NATL INST OF STAND & TECH

A11107 3^0503

NBS

PUBLICATIONS

NBSIR 83-2798

r v

Multi-Year Affirmative Action

Program for Women and

Minorities for Fiscal Years 1982

Through 1986 Washington, DC,

and Boulder, CO

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

U S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Bureau of Standards

Office of the Director of Administration

Equal Employment Opportunity

Support Division

Washington, DC 20234

October 1 983

Issued December 1983

. U56

83-2793

1933

c . a

U S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

RATIONAL BUREAU

' CZ STANDARDS

\ UtBRARY

NBSIR 83-2798

MULTI-YEAR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

PROGRAM FOR WOMEN AND

MINORITIES FOR FISCAL YEARS 1982

THROUGH 1986 WASHINGTON, DC

AND BOULDER, CO

C « r C . Qo

i o <o>

L-a (o

i ^ %3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Linda K. Despeaux

U S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Bureau of Standards

Office of the Director of Administration

Equal Employment Opportunity

Support Division

Washington, DC 20234

October 1983

Issued December 1983

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Malcolm Baldrige, Secretary

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS, Ernest Ambler, Director
T

' v

• - n .zx
FOREWORD

The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of NBS' Affirmative

Action Program for Women and Minorities for use by NBS managers who have

responsibility for its implementation. If you are interested in reviewing

the full version of the Multi-Year Affirmative Action Program Plan

(MYAAPP), copies are available in the headquarters office of each of our major operation units, the Personnel Division, the Library, and the EEO

Support Division. In Boulder, copies are available in the Office of the

Director and in the office of the EEO Coordinator.

i
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Foreword 1

1. Introduction 1

2. Work Force Analysis 2

3. Labor Market Availability 5

4. Hiring Goals 10

5. Barriers to Improving the Representation of Women and

Minorities in the Work Force 13

6. Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program 16

7. Program Evaluation 22

ii
INTRODUCTION

Requirements for the establishment of Federal agency affirmative

action programs were first cited by Executive Order 11478 in 1969.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as amended in 1972, mandated Federal

agencies to maintain affirmative action programs to ensure enforcement

of equal employment policy. Early affirmative action programs were

often disappointing because the Federal sector's approach to affirmative

action relied heavily on the achievement of numerical employment goals.

In addition, we attempted to apply short-range solutions (the annual

affirmative action plan) to long-range problems (decades of discrimination)

.

One obvious alternative to this short-range approach is "multi-year"

affirmative action planning, which has the advantage of applying longrange solutions to difficult problems in a rational and systematic

manner. The multi-year plan allows the orderly integration of affirmative

employment activities; provides time for experimenting with different

strategies; and allows flexibility for shifting resources and goals to

accommodate changes in the agency's staffing needs, programs, and fiscal

allocations

.

The NBS multi-year affirmative action program has been designed to

assist the Bureau in meeting the goal established by Congress in the

Civil Service Reform Act of 1978—i.e., "to provide... a federal workforce

reflective of the nation's diversity...." The plan was developed by

using a systematic approach to affirmative action planning and program

development which included (1) performing a comprehensive analysis of our work force to determine occupations and grade levels in which women

and minorities are underrepresented, (2) analyzing barriers which have

prevented us from achieving a representative work force in the past, and

(3) identifying strategies which can be used to improve the distribution

and quantity of women and minorities in our work force.

The multi-year program was developed to accommodate two conditions.

First NBS does not anticipate significant expansions in budget or personnel

ceilings during the next several fiscal years. Second, the labor market

has a limited quantity of women and minority candidates available for

employment in scientific and engineering occupations. Because NBS feels

it has a commitment to pursue affirmative action activities which are consistent with these conditions, our primary focus is on:

o Expanding our outreach efforts with organizations which can impact on the quantity and quality of women and minorities entering occupations

in which NBS has staffing requirements.

o Increasing the use of internal mechanisms such as training, formal

staffing programs, and developmental assignments to move employees

into a wider range of occupations and into higher graded positions.

o Establishing hiring goals which are consistent with labor market

participation of women and minorities.
WORK FORCE ANALYSIS

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has suggested

that an appropriate goal for the Federal Government is that our permanent

work force be reflective of the civilian work force. The basis of NBS'

multi-year program plan was a comprehensive work force analysis to

determine the degree to which women and minorities are underrepresented

by comparing the percentage of employees in each minority/sex group in our major occupations with the percentage of those same sex/minority

groups in the civilian labor force. The 1981 EEOC Guidelines for Development

of Multi-Year Affirmative Action Programs state that agencies can compare

themselves to either local or national data if they can demonstrate that

their recruitment and hiring is done from that area. NBS has, therefore,

chosen to use national professional civilian labor force data for determining

underrepresentation in professional occupations and appropriate local

data for determining underrepresentation of non-professional occupations

in Gaithersburg and Boulder.

