[House Hearing, 110 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ENSURING DIVERSITY AT THE SENIOR LEVELS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND
THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL WORKFORCE,
POSTAL SERVICE, AND THE DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA
of the
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT
AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
MAY 10, 2007
__________
Serial No. 110-46
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/
index.html
http://www.house.gov/reform
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COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
HENRY A. WAXMAN, California, Chairman
TOM LANTOS, California TOM DAVIS, Virginia
EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York DAN BURTON, Indiana
PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut
CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York JOHN M. McHUGH, New York
ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland JOHN L. MICA, Florida
DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana
DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania
JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts CHRIS CANNON, Utah
WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee
DIANE E. WATSON, California MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio
STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts DARRELL E. ISSA, California
BRIAN HIGGINS, New York KENNY MARCHANT, Texas
JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia
BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa PATRICK T. McHENRY, North Carolina
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina
Columbia BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California
BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota BILL SALI, Idaho
JIM COOPER, Tennessee JIM JORDAN, Ohio
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland
PAUL W. HODES, New Hampshire
CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut
JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland
PETER WELCH, Vermont
Phil Schiliro, Chief of Staff
Phil Barnett, Staff Director
Earley Green, Chief Clerk
David Marin, Minority Staff Director
Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of
Columbia
DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of KENNY MARCHANT, Texas
Columbia JOHN M. McHUGH, New York
JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland JOHN L. MICA, Florida
ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland DARRELL E. ISSA, California
DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio, Chairman ------ ------
WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri
STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts
Tania Shand, Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on May 10, 2007..................................... 1
Statement of:
Brown, William, president, African American Federal
Executives Association; Rhonda Trent, president, Federally
Employed Women; Gilbert Sandate, Senior Policy Associate,
National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives;
Darlene Young, president, Blacks in Government; and William
Bransford, general counsel, Senior Executives Association.. 113
Bransford, William....................................... 142
Brown, William........................................... 113
Sandate, Gilbert......................................... 129
Trent, Rhonda............................................ 120
Young, Darlene........................................... 137
Lovelace, Gail, Chief Human Capital Officer, General Services
Administration; Vickers Meadows, Chief Administration
Officer, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; Reginald Wells,
Deputy Commissioner, Social Security Administration; and
Susan LaChance, vice president of employee development and
diversity, U.S. Postal Service............................. 71
LaChance, Susan.......................................... 97
Lovelace, Gail........................................... 71
Meadows, Vickers......................................... 81
Wells, Reginald.......................................... 88
Stalcup, George H., Director, Strategic Issues, U.S.
Government Accountability Office; Nancy Kichak, Associate
Director, Strategic Human Resources Policy Division, Office
of Personnel Management; and Carlton Hadden, Director,
Office of Federal Operations, U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission..................................... 5
Hadden, Carlton.......................................... 50
Kichak, Nancy............................................ 45
Stalcup, George H........................................ 5
Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by:
Bransford, William, general counsel, Senior Executives
Association, prepared statement of......................... 144
Brown, William, president, African American Federal
Executives Association, prepared statement of.............. 116
Cummings, Hon. Elijah E., a Representative in Congress from
the State of Maryland, prepared statement of............... 151
Davis, Hon. Danny K., a Representative in Congress from the
State of Illinois, prepared statement of................... 3
Hadden, Carlton, Director, Office of Federal Operations, U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:
Followup question and response........................... 67
Prepared statement of.................................... 52
Kichak, Nancy, Associate Director, Strategic Human Resources
Policy Division, Office of Personnel Management, prepared
statement of............................................... 47
LaChance, Susan, vice president of employee development and
diversity, U.S. Postal Service, prepared statement of...... 99
Lovelace, Gail, Chief Human Capital Officer, General Services
Administration, prepared statement of...................... 73
Meadows, Vickers, Chief Administration Officer, U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office, prepared statement of................ 83
Sandate, Gilbert, Senior Policy Associate, National
Association of Hispanic Federal Executives, prepared
statement of............................................... 131
Stalcup, George H., Director, Strategic Issues, U.S.
Government Accountability Office, prepared statement of.... 7
Trent, Rhonda, president, Federally Employed Women, prepared
statement of............................................... 122
Wells, Reginald, Deputy Commissioner, Social Security
Administration, prepared statement of...................... 90
Young, Darlene, president, Blacks in Government, prepared
statement of............................................... 139
ENSURING DIVERSITY AT THE SENIOR LEVELS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND
THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
----------
THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2007
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service,
and the District of Columbia,
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:58 p.m. in
room 2247, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Danny K. Davis
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Davis of Illinois, Cummings, Clay,
and Sarbanes.
Staff present: Tania Shand, staff director; Caleb
Gilchrist, professional staff member; Lori Hayman, counsel;
Cecelia Morton, clerk; Mason Alinger, minority senior
professional staff member; and Alex Cooper, minority
professional staff member.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. The subcommittee will come to order.
If this was on a Sunday I would say that this was the day
that the Lord has made, because basically there are so many
things going on at the moment and so many different things
taking place. We have two subcommittee hearings taking place in
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Domestic
Policy, as well as this one, and about the same Members are on
both subcommittees, so obviously some of our Members are going
to be there, some of our Members are going to be here, plus we
have activity taking place on the floor. Some of our people are
also going to be there. So you might see people coming in and
out. It is not an indication of their lack of interest in the
subject matter, or in your testimony; it is just that this is
one of those working Congresses that is doing a great deal of
work all at the same time.
Let me thank our witnesses for being here. We appreciate
the fact that you have come. We will just go right into the
testimony in a minute once I swear in the witnesses. First, I
would like to introduce them, though.
Panel one, Mr. George Stalcup is the Director of Strategic
Issues at the Government Accountability Office and he oversees
a range of reviews of management issues across Government,
including a variety of human capital areas. Mr. Stalcup also
oversees GAO's high risk program and issuance of GAO's biennial
update to its high risk list. He has over 37 years of Federal
service, 33 of which have been at the GAO.
Ms. Nancy Kichak was named Associate Director for the Human
Resources Policy Division for the Office of Personnel
Management in September 2005, and in this position she leads
the design, development, and implementation of innovative,
flexible, merit-based human resource policies.
Mr. Carlton Hadden is a member of the Senior Executive
Service as the Director of the Office of Federal Operations,
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Office is
responsible for the Federal Government's equal employment
opportunity EEO appellate function, and also provides oversight
for the Government-wide EEO complaint adjudication and
affirmative employment functions. In 1999, he was appointed
Director of the Office of Federal Operations. Since his
appointment, he has initiated sweeping changes, which have been
instrumental in improving the operation of EEO programs in the
Federal Government.
That will be our first panel of witnesses. I was really
hoping that my ranking member would have come in, and he hasn't
managed to do so yet.
I am going to read an opening statement, after which I am
going to swear in the witnesses and we will proceed.
Ranking Member Marchant, members of the subcommittee, and
hearing witnesses, welcome to the subcommittee's hearing on
ensuring diversity in the Senior Executive Services [SES], and
the Postal Service. Today's hearing is being held as a followup
to a hearing that I requested in 2003 to look at diversity
within the SES. The hearing was prompted by a GAO study
requested by me and other members of the former Committee on
Government Reform. The study found a lack of diversity in the
SES and maintained that, unless some affirmative action
measures were taken, once members of the predominately white
male SES retired, they would be replaced, for the most part, by
white women.
Today's hearing will look at current diversity trends in
the SES and the Postal Career Executive Services. This hearing
will help the subcommittee move forward on the very important
issue of diversifying, the highest and most influential ranks
of the Federal work force, the SES, and the Postal Service.
This issue is important because the Federal work force should
be as diverse as the people it serves. It is simply good
business and, of course, it is good government.
[The prepared statement of Hon. Danny K. Davis follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. I am now going to move to swear in
the witnesses. If you would, stand and raise your right hands.
[Witnesses sworn.]
Mr. Davis of Illinois. The record will show that each
witness answered in the affirmative. Thank you very much.
Of course, your entire statement will appear in the record.
The green light indicates that you have 5 minutes to summarize
your statement. The yellow light means that your time is
running down and you have only 1 minute remaining to complete
your statement. The red light means that your time is expired.
We will begin with Mr. Stalcup. Thank you very much, and
welcome.
STATEMENTS OF GEORGE H. STALCUP, DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC ISSUES,
U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE; NANCY KICHAK, ASSOCIATE
DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCES POLICY DIVISION, OFFICE OF
PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT; AND CARLTON HADDEN, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF
FEDERAL OPERATIONS, U.S. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
COMMISSION
STATEMENT OF GEORGE H. STALCUP
Mr. Stalcup. Thank you, Chairman Davis. Thank you for the
opportunity to participate in this hearing on diversity at the
senior levels of the Federal Government and the U.S. Postal
Service.
In 2003, we issued a report and looked at diversity in the
SES as of October 2000. We also estimated by race, ethnicity,
and gender the number on board who would leave Government
service by the end of fiscal year 2007. Finally, we projected
what the profile of the SES would be at the end of 2007, if the
employment trends did not change. We made similar estimates at
the GS-15 and GS-14 levels, which are viewed by most as the
primary developmental pools for the SES.
In 2000, we reported on diversity in the Postal Service,
the Postal Career Executive Service, as well as the other
levels within the Postal Service, as of September 1999.
Now, while we have not done any recent work to update those
previous reports, you asked us to provide data on diversity for
this hearing on both the SES and the PCES, as well as, those
groups that serve as the primary developmental pools for each
and from which the vast majority of potential successors to
those positions would come. That data is contained in the
tables within my written statement.
