Equal Employment Opportunity Goals and Accomplishments

Improve Accountability for Equal Employment Opportunity Goals and
Accomplishments

Background

It is the policy of the U.S. Government to provide equal opportunity in
employment for all persons, to prohibit discrimination in employment
because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or
handicap, and to promote the full realization of equal employment
opportunity through a continuing affirmative employment program in each
agency.(1)

However, several factors in federal agencies indicate a lack of
adherence to this policy. Those factors include glass ceilings,
barriers to Americans with disabilities, the lack of management
accountability, and negative attitudes and perceptions.

Glass Ceilings for Women and Minorities.  "Despite a dramatically
growing presence in the workplace . . .  progression into the middle
and senior levels of management has been elusive for minorities and
women. . . . There is a [glass] ceiling. .  . . The term glass ceiling
refers to invisible, yet real or perceived, barriers which appear to
stymie advancement opportunities for minorities and women."(2)

Constance Berry Newman, former Director of the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM), said that ". . . the percentages of women and
minorities in the SES [senior executive service] and the pipeline to the
SES are unacceptable."(3) Most of the SES positions are held by white
men. Women hold only 12 percent of these positions, and minorities hold
only 9 percent.(4)

A fundamental means of enabling qualified women and minorities to be
appropriately represented in the pipeline to the SES is to ensure that
they are appropriately present in agencies' key jobs--jobs that can lead
to middle and upper management positions.(5) There is a great disparity
in the promotion rates for women and minorities in administrative and
professional occupations at the grades 9 and 11 levels. This disparity
has a significant impact on the number of women and minorities in
high-graded jobs, as grades 9 to 11 are the gateways between entry-level
jobs and senior-level jobs for most federal government employees.(6)

"At a September 1991 national conference . . . officials from [the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)], OPM, the Merit Systems
Protection Board, and the Federal Labor Relations Authority said in
public forums that shattering the glass ceiling in the federal
government will depend on (1) getting women and minorities into the job
tracks that lead to top management and (2) providing them with the
necessary training and development opportunities to progress within
those job tracks."(7) Doing this will require leadership from the top
and accountability for results.

Americans with Disabilities.

Females and ethnic minorities are not alone in their underrepresentation
in the federal workforce. The largest underemployed minority group in
America is Americans with disabilities.(8) Persons with disabilities
are underrepresented at all levels. Passage of the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 heightened the awareness of federal managers,
supervisors, and employees on the issues of employment, training, and
advancing people with disabilities.(9) However, in 1990 only 6 percent
of federal employees had disabilities and only 1 percent had severe
disabilities.(10)

Federal agencies must, and have begun to, develop and implement
effective strategies to ensure that persons with disabilities are given
equitable employment opportunities in the federal government.  Under
Project Able Beneficiaries Link to Employers, OPM, the Social Security
Administration, and state vocational rehabilitation offices in Virginia,
Maryland, and the District of Columbia are working in partnership to
create a new referral system that will place employees in direct contact
with qualified potential employees with disabilities. In addition, OPM,
in cooperation with the Department of Veterans Affairs, announced in
June 1993 the implementation of a nationwide Job Ready Disabled Veterans
Connection, which enables federal agencies to have rapid access to
referral lists of job ready disabled veterans.

The current initiatives are commendable, but the federal government must
continue to implement effective systems to increase the representation
of job ready Americans with disabilities. There is a very real
opportunity today for OPM to facilitate employment, training, and
advancement of people with disabilities through a major campaign aimed
at those managers and supervisors who make these key decisions.(11)

Lack of Management Accountability.

This administration has clearly demonstrated its commitment to equal
opportunity and valuing workforce diversity. However, the longstanding
lack of management accountability is a critical flaw in and barrier to
current efforts to accomplish equal opportunity in the federal
workforce. Currently, there is neither a consequence system for agency
heads and their managers who do not plan, develop, and implement
creative ways in which to accomplish equal opportunity goals nor a
reward system for those who do.(12)

While it is important to deregulate, decentralize, and provide a
certain degree of management flexibility, increased flexibility in the
absence of appropriate accountability could undermine equal opportunity
and affirmative employment efforts. Numerous reports issued by the
General Accounting Office cite discrimination within the government.(13)
Accountability must be encouraged by the President's reaffirmation of
top-down commitment.