Analysis of the NBS professional work force revealed the following

areas of underrepresentation.

Occupation

Underrepresented 1 Group

Engineer Non-Minority F

Black M,F

Hispanic M,F

Asian F

American Indian M,F

General Physical Non-Minority F

Scientist Black F

Hispanic M,F

Asian M,F

American Indian M,F

Physicist Non-Minority F

Black M,F

Hispanic M,F

Asian F

American Indian M,F

Chemists Non-Minority F

Black F

Hispanic M,F

Asian F

American Indian M,F

Math/Computer Black M,F

Science Hispanic M,F

American Indian F

l As of 7/83.

2
Analysis of the non-professional staff, which compared the distribution

of women and minorities to local civilian work force data, revealed

the following:

Occupation

Gaithersburg

Underrepresented 2 Group

Administrative Black M,F

Hispanic M,F

American Indian F

Eng. Tech. Non-Minority F

Black F

Hispanic M,F

Asian F

American Indian M,F

Technician Black M,F

Hispanic M,F

Asian F

Secretarial Black M,F

Hispanic M,F

Asian M,F

American Indian M,F

Clerical Black M

Hispanic M,F

Asian M,F

American Indian M,F

Wage Non-Minority F

Black F

Hispanic M,F

Asian M,F

American Indian F

2 As of 7/83.

3
Boulder

Occupation

Underrepresented 3 Group

Technician Non-Minority F

Black F

Hispanic F

Asian F

American Indian M,F

Administration Black M,F

Hispanic M,F

Asian M,F

American Indian M,F

Clerical Black M,F

Hispanic M

Asian M,F

American Indian M,F

Wage Non-Minority F

Black M,F

Hispanic F

Asian F

American Indian F

3 As of 7/83. 4
LABOR MARKET AVAILABILITY

In order to determine the degree to which underrepresentation can be

corrected through changes in hiring patterns, it was essential to assess the

current labor market availability of women and minorities in the scientific

and engineering labor market. With that in mind, a second work force analysis

was done to compare the distribution of women and minorities in each of our major scientific occupations with the distribution of those groups

in the Federal Government and in the civilian work force. For example,

the distribution of engineers at NBS was compared with the distribution

of engineers in the Federal Government and the distribution of engineers

in the civilian work force. (See Tables 1 through 4.)

Analysis of the data showed that the following groups are underrepresented

when we compare NBS with the civilian work force data for each occupation:

o Non-minority females are underrepresented at NBS in Engineering, Physics,

and Chemistry.

o Black males are underrepresented in Math/Computer Sciences,

o Black females are underrepresented in Physics and Math/Computer Sciences

.

o Hispanic males are underrepresented in Engineering,

o Asian females are underrepresented in Physics and Chemistry.

5
Table

M

C

•H

• J-i C/5 QJ

• QJ

P3> C

•H

6CeM

S'?

CM r^iHOcOrHrHCMCMCMO

vO CO CM CM Mf 00

CM

rt

4-1 o

4J

4-1 pH c T3

<0 0) * •K •K * 0) U 0 00 vO <r O On CM C

QJ 2 • • • • • • •H CO

Q3 u EM! rH »H CM CM CM XI • QJ QJ ON B

Fh > O OS U iH *

C/5 CM ON NO CO co r" co co

• • • • • .... 1 rH CO

00

CM CM rH 00

00 <-t C CO

(-1 <u

QJc

1-100cw

LO

'd- co

QJ

t—H

QJ CO QJ I—I 0 iH S £ $

QJ (1) aj (1) rH rH pH rH

oJ QJ (rt 4) eg QJ (rt a rH 0 rH s rH 0

QJ «g a) <g QJ eg <D pn S s PH S to

a g

C (3 oJ oJ

QJ QJ H iH

>N Po O CJ Q3 T3

4-1 4J •H iH J3 C

iH •H J-l M M M

U H QJ QJ o O o o B B (3 (3 e es •H iH <! <$ QJ QJ •H •H c c O CJ s s 0} QJ C C •H •H

1 1 CJ o a a QJ 0) U J-l F2 a al QJ CO CD iH •H QJ 0) O o pH rH •H iH CO CO s e Z !S M PQ PC 33 <3 <3 < <

6

As

of

7/2/83.

0PM,

AR-80-71

(11/80).

