Cross Training of Human Resource Professionals

Improve Interagency Collaboration and Cross-Training of Human Resource
Professionals

Background

Total integration of equal employment opportunity (EEO) into every
aspect of human resource management policy and practice in the
selection, placement, training, and advancement of civilian employees of
the federal government is vital to creating and maintaining a federal
workforce that is truly reflective of our nation's diverse citizenry. In
order to accomplish this integration, there must be effective
collaboration among federal supervisors, managers, personnel
professionals, civil rights professionals, and equal opportunity
professionals.

EEO and Affirmative Employment Reporting.

"Strong EEO and Affirmative Action plans play vital roles in the
management of diversity. They are stepping stones to valuing diversity
wherein differences are identified and an atmosphere is created that
promotes respect for these differences as well as ways to benefit from
them."(1) However, current EEO and affirmative employment (AE) reporting
requirements are fragmented. While agencies must submit data to the
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Central Personnel Data File (CPDF),
similar data must be submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC).

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 created the Federal Equal
Opportunity Recruitment Program (FEORP), which requires agencies to
conduct affirmative recruitment for those occupations and grades in
which women and minorities are underrepresented. The act assigned to OPM
the responsibility for assisting agencies in their affirmative
recruitment efforts and for overseeing FEORP.(2)

Executive Order 12067 (June 30, 1978) assigned to EEOC responsibility
for providing coherence and direction to the government's EEO efforts.
It also provided for standardized data collection procedures.

EEOC requires federal agencies to submit multi-year AE plans and annual
accomplishment reports to evaluate the representation of minorities,
females, and disabled persons in the federal workforce.  In addition,
OPM requires agencies to submit FEORP plans and reports, as well as
disabled veterans affirmative action program plans and reports. There
needs to be one comprehensive assessment of agency EEO/AE goals,
objectives, and accomplishments.

Agencies must integrate EEO/AE into their overall strategic business
plans, which are developed, evaluated, and monitored by management.
Agencies must build their plans around barrier analysis, develop goals,
implement strategies to achieve these goals in a specified time frame,
and hold managers and supervisors accountable for results.

Cross-Training.

Cross-training is the first step to creating a competent federal human
resource management team. Personnel professionals must understand and
adhere to basic EEO and civil rights guidelines in order to ensure that
personnel functions and actions are fair and equitable for all
employees and applicants. Likewise, EEO and civil rights professionals
must understand and adhere to the basic personnel guidelines.

The roles and responsibilities of EEOC and OPM present an opportunity
for them to work together to provide leadership and training necessary
to integrate EEO into every aspect of human resource management policy
and practice. These two agencies must make a concentrated effort to
ensure ongoing communications and understanding of EEO and AE efforts to
achieve a diverse, competent, and productive federal work force. They
must provide joint leadership to EEO, civil rights, and personnel
professionals to create, develop, review, and improve effective ongoing
governmentwide efforts.

Need for Change

It is imperative that EEOC and OPM collaborate to jointly provide the
necessary leadership and cross-training to ensure an effective approach
to and outcome of federal human resource management efforts.  These
efforts must include effective EEO and AE initiatives.

EEO/AE plans and accomplishment reports foster agency commitment to and
awareness of EEO/AE efforts within organizations and guide the way to
increased employment opportunities for qualified women, minorities, and
disabled persons.

However, there needs to be one comprehensive, automated EEO/AE report
for federal agencies. An inordinate amount of resources are devoted to
preparing duplicative reports. More importantly, treating the four
groups (women, minorities, disabled persons, and disabled veterans)
separately is contradictory to the vital mission of accomplishing
overall workforce diversity and streamlining government functions.

Although each agency must be personally responsible for internal EEO/AE
goals and accomplishments, EEOC must continue to fulfill its
responsibility under Executive Order 12067--to provide coherence and
direction to the government's EEO efforts. EEOC must seek out, identify,
recognize, and reward best EEO and AE practices in federal agencies.
EEOC must perpetuate those best practices throughout the federal
government.

In addition, OPM must ensure that the CPDF can generate necessary data
and that the capabilities of the CPDF are fully used. For example, the
collection of minority college and university information in the CPDF is
essential for conducting affirmative employment analysis.(3)

Endnotes

1. The National Treasury Employees Union, "Strategic Plan for Agency
Diversity Management," Washington, D.C., p. 3.

2. U.S. General Accounting Office, Federal Workforce: Continuing Need
for Federal Affirmative Employment, GAO/GGD-92-27BR (Washington, D.C.:
U.S. General Accounting Office, November 1991), p. 1.

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