Accountability stems from measurement, as the DiversityInc Top 50 companies know. Their successful best practices provide a valuable resource to government agencies on how to do better in this arena. The government took a step forward by appointing its first chief diversity officer, Barry Wells, at the Department of State, but much work has yet to be done. Read a profile of Barry Wells in the April 2007 issue of DiversityInc magazine on the business case for affirmative action.

Top-Line Results

The EEOC's annual report, which was released in late June using 2006 data, summarizes EEO activities in federal government and includes work-force profiles of 49 agencies with 500 or more employees broken down by pay level and demographic group. The full EEOC report is available here.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Blacks remain above their popular representation in the federal work force, accounting for just more than 18 percent, which has remained stagnant for the last decade. This doesn't translate to the senior pay level, however, where blacks only are 6.5 percent of the work force--down 0.2 percent from 1997. The participation rate of black men also has gone down when compared with women
• Latinos remain underrepresented at all levels of the federal work force, accounting for 3.7 percent of the senior pay level (up nearly 1 percent since 1997) and 7.7 percent of the total federal work force. This lacking representation is particularly concerning because Latinos are the fastest-growing population in the United States, yet their representation in federal government is up only 0.7 percent from last year, when national attention was drawn to these numbers
• Individuals with targeted disabilities have been declining as a percentage of the federal work force since 1997 and now account for 0.94 percent of the overall work force and 0.46 percent of senior-pay-level staff
• Asians are more represented in the senior-level work force than they are in the general population and are more represented in the federal work force overall than their representation in the general population would suggest
• Women have made minimal progress at the senior pay level since 1997, despite accounting for about 43 percent of the total federal work force 

Clear pay disparities also exist, particularly along racial/ethnic lines. Government-wide, the average pay grade in the general-schedule system, which is comprised of federal managers and supervisors and accounts for more than 54 percent of the federal work force, was 10.0.

It's a pipeline issue. Without enough people of color, women, and individuals with severe disabilities in the feeder pool, it's going to be hard to get them through the ranks. Combined, people of color and individuals with targeted disabilities make up about 20 percent of the feeder pool to the senior ranks. Latinos are only 4 percent of this pool, which will make it extraordinarily difficult to increase their representation in senior management at the current rate.

Which Agencies Get It? Which Don't?

Government has a responsibility to respond to the needs of its citizens, who are rapidly changing in terms of demographics, voting patterns, attitudes, behaviors and orientation. In many respects, the government is failing to keep up.

Some agencies have made notable progress in ensuring that their work forces reflect the changing needs and faces of their constituents. Others have high representation of people of color in their work forces but fail to walk the talk when it comes to the senior ranks. The EEOC, for example, has a work force that's nearly 51 percent people of color, and people of color are 56 percent of employees in its senior pay structure. The Federal Communications Commission, on the other hand, has 40.5 percent people of color in its work force, but only 9 percent at the senior pay level. There's no direct private-industry comparison for the federal senior pay level, which accounts for less than 1 percent of the federal work force and includes only top officials and managers.

Which agencies still aren't getting it? The Securities and Exchange Commission, where people of color are 22 percent of the work force and 9 percent of the senior-pay level, is one example. Another is the Department of the Air Force, where people of color are 24 percent and 9 percent of the work force and senior pay level, respectively.

What About People With Disabilities?

People with severe disabilities remain the most underrepresented group in federal government, and their representation has been declining steadily for the last 10 years. Ollie Cantos, special counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Justice, says a disconnect in the hiring process is the problem.

"Our hiring managers say they're looking for qualified individuals but don't know where to find them, and people who want to be hired into government don't know how to be hired into government," says Cantos, who has been blind since birth.

New regulations have expanded the hiring authority of federal agencies to make it easier to hire qualified individuals with severe disabilities, and Cantos is working across agencies and sectors to implement the president's New Freedom Initiative to expand access for people with disabilities.

"The reality is that people with disabilities remain one of the most untapped sources of talent, ability and skill. If we bring more people with disabilities into the federal government and into every sector who are qualified for jobs for which they are applying, we will be able to further enhance the breadth of knowledge, skill, drive, dedication and abilities for this community that has been undertapped until now," says Cantos.

Which agencies are best at recruiting and retaining this talent pool? The EEOC work force is 2.37 percent individuals with targeted disabilities, which is the highest representation of any of the federal agencies profiled in the report, followed by the Social Security Administration (2.07 percent), Defense Finance and Accounting Service (1.99 percent) and Defense Logistics Agency (1.92 percent).

What can be done to improve these numbers? The EEOC provides some tips for expanding access to opportunity and says agencies should focus on eliminating barriers in specific areas of employment such as recruiting, hiring and advancement so as to isolate and address the root of the problem. But there's no quick fix.

The EEOC highlights some best practices for federal agencies, including:

• Partner with organizations that serve targeted groups
• Use internships and work/study programs to attract and develop high-potential candidates interested in pursuing federal careers
• Develop methods to identify high-potential employees
• Ensure that tools for continuous learning and job-performance improvement are readily available and encouraged
• Offer job-transfer and rotation programs for career-enhancing experiences
• Ensure all people involved in various areas of human resources are well trained in equal-employment opportunity requirements and responsibilities

Here's the full best practice report.

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