1980

Census

File.
Physics

-

NBS

co

c

o

u• in CO •rl

• O

tD •rlCO>>

JC

PH

I

I

N

4-4 rH PS

C3 <U

>H a rH o lO CM 00 I co

<U p • • • • • T) u e-5 CM CO rH CM

d) 0) ON

Pn >

oo

I

m

CO

CM I v* I I

I iH I I in

rH<r

t—

t

2

a) <D <u rH tH rH

c3 <u v crt <u e rH R rH R rH

CD Cfl a) Cfl a) Cfl pH g pH g pH g

<D

i—

t

<U Pn

03§

Pn

PS PS cfl cfl cfl cfl •rl •rl to to O O TS

4-1 4-1 •H •rl PS PS •H •rl M P4 M M

U VH d> <v O O CJ u E B PS PS

ps e •H •H <2 <2 cfl cfl iH •rl C PS CJ o g g A5 cfl cfl PS PS •H •rl

1 O o a a cfl cfl JH V4

PS c cfl cfl CO CO •H •H 0) <U O o rH r-4 •H •rl CO CO B B

12 2 PQ PQ K PC <2 <2 <2 <2

7

As

of

7/2/83.

EEO

Statistics,

OPM,

AR-80-71

(11/80).

U.S.

Scientists

and

Engineers,

NSF

82-314,

1980.
Chemistry -

NBS iI

CO

CO • 4-1 C/5 CO • tH g e

a) 4=a

mt mt • • oo m

rH

CM

m rH i o CM • • • l • CM CM rH II

CM

4-1 rH d

CO CU u e m 00 Mf \D

O Mf mt cm

<u

d

03

H S'? rH <r in rH rH CO rH

CU QJ Ph >oo

rH o rH 00 rH 00 <r 05 • • • • • • • • o

r*» rH

m CSI CM 00

rH 05

rH

r. MT

rH

r-» '3- in CM rH I". 1 1 | CO CO

00 cs rH 1 l 1 <r 1 rH CM CM00

pHCO

25

#5 CO

cu CU 0) CU CU |M rH rH rH rH rH cu

0) co 0) CO cu CO (U cO cu CO CU rH 0 rH 0 rH 6 rH 0 rH 0 d

eg cu J9 a) JS CU eg (U eg CU •H g Ph g Ph g Ph g Ph g Ph 60 • d

Pd o

00 H3d

rH CO rH

v-/ CO

d

d 4-1

dd co cO • rH CO

CO CO •H •H CO •H fo >5 o o T3 T3 00 1 4J

4-1 4J •H •H

dd o d

•H •H

u

M (H

M CM 00 <u

u CU CU 1 •rl o O o CJ 0 s d d CJ c d •H •H < <3 CO co <3 cn

•H •H

C

du

a M-l

gg 4*! cO CO

dd •H •H o * • 1 T O u a a cO CO g c/5 d d co CO CO CO •H •H cu CU CO Ph • o o tH rH •H •H CO CO i a < o g g 25 CQ m 33 33 < <5 <3 < CM CO 8
Math/Computer

Sciences

-

NBS

P

G

4J CO

• a O oo CM CO i m

CO 0 G • • • • •

• CJ g e-s *3- 00 CM rH CM

£3 — •rl rH

-C O

4J CO a

CM

4-)

Pm

"i r t r i r p s 00 rH 00 CO m MT g G • • • • • • Pi S'? CO CN CM rH

cu (U vO rH rH

7

ov CO r—i i—t i—

n

vo CM

CJv CO CM CM rH rH CM Ov CO

I CM

I <r

CU <U G G G

rH rH rH rH rH

CU M CU G G G G G G G

rH 0 rH g rH 0 rH a rH g G CU eg G G G G G G G

a P*M a Fp a Pm a Fp a Fp

G C

G G G G

G G •H •H

Eo u O G3 G3

•u 4J •rH •rl G G

•H •H P P PH W

p Pi G G

o O o O a a c G

g £ •H •H <3 < G G

•H •H G G a O

a a A! G G c G •rl •H

i 1 o U a. CP G G P P

g G G G w cn •H •rl G G

o O rH rH •rl •H CO m e B a a 00 05 EC EC < < <2 <2

9

*As

of

7/2/83.

2

0PM,

AR-80-71

(11/80).

3

U.S.

Scientists

and

Engineers,

NSF

82-314,

1980.
HIRING GOALS

Hiring goals are established annually by each of NBS ' major operating

units. These goals represent a reasonable estimate of the portion of total

hires which can be expected to come from underrepresented groups. During

the goal setting process each MOU Director considers the following key

factors

:

1. Total number of new hires expected.

2. Size of the labor market for women and minorities.

3. NBS' ability to compete with private and Federal organizations seeking

the same candidates.