For the career SES and the related GS-15s and 14s,
developmental pools, the data are showing for October 2000,
which was drawn from our previous report, and from September
2006, which we extracted from OPM's central personnel data
file. There are Government-wide statistics, and there are
statistics for each of the 24 CFO Act agencies.
For the PCES and the related development pool, data are
showing for September 1999, drawn from our previous report, and
again from September 2006, and it was provided to us by the
Postal Service. There are Service-wide statistics for officers,
executives, and the developmental pool of Executive
Administration Service levels 22 and above.
The data show that as of September 2006, the overall
representation of both women and minorities increased both in
the SES and the PCES since our reports. In the SES the
percentage of women increased from 23.6 to 28.4, and the
percentage of minorities from 13.8 to 15.9. In the PCES the
percentage of women moved from 20.1 to 28.6, and the percentage
of minorities from 25.3 to 29.1.
Increases also occurred in both the minorities and women
within the developmental pools for both the SES and the PCES.
It is important to point out, however, that the changes over
this time and the percentages as of last September vary by
group. While notable increases have come about in certain
agencies or groups, in some areas percentages have not
increased or have gone down.
Again, we have not done work to identify or analyze the
factors that account for these changes, but we look forward to
working with the subcommittee on these important issues as we
move forward.
As we have just testified, the Federal Government is facing
new and more complex challenges in the 21st century because of
long-term fiscal constraints, changing demographics, and other
factors. The SES and the PCES generally represent the most
senior and experienced segments of those work forces that are
critical to providing the strategic leadership needed to
effectively meet these challenges. Having a diverse core of
senior executives can be an organizational strength that
contributes to the achievement of results by bringing a wider
variety of perspectives and approaches to bear on policy
development and implementation, strategic planning, problem
solving, and decisionmaking.
But retirement eligibility is typically high in the
executive ranks. OPM has estimated that 90 percent of the
Federal executives will be retirement eligible within 10 years,
and the Postal Service expects nearly half of its executives
to, in fact, retire within the next 5 years.
Major departures could result in loss of leadership,
institutional knowledge, and expertise within these leadership
ranks. This underscores the need for effective succession
planning. Succession planning is also tied to the opportunity
to effect diversity through new appointments. Having a good
insight into the Government's senior leadership and
developmental pools, including the factors that are affecting
representation today and factors such as retirements that will
have an effect in the near future, are important to ensuring
that we maintain the needed high quality and inclusive work
force.
This concludes my prepared remarks. We look forward to
working with the subcommittee on these important issues, and I
would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Stalcup follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much. We will proceed
right to Ms. Kichak.
STATEMENT OF NANCY KICHAK
Ms. Kichak. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me here today
to discuss diversity in the leadership ranks of the Federal
Government, including the Senior Executive Service.
The mission of the Office of Personnel Management is to
ensure that the Federal Government has an effective civilian
work force. President Bush and all of us at OPM wholeheartedly
share your goal of building a Federal work force that draws on
the strengths of America's diversity. Under the leadership of
Director Linda Springer, OPM has expanded its efforts to reach
the broadest possible pool of applicants for Federal jobs. We
are committed to the merit system principles and ensuring that
all Americans receive equal access to Federal employment
opportunity, not only in the Senior Executive Service but at
all levels of the Federal work force.
OPM has been vigorous in its efforts to promote Federal
employment widely, including in areas with diverse populations
of potential applicants. Our outreach has included Federal
career days and job fairs at universities and community
colleges which were targeted for their potential to help us
build a highly qualified applicant pool that draws on America's
diversity.
OPM launched a television ad campaign to spark interest in
Federal employment. We aired these ads in targeted markets
where we believe there is likely to be an ample supply of
individuals who have the qualification, skills, and experience
the Federal Government needs in its work force. The ads,
entitled, What Did You Do at Your Job Today, have had a strong
impact in raising awareness of and generating interest in the
array of important and rewarding careers in the Federal
Government. In addition to helping recruit new talent, the ads
have showcased the impressive variety of public services
provided by Federal employees every day.
These outreach initiatives are designed to address the
increasing numbers of Federal employees becoming eligible for
retirement in the next few years. Succession planning is a
crucial element in the development of a strong cadre of senior
executives and candidate development programs are a recommended
part of agency leadership succession plans.
These programs must address the executive core
qualifications, which include a desirable competency for
fostering an inclusive workplace where diversity and individual
differences are valued.
OPM initiated a Federal candidate development program in
2005 to provide opportunities to a broad audience for
development and possible placement in the SES. We plan to
administer the program again and will introduce efficiencies
while still reaching out to the broadest audience.
There is also a diversity component in our broader
assessment of agencies' human capital management practices.
Agencies receive either red, yellow, or green scores based on
the standards for success described in OPM's human capital
assessment and accountability framework. Diversity is an
important element in this analysis. Overall, agencies have
scored well on these items by developing strategies for
sustaining diversity and implementing outreach and other
activities designed to broaden their applicant pools.
Under section 7201 of Title V of the U.S. Code, OPM is
required to report to Congress on an annual basis with respect
to minority representation in the Federal Government in
relation to the overall civilian labor force. Our most recent
report, which was submitted to Congress and to your
subcommittee in January of this year, was submitted in January
of this year.
The report shows that the Federal Government continues to
be a leader in employing minorities. Specifically, the latest
data shows overall increases in minority representation between
2005 and 2006, with minority groups better represented in the
Federal work force than the civilian labor force.
In conclusion, I want to assure you that OPM will continue
its efforts to ensure our Government has an effective civilian
work force that is highly qualified, citizen centered, and
results driven. We must continue to focus on the need to
develop and recruit a senior executive corps and the employees
they lead from all sources of potential talent and to continue
to draw on the strength of our Nation's broad diversity.
I will be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Kichak follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much. We will go
right to Mr. Hadden.
STATEMENT OF CARLTON HADDEN
Mr. Hadden. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the
subcommittee. I appreciate this opportunity to appear before
you on behalf of Naomi C. Earp, Chair of the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission. I am Carlton Hadden,
Director of EEOC's Office of Federal Operations.
When I last testified before this committee in 2003, I
announced the roll-out of EEOC's new guidance for Federal
agencies, which we call EEO-MD-715. This directive strongly
emphasizes that equality of opportunity for all in the Federal
workplace is key to attracting, developing, and retaining top
quality employees. The directive requires agencies to
systematically and regularly examine their employment policies
and practices, to identify and remove barriers to free and open
workplace competition. Plans for addressing barriers must be
developed by agencies, and progress toward removing those
barriers is monitored by EEOC.
MD-715 is an important tool to assist agencies in changing
past trends in order to promote greater diversity in the SES.
Federal agencies must ensure that its employees, including
those at the senior level, are drawn from all segments of
society after fair and open competition. Selection,
advancement, and all other employment decisions must be based
solely on merit to ensure that all receive equal opportunity
and to maximize the probability of selecting those with the
best skills to do the job.
In its 2003 study, GAO found that the vast majority of
replacements for departing SES members come from the ranks of
Federal employees of the GS-15 and 14 levels; therefore, EEOC
believes that it will be critical for agencies to pay special
attention to potential barriers to entry into those successor
pools of GS-15s and 14s, with the focus on those positions that
typically lead to senior-level management.
In addition, potential barriers should be examined in
training and other development opportunities that increase
qualifications for future SES positions. Also, as future SES
positions may be filled by candidates moving from the private
industry rather than the Federal ranks, potential barriers in
areas like executive recruitment efforts should also be
examined.
Each year EEOC thoroughly reviews agencies' self-analysis
of their work forces and offers critical comments and technical
assistance to agencies to help them to identify barriers,
including those in the SES.
EEOC staff has noticed that this tenor of assistance
requested and questions asked by agencies has changed since the
introduction of 715. As agencies have become more comfortable
with the concept and practice of work force self-analysis,
inquiries have moved from simple counting and numbers questions
to more sophisticated questions on statistical analysis and
barrier removal. As the questions have become more
sophisticated, the answers to removing barriers have become
more creative.
We will not rest until agencies fully identify all those
barriers in their workplaces and eliminate them to create an
inclusive work environment in which the talents and energies of
all individuals are valued, respected, and fully utilized.
One of the EEOC's latest initiatives is the EEOC fellows
program. This program will provide an opportunity for Federal
employees, university professors, and graduate students
interested in equal opportunity, public administration,
economics, employment law, statistics, and other relevant
fields to participate in research and projects related to
eliminating discrimination in the Federal Government.
EEOC plans to use the fellows program to enhance our
analytical ability by tapping into the network of experts and
academicians. As an example, EEOC plans to recruit labor
economists to the fellows program to provide more in-depth
analysis of MD-715 work force data, such as discerning trends
and other longitudinal studies. This will assist EEOC in
identifying trends and issues such as the SES issue that we are
discussing today, and will assist EEOC in taking a proactive
role in preventing discrimination and increasing diversity.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Hadden follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank all three of you very much.
Our normal process is to have rounds of 5 minutes of
questions. Of course, given the fact that nobody is here but
me, I may end up taking somebody else's round, but let me
begin.
Mr. Hadden, let me ask you, to what extent are females and
minorities represented on the EEOC's Executive Review Board
which makes the decisions on promotions to career SES, and what
can be done to make sure that diverse representations on these
boards exist Government-wide?
Mr. Hadden. Mr. Chairman, I want to try to understand the
question. You are talking about EEOC's internal operations?
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Yes, on the Executive Review Board
at the EEOC.
Mr. Hadden. I am going to have to get back to you on that.
I can talk about the PRB Board, but I am not sure about the ERB
Board.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. All right. So if you could get that
answer for us, we would appreciate it.
