Council Meeting

Held Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Host: Co-Chair Delia Johnson

INTRODUCTION

Ms. Delia L. Johnson, Co-Chair of the Council and Director, Office of Civil Rights for International Broadcasting Bureau, opened the meeting with a few remarks and then asked the attendees to give their names, agencies, and positions.

MSPB

Dr. Cynthia Ferentinos, Senior Research Psychologist, Office of Policy and Evaluation at the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, gave a presentation on the report entitled Fair and Equitable Treatment: Progress Made and Challenging Remaining, which was issued in December 2009. The purpose of the report was to review the changes in the composition of the federal workforce and to assess the perception from federal employees on their treatment in the workplace over the last 30 years. The sources of data for the report were literature review; discussion groups where participants were selected based on their geographic location, agency, ethnicity/race, gender, occupation and grade; interviews with a diverse group of federal managers and employees – including representatives from Human Resources Management offices, EEOC, GAO, and employee affinity groups like BIG, FAPAC, FEW, National Image, and the Society of American Indian Government Employees; organizational surveys; and the Office of Personnel Management’s Civilian Personnel Data File (CPDF).

Following are some of the highlights from Dr. Ferentinos’ PowerPoint presentation:

67% respondents from the 2007 Career Advancement Survey agree that agencies should ensure that their workforce is representative of the public they serve, while 63% agree that a diverse workforce produces better products and services.

Hispanics remain the only underrepresented minority group in the Federal Government. Nevertheless, managers hired less Hispanics in 2008 than their representation in the federal workforce. At this rate, it is impossible to close the gap between the representation of Hispanics in the federal workforce and the Civilian Labor Force. While Hispanics made up 7.9% of the federal workforce in 2008, they only made up 3.6% of the SESers, while Whites made up 66.5% of the federal workforce and 84.5% of the SESers (Report, Table 6).

Asian/Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) had a higher median salary ($67,613) than Whites. According to Figure 6 in the Report, AAPIs were the best educated EEO group, with more bachelor’s degrees or higher. The median salary for professional occupations was higher ($88,290) than the one for administrative occupations ($78,381) (Report, Figure 3), and 39% of AAPIs were in professional positions v. 29% in administrative positions (Report, Table 5). Nevertheless, while AAPIs made up 5.4% of the federal workforce in 2008, they made up 3.7% of supervisors and 2.5% of SESers (Report, Table 6).

Perception of discrimination has decreased by bases and RNO for all EEO groups from 1992 through 2008. Mr. Ponce, Council Co-Chair, and other Council members challenged these slides based on their exposure to EEO information. For example, the number EEO complaints based on age in the federal sector has increased from FY 2006-2008, while one hears of an increase in complaints filed where disability is used as basis. Dr. Ferentinos has engaged EEOC to exchange information on EEO complaints.

72% of respondents indicated that people were promoted on who they know, rather on what they know. This serves to highlight the importance that a mentor or supportive supervisor could have to assist employees to navigate the turbulence often encountered when trying to get promoted.

Among career impediments were disability and accents.

Dr. Ferentinos stated that OPM requires federal agencies to track their supervisory training, per changes made to 5 CFR Parts 410 and 412 that became effective in December 2009. Milton Belardo, former Chair of the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers, asked whether MSPB had done a study on the correlation between the filing of discrimination complaints and supervisory training. Dr. Ferentinos indicated that it had not. Era Marshall, Director of the Office of Equal Employment and Minority Affairs at the Smithsonian Institution, stated that the Federal Government cannot continue to select managers based just on their technical expertise. A Council member explained that NASA had mandatory supervisory training on various categories, but it was hard to measure the learning curve for mandatory training after considering that some just took the training simply because they were forced to.

To view Dr. Ferentinos’ presentation, click on MSPB Publication 2010. To view and download the MSPB report, click on http://www.mspb.gov/netsearch/viewdocs.aspx?docnumber=472678&version=473953&application=ACROBAT.

HUMAN RESOURCES AND SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (HRSA)

M. June Horner, Director, Office of Equal Opportunity, Civil Rights and Diversity Management, Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS, gave a presentation on the steps that she took to increase the financial and staffing resources of her office.

After serving as an SES for a number of years, Ms. Horner was told that her next assignment would be as the EEO Director of HRSA. While she had reservations about her new assignment, since she did not have any prior EEO experience, her supervisors explained that an SESer is supposed to manage any program – subject matter experts take care of the rest.

Shortly after getting selected to her EEO job, HHS announced its intention to conduct an audit of HRSA’s EEO Program. Ms. Horner pulled her staff together and decided to do a self-assessment of the EEO Office before the HHS audit. Some of the initial findings were a need to hand out assignments based on the skill sets of employees, rather than on their official titles; a deficit in resources; and a low diversity rates – especially with Hispanic employees.

Ms. Horner quickly realized that to turn around the negative perception of the EEO Office and to enhance its efficiency and services provided, she needed to reorganize it. With employees’ input, she developed an action plan that called for more FTE’s and resources. The fact that HRSA had a new administrator, Ms. Horner saw it as a wonderful opportunity to sell her action plan.

With the full support of her leadership, Ms. Horner increased her staff from 9 to 18, including getting a Deputy Director – in an agency that services 1,800+ staff members (civil servants, commissioned officers, consultants, advisory council members, etc.)

[We note that Gary Smith, from the Ivy Planning Group, made the following remarks at the March 20, 2010 Council meeting: “Gary stated that he had heard from some clients that they have to do a better job in selling the EEO and diversity programs to their executives. He encouraged EEO Directors to model their behaviors to gain or retain power on those that CIO’s used – who are typically assertive when asking for needed resources unapologetically and indicating what the consequences would be if they did not get them. On the other hand, EEO Directors are usually guarded and apologetic when asking for additional resources, which explains why they don’t get what they need or want most of the times. Gary has heard also some agency heads complain that EEO Directors do not use the right language to justify their programs. He stated that agency heads want EEO Directors to make their arguments from the perspective of “what’s in it for me.” In other words, why should they have EEO programs, and what would happen if they didn’t. Their arguments have to be clear, precise, and relevant.”]

To view Ms. Horner’s presentation, click on HRSA 2010.