Tables 5 and 6 represent the FY 84 hiring goals.

10
Table 5 FY 84 Hiring Goals

NBS Gaithersburg

Occupation

Targeted

Underrepresented

Group

Engineering Non-Minority F Black F Hispanic M,F

Asian F American Indian M,F

General Physical Non-Minority F Scientist Black F Hispanic M,F

Asian F American Indian M,F

Physicist Non-Minority F Black M,F

Hispanic M,F

Asian F American Indian M,F

Chemists Non-Minority F Black F Hispanic M,F

Asian F American Indian M,F

Math/Computer Black M,F

Science Hispanic M,F

American Indian F

Misc. Prof. Black M,F

American Indian M,F

Administrative Black M,F

Hispanic M,F

American Indian F

Eng. Tech. Non-Minority F Black F Hispanic M,F

Asian F American Indian M,F

Technician Black M,F

Hispanic M,F

Asian F

Secretarial Black M,F

Hispanic M,F

Asian M,F

American Indian M,F

Clerical Black M

Hispanic M,F

Asian M,F

American Indian M,F

Wage Non-Minority F Black F

Hispanic M,F

Asian M,F

American Indian F

Other Non-Minority F Black F Hispanic M,F

Asian M,F

American Indian M,F

11
Table 6

FY 84 Hiring Goals

NBS Boulder

Targeted

Underrepresented NBS

Occupation Group Goal

Professional Non-Minority F

Black M,F

Hispanic M,F 5

Asian F

Amer. Indian F

Administration Black M,F

Hispanic M,F

Asian M,F

Amer. Indian M,F

Technician Non-Minority F

Black F o Hispanic F

L Amer. Indian M,F

Clerical Black M,F

Hispanic M 1

Asian M,F

Amer. Indian M,F

Wage Non-Minority F

Black M,F

i 3

Hispanic F

Other Non-Minority F 1 Black F 2 Asian M,F 1

13

12
BARRIERS TO IMPROVING THE REPRESENTATION OF

WOMEN AND MINORITIES IN THE WORK FORCE

In order for the Federal Government to improve the distribution and

representation of women and minorities in its work force, it is important

for all agencies to implement activities which lead to removal of barriers

which have historically prevented us from locating, recruiting, employing,

or developing women and minorities. During FY 82 the EEO Division and

representatives from Personnel, the major operating units, and various

employee groups did an analysis of barriers affecting NBS. Following

are the barriers which the NBS Executive Board targeted for action

during FY 83 and FY 84 and a description of actions which have been

taken to date as remedies for removal or alleviation of the problem:

Barrier . The labor market availability of women and minorities in the

scientific and engineering work force is limited.

One approach to alleviating this problem is for NBS to expand its

outreach activities with organizations and educational institutions

which have an impact on the quantity and quality of women and minorities

choosing careers in science and engineering. NBS' outreach activities

are designed to increase the labor market availability of women and

minorities in occupations in which their availability is limited.

Examples of current outreach activities are:

Community Education Program (CEP)

This program was created by NBS during FY 82 as one means for

providing female, minority, and handicapped students in Montgomery

County with the experience needed to make informed choices about careers

in science. During FY 83, the program was expanded into the District of

Columbia and Howard County to reach more schools with large minority

populations. As part of the program, NBS scientists make presentations

to junior and senior high students on scientific topics usually related

to the work they do at NBS. At present we have approximately 13 NBS

staff members in the CEP Speakers Bureau. In addition, high school

students are provided opportunities for a summer of volunteer work

experience in an NBS laboratory. Shorter term appointments are also

available for students who have made a preliminary choice to pursue a career in science. Students who are given Shadow appointments spend

from one-half to two days with a professional to observe day-to-day

scientific activities.

Support to Historically Black Colleges

Executive Order 12320 directed Federal agencies to develop a Plan

for Support to Historically Black Colleges (HBCs) . NBS* FY 84 plan

calls for a percentage of expenditures for HBCs and describes activities

which are expected to increase working relationships between NBS and

HBCs. NBS support to black colleges to date has included:

13
o During FY 83, HBCs received 9.8 percent of the 4.5 million dollars

spent at educational institutions.

o A file describing the technical competencies of HBCs has been

developed for use by NBS managers in their grants giving and contracting

activities

.

o NBS and the Association for the Advancement of Black Scientists and

Engineers have held two one-week workshops on the M State-of-the-Art

in Analytical Chemistry." The objectives of the workshops were 1)

to provide faculty members and high-potential students from HBCs

with theoretical and practical exposure to state-of-the-art instrumental

methods for chemical analysis and 2) to establish a rapport between

NBS, the participating institutions, faculty members, and students.