[The information referred to follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. You mentioned barrier removal. Could
you share with us what some of the barriers are regarding
participation of women and minorities in the SES that agencies
have identified in their management directive 715 submissions,
and what steps have agencies reported taking to address these
barriers?
Mr. Hadden. There is a wide range of barriers which
agencies have identified as barriers for women and for
minorities in the SES, and what we ask agencies to do is to
look at their individual situation. For example, a barrier
could constitute how announcements are certainly shared, but
also, more critically, how developmental opportunities are
announced. Looking at positions in the 15 and 14 level, how
opportunities to develop into those SES positions are
announced. That is one barrier that agencies have identified.
And then in my testimony I identified agency specifically
some of the examples that we have encountered and successes
that agencies have encountered in addressing those barriers.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Does the EEO have any plans to make
any recommendations regarding removal or regarding better
dissemination of information?
Mr. Hadden. What we are planning is we are planning to
publish a report of best practices and share with the Federal
community what agencies are doing to implement 715, and, in
particular, you know, one area that we need and will focus on
are looking at the SES levels. That will be available on our
website.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much.
Ms. Kichak, let me ask you how does the OPM assess the
diversity of the SES service at each agency and the efforts of
that agency to improve?
Ms. Kichak. Our role, particularly through our score card,
is to see that the agencies have policies in place or they have
programs in place that will seek to find candidates across a
diverse pool. We are looking for strong recruiting. So we are
not evaluating the SES makeup along these lines; what we are
evaluating is their programs to attract people to the Federal
work force, including the SES.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. This is kind of a long set of data,
that I am going to mention, but according to the central
personnel data file, as of September 2006, the percentage of
women in the career SES Government-wide was 28.4 percent and
the percentage of minorities was 15.9 percent. Of these,
African Americans constituted 8.6 percent, Hispanics 3.6
percent, Asian American/Pacific Islanders 2.3 percent, and
American Indian/Alaska Natives 1.3 percent. While the
representation of women has increased by about 5 percent and
minorities by about 2 percent since 2000, the representation of
African Americans and American Indian/Alaska Natives in the
career SES has remained largely the same, and the
representation of Asian American/Pacific Islanders has
decreased.
Has OPM seen any particular need? One of the criticisms of
affirmative action programs and the ideas around them is that
they have significantly, in some instances, benefited white
women, but other minority groups have not benefited to the same
extent. Do you see any particular needs with the other groups
that are coming up short?
Ms. Kichak. First of all, our data from the CPF, but it was
a different time period, shows growth in total for minorities
in the SES over the last year, so I don't think our data is
contradicting each other. There has been growth. But the
minority representation in the SES is certainly lower than in
the civilian labor force.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. I don't know how you separate the
question of minorities, but the growth among African American,
Alaska Natives/Pacific Islanders has been slower or lower than
that for white women?
Ms. Kichak. As far as women are concerned, there is a
larger percentage of women in the work force to draw from. It
is close to 50 percent. So there is a bigger pool to pull from.
Then, if you start to look at other minorities such as African
Americans, that ratio in the civilian labor force, I believe,
is around 10.5 percent. I don't have the numbers exactly. But
it is harder to increase when you have a smaller pool to deal
from proportionately. But those are numbers.
We feel that it is very important to keep reaching out. We
have looked at the representation, as has been discussed by
both of the witnesses today, in the 13 to 15 range, which is
where our SESers come from. We feel that it is important to
continue to reach out and to broaden the pool of people so that
we have more folks to choose from in the SES. That is why we
work very hard in succession planning to get more people
competent to step into these jobs. That is why we have the
outreach programs that we do, the ads, the awareness, so that
we can create this big applicant pool and continue to draw from
the broad diversity and bring additional people into the SES.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. I think that makes a great deal of
sense. You are saying that one of the ways to increase the
opportunities for growth at the level of the SES is to increase
the pool of applicants below.
Ms. Kichak. Right.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Therefore, you have more people in
the pool.
Ms. Kichak. Yes.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Well, thank you very much.
Since Mr. Sarbanes has joined us, I am going to ask if he
has some questions. I would just yield to him at this moment.
Mr. Sarbanes. I have no questions at this time, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. All right. Then I have one
additional question to Mr. Stalcup.
In the research that you performed for the Government
Accountability Office, have you come across any incentive
programs across the Federal Government that encourage senior
managers or hold managers accountable for diversity in any kind
of way?
Mr. Stalcup. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
We have done a lot of work that has provided a broad focus
on the whole initiative of holding leaders accountable. We have
identified some examples at agencies where these efforts are
underway, but we have not done as much work or much work at all
on the results of those efforts.
We did issue a report in 2005 that discussed leading
diversity management practices. One of those key practices was
accountability, and specifically by that we meant that leaders
are being held responsible for diversity by linking their
performance and assessment and compensation, to the progress on
the diversity initiatives within their organization. An example
in that report talked about how NIH was making progress along
those lines.
In one other report in 2004 we talked about the experiences
of four agencies in trying to inject more accountability at the
senior levels in terms of performance assessments and in terms
of compensation. Those agencies involved were NASA, HHS, the
Center for Disease Control, and Education.
Again, we have had a lot to say about the importance of the
initiative that you base your question on. We have not done
much in terms of how well agencies or how effectively those
managers are, in fact, being held accountable in the end.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much. I want to thank
all three of you. You have been very helpful, and we certainly
appreciate your coming and sharing testimony with the
subcommittee. Thank you.
We will now move to the second panel and ask Ms. Gail
Lovelace, Ms. Vickers Meadows, Dr. Reginald Wells, and Ms.
Susan LaChance if you would come and take a seat.
Ms. Gail Lovelace was named the Federal Government's first
Chief People Officer on September 1, 1998. In 2003, she was
appointed to be the GSA's Chief Human Capital Officer in
accordance with the HCO Act of 2002. In these capacities, Ms.
Lovelace is responsible for agency-wide human capital
management and has three closely interrelated programs. She
leads the agency-wide development and implementation of GSA's
human capital strategic plan, provides a full range of human
resources advice and services to all GSA organizations, and
provides human resources information technology support for a
number of other Federal agencies, boards, and commissions, in
addition to providing the same support within GSA.
Ms. Vickers Meadows serves as Chief Administrative Officer
since May 2005 for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a
performance-based agency within the Department of Commerce. As
the CAO, Ms. Meadows is responsible for the USPTO's human
capital management, civil rights, and corporate services
programs. Ms. Meadows is leading the effort to build strong
human capital strategies and programs for the USPTO, focusing
on expanding tele-work programs, internal communications,
hiring, recruitment, and retention.
Dr. Reginald Wells was named Deputy Commissioner of the
Social Security Administration [SSA], Office of Human Resources
effective July 15, 2002, after serving short tenures as Deputy
Association Commissioner for Disability Program Policy and
Senior Advisor in the Office of Disability and Income Security
Programs. Dr. Wells also serves as the Chief Human Capital
Officer for SSA. In his capacity as Deputy Commissioner for
Human Resources, Dr. Wells oversees a staff complement of 400
employees, with an operating budget of $100 million.
Ms. Susan LaChance was named vice president of Employee
Development and Diversity for the U.S. Postal Service in May
2005. In this role, Ms. LaChance reports to the Chief Human
Resources Officer and executive vice president and is
responsible for employee and leadership development, succession
planning, equal opportunity, equal employment opportunity, and
diversity initiatives.
Let me thank all four of you for being here. Of course, it
is the policy that all witnesses are sworn in, so if you would
stand and raise your right hands.
[Witnesses sworn.]
Mr. Davis of Illinois. The record will show that each
witness answered in the affirmative.
Let me thank you very much. Of course, your entire
statement will be in the record. We ask that you summarize your
presentation into 5 minutes. We all know the meaning of the
green light simply means go, the yellow light means you are
just about there, and, of course, the red light means stop.
We will begin with Ms. Lovelace.
Thank you all so much.
STATEMENTS OF GAIL LOVELACE, CHIEF HUMAN CAPITAL OFFICER,
GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION; VICKERS MEADOWS, CHIEF
ADMINISTRATION OFFICER, U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE;
REGINALD WELLS, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, SOCIAL SECURITY
ADMINISTRATION; AND SUSAN LACHANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF EMPLOYEE
DEVELOPMENT AND DIVERSITY, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
STATEMENT OF GAIL LOVELACE
Ms. Lovelace. Good afternoon, Chairman Davis and members of
the subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to be here with
you today on behalf of the General Services Administration.
Since its establishment in 1949, GSA has served as the
Federal Government's premier acquisition agency. During the
1970's, almost 40,000 employees worked at GSA. Today, we are an
organization of 12,000 that relies on a highly competent and
engaged work force to accomplish its mission. We strive to
ensure that all GSA employees receive training and development,
performance feedback, leadership support, and guidance in a
supportive work environment to foster and engage a highly
productive work force. That is evident in the fact that GSA was
just recently named as one of the best places to work in the
Federal Government for the third consecutive rating period.
In their 2003 report, GAO warned of the impacts of an aging
work force, particularly in the SES. Specifically, they stated
that more than half of the career SES members that were
employed on October 2000 will have left service by October 1,
2007. In this report they also estimated by the start of fiscal
year 2008 GSA's percentage of women members in the SES would
increase from 28.6 to 32.9, and that the percentage of racial
and ethnic minorities would decrease from 14.3 to 12.9.
As of April 15th of this year, the numbers estimated by GAO
for GSA are close. We currently have 83 members on board, 27
percent female and 13 percent minority.
The GAO report further suggested that the wave of near-term
retirements and other attrition will provide the Federal
Government with both a challenge and an opportunity. We,
wholeheartedly concur with this finding, particularly as we
face 31 current vacancies, or 27 percent of our current SES
work force, and we expect that SES members will continue to
leave the agency.