Agencies must review, evaluate, and control managerial and supervisory
performance in such a manner as to ensure a continuing affirmative
application and vigorous enforcement of the policy of equal opportunity,
and provide orientation, training, and advice to managers and
supervisors to ensure their understanding and implementation of the
equal employment opportunity policies and programs.(14)

Equal opportunity and workforce diversity should be an integral part of
the mission of each and every federal agency. Constance Berry Newman
states that "real equal employment opportunity will come about only when
each and every executive, manager, supervisor, and employee is committed
to and held accountable for equal opportunity. . . .  Agency heads must
hold their managers and supervisors responsible for EEO [equal
employment opportunity] by building it into their performance agreements
and standards."(15)

Negative Attitudes and Perceptions.

Negative attitudes and perceptions are very powerful barriers to equal
employment opportunity and workforce diversity. According to Linda
Winikow, corporate policy expert, "On the one hand, civil rights
legislation has done an enormous amount to wipe out the legal
impediments to inequality. But all too many of the attitudes that
prevented the flowering of diversity still exist.  Executives have an
obligation to recognize that this isn't simply a side issue. It is a
fundamental management issue. A manager's first job is to manage--to
bring people to their full potential. The glass ceiling does exist, but
senior management's job is to do everything possible to provide the
training and the climate for success."(16)

EEOC recognizes that treating EEO functions as side issues fosters
perceptions of a conflict of interest. EEOC reiterated this concern in
an October 1992 management directive that states:

In order for the agency to implement a continuing affirmative
employment program to promote equal employment opportunity and to
identify and eliminate discriminatory practices and policies, the
agency shall appoint a director of Equal Employment Opportunity, who
shall be under the immediate supervision of the agency head.  Agencies
must avoid conflicts of position or conflicts of interest as well as the
appearance of such conflicts. . . . In order to maintain the integrity
of the EEO investigative and decision making processes, those functions
must be kept separate from the personnel function.(17)

In addition, the Code of Federal Regulations states that ". . .  the EEO
director shall be under the immediate supervision of the agency head . .
."(18) Yet, some federal agencies still treat EEO as a side issue rather
than as a fundamental management issue with identifiable accountability.

Experts who have spent many years actively advocating equal opportunity
in the federal workforce are also concerned about the effect of
negative attitudes and perceptions. Dr. Harriett Jenkins, Director,
Office of Senate Fair Employment Practices, says, "Employees must
perceive that there are credible efforts to eradicate discriminatory
barriers and resolve complaints, [and] those efforts must be real and
visible. . . . Because personnel and EEO are inextricably related, it is
sometimes incorrectly assumed that EEO should be a sub-part of personnel
or human resource offices. This reflects a lack of understanding of the
managerial functions of the director of EEO, whose authority flows
directly from the head of the agency."

"The director serves as an advisor to the head of the agency and other
levels of managers. She or he is a catalyst and implementer of sensitive
organizational assessment, corrective management strategies, and
ongoing oversight and monitoring of the agency's EEO progress. He or she
has the responsibility of assisting the agency head and other levels of
managers to comply with civil rights laws, remove barriers to full
integration, eliminate subtle and overt discrimination, adjudicate
allegations of discrimination, affirmatively reach out to all groups,
and ensure that all personnel management decisions are made on merit. .
. . Whoever has responsibility for EEO functions has to have the agency
head's imprimatur to help the line managers bring about constructive
change and full integration of the organization. It is the managers and
supervisors in every part of the agency who can determine the successful
achievement of the agency's EEO objectives."(19)

Need for Change

Agency heads and their managers must be held accountable to the
President, Congress, and the American public for creating, developing,
valuing, and maintaining a workforce that is reflective of our nation's
citizenry.(20)

While improvements have occurred and the current administration has set
the stage for equal opportunity and diversity, the current federal
civilian workforce does not reflect the nation's diverse working
population. Overall, the federal government has not been successful at
eradicating discriminatory barriers, and attracting, retaining, and
advancing members of all segments of society at all grade levels. It has
been even less successful at integrating members of underrepresented
groups into middle and upper management. Much work is still needed to
ensure that equal opportunity becomes an integral part of each federal
agency's strategic business plan and that management is held accountable
for achieving results.  Government is paying an enormous cost for the
glass ceiling that keeps qualified women, minorities, and disabled
persons underrepresented at all levels in the federal government. It is
underusing a major segment of its human resources and delaying
attainment of an important goal of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978
and other civil rights laws--full representation of all segments of
society at all grade levels in government.