Over fifty members and students attended each workshop which included

technical presentations and tours of the facilities.

o NBS* National Engineering Laboratory held a three-day orientation

and training seminar on "Computing at NBS." The primary purpose of

the seminar was to acquaint faculty at HBCs with NBS and the variety

of career opportunities that it has to offer their graduates. Over

twenty faculty members attended the seminar which included technical

presentations and tours to give them impressions of the facilities

and the type of work done at NBS.

Barrier . Funding and slot reductions have resulted in decreases in a number of formal programs which provided opportunities for the career mobility of current employees.

During FY 83, the following activities were initiated to help

create more in-house activities:

1. The Personnel Division wrote a memorandum to all NBS supervisors

explaining upward mobility and encouraging them to use this type of

appointment as an alternative to recruitment from outside for many

paraprof essional and technical positions.

2. A FY 84 budget initiative has been submitted for an Administrative

Intern Program. It is hoped that through such a program minority

participants can be developed for administrative positions such as budget analysts and personnel specialists.

Barrier

.

Our traditional approach to recruitment for mid-level positions

has not reached many women or minority candidates. Overall, our knowledge

about the most effective strategies for reaching women and minority

engineers and scientists is limited.

The following activities have been initiated to help us increase

our knowledge of viable recruitment technique and to attract a greater

number of minority candidates.

The MOU EEO Coordinators have redesigned the Affirmative Action

Recruitment Report (NBS-1116) so that it can be used to document

all stages in affirmative recruitment progress. The new design

14

1 .
will permit the MOU EEO Coordinator to review recruitment plans

prior to posting of vacancies and to assist selection officials to

develop strategies for attracting minority and female candidates.

2. During FY 83 working relationships have been developed with the

following organizations:

o FEORP Clearinghouse—The Clearinghouse was established to serve as a forum for Federal representatives for sharing

information on techniques and programs for locating, recruiting,

and developing women and minorities. An EEO Division staff

member has joined the group and will be serving on the Clearinghouse

Subcommittee for Advancement of Engineering, Technological and

Scientific Careers.

o NBS' technical staff members have reported that this year to

date they have contacted and are working with professional

associations such as Association for Women in Computing,

Society of Women in Engineering, Association for Women in

Science, National Association of Black Chemists and Chemical

Engineers, and National Black Physicists Association

It is hoped that these sources will expand our recruitment network,

help us to develop new recruitment techniques, and lead to additional

candidates for employment.

15
FEDERAL EQUAL OPPORTUNITY RECRUITMENT PROGRAM

Background

Section 310 of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 mandated the

establishment of a minority recruitment program aimed at improving the

representation of minorities in various categories of civil service

employment. It defined underrepresentation as a situation in which the

percentage of members of a minority group within an employment category

is lower than the percentage of that minority group within the civilian

labor force of the United States. In December 1978, EEOC published in

the Federal Register its "Guidelines for the Development of a Federal

Recruitment Program to Implement 5 U.S.C. Section 7201." Those guidelines

defined the following as minority groups: Black, Hispanic, American

Indian/Alaskan Native, and Asian American/Pacific Islander. (They also

interpreted the statute to include both minority and non-minority women

within the scope of the program.) The guidelines included the following

provisions which represent what individual agency programs should accomplish:

1. The program design should result in applicant pools with sufficient

members of underrepresented groups.

2. The program should strive to stimulate the interest of underrepresented

groups in occupations where there are realistic projections of

Federal employment opportunities.

3. The program should be based on determinations of underrepresentation

in the agency’s total work force and should be made by grade level

and by broad occupational, professional, and other groupings as determined by 0PM.

4. The program should use local civilian labor force data in making

determinations of underrepresentation if that local percentage for

a particular minority group is higher than the group’s representation

in the national civilian labor force. This effectively required

agency components located in areas with high minority concentrations

to assume a larger share of the burden of eliminating underrepresentation

than others. 1

5. The program should interpret recruitment to include internal as well as external activities.

2 The 1981 EEOC guidelines for development of Multi-Year Affirmative

Action Programs state that agencies can use state or national data if

they can demonstrate that their recruitment and hiring is done from that

area. NBS has, therefore, chosen to use national professional civilian

labor force data for determining underrepresentation in professional

occupations and Washington civilian labor data for non-professional

occupations

.