In response to the President's management agenda and the
strategic management of human capital, GSA has established a
comprehensive human capital strategic plan that provides a
well-rounded framework to evaluate and continually improve
human capital programs, processes, and operations.
Improving work force recruitment, executive leadership, and
diversity are three of our seven human capital goals. It is
GSA's goal to ensure that we have a diverse work force that
reflects society, not only in the SES but across the agency. We
do believe our work force is diverse. Woman comprise 49 percent
of the work force. Our work force representation among all
groups is high in comparison to the civilian labor force
statistics, except for our Hispanic work force.
In terms of the SES, GSA has allocated 114 positions. As of
April 15th, 83 of them are filled, leaving 31 vacancies.
Currently, 27 percent are women, 13 percent are minority.
GSA's ability to hire new members was impacted by changes
in the organization, much of which is outlined in the statement
for the record.
At the same time, GSA has been undergoing significant
organizational change. All of this has impacted our ability to
fill some of our positions.
During the current fiscal year, our efforts in increasing
diversity within the SES have been nominally successful, as 36
percent of our new hires have been female and 9 percent
minority.
At the GS-14 and 15 level, the pool of potential women and
minority SES candidates has remained relatively stable over the
last few years. Currently, 41 percent of the employees at the
grade 14 are women and 29 percent are minority. At the GS-15
level, 39 percent are women and 20 percent are minority.
GSA has focused a lot of its attention on the development
of our staff and not just on our outreach efforts. We have
undertaken a leadership institute where we are, in fact, giving
advantages to our employees to be prepared to move into the SES
positions. Of our graduates of these various programs, 89
percent are still employed with GSA, 42 percent have received
promotions, 20 percent of those graduates are minorities, and
46 percent are female.
I am pleased to be here with you this afternoon to share
with you some of the information related to GSA. While we
represent a very small proportion of the Government-wide total
of employees, we believe it is our strength of the diverse work
force that will ensure our continued success.
Thank you. I would be happy to answer any questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Lovelace follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much. We will go
directly to Ms. Meadows.
STATEMENT OF VICKERS MEADOWS
Ms. Meadows. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the
subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to testify on
diversity of senior management at the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office.
The PTO mission is to foster innovation and competitiveness
by providing high-quality and timely examination of patent and
trademark applications, guide domestic and international
intellectual property policy, and deliver intellectual property
information and education worldwide.
Fiscal year 2006 was a record-breaking year for PTO. Our
patent organization broke virtually every record tracked by
GPRA by improving quality, efficiency, e-filing, hiring,
training, and hoteling.
Currently, there are 49 Senior Executive Service members,
16 are women, 4 are black, 2 are Asian. With more than 9,000
employees projected by the end of this fiscal year and plans to
hire an additional 8,400 patent examiners over the next 6
years, we expect our history of expanding diversity to
continue.
The vast majority of our SES and top-level management
positions at PTO are highly specialized. Of more than 8,000
current employees, 577 are attorneys, 5,846 are engineers and
scientists. Our executive members in the patent business area
manage a work force composed largely of scientists and
engineers. Those in the trademark area direct the staff of
trademark attorneys.
In addition to skills normally required for upper-level
management, our executives must possess both the technical
knowledge required to direct a professional work force and a
high degree of specialized knowledge about intricate, often
complex, examination rules, regulations, and procedures. Much
of the specialized knowledge can only be acquired through years
of experience at PTO. As a result, virtually all of our patent
and trademark management positions are filled from within the
PTO ranks; however, there are a few SES positions, like my own,
that are in the financial, administration, or information
technology field.
Diversity is likely to increase in PTO's SES ranks because
of the underlying diversity of the pool of patent and trademark
professionals from which many of our future senior executives
are likely to be drawn. Our current work force presents a
recruitment pool of over 2,200 professionals at the GS-14 and
15 levels, most of whom occupy supervisory or management
positions. Of this total, 963 are women, 387 are black, 817 are
Asian, 85 are Hispanic, and 16 are Native American.
In order to enhance their qualifications for SES
membership, many patent and trademark professionals have taken
advantage of managerial, supervisory, leadership, and executive
management training, and developmental assignments offered or
funded by PTO.
PTO also has a robust recruitment program. We participated
in 27 events in 2006 where recruitment of minorities and women
was the focus. For example, we visited Howard University,
Morgan State University, Ohio State University, MIT, and
Florida State University. In many cases, organizations like the
National Society for Black Engineers, Society for Women
Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and the
American Indian Science and Engineering Society were our hosts.
Our priority is always to select the best-qualified person,
regardless of race, national origin, sex, or religion for each
position that we fill. Because we have so many talented women
and minorities in our senior supervisory and managerial ranks,
we are confident that many of them will rise to the SES level.
In addition, we will continue to conduct the broadest
possible searches for our financial, administrative, and
information technology SES vacancies.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I would like to extend an invitation
to you and all subcommittee members to attend PTO's 12th Annual
Community Day Celebration scheduled for June 7th this year.
Held on our Alexandria campus grounds, this county fair type
event highlights the diversity of our work force with ethnic
foods, games, educational resources, fashion show, and parade.
The PTO managers primarily staff this agency-wide event with
virtually all PTO's employees participating. We hope that you
will be able to come as a witness to this display of openness
and inclusion in our agency.
I appreciate this opportunity to share information with the
subcommittee regarding PTO's commitment to promote diversity in
its work force. If you have any questions, I would be pleased
to answer them.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Meadows follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much. We will go to
Dr. Wells.
STATEMENT OF REGINALD WELLS
Mr. Wells. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the
subcommittee. On behalf of Social Security Commissioner Michael
Astrue, I appreciate this opportunity to share with you the
Social Security Administration's efforts to achieve diversity
in the agency's Senior Executive Service Corps. I am Reginald
Wells and I am SSA's Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources
and Chief Human Capital Officer.
SSA is a diverse organization that mirrors the public we
serve. In order to fulfill our mission and provide the kind of
service that the public expects, we must understand its needs.
This takes high-performing, well-trained, and well-equipped
staff, from the front-line office workers to the highest
executives. We believe that having a diverse work force that
reflects the demographics of the people we serve increases the
public's confidence in the agency's ability to meet its needs.
It also enhances the agency's capability to conduct business in
the most effective and efficient manner.
SSA's work force consists of about 62,000 employees working
in 1,500 installations nationwide. Of our employees, 70 percent
are women. Of our work force, 47 percent are members of a
minority group, compared to 31.8 percent in the rest of
Government and 27.4 percent of the national civilian labor
force. I am especially pleased to report that SSA's minority
representation for all groups exceeds their representation in
the national civilian labor force.
Like many Government agencies, we continue to face the
realities of an aging work force. The average age of an SSA
employee is 47, so there is an inevitable wave of retirements
that must be addressed. SSA retirements are expected to peak
between 2008 and 2010, with nearly 22 percent of the work force
electing to retire. This translates to approximately 2,700
employees per year. And 39 percent of overall staff and 66
percent of SES and GS-14s and 15s will be eligible for
retirement by 2010. We project that we will need to replace
nearly 43 percent of the work force by 2015.
At SSA we have viewed these realities as an opportunity to
expand diversity of our work force. Our priority is always to
select the best-qualified individual, regardless of race,
national origin, sex, or religion. Since 2002, we have hired
18,328 employees. Of those, more than 57 percent were women,
6.6 percent were individuals with disabilities, 27.6 percent
were African Americans, 16.5 percent were Hispanics, 7.3
percent were Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and 1.2
percent were American Indians and Alaska Natives.
While having a diverse work force at the service delivery
level is important, we believe that it is equally important to
have diversity throughout the management and executive ranks.
In spite of the large number of retirements among our SES
corps, we have generally been able to maintain our level of
minority representation in the SES.
I must tell you that, since the beginning of the current
fiscal year, we have lost 14 executives, 43 percent of whom
were minorities and 36 percent of whom were women. Fortunately,
SSA is well positioned to replenish the leadership ranks with
minority candidates. As a result of our aggressive recruiting
efforts and comprehensive developmental programs, I believe we
will be able to maintain a highly qualified and diverse work
force.
OPM has recognized our leadership programs as among the
best practices in Government, and our programs are continually
benchmarked and mirrored by other agencies. The programs are
structured and managed to emphasize development of recognized
Government-wide leadership competencies. While SSA has a long
and successful tradition of developing leadership from within,
we also attract executive talent from other public and private
sector sources.
In closing, let me emphasize SSA's pride in its work force
and proactive model we have adopted to promote diversity among
employees. We are firmly committed to continuing our efforts to
build a work force that reflects the face of our Nation. We
believe that our pride in our work force and our commitment to
diversity is part of the reason that SSA was recently named one
of the top ten places to work in Government.
The business case for diversity in our work force is
convincing. We believe that for these reasons we are in a
position to maintain a highly qualified and diverse work force
at all levels of the agency.
Thank you. I will be glad to answer any questions you may
have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Wells follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much, Dr. Wells.
We are going to be able to get Ms. LaChance in before we
have to run off and vote.
STATEMENT OF SUSAN LACHANCE
Ms. LaChance. Thank you, Chairman. Good afternoon, Chairman
Davis and members of the subcommittee. I am Susan LaChance,
vice president of employee development and diversity for the
U.S. Postal Service, and it is my pleasure to be here today to
share with you the Postal Service's commitment to a diverse and
inclusive work force.
The diversity in the Postal Service reflects the diversity
of America, and for us diversity includes not only individual's
race, color, national origin, and sex, but also other
attributes such as the background, education, life experiences,
and perspectives.
We recognize that only with a work force that represents
America and the communities that we serve can we effectively
support the needs of our customers in the 21st century.
