mushrooms in a forest. Note that in enterprisewide COTS implementation, this may involve rethinking the business process rather than modifying the software.
- Redesign HR role definitions to demonstrate how automation leads to role elevation instead of job displacement. By automating low-value manual tasks, HR professionals can spend more time advising managers, developing workforce strategies, and addressing complex employee relations issues.
How do leaders know what is working? HCD integrates qualitative feedback loops alongside quantitative metrics. Practically, this looks like short pulse surveys targeted at specific user groups after their first weeks of system use; designated channels for HR professionals to report friction points and workarounds; regular “office hour” sessions in which implementation team members listen directly to frontline users; and analytics monitoring that tracks patterns of error, abandonment, and help-desk escalation that reveal where the user experience is breaking down.
Remember that a dashboard showing system uptime and transaction volumes can appear “green” while users feel frustrated or overwhelmed. HCD ensures that experiential metrics are tracked alongside technical ones.
Enabling a cultural reset toward high performance and accountability
Organizations communicate their standards through the systems and processes they ask their employees to use every day. When those processes are cumbersome, inconsistent and unreliable — when a routine HR transaction requires three forms, two systems, and a phone call to resolve — the implicit message to employees is that good enough is acceptable. That message does not stay confined to the HR domain. It shapes a broader organizational culture in which tolerance for dysfunction becomes normalized.
HR 2.0 represents an opportunity to send a different message: that the federal government’s systems are designed to work, and that employees at every level can expect the tools they use to meet a high standard.
High-performing individuals expect intuitive processes that work the first time. They expect timely support when complexity arises. If HR 2.0 delivers a seamless, responsive experience, it can subtly, but powerfully, reset expectations across government.
To seize this opportunity, OPM and the agencies who implement HR 2.0 will need to prove they are listening while they make progress. Continuous feedback loops must be built into HR interactions. Automated workflows should not only process transactions but also trigger support when bottlenecks occur. Embedded feedback prompts can capture user sentiment at key moments.
If implemented thoughtfully, HR 2.0 can signal that the federal government values clarity, efficiency and accountability — and expects the same from its workforce.
Steve Krauss is a principal with SLK Executive Advisory. He spent the last decade working for the General Services Administration and the Office of Personnel Management, including as the director of the HR Quality Service Management Office (QSMO).
Sydney Heimbrock is the chief industry advisor for public sector at Qualtrics. She was formerly the founding executive director of the Innovation Lab at OPM.
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