16
6. The program should gather data on the applicant pools by race,

national origin, and sex.

Although the program’s primary objective is to recruit minorities

for Federal employment, a personnel management function, it overlapped

with affirmative action and EEO program objectives, an enforcement

responsibility of the EEOC. Therefore, the EEOC guidelines call for

the minority recruitment program to be incorporated as an element of

agency affirmative action plans.

FY 84 FEORP Plan

The following sections describe the FEORP strategies that will be

used in FY 84 to increase the representation and improve grade spread of

women and minorities in these occupations.

Training Program

NBS encourages and supports a myriad of training and developmental

experiences for its employees. This emphasis on training serves the

Bureau by (1) increasing the skills, knowledges, and abilities of employees;

(2) improving present job performance; (3) developing ’’state-of-the-art"

knowledge; and (4) preparing for anticipated changes in mission, function,

equipment, or personnel. Through the use of this FEORP mechanism, women

and minorities become better prepared to move into other occupations and

to assume positions of greater responsibility.

The following specialized training programs will be conducted

during FY 84 to develop current employees:

o Graduate Research Fellowship Program—An academic research study

program primarily for current employees who are pursuing graduate

study in a field of interest to NBS. It involves a minimum of one year of formal study/research support with an agreement to remain

at NBS for three times the length of the education program. In

addition, the employees receive full salary plus all education/researchrelated expenses.

o Administrative Intern Program—A FY 84 budget initiative has been

submitted to fund this program to develop minorities for Administrative

Professional positions at NBS. The program will develop in-house

candidates by providing (1) rotational assignments to key administrative

areas at NBS, (2) skills training at local community colleges, (3)

OPM training on government administrative operations, and (4)

seminars sponsored by individual administrative officers.

o Apprentice Program—This program is designed to provide training

and experience necessary for placement in target positions in

craft/trade occupations such as carpenter, painter, air conditioning

mechanic, and sheet metal worker.

17
Formal Recruitment Programs

The following "pipeline" programs will be used to provide prospective

candidates for professional positions.

o Technical Recruitment Program—Primary responsibility for recruitment

of entry-level technical staff resides with the technical managers.

In this capacity, they develop a working relationship with the

faculty and get to know college students early in their college

careers. These contacts generally lead to identification of women

and minority students for the Cooperative Education Program and for summer employment.

o Summer Employment Program—This program gives college faculty and

students an opportunity to do research work and to become better

acquainted with programs at NBS.

o Federal Junior Fellowship Program—This program provides continuing

summer and vacation employment, until college graduation, for

outstanding high school seniors who plan to attend college and who

have expressed an interest in a career in the Federal service.

Participants are eligible for non-competitive conversion to a career-conditional (permanent) appointment in the agency upon

completion of degree requirements.

o Graduate Cooperative Education Program—The program for graduate

students is designed to provide rotating assignments of work with

rotating assignments of study. Appointments are made under a written agreement with the student's college. Upon graduation, the

student is eligible for non-competitive conversion to career- conditional appointment.

Personnel Management Techniques

A number of supportive personnel management techniques are used

which often lead to identification of positions which can provide advancement opportunities for women and minorities. For example:

o Review of Vacancies—NBS managers review newly created positions

and vacancies in order to identify opportunities for restructuring

positions, distributing duties to current staff members to provide

advanced career potential, and creating formal upward mobility

positions

o Analysis of Merit Certificates—Because of the high percentage of

employment opportunities which are filled without the benefit of

minority or female applicants, the directors of each major operating

unit personally review merit certificates which lack minority or female candidates to determine whether the position should be

readvertised for additional candidates.

NBS will use the following special staffing techniques to find and

attract a greater number of women and minority applicants for employment:

18
o Affirmative Action Recruitment Report—This report, which accompanies

all vacancy announcements, has recently been implemented as a mechanism for documenting all stages of recruitment. The report

will permit EEO Coordinators from each of NBS' major operating

units to review plans prior to posting of vacancies and to assist

selecting officials to develop strategies for attracting minority

and female candidates.

o Attendance and Participation at Conferences—NBS technical staff

members attempt to locate applicants when they attend technical

conferences and professional association meetings.

Interaction with Women’s and Minority Organizations

NBS interacts with external organizations to publicize the work of

NBS and to use the services of those organizations in locating women and

minority applicants. During this fiscal year, NBS staff members will

expand working relationships with:

o Atlanta University Center Dual Degree Program—The Dual Degree

Program joins the resources of the Atlanta University Center (AUC)

with those of engineering programs at Georgia Institute of Technology,

Boston University, Auburn University, and Rochester Institute of

Technology. Under the Dual Degree Program, a student attends one

of the undergraduate colleges of the AUC for approximately three

years and an additional two years at one of the engineering institutes.

