# Presentation: 763590

## Management Directive 715

**National Weather Service FY08 Overview**

## Purpose and Objectives

- Review NWS Workforce Representation;
- Understand MD-715;
- Understand the essential elements of a Model EEO Program;
- Understand how to identify and eliminate unnecessary barriers that impede fair and open competition in the workplace; and
- What we’ve done

## National Weather ServiceWorkforce Analysis

## Grade Groupings

## NWS VS. NCLFMeteorologist Series 1340October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007

## NWS VS. NCLFMeteorological Technician Series 1341October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007

## NWS VS. NCLFElectronics Engineer Series 855October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007

## NWS VS. NCLFPhysical Scientist Series 1301October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007

## NWS VS. NCLFInformation Technologist Series 2210October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007

## NWS VS. NCLFHydrologist Series 1315October 1, 2006 – September 30, 2007

## Title VII – Section 717

- Requires each federal agency to:
- Make all personnel actions free from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin
- Maintain an “affirmative program of equal employment opportunity” for all employees and applicants
- Submit annual plan and/or updates to EEOC for approval

## Rehabilitation Act – Section 501

- Requires each federal agency to:
- Make all personnel actions free from discrimination based on disability
- Maintain an “affirmative employment” program plan for the hiring, placement and advancement of people with disabilities”
- Submit annual plan and/or updates to EEOC for approval

## Why Title VII and Rehabilitation Act Programs?

- To ensure our nation’s continued security, growth and prosperity, effective government agencies need to:
- Attract, develop and retain a top-quality workforce
- Maximize each employee’s potential

## Which Agencies are Covered?

- All executive branch departments and agencies, including the U.S. Postal Service and the Postal Rate Commission

## What Does MD-715 Require?

- Develop and maintain model EEO program
- Ensure all employment decisions are free from discrimination
- Examine employment policies, procedures and practices to identify and remove barriers to equal opportunity
- Develop plans to correct identified barriers
- Report plans and progress to EEOC

## Essential Elements of a Model EEO Program

- Demonstrated commitment from agency leadership
- Integration of EEO into the agency’s strategic mission
- Management and program accountability
- Proactive prevention of unlawful discrimination
- Efficiency
- Responsiveness and legal compliance

## Element One:  Demonstrated Commitment From Agency Leadership

- Equal employment opportunity must be:
- Embraced by agency leadership
- Communicated through the ranks from the top down
- EEO principles must be made a fundamental part of the agency’s culture
- Agency head must issue annual EEO and anti-harassment policy statements

## Element Two:  Integration of EEOInto the Agency’s Strategic Mission

- EEO Director has regular access to agency head and senior management
- EEO professionals are involved in all major human resources decisions
- EEO programs have sufficient resources
- Managers and employees are involved in implementation of the agency’s Title VII and Rehabilitation Act programs

## Element Three:  Management and Program Accountability

- Conduct regular internal EEO program audits
- Establish procedures to prevent all forms of discrimination
- Evaluate managers and supervisors on efforts to ensure equality of employment opportunity
- Maintain effective reasonable accommodation procedures
- Maintain clearly defined and fair personnel policies, selection and promotion procedures, evaluation procedures, rules of conduct and training systems

## Element Four:  Proactive Preventionof Unlawful Discrimination

- Conduct a self-assessment on at least an annual basis to monitor progress and identify areas where barriers may operate to exclude certain groups
- Develop strategic plans to eliminate identified barriers

## Element Five:  Efficiency

- Maintain an efficient, fair and impartial complaint resolution process
- Separate investigation and adjudication functions from the legal defense arm of the agency
- Establish and encourage the widespread use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
- Maintain effective data collection systems on workforce, applicant flow and complaint tracking

## Element Six:  Responsiveness andLegal Compliance

- Ensure full compliance with Title VII and Rehabilitation Act, including EEOC regulations, orders and other written instructions
- Report agency program efforts and accomplishments to EEOC
- Comply with final EEOC orders for corrective action and relief

## What is a Barrier?

- A policy, procedure, practice or condition that limits employment opportunities for members of a particular race, ethnic background, gender or because of a disability
- Some barriers may be easy to identify
- Other barriers are embedded in the day-to-day procedures and practices of an agency and may appear neutral

## Process to Address Barriers

- Identify where possible barriers may exist using a variety of sources
- Investigate to pinpoint actual barriers and causes
- Devise a plan to eliminate barriers
- Asses success of plan’s implementation
- Determine if plan needs to be adjusted because additional barriers remain

## Trigger or Barrier Analysis(Examples)

- High turnover rate of Hispanics in the workforce.
- Lack of promotions of Asians to senior level positions.
- Agency uses the HACU as its sole source to announce employment opportunities.
- Employees are leaving for lack of promotional opportunities.
- Vacancies for jobs in major occupations for the last 2 years have been open for internal candidates, only.