Today the Postal Service is one of the leading employers of
minorities and women. We have 26 percent of our executives who
are minorities and 29 percent are women. We have seen increases
in the participation rates of females and black males in our
officer corps, and increases in the participation rates of
females, black females, Asian American, Pacific Islanders, and
Hispanic males in our executive ranks. However, we recognize we
face key challenges in recruiting, retaining, and developing a
diverse work force in the future.
Our diversity professionals are key partners in this
effort. They cast a recruiting network as wide as possible by
participating in minority job fairs, actively recruiting
veterans and military personnel, and recruiting at colleges and
universities. Additionally, they provide one-on-one sessions
with employees interested in development. They hold career
awareness conferences and workshops to help employees prepare
job applications and fine-tune their interviewing skills. And,
most importantly, they are integral partners in career
development and succession planning.
The Postal Service has developed a whole career approach to
learning, leadership development, and talent management. The
advanced leadership program seeks to develop high-performing
employees with a desire and a potential to assume future
leadership roles. Our executive development program is designed
to reinforce our executive competency model. It builds on
leading best practices and provides participants with coaching
and mentoring by our senior officers.
Our corporate succession planning process identifies high-
potential employees for executive positions and provides
tailored development. This standardized process is open to
self-nomination and reflects our commitment to inclusiveness.
We realize that our development programs need to reach
further down into our organization in order to identify talent
for our leadership pipeline. We are doing this through our EAS
leadership development process. Known as ELD, it helps create a
pool of qualified employees ready to fill future managerial and
leadership positions competitively.
The Postal Service has always had a strong culture of
developing employees from within. Out of our 40 officers, 21
began as craft employees, while another 4 began their careers
in one of our structured development programs. Perhaps our
Postmaster General, Jack Potter, best illustrates the
effectiveness of this approach to developing postal employees.
Jack joined the Postal Service as a clerk in New York. He
served as our Chief Operating Officer, Vice President of Labor
Relations, and in a number of other senior positions.
Delores Killette is another example. Ms. Killette has held
a number of managerial positions in the D.C. metro and
Baltimore district, and she was that 39th Postmaster of
Washington. She is now our consumer advocate and vice president
of consumer affairs.
For more than 200 years the Postal Service has provided
individuals from a variety of cultural and socio-economic
backgrounds with the opportunity of earning a living,
supporting their families, and developing their careers, and
serving their country. We proudly continue this tradition.
I will be very pleased to answer any questions of the
committee.
[The prepared statement of Ms. LaChance follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Well, thank you all so very much. I
also want to thank the Members for their patience and
indulgence.
It is my understanding that we have five votes, the first
of which is a 15-minute vote and then the others will be 5-
minute votes, which means that we are probably going to be gone
for at least 40 minutes. So let me thank you all so much and,
Members, thank you for being here. We have to run off and vote.
[Recess.]
Mr. Davis of Illinois. The committee is back in session.
We had a little intrigue. Somebody wanted to have a secret
vote. We haven't figured out what that one was about, but
somebody wanted to clear everybody out of the House except the
Members so that we could discuss something in secret.
Fortunately, more people decided that they didn't want to do
that than those who did.
Let me just thank you, though, for your patience and for
still being here.
I will begin with a few questions that I have.
Ms. Lovelace, let me start with you. The number of career
SES at GSA has decreased from 84 in 2000 to 71 in 2006. Are
additional changes in the number of career SES expected over
the next several years? And, if so, how might this affect
diversity in the career SES?
Ms. Lovelace. Well, we don't expect a chance in the number
of SESers we have, but we expect that people will turn over in
those positions. You may know that our positions are actually
allocated to us from OPM and there is a certain number that are
allocated as non-career, some as career. Those numbers are not
changing, as best I know right now, so right now our challenge
is keeping those jobs filled with qualified people to carry out
the mission.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. And does the GSA have a candidate
development program?
Ms. Lovelace. We don't have a candidate development
program, per se. We have something called an advanced
leadership development program, which is similar, but you just
don't get a certain qualification that OPM stamps on people
that are in formal candidate development programs.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. And so that is the reason that you
don't feel the need to have a formal program? I mean, you have
a similar program?
Ms. Lovelace. We have a similar program. Because our
numbers are so small, we didn't want to make that kind of
investment into a candidate development program, but it is so
similar we might as well go on ahead and do it.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. I am just sort of assuming, then,
that there really is not, in the estimation of the agency, a
need because of the numbers and also because of the experiences
that you are having relative to progress that is being made?
Ms. Lovelace. We think we are making good progress in our
programs to develop people for these leadership positions. We
have a good cross mix of people that we believe we are
preparing to fill many of the jobs that we have.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much.
Let me go to Ms. Meadows.
Ms. Meadows, the Patent and Trademark Office has been a
performance based organization. I guess people called them PBOs
for a few years. Of course there is controversy around
performance based activity. Could you tell us how the status
has, if at all, affected work force diversity within the
agency?
Ms. Meadows. Mr. Chairman, I would say that it has probably
enhanced work force diversity, and certainly awareness, through
our performance appraisal programs at the USPTO. We are holding
our executives much more accountable to results. Diversity is a
part of the leadership component to our performance appraisal
plans, and I think, because we are more results oriented under
our performance based status, that our executives are held more
accountable.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Some agencies have mentoring
programs to prepare mid-level employees for possible future
executive status by pairing them with mentors who can provide
advice and guidance. Does the PTO have such a program?
Ms. Meadows. We do have a mentoring program in our patent
corps, but that is more geared toward the patent examining
process. We are in the process of developing a leadership
development program at the Patent and Trademark Office which
will include aspiring leaders at the 9 to 11 level, then go on
to the executive leadership program at the mid-manager level,
and all the way up to a senior executive program. We are
looking to put together our own SES candidate development
program.
We have had plans to do that in the past. There are a lot
of training opportunities at the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office for our managers and our future leaders, but we want to
formalize a program, and right now we have the resources to do
that and are actively engaged with a contractor to develop a
program for our office.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Do you know how many minorities and
women are involved in the mentoring program, I mean, how many
are actually being mentored?
Ms. Meadows. No, sir. In the existing mentoring program?
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Yes.
Ms. Meadows. Well, no, sir, I don't know that number.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Dr. Wells, let me ask you, central
personnel data file as of September 2006, the percentage of
women in the career SES at the Social Security Administration
was 39.6, and the percentage of minorities was 29.9. Of these,
African Americans made up 21.5 percent, Hispanics 7.7 percent,
Asian American/Pacific Islanders none, and American Indian/
Alaska Natives 0.7 percent. To what extent do these
representation levels represent significant progress in recent
years, and what might be needed to increase these numbers?
Mr. Wells. Well, Mr. Chairman, I think I guess the first
thing I would say is that we are, like a lot of agencies,
struggling under the retirement wave to hold our numbers where
they are. I think we have been successful as an organization
because we do put so much attention into tracking our diversity
and working through our recruitment campaigns to make sure that
we always have a very rich applicant pool to choose from.
In terms of what would need to be done to improve that
situation that you described, I think we have actually been
doing it. We are fortunate enough as an organization to have
some well-defined career development programs and we do operate
a Senior Executive Service candidate development program.
But we also have a very rich applicant pool at the GS-15
and 14 levels which, of course, are the feeders for those
people, at least within our organization, that we would
consider for Senior Executive positions.
All of those groups are showing increases over where we
were in 2003, so, while we are just holding our own with regard
to our Senior Executive corps and, as I mentioned, we have a
fair number of vacancies right now, mainly because of the
retirement wave but also we are still working through the
transition from Commissioner Barnhart to Commissioner Astrue,
and during that kind of transition it takes a while for the new
Commissioner to come in and sort of get a sense for what the
needs are and then actually move to fill those. But we believe
that there will be a lot of applicants, either through our
Senior Executive Service candidate development program or our
GS-15 cadre. All categories are showing increases over where we
have been. So I think we feel like we are postured well to
replenish the ranks and probably even exceed where we were in
2003.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Recognizing that all of us are
concerned about the number of retirements and people reaching
the age where I guess they won't have to work, is there a
serious succession planning program or effort underway at GSA?
Mr. Wells. I am sure GSA, too. But at SSA absolutely. In
fact, what I was going to say is that the Office of Personnel
Management, as part of the President's management agenda, has
really encouraged and actually required agencies to be doing
more in the way of formal succession planning and succession
management, and so at Social Security we are very much engaged
in that.
We have been pretty gratified that our field structure in
particular, those regional offices that we have around the
country, have been really excited about this and are doing some
pretty impressive things in terms of assessing what their needs
are going to be and then taking a look at what the potential
talent is at the regional level and beyond and really setting
the stage for, I think, what will be our ability to continue to
replenish our ranks with qualified minority candidates.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. And you are a serious large agency--
--
Mr. Wells. We are.
Mr. Davis of Illinois [continuing]. In terms of the number
of people that you employ.
Mr. Wells. We are 62,000 strong.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Yes. And so you have no
responsibility for what anybody else does, but do you think
that your agency perhaps could be looked at by others as not
necessarily a model but certainly something that they might
look at to see how it is done?
Mr. Wells. I tend to think of us as engaging and practicing
a lot of very promising approaches to these kinds of human
capital issues, and we always welcome other agencies or even
private organizations, for that matter, benchmarking some of
the things that we do.
I do think we try really hard to strategically manage our
human capital, and I think there has been, I think, really good
foresight in the leadership of the organization. As I always
say, necessity is the mother of invention, and I think the
leadership at SSA, over time, has been real concerned about the
ability to always have sufficient numbers of workers, first of
all, but also the composition of that work force, because we do
serve the American public and you want your work force to be as
much a mirror of that public as it can be.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much.