Upon successfully completing the program, the students will simultaneously

receive two deOrees—a bachelor of arts or a bachelor of science

degree awarded by the AUC college attended and a designated bachelor

of engineering degree from the engineering institution.

o FEORP Clearinghouse—The Clearinghouse was established to serve as

a form for Federal representatives for sharing information on techniques and programs for locating, recruiting, and developing

women and minorities. An EEO Division staff member has joined the

group and will be serving on the Clearinghouse Subcommittee for

Advancement of Engineering, Technological and Scientific Careers.

o Research Fellowship—The National Engineering Laboratory (NEL) has

established a Resident Research Fellowship for a faculty member

from a Historically Black or predominantly women's college. The

fellow will work at NBS for up to one year on independent research

or in collaboration with scientists and engineers in NEL. NBS

hopes that such a program will lead to future cooperation between

NBS and the fellow's college or university.

Outreach Efforts to Increase Applicant Pool

Because of the highly technical nature of many of our FEORP occupations

physical scientists, chemists, and engineers—there are a limited number

of candidates actually in the pipeline for employment in the next two to

five years. NBS recognizes it has a responsibility to develop mechanisms

for interacting with schools to encourage women and minorities to enter

19
into occupations which are of interest to NBS. The following programs

are used with the hope of increasing the future applicant supply.

o Student Volunteer Program—The program provides opportunities for

students to participate in career exploration by establishing

educationally-related work assignments in a nonpay status.

o High Ability Senior High School Students—The program provides an initial research experience to high school students who excel in

their studies.

o Summer Aid Program—This program provides work experience for young

students and augments the staff needed to accomplish routine office

or laboratory work during the summer months.

o Community Education Program (CEP) —This program is designed to

provide female, minority, and handicapped students with experience

and information to facilitate their choices about careers in science.

During FY 84, the CEP Program will cooperate with public schools in

Montgomery County, Howard County, and the District of Columbia.

The program will have the following elements.

a. Speakers Bureau—NBS scientists will make presentations in

public schools to junior and senior high school students on scientific topics usually related to the work they do at NBS.

b. Internship—Non-paid internships will be given to high school

students to provide them with experience in an NBS laboratory

under the supervision of an NBS scientist or engineer.

c. Shadow—Students who have made a preliminary choice to pursue

a career in science are given appointments to spend from one- half to two days with a professional to observe day-to-day

scientific activities.

o Support to Black Colleges—NBS' FY 84 Plan for Support to Historically

Black Colleges (HBCs) targets ten percent of all expenditures with

educational institutions to institutions which have historically

black populations. In addition, the following activities have been

designed to increase on-going working relationships between NBS

managers and HBCs.

a. All requests for research proposals and recruitment announcements

for summer, faculty appointments, and postdoctoral appointments

will be sent to HBCs.

b. A file describing the technical competencies of HBCs has been

developed for use by NBS managers in their grants giving and

contracting activities.

c. NBS and the Association for the Advancement of Black Scientists

and Engineers will hold a one-week seminar and workshop on the

"State-of-the-Art in Analytical Chemistry." The primary

20
objective of the workshop will be to provide faculty members

and high-potential students from HBCs with theoretical and

practical exposure to state-of-the-art instrumental methods

for chemical analysis and to establish a rapport between NBS,

the participating institutions, faculty members, and students.

Over fifty faculty members and students are expected to attend

the workshop which will include technical presentations,

laboratory techniques, and tours of the facilities.

o SECME—The Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering

objectives are to stimulate interest in engineering among minority

students of the secondary school level and to assure that these

students receive a sound academic foundation in mathematics, science,

language arts, and other courses requisite for engineering studies.

The consortium consists of representatives from industry, the

government, and academia. SECME serves the schools in eight southeastern

states with the staff being located at the Georgia Institute of

Technology in Atlanta, Georgia.

o METCON—The District of Columbia Metropolitan Consortium for Minorities

in Engineering primary objective is to increase the number of

qualified minority group students in the Washington, DC, metropolitan

area interested in engineering. The objective is accomplished

through a metropolitan industry and government consortium devoted

to making pre-college students aware of career opportunities and

challenges in engineering. The consortium also provides the students

with enrichment to their educational experience, primarily in

mathematics, science, and communication.

21
PROGRAM EVALUATION

NBS uses a multi-faceted approach to evaluating the results of the

program and contributions of its managers. The plan includes the following:

o Annual Review by the NBS Executive Board.