## Some Employment Policies, Procedures and Practices That Should Be Examined for Barriers

- Hiring
- Promotions and other internal selections
- Attainment of supervisory and management positions
- Training opportunities and developmental opportunities
- Performance incentives and awards
- Disciplinary actions
- Separations

## Additional Barrier Analyses Under the Rehabilitation Act

- Compliance with Executive Order 13164 and EEOC guidance for reasonable accommodation procedures
- Compliance with Architectural Barriers Act
- Accessibility of electronic and information technology required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

## What We’ve Done

- Jackson State University
-  West Virginia State College
-  University of Puerto Rico
-  ---Grants to enhance and develop Meteorology Course Curriculum.

*Partnerships*

## Employment

- ORISE - Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education
- METCON - The District of Columbia Metropolitan Consortium for Mathematics, Science and Engineering Program
- HS/HT- High School/High Tech Program
- STEP - Student Temporary Employment           Program
- SCEP - Student Career Employment Program

*Internships*

## Employment

- EPP - Education Partnership Program
- Graduate Scientist Program
- Cooperative Science Centers
- Undergraduate Scholarship Program
- Environmental Entrepreneurship Program
- WRP - Workforce Recruitment Program

*Internships*

## What Can Managers Do?

- Become familiar with the directive
- Do your own internal self-assessments
- Ensure that EEO principles are incorporated into all human resource decisions
- Remember:  Equality of Opportunity is the key!

## 

NOAA’s New Initiative

- NOAA’s New Initiative

## What’s the Challenge

**Describe the issue:**
**	**NOAA lacks a comprehensive strategy for addressing underrepresentation
- 		Lack of coordinated recruitment efforts across Line Offices 	results in inefficiencies, and missed recruitment 	opportunities
- 		Lack of coordinate recruitment strategy limits ability to 	assess ROI from various recruitment efforts, and lack of 	brand recognition-Who’s NOAH?
- 		Coordinated recruitment strategy offers improved 	opportunities to successfully address hard to fill positions 	and under representation issues in NOAA science 	occupations

## What’s the Challenge

- Who is involved:
- NOAA Leadership
- All LO/Cos
- Managers and Supervisors
- Workforce Management Office
- Civil Rights Office
- EEO Managers (EEO Program Committee)
- NOAA Education Partnership Program
- Selecting officials
- Colleges/Universities
- Diversity Organizations

## What’s the Challenge cont’d

- The desired outcome:
- Address recruitment challenges (e.g., Hard to fill positions)
- Address under-representation with a primary focus on Hispanics & individuals w/targeted disabilities
- Leverage resources across lines
- Market opportunities in applicant rich environments
- Track return on investment of recruitment and outreach dollars
- Maximize recruiting effectiveness & efficiency
- A world class NOAA workforce representative of the  nation’s diversity

## Sample Representation in DOC

| Office | Number of Employees | Hispanic Employees (% of Workforce)
CLF=9.2%
 | # of individuals w/targeted disabilities (% of Workforce)
EEOC=2.74%
 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Minority Business Development Agency | 90 | 20 (22.2%) | 1 (1.1%) |
| Economics And Statistics Administration | 52 | 4 (7.7%) | 0 |
| Bureau of the Census | 12,450 | 671 (5.4%) | 144 (1.2%) |
| International Trade Administration | 1,587 | 66 (4.2%) | 0 |
| Economic Development Administration | 171 | 7 (4.1%) | 1 (0.6%) |
| Office of the Inspector General | 128 | 5 (3.9%) | 1 (0.8%) |
| Bureau of Industry and Security | 371 | 12 (3.2%) | 3 (0.8%) |
| Patent and Trademark Office | 8,431 | 260 (3.1%) | 51 (0.6%) |
| Bureau of Economic Analysis | 494 | 15 (3.0%) | 0 |
| Office of the Secretary | 806 | 22 (2.9%) | 41 (0.5%) |
| NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMIN | 12,373 | 343 (2.8%) | 99 (0.8%) |
| Natl Institute of Standards and Tech | 2,874 | 76 (2.7%) | 29 (1.0%) |
| Nat Telecommunications and Info Admin | 265 | 6 (2.3%) | 3 (1.2%) |
| Department of Commerce | 40,229 | 1,508 (3.7%) | 373 (0.9%) |