Ms. LaChance, how does the U.S. Postal Service, not
necessarily being what we would call a Federal agency, but a
pseudo, in a sense, how does the Postal Service monitor the
diversity of its workplace?
Ms. LaChance. Chairman, while we are not necessarily
considered a Federal agency following all of OPM's rules, we
are required to follow the guidelines as set forth by the EEOC
in MD-715, and that requires us to really look at the diversity
of our work force overall, as well as to evaluate all of our
personnel practices and employment practices to ensure that we
have nothing that would get in the way for fair and equal
treatment and an inclusive workplace.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Succession planning, I think
everybody recognizes to an extent the need for it. How
important does the Postal Service view this area as being, and
what is being done to prepare for future management personnel?
Ms. LaChance. The Postal Service has actually had
succession planning for a number of years, and one of the
things that we have done really has been look constantly back
at the practices of succession planning, trying to improve it.
Many years ago we had what we called a closed succession
planning process whereby individuals didn't know whether or not
they were being considered as a succesioner. In around 2003 we
went to an open succession planning process where it kind of
enforces our whole philosophy of inclusion, and individuals are
allowed to make application and make it be known that they are
interested in taking on additional responsibilities.
The second piece of that is that we have really focused in
going beyond just having a name on a list to really looking at
individuals that have skills and competency gaps and working on
individualized development plans to assist them to be the best
when an opportunity would be considered, come up for them.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. And I guess my last question is: to
what extent does the Postal Service actually devote resources
to diversity initiatives? I mean, does it really put money into
initiatives to develop programs that are going to help move
forth the desired results?
Ms. LaChance. Chairman, I would describe our focus on
diversity initiatives to be perhaps three-fold. One would be
the focus in on resources in general, and by resources I would
call that people. We have diversity development specialists who
we really rely on that are located throughout the Nation, as
well as at our headquarters and area offices, that assist us in
getting the message out. For us, inclusion means making people
know that the opportunity exists, and awareness is critical, so
the resource is there to get that message out.
The other piece as far as resources, I would call resources
time and effort. Our senior officers participate in an awful
lot of activities that go on, both with what we call our
affinity groups--under our Heritage Coalition we have the
Hispanic Organization of Postal Employees, the African American
Postal Employees Organization, as well as Asian American. Our
officers and our managers participate in activities that they
sponsor to create awareness among their membership.
We also put a lot of time and effort and dollars throughout
the Nation in what we call career awareness conferences,
assisting our own employees to be better prepared and know what
opportunities are available.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Well thank you all so very much.
Again, I really appreciate your patience and the fact that you
were able to wait until we returned from voting. I appreciate
your participation. Thank you very much.
Ms. LaChance. Thank you.
Ms. Meadows. Thank you.
Mr. Wells. Thank you.
Ms. LaChance. Thank you.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. And, of course, our last group, the
real troopers. Let me introduce our last panel, panel three.
Mr. William Bill Brown has served as national president of
the African American Federal Executive Association Inc. since
its founding in 2002. AAFEA promotes the professional
development and advancement of African Americans into and
within the senior levels of the U.S. Government. It sponsors an
annual executive leadership and training conference and
advocates for programs, policies, practices, and processes that
promote career-enhancing opportunities for African Americans.
Membership consists of active and retired Federal employees in
grades GS-13 through the SES.
Ms. Rhonda Trent is the current president of Federally
Employed Women. Federally Employed Women is an organization
that works as an advocacy group to improve the status of women
employed by the Federal Government and by the District of
Columbia Government. Ms. Trent is a contracting officer
assigned to the Joint Strike Fighter Program in Crystal City,
VA. Rhonda Trent has long been active in the FEW, holding
chapter, regional, and National offices.
Mr. Gilbert Sandate is a senior policy associate with the
National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives. Mr.
Sandate is the former Director, Office of Workforce Diversity
for the Library of Congress, Washington, DC. In this capacity
he served as the Library's senior expert on work force
diversity, equal employment opportunity, alternative dispute
resolution, and ADA accommodation matters. He retired from the
Federal Service in June 2006, as a member of the Career Senior
Executive Service after a distinguished 34-year Government
career.
Ms. Darlene Young is the current president of the National
Association of Blacks in Government. Ms. Young was elected to
office in January 2005 and was re-elected to a second term in
January 2007. Blacks in Government was organized in 1975 and
incorporated as a nonprofit organization under the District of
Columbia jurisdiction in 1976. BIG has been a National response
to the need for African Americans in public service to organize
around issues of mutual concern and use their collective
strength to confront workplace and community issues. Ms. Young
is currently employed at the U.S. Department of State as a
computer specialist.
Last, but not least in any way, is Mr. William Bransford.
He is currently the general counsel and lobbyist for the Senior
Executives Association. Mr. Bransford is a partner in the law
firm of Shaw, Bransford, Veilleux and Roth, P.C., where he has
practiced since 1983. His practice is concentrated on the
representation of Federal executives, managers, and employees
before the U.S. District Courts, the Merit System Protection
Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Office
of Special Counsel, Offices of Inspector General, and with
offices that adjudicate security clearances.
Let me thank all of you.
As is our custom of this committee and all of our
committees, we swear in the witnesses.
[Witnesses sworn.]
Mr. Davis of Illinois. The record will show that each
witness answered in the affirmative.
We thank you so very much, again, for staying and for being
here.
Your entire statement is in the record, and so if you would
summarize in 5 minutes we would appreciate that. Of course, the
green light indicates 5 minutes, the yellow light means your
time is running down, 1 minute, and the red light means that we
have finished.
Mr. Brown, would you begin?
STATEMENTS OF WILLIAM BROWN, PRESIDENT, AFRICAN AMERICAN
FEDERAL EXECUTIVES ASSOCIATION; RHONDA TRENT, PRESIDENT,
FEDERALLY EMPLOYED WOMEN; GILBERT SANDATE, SENIOR POLICY
ASSOCIATE, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HISPANIC FEDERAL EXECUTIVES;
DARLENE YOUNG, PRESIDENT, BLACKS IN GOVERNMENT; AND WILLIAM
BRANSFORD, GENERAL COUNSEL, SENIOR EXECUTIVES ASSOCIATION
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM BROWN
Mr. Brown. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, subcommittee
members, and staff.
As you mentioned, I am president of the African American
Federal Executive Association, Inc. AAFEA was founded in 2002
by myself and three other members of the Senior Executive
Service. We have one purpose: the professional development and
advancement of African Americans into the senior executive
levels of Government.
We have held three national conferences and training
workshops attended by over 550 Federal employees. At these
training events, African American senior executives conducted
workshops and counseled and mentored all the African Americans
seeking SES positions.
We also use these conferences to obtain further insight
into many of the challenges facing African Americans as they
strive to compete for SES positions.
With that as a backdrop, I would like to comment on SES
diversity in the Federal Government. Currently, there are 6,100
SES positions in the Federal Government. Only 200, or 3.2
percent of these positions, are occupied by African Americans.
This appalling statistic has remained constant for the last
seven or 8 years, despite increased emphasis on training,
temporary assignments, and other initiatives.
These statistics clearly support the position our
organization and myself, in particular, articulated in 2003
during a Congressional hearing, that the reason our Federal
work force is not adequately diversified is not because of lack
of training, but due to flaws in the selection process.
Many of our members have accepted temporary assignments,
moved their families across country, and in some cases outside
the country, obtained advanced degrees at their own expense,
while others have had their education supported by their
agency, and gone the extra mile in hopes of advancing to the
next level of Federal service, only to be denied that
opportunity by selecting officials.
Over the next 10 years, approximately 89 percent of the
Federal work force is expected to retire. AAFEA recommends the
following steps be taken so that the resulting replacement work
force will represent the mosaic of America:
One, we recommend that this subcommittee champion
legislation mandating that, for positions in grades GS-14, 15,
and SES, Federal agencies must use panels comprised of three
people to screen and select all individuals. At least one
member of each panel would be required to be a minority. The
panel would be required to provide written justification for
their recommendation, and the agency head would have to approve
the selection. This process will cause selecting officials to
take diversity seriously, and it will hold agency heads
accountable.
Two, we recommend that this subcommittee task the
Government Accountability Office with conducting a formal,
detailed study on diversity in Federal agencies by grade,
ethnicity, and age. Current OPM reports group all minorities in
grades 14, 15, and SES together. This presents a distorted view
of diversity and makes it impossible to determine makeup or
progress by ethnicity. We need an accurate baseline to measure
progress.
Three, we recommend that you pass legislation requiring all
temporary assignments or details exceeding 120 days be filled
in the same manner as permanent positions. Too often we hear of
individuals being pre-positioned for promotion by being
temporarily detailed to a vacancy, gaining competitive
advantage over other possible candidates.
Four, we recommend OPM's candidate development program be
expanded and fully funded to accommodate 200 positions. We
applaud OPM for launching this program; however, over, 5,000
applicants applied for 20 slots, making chances of being
selected difficult to impossible.
Five, our final recommendation is about reward and
recognition. We recommend establishment of an annual Federal
SES diversity award to be presented to the Federal agency that
achieved the most diverse SES work force over the past year.
This would encourage and promote diversity and reward and
recognize agencies that take steps to increase diversity in
their senior ranks.
Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the opportunity to appear
before this subcommittee. I would be happy to answer any
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Brown follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much, Mr. Brown.
We will next go to Ms. Trent.
STATEMENT OF RHONDA TRENT
Ms. Trent. Thank you so much. Federally Employed Women,
FEW, very much appreciates the opportunity to participate in
this important hearing on behalf of the 1.2 million women
employed in the Federal Government and military. We thank
Chairman Danny Davis and the other legislators serving on this
subcommittee for inviting us today.