The NBS Director chairs an Annual EEO Program Review at the end of

each fiscal year. The objective of the review is to assess progress

and shortfalls to the program, discuss plans for the future year's

EEO program, and make decisions on program changes, policies, or resources required for the program. The Annual Review is attended

by the Executive Board, MOU EEO Coordinators, the Personnel Officer,

and EEO Support Division personnel.

o MOU Reviews

The EEO Support Division meets individually with Boulder's management

and with each MOU Director and his EEO Coordinator during the first

and third quarters. The objective of the meetings is to discuss

MOU-specific EEO concerns, review affirmative action progress, and

identify EEO problem areas which need to be addressed jointly by

the EEO Support Division and the MOU.

o Progress Reports

The EEO Support Division and Personnel Division jointly prepare the

EEO report (NBS-1120) at the end of the second quarter and again at

the end of the fiscal year. The report includes the following key

evaluation criteria:

1. Distribution of employees by sex and ethnic category.

2. Distribution of accessions, separations, awards, and training

by sex and ethnic category.

3. Progress toward achievement of hiring and promotion goals.

4. Distribution of the applicant supply by sex and ethnic category.

5. Changes in representation of women and minorities.

Reports are distributed to the Deputy Director and MOU Directors

for their use during mid-year and annual performance reviews.

o Annual Report

The EEO Support Division makes an annual written report to the NBS

Executive Board. The report describes significant progress, identifies

problem areas, and makes recommendations for programmatic changes.

22
o Performance Agreements

EEO/ affirmative action is an element in the performance agreements

of all SES managers. In addition, all Merit Pay managers have also

been encouraged to include objectives which included numerical

goals for hiring, promoting, and training of women and minorities.

They were also asked to identify formal programs and outreach

efforts which will be used to increase the quantity of women and

minorities in the pipeline for employment.

The performance agreements of SES and Merit Pay managers will be

monitored to evaluate the degree to which individual EEO/AAP objectives

are being achieved.

23
NBS-114A irev. 2-ao)

3. Publication Date

December 1983

U.S. DEPT. OF COMM. BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA

SHEET (See instructions)

1. PUBLICATION OR

REPORT NO.

NBSIR 83-2798

2. Performing Organ. Report No.

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

Multi-Year Affirmative Action Program for Women and Minorities for Fiscal Years

1982 through 1986

Executive Summary

5. AUTHOR(S)

Linda K. Despeaux

G. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION (If joint or other than NBS, see in struction s) NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20234

7. Contract/Grant No.

8. Type of Report & Period Covered

Final

9.

SPONSORING ORGANIZATION NAME AND COMPLETE ADDRESS (Street, City. State. ZIP)

National Bureau of Standards

Equal Employment Opportunity Support Division

Washington, DC 20234

10.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

| | Document describes a computer program; SF-185, FIPS Software Summary, is attached.

11.

ABSTRACT (A 200-word or less factual summary of most significant information,

bi bliography or literature survey, mention it here)

If document includes a significant

Requirements for the establishment of Federal agency affirmative action programs were

first cited by Executive Order 11478 in 1969. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act,

as amended in 1972, mandated Federal agencies to maintain affirmative action programs

to ensure enforcement of equal employment policy. The NBS multi-year affirmative

action program has been designed to assist the Bureau in meeting the goal established

by Congress in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978—i.e., "to provide... a federal

workforce reflective of the nation's diversity...."

Women and minorities are underrepresented in scientific occupations at NBS. Although

women and minorities are employed in most all administrative, technician, clerical,

and blue collar occupations, they are generally underrepresented or absent from

higher grades. The affirmative action program has been designed to improve or correct

these problems by using three strategies. First, we will expand our outreach efforts

with organizations which can impact on the quantity and quality of women and minorities

entering occupations in which NBS has staffing requirements. Second, increase the use

of internal mechanisms such as training, formal staffing programs, and developmental

assignments to move employees into a wider range of occupations and into higher graded

positions. And third, we will establish hiring goals which are consistent with labor

market participation of women and minorities.

12.

KEY WORDS (Six to twelve entries; alphabetical order; capitalize only proper names; and separate key words by semicolons)

Affirmative action; Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program; goals;

underrepresentation

13. AVAILABILITY

|XJ Uni i mi ted

| | For Official Distribution. Do Not Release to NTIS

H Order From Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.

[X] Order From National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Springfield, VA. 22161

14. NO. OF

PRINTED PAGES

27

15. Price

$8.50

U S COMM- D C 6043-P80