As noted by the Council for Excellence in Government, "The federal
government needs a career executive leadership cadre reflecting the
diversity of America's population. . . . Today there is neither
sufficient leadership nor adequate diversity among career executives.  .
. . The government can develop a diverse group of leaders, but it must
take dramatic action to mount an effective governmentwide program and to
hold management responsible for achieving results."(21)

It is imperative that federal agencies parallel the push for diversity
that this President has started with his political appointments. The
government should reaffirm its commitment to equal employment
opportunity. Whoever has the primary responsibility for EEO functions
must be a full, active member on the agency's senior management team
that has responsibility for the allocation of the agency's resources.
Federal agencies must focus on action and results and must institute a
real system of accountability.

Endnotes

1. Title 29, Code of Federal Regulations, sec. 1614.101.

2. Dominquez, Cari M. "The Challenge of Workforce 2000," The
Bureaucrat, Vol. 20, no. 4 (Winter 1991-92), p. 16.

3. U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), Federal Workforce:  Continuing
Need for Federal Affirmative Employment, GAO/GGD-92-27BR (Washington,
D.C.: U.S. General Accounting Office, November 1991), p.  3.

4. Council for Excellence in Government, Bringing Leadership and
Diversity Into the Federal Career Executive Ranks (Washington, D.C.,
June 14, 1993), p. 2.

5. Ibid.

6. U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, A Question of Equity:  Women and
the Glass Ceiling in the Federal Government (Washington, D.C., October
1992), p. 37.

7. U.S. General Accounting Office, Federal Affirmative Employment:
Status of Women and Minority Representation in the Federal Workforce,
report no. GAO/T-GGD-92-2 (Washington, D.C., October 23, 1991), p.  11.

8. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, President's Committee on Employment of People
with Disabilities, and U.S. Department of Education, A Call to Action: A
Report on Increasing the Employment of People with Disabilities in the
Federal Sector (Washington, D.C., July 1992) Appendix, p. iii.

9. Ibid., p. 1.

10. Ibid., p. 5.

11. Personal Interview with Dick Whitford, Acting Assistant Director,
Affirmative Recruiting and Employment, Office of Personnel Management,
Washington, D.C., August 1993.

12. Personal Interview with Oceola Hall, Director, Discrimination
Complaints, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington,
D.C., July 1993.

13. See for example, U.S. General Accounting Office, Equal Employment:
Minority Representation at USDA's National Agricultural Statistics
Service, GAO/GGD-91-31BR (Washington, D.C.: GAO, March 18, 1991); Health
and Human Services: Hispanic Representation and Equal Employment
Practices in Region VIII, GAO/HRD-91-6 (Washington, D.C.:  GAO, November
20, 1990); EDA:  Treatment of Blacks at the Economic Development
Administration in the 1980's, GAO/HRD-90-148 (Washington, D.C.: GAO,
September 26, 1990); and Voice of America: Selected Personnel Practices
Warrant Management Attention, GAO/NSIAD-89-160 (Washington, D.C.: GAO,
July 12, 1989).

14. Title 29, Code of Federal Regulations, sec. 1614.102.

15. Personal Interview with Constance Berry Newman, Under Secretary,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., August 1993.

16. Linda Winikow, Vice President for Corporate Policy and External
Affairs, Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc., quoted at the Women's
Bureau Conference, Washington, D.C., October 23, 1990.

17. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEO Management
Directive 110 (EEO MD-110) for Title 29, Code of Federal Regulations,
Part 1614 (Washington, D.C., October 29, 1992), p.  1.

18. Title 29, Code of Federal Regulations, sec. 1614.102.  19. Personal
Interview with Dr. Harriett Jenkins, Director, Office of Senate Fair
Employment Practices, U.S. Senate Washington, D.C., July 1993.

20. Interview with Oceola Hall, Washington, D.C., July 1993.  21.
Council for Excellence in Government, p. 3.