Progress in diversity: we are happy to see that between
1992 and 2003 women made progress in moving into the SES,
moving up to 26.2 percent of total SES employees. Further, the
representation of women at the higher general schedule grades
and at senior pay levels increase. However, we would suggest
that these numbers should move higher to better reflect the
percentage of women and all minorities employed in the Federal
Government overall.
As of December 2005, women represented 47.1 percent of the
Federal work force, yet, according to the December OPM
statistics, December 2006, women only make up 28.7 percent of
the career SES and 34.8 percent of all employees in grades 13
through 15. Increasing the ranks of women in the SES by 2
percent over 4 years is simply not good enough.
FEW suggests the following for improvements. We have
queried all of our members and our leadership and offer the
following suggestions that could help the improvement of the
ability of women and minorities to move up through the ranks
into the SES by training. By far, our FEW members cited the
lack of training and cross-training as a major obstacle to
women moving into the top levels of the Federal Government.
There are several areas in which training can be improved for
women aspiring to move up in the ranks.
First and foremost, training dollars have shrunk to a truly
unbelievable low level over the last couple of years. When
funding is tight, training is one of the first things cut; yet,
it critically impacts the quality of our Federal work force.
Second, women tend to be employed at the lower ranks in the
Federal Government at much greater numbers than men. This does
not mean that they do not aspire to be in leadership or
management positions. We argue that, to help women move into
higher-level jobs, they need the training opportunities along
the way, and therefore should be permitted to take manager and
upper-level training along with their progression. FEW believes
so strongly in this approach that, during our national training
programs held over many years, any attendee, whatever their GS
level or job description, can take any training workshop that
they would like, including those geared toward upper management
and leadership positions.
Further, by attending our national training program,
attendees are exposed to high-ranking officers, Government
employees, in both educational and social settings.
Mentoring: having a mentor is an extremely important aspect
to any Federal worker's progression; however, there are no
formal mentoring programs for women or minorities in the
Federal Government. Women need to have leaders to whom they can
ask questions, obtain advice about their careers, and receive
suggestions on career moves. FEW also suggests that perhaps
incentives should be made available to the senior managers to
establish, endorse, and participate in this very mentoring
program. Further, the establishment and participation in a
mentoring program should be part of the manager or supervisor
and the employee's performance requirements to hold those
leaders responsible for increasing diversity.
The OPM Federal candidate development program: as we
remarked during our 2003 testimony before this subcommittee,
the creation of the Federal candidate development program was
important; however, there are many ways the program should be
improved. Only an extremely low number of applicants are
actually admitted into the program. For instance, my figures
from 2004 show that there were 4,704 applicants received yet
only about 50 candidates were accept. Considering the vast
numbers of retirements expected in the next couple of years,
especially from the top levels of the Government, many more
potential candidates for SES must be trained to fill these
slots.
Of more critical importance is the lack of outreach to
potential candidates. An overwhelming majority of my FEW
members had never heard of this program, many of whom were
already qualified and could have possibly been a candidate and
accepted.
The Federal women's program: it was instituted in 1967 by
an Executive Order No. 11375, and it created Federal women's
programs which were mandated to have in every Government entity
to provide ongoing training, career counseling, leadership, and
to ensure women were provided guidance for advancement.
However, this Federal women's program became another victim of
our vastly decreased funding.
Again, we very much appreciate the subcommittee and
chairman's interest, and I and the other 1.2 million Federally
Employed Women are proud of the work we do for the Federal
Government and to help women and minorities aspire and succeed
in entering the SES.
I was going to ask for more time because I have such a
Southern accent, but looks like I went over, but anyway, thank
you so much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Trent follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much. We will
certainly have some time in the question and answer period.
Mr. Sandate.
STATEMENT OF GILBERT SANDATE
Mr. Sandate. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of
the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear
before you today.
My name is Gilbert Sandate and I am the senior policy
advisor to Jose Osegueda, president and CEO of the National
Association of Hispanic Federal Executives [NAHFE]. I am also a
past president of NAHFE.
NAHFE is proud to represent all senior level Hispanics in
the Federal work force and to speak on their behalf at this
hearing today. As you may be aware, NAHFE's mission is to
promote the development and advancement of qualified Hispanics
to senior level policymaking positions in the Federal
Government.
Hispanics are the largest minority in the country,
representing 14.5 percent of the total population and 13.6
percent of the national civilian labor force. Yet, Hispanic
representation in the Federal work force was but 7.5 percent as
of June 30, 2006, leaving them the only under-represented
minority group in the Federal work force. And according to
recent OPM reports, Hispanics were represented in career SES
level jobs at 2.5 percent as of June 30, 2006. In the key
feeder occupations leading to SES positions, OPM data reported
minimal representation for Hispanics.
Mechanisms are needed to ensure that Hispanic candidates in
the pipeline can move successfully into senior career level
positions.
Having worked my entire 34-year Federal career in the civil
rights and human resources fields, primarily as a manager, I
can speak with some authority about the barriers and obstacles
that minorities, especially Hispanics, face in reaching career
goals. I have witnessed first-hand the unfairness, the
prejudice, and discrimination that is often present in hiring,
promotion, and advancement decisions in the Federal workplace.
I have worked for and with Federal managers who viewed the
Government's diversity and equal employment opportunity
programs as a nuisance, something to be tolerated and
marginally complied with, but always relegated to third-tier
priority status.
NAHFE believes the answer to successfully diversifying the
senior level ranks of Government is to set in place and to
enforce meaningful systems of accountability so that managers
and supervisors may be held accountable for effectively
carrying out their legal mandate to implement and promote equal
employment opportunity and diversity programs.
The diversity practices in hiring, development, retention,
and promotion of Hispanics in the Federal work force are not
being enforced. As a result, we have agencies such as the
Department of Defense, with nearly one million civilian and
1,200 SES level employees, with a Hispanic representation in
the SES levels of 1.5 percent. This is especially shameful when
you consider that today over 12 percent of all casualties in
Iraq and Afghanistan are young Hispanic soldiers. We submit to
this subcommittee that if we are good enough to die for our
country, we ought to be good enough to serve it as Government
employees at all levels of the Federal work force.
Another agency that should be a model for the Hispanic
community is the Department of Education, yet, out of 165 SES
positions, DOE has a total Hispanic representation of 1
employee.
NAHFE believes that the administration and oversight of
Government career training and leadership development programs
must be monitored so that barriers to fair and equal
participation by Hispanic and other minority candidates can be
eliminated. Too often these training and development decisions
are made based on favoritism, prejudice, and exclusion.
In summary, NAHFE recommends the following: Congress should
strengthen existing diversity accountability systems by tying
them to the appropriation and budget oversight process.
Congress should require agencies to forcefully implement
the accountability systems for which they are responsible.
Congress should provide a funding source for nonprofit,
constituency-based organizations such as NAHFE to partner with
Federal agencies in identification and training of talented
Hispanic candidates to prepare them for senior-level positions.
Congress should require that all agencies initiate SES
candidate development programs.
And, last, this subcommittee can serve as a diversity model
by retaining a cadre of well-qualified Hispanic career civil
servants to work with the subcommittee staff on a 1-year
temporary assignment on issues related to improving Hispanic
diversity at the SES levels of the Government.
Chairman Davis, members of the subcommittee, we thank you
for the opportunity to share these views with you today.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Sandate follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much. We sure
appreciate your testimony.
Ms. Young.
STATEMENT OF DARLENE YOUNG
Ms. Young. Good afternoon, Chairman Davis, Ranking Member
Marchant, and subcommittee members. Thank you for this
opportunity to speak to the topic of diversity in the Senior
Executive Service and top-level executive positions, GS-14 and
15 of the Federal Government. In 2003, my predecessor, Gregory
Reeves, also testified for Blacks in Government.
Last year Blacks in Government celebrated 30 years of being
an advocacy and training organization on behalf of African
Americans employed by Federal, State, and municipal
governments. Our goals and objectives are to promote
professionalism among blacks in government, eliminate practices
of racism and discrimination, maintain a mechanism for the
gathering and dissemination of pertinent information, and to
develop and promote programs which will enhance ethnic pride.
Increasing the percentage of African Americans in the
highest level positions is and has always been one of our most
difficult and significant challenges. We have yet to overcome.
The number of African Americans in almost every Senior
Executive Service position and job category lags significantly
when you compare to whites. Today, African Americans comprise
roughly 6.6 percent of SES positions, while the whites is
approximately 90 percent.
The low rate of SES appointments for African Americans is
unacceptable, regardless of whether it is measured against the
overall distribution of 20 percent of African Americans in the
Federal work force or against 11 percent employed in the civil
labor force.
Today I will highlight four systematic personnel process
that we believe adversely impact the recruitment of African
Americans for SES positions. The four are: the expansion of the
applicant pool; training and development programs; modification
of selection process; and making top managers accountable for
the results.
Expansion of the applicant pool: increasing the internal
recruitment, involving advocacy groups in the external
recruitment. Some of those examples would be such as giving
that information of all those SES positions to Blacks in
Government at our training conference. At our training
conference we have over 5,000 applicants that are at our
conference, and at that time we have agencies who have booths,
so if that information is available those applicants who are
qualified could then apply for those positions in the SES.
Institute SES training and development programs: what
Blacks in Government has done to help with that process is we
have partnered with the U.S. Graduate School. We have developed
our own leadership program that will enhance our members to be
able to qualify for the SES level.
Modification of selection process: decentralize selection
process, eliminate OPM's ratification, and involve SES
minorities in the selection process.
Top management involvement: ensure that top level is aware
of the SES diversity goals and problems. Include diversity
progress in the standards and the evaluations.