**Notes:**
370=3.0%

## Sample Representation in Other Science-Related Agencies

| Offices | Number of Employees | Hispanic Employees (% of Workforce)
CLF=9.2% | # of individuals w/targeted disabilities (% of Workforce)
EEOC=2.74% |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Animal /Plant Inspect. Service | 8,134 | 853 (10.5%) | 67 (.8%) |
| Dept of Energy | 14,759 | 823 (5.6%) | 111 (.8%) |
| EPA | 17,984 | 905(5.0%) | 190 (1.1%) |
| Food & Drug Admin. (FDA) | 11,267 | 553 (4.9%) |  |
| NASA | 18,281 | 860 (4.7%) | 174 (1.0%) |
| Agricultural Research Service (ARS) | 9,048 | 421 (4.6%) | 102 (1.1%) |
| Nuclear Regulatory Commission | 3,627 | 161 (4.4%) | 31 (.9)% |
| U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | 9,074 | 340 (3.7%) |  |
| Centers for Disease Control (CDC) | 7,872 | 274 (3.5%) |  |
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) | 17,835 | 609 (3.4%) | 200 (1.1%) |
| NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMIN | 12,373 | 343 (2.8%) | 94 (.8%) |
| National Science Foundation (NSF) | 1,367 | 31 (2.3%) | 17 (1.2%) |

## Approach Taken To Addressing the Challenge

**Background**
- NOAA received a “yellow” under OMB’s Standards for Success in support of the President’s Management Agenda
- HCC makes a strategy to combat underrepresentation         1 of 5 priorities
- EEO Committee tasked as a working group
**Approach taken**
- Identify underrepresentation challenges
- Compile and analyze data
- Identify existing strategies
- Communicate results and recommendations to managers and supervisors

## Progress Made to Date

**Description of output or result**
- NOAA demographic baseline established
- Developed a compilation of current Line and Corporate Office strategies
**FY 2008 Milestones:**
- Coordinate with Committee on Corporate Recruitment Strategy – November 2007
- Prepared FY 2008 demographic baseline and provide to EEO Program Managers – December 2007
- Compile and post on Civil Rights Office website a list of colleges by demographic, location, discipline for use by hiring officials– March 08
- Post NOAA demographic data tables online and provide link to all NOAA mangers and supervisors (updated quarterly to evaluate progress) – February 2008   _[http://](http://www.eeo.noaa.gov/reports.htm)__[www.eeo.noaa.gov/reports.htm](http://www.eeo.noaa.gov/reports.htm)_
- Develop Hiring Official/WFMO Advisor recruitment checklist for use at strategic conversation – February 2008

## 		Next Steps

- Post Line/Staff Offices Demographics on website monthly
- Promote NOAA HCC initiative to target employment of Hispanics and people with targeted disabilities through Line and Corporate Office leadership announcement
- Work the Strategic Conversation (SC) to its fullest potential, insert diversity checklist
- Give 5 minute update at HCC/WFMC meetings on minority hiring
- Train HR Advisors in discussing importance of a diverse workforce with a priority statement of under representation.  Provide advisors with tools and awareness of initiatives on increasing NOAA’s workforce representative of the Civilian Labor Force
- Implement Events Calendar

## Example:  PTO Events Calendar

## 		Next Steps

- College Recruitment-Identify Colleges near NOAA Offices
- Initiate Recruitment Cadre Effort
- Career Link on all LO websites
- Send out e-mail announcing recruitment initiative
- Career Path info on Careers Site
- Develop Applicant Guide
- Recruiter training on CLC
- Benchmark selected organizations for best practices
- Draft Under Representation Strategy and Present to HCC

## 		Next Steps

**What does NOAA get for resources or policy change**
- “One NOAA” approach to addressing underrepresentation which:
- Communicates goals
- Defines strategies to solve recruitment issues
- Provides information and tools to recruiters and applicants
- Identifies new sources to reach qualified applicants; improves quality of candidates
- Measures accomplishments
- Links accountability
- Shares effort across NOAA & leverages resources
- NOAA is responsive to President’s Management Agenda and satisfies OMB Standards for Success

## 		Next Steps

**Beyond FY 2008:**
- Quarterly measurement of accomplishment
- Underrepresentation Strategy integrated with HCC priorities
- Corporate Recruitment Strategy
- Leadership Development
- Training and Development
- Workforce Planning

## QUESTIONS?