I could go on and on about how you can increase the level
of SESers among African Americans and minorities, but at this
point I will stop.
I want to thank this subcommittee for allowing me this
opportunity to speak on behalf of Blacks in Government. I will
look forward to entertaining any questions that you may have.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Young follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much, Ms. Young.
We will go to Mr. Bransford.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM BRANSFORD
Mr. Bransford. Thank you, Mr. Chairman Davis.
The Senior Executive Association appreciates the
opportunity to testify about the important topic of the lack of
diversity in the senior ranks of Government. I am Bill
Bransford, general counsel of SEA.
We applaud your oversight of diversity in the career SES
and other senior positions in Government. SEA also seeks to
work toward an SES that represents fully the diversity of
America. Not only is it the right thing to do, but achieving
diversity will pay dividends by producing a Government lead by
executives that reflect America.
The 2003 Government Accountability Office report on this
subject showed that women and minorities were significantly
under-represented based upon their overall presence in the
Federal work force. The upcoming retirement tsunami presents an
excellent opportunity to get it right with respect to diversity
in the SES. OPM projects that 90 percent of the current SES
will retire over the next 10 years, with the largest number
retiring in 2009. This is a chance to change the culture of the
Federal workplace to one that promotes diversity.
SEA sees four areas where the Government could dramatically
improve diversity. First, develop clear data and make it
accessible. Second, build pipelines for career development to
assure that minorities and women will be promoted to the Senior
Executive Service. Third, respect the merit system. Finally,
and perhaps most important, adopt a culture of leadership that
emphasizes being inclusive of all employees.
In most agencies data on diversity remains in the realm of
the agency EEO office. Promoting diversity needs to be a team
effort, with the entire organization knowing where it stands,
where it wants to go, and how it plans to get there.
If agencies looked at data in the context of other issues
in the organization, such as dead-end jobs and EEO complaints,
it can be even more valuable in identifying and solving
problems. Agencies should work with associated interest groups
such as the ones on this panel to recognize where their
diversity problems lie.
Once issues are identified through good data and
collaboration, agencies can better tailor their hiring,
training, and promotion to support diversity.
Diverse, qualified, quality candidates must be placed in
the pipeline leading to senior executive positions. While good
data helps us understand how to accomplish this, leadership is
what will make it happen.
Promoting a diverse leadership is more easily said than
done. As it stands now, promoting diversity in the Federal
workplace is not rewarded. Quite conversely, many senior
personnel are confounded by the EEO system and work to avoid
complaints, not to promote diversity. An atmosphere of
``gotcha'' seems to pervade some Federal workplaces and causes
many managers to believe that higher-level management will not
support them on the issue of diversity.
The basic notion of the best candidate should be promoted
has not changed, nor should it change as we seek a more
diversity work force. Developing a qualified and diverse work
force does not violate the merit system. Agencies need to
encourage managers who promote diversity as an agency-wide,
inclusive culture.
Our final and most important point is about leadership for
diversity. Gathering data, creating talent pipelines,
dispelling myths, and training leaders are all steps on a
longer journey. In an ideal workplace, holding diversity as a
value must be acknowledged, promoted, and rewarded. The best
way to move beyond the status quo is to encourage agency heads
and individuals in leadership to actually champion diversity
rather than simply pay lip service to it. Managers at all
levels must act and speak diversity every day. If higher-level
political appointees do it, lower-level career managers will
know that promoting diversity in a fair and inclusive workplace
will be rewarded and it can become a model for senior
Government leadership that reflects the America of today and
into the future.
This must be a genuine effort that continuously identifies
problems, eliminates barriers, and communicates the values of
diversity through our Government. With perseverance and
commitment, we believe a diverse civil service from top to
bottom can be achieved. There was a time when the Federal
workplace was less diverse than it is now. It is time for the
top echelons of the Federal work force to catch up.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify before this
subcommittee. SEA looks forward to working with you and with
agencies on this important issue.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bransford follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Well, thank you all very much. You
know, as I listened to the testimony and as we got closer and
closer to the end of the hearing, I was reminded, I guess, of
this notion that sometimes we save the best for last. I mean,
in terms of the goals and objectives that we have set for this
subcommittee--and I am pretty up front in terms of who I am and
what I believe and what I do--the testimony that you have
provided I think gives a kind of blueprint in a way for some
directions that we could take. I really do appreciate it.
One of the things that I have said relative to my own being
is that when I leave this subcommittee and if I leave its
chairmanship I certainly don't intend that the numbers reflect
the same, and I don't intend that the problems when delineated
will be the same with no concrete direction for how we change
them.
I will ask, and perhaps each one of you can respond. Where
do you suggest that we start? Mr. Brown? I mean, we have
delineated some barriers, we have laid out some situations, and
if we begin to change them what is a good place to start?
Mr. Brown. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the first place
I would start would be with the existing cadre of personnel you
have now and work force. In other words, there is a system in
place now. I would tweak that system. And I think I would do
more than tweak it; I would really give it a shot in the arm.
That was the basis for our testimony of holding the selecting
officials accountable.
You know, our membership tells us about individuals having
sole authority to promote people. You know, we have to get
serious about the business of requiring that this is a
committee selection, there is minority representation on that
committee, and the agency head is going to review those
recommendations in light of the strategic vision that you have
put forth in terms of diversity in the workplace. So I would
start with giving a shot in the arm to the existing process by
holding them accountable.
On the other hand, I would send another message by setting
up a reward system, a diversity award. For those of you that
understand and comply with the vision set forth by this
committee, there is a reward at the end. Now, we can talk about
reward being a better America and the talent and so forth, but
I am talking about right away your agency, we are going to show
you and hold you up as a model. That is where I would start,
Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Anyone else, would you respond?
Mr. Sandate. Yes, Mr. Chairman. To us it is very clear that
what needs to be done in order to improve the system of
advancing minorities to the senior levels is that somebody
needs to hold Government agencies accountable for doing what
they are supposed to be doing.
There are tools that are out there now. For example, the
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, EEOC has
the responsibility to enforce and monitor those. That is not
happening. The implementation of Executive Order 13171,
Hispanic Employment in the Federal Government, OPM has the
responsibility to monitor and enforce agencies' effective
implementation of that. It is not happening. The Federal Equal
Opportunity Recruitment Program, or FEORP, again, OPM has that
responsibility, not happening. And so forth. The tools are
there.
The strategic management of human capital, which is a
responsibility that OMB and OPM has to ensure that the
diversity component is being implemented effectively, not
happening. Everybody is getting a green pass, a rubber stamp on
their diversity efforts under strategic management of human
capital. No one seems to be holding Federal agencies
accountable for carrying out their mission effectively in this
area.
Ms. Trent. Chairman Davis, I would offer that we need to
hold close and dear to us that we need to prepare these
candidates in order to move up. The preparation is paramount.
Whatever happened to the upper mobility programs, the job
sharing programs in order to help people get into the career
fields that would aspire them to have a high motivation or to
aspire them to go on in the Federal Government? I personally
was picked up on an upper mobility program. That is how I went
from a job to a career in the Federal Government. Those upper
mobility programs don't exist. There are very, very few. Women
and minorities would jump on the chance to have an upper
mobility or a job sharing program. Those things used to be
very, very sought after.
We have to prepare these people, and by all means we have
to help these people become educated. Most of my FEW members
that answered my questions when I was preparing on this, most
of them didn't really even understand the SES and how to aspire
and get there. We have to have mentoring programs that help get
the word out, train these people in order so they can be a
candidate, and then they can be a candidate and go through the
proper selection panel process that these gentleman have just
discussed.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you.
Ms. Young. Chairman Davis, Blacks in Government spent many
years of bringing SES to our training conference over years. We
have many African Americans that are sitting, waiting to be
placed in SES positions. They don't fit the criteria for the
jobs that are available.
I would say that you would need to start with the SESers
that are out there. There is a pool of us out there that should
be placed in some of these jobs that are vacant, but if you are
not from--an example would be I have a young man that is from
HUD who is an SESer, but there is no SES position at HUD that
he can fill, so there are applicants that are out there that
are ready, but these agency's SESers are not being selected.
Mr. Bransford. Mr. Chairman, I think one of the first
things that can be done is to improve the data. When you look
at the data now, you look at OPM's FedScope, first of all, it
takes a lot of effort to figure out what it is trying to tell
you, and then it doesn't tell you enough. For example, in
talking to some of the Asian Pacific American groups, they tell
me that their members tend to get dead-ended into technical
jobs and they can't get into management positions, but they
really don't have the data to show this because the data is not
being developed at that level of detail.
So I think if we look at the data, develop a level of
detail with the idea of trying to discover the barriers, not
only develop the data but then have a program to do something
with it, something about it, I think then we can figure out
just why this has become such a big problem.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Well, you know, I could go on and on
with this and could sit and listen to you for the next several
hours, but I won't put you through that punishment, but I will
say that the insight that you have provided for the committee,
that we will certainly take that information. I mean, we will
take your information, your experiences, your feelings, and
really sift through it and try and come up with something that
becomes doable.
I am sitting here saying to myself, why do you always take
these real tough things to do? I mean, systems that are
ingrained, that people do everything within their power to
protect, feelings and prejudices and discriminations and all of
those things that are as old as time. Here I am talking about
we are going to take this subcommittee and attempt to seriously
do something with it. Well, we are going to do that, and I
thank you for the inspiration and motivation and for your
participation which has helped push that forward.
Again, I thank all of those who have remained to hear the
end of the session. We will just determine that this hearing is
adjourned.
Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 4:58 p.m. the subcommittee was adjourned.]
[The prepared statement of Hon. Elijah E. Cummings and
additional information submitted for the hearing record
follows:]
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