Numerous tools and strategies are available to Federal agencies to build and maintain a diverse workforce. These are best managed in three stages:

• Positioning the agency
• Designing and implementing a diversity program
• Sustaining commitment

Positioning the Agency

After considering the frameworks described in the previous section, agencies will recognize that a diversity program will assist them in achieving their business and strategic goals. They may want to jump immediately into designing and implementing a series of new initiatives or a completely new diversity program. However, the key to successfully building a diverse, high-quality workforce for tomorrow begins with a strong leadership commitment and knowledge of where the agency is today. Moreover, experience has demonstrated that successful diversity initiatives depend on positioning the agency first.

Positioning the agency has several aspects. First, ensuring strong commitment to the diversity program is essential. This includes the critical components of top-level leadership support and the commitment of necessary resources (people and funding) to make new initiatives a reality. Next, it is important to have a realistic picture of agency readiness to move forward, based both on the current demographics of the agency and on the cultural atmosphere and potential impediments that may exist. Finally, the information from each of these assessments should be integrated into the existing agency workforce planning models and used to target opportunities for recruitment, hiring, and retention.

With this commitment and information firmly in hand, the agency can be confident that it has positioned itself for success in designing and implementing an effective diversity program. The actions and considerations required to position the agency in this way are described in more detail below.

Commitment

Commitment is the foundation of a successful effort to build and maintain a diverse, high-quality workforce. This commitment should be clearly stated and communicated from the top leadership to employees at all levels. In addition, agencies need to take action to assure that resources and staff are available for each stage of the program. Commitment can be demonstrated through such actions as:

• Encourage a leadership that creates an environment of inclusion and values differences.
• Clearly assign adequate resources to their diversity activities. An agency could choose to clearly identify resources in its budget to diversity initiatives.
• Ensure that senior managers are directly involved in planning and conducting diversity activities.
• Ensure that employees are an integral part of the agency's efforts to plan and conduct diversity activities.
• Consider training employees in intercultural communication to address differences in communication across cultures.
• Establish Special Emphasis Programs (SEPs) and appoint SEP Managers as management advisors on how to obtain and manage a diverse workforce. SEP Managers can be critical to help agencies establish an effective diversity management program. Agencies can appoint SEP Managers on a full-time, part-time or collateral-duty basis to advise agency management on the creation and retention of a diverse workforce. SEP Managers should be clearly interested in improving the agency's workforce diversity and have the required knowledge, skills, and ability to do the work (knowledge of the organization, its needs, and its culture; sufficient experience and established networks; and familiarity with the issues, concerns, and culture of the underrepresented group). They should also have the confidence of agency management so managers will listen to his/her advice and counsel.
• Train managers and supervisors about their EEO and AEP responsibilities as well as the existing tools to help them carry out their responsibilities in these areas.
• Widely disseminate the agency's FEORP and AEP goals throughout the agency, and encourage managers to conduct targeted recruitment in support of such goals.

Assessing the Current Situation

Agencies must understand their current demographic situation. This is done by developing a workforce profile, that is, a complete picture of their workforce and how it reflects diversity at all levels, in all key occupations, and in all organizational components.

The annual reports that each agency already prepares are good sources of data about the agency workforce. The FEORP and AEP reports provide useful information about an agency's affirmative employment activities and their workforce data. In addition, OPM conducts governmentwide workforce analyses and disseminates reports summarizing this information. OPM also provides technical advice to agencies to help them analyze their own agency data. OPM's website, www.opm.gov, has information about the statistical profiles of women, individual minority groups, and people with disabilities in the Federal civilian workforce.

Environmental Assessment

Positioning also includes assessing the agency's readiness to create and support a complete diversity management program. Many agencies already have active programs; others are less well established. To design their programs to their best advantage, agencies should develop a good understanding of their individual strengths and weaknesses.

An agency can gather this information by assessing their employees' views on diversity issues. A useful tool for assessing agency readiness is a survey that documents and measures the agency's strengths and weaknesses in promoting diversity. Variously called a "cultural audit" or "organizational assessment," this survey is an organized method to examine such questions as:

• What structures are in place to support strong diversity management?
• What impediments do agency employees see that may affect the design of the program?
• Are agency values present to sustain commitment to the program?

Ideally, the survey will identify strengths and weaknesses in the agency with regard to:

• diversity incorporated into agency vision or mission statement
• diversity statement issued by agency head
• diversity initiative implementation plan
• diversity council/group charter
• diversity policy, directive, administrative order, etc.
• diversity resource center or diversity reading room
• diversity awareness material
• diversity training
• formal mentoring program
• informal mentoring program
• internship program
• awards and incentives
• communications media (e.g., newsletter, intranet)
• accomplishment or status report
• Special Emphasis Program Managers

Workforce Planning

Analyzing workforce trends and projections, determining skills gaps and needs, and devising succession planning strategies are critical steps for agency strategic and business planning. These activities provide the facts managers need so they know where to assign resources, how to plan for the future work of the organization, and where to focus their energy to produce a high performance organization. This information is used to assess whether the current workforce will assist in meeting tomorrow's goals. It will also help to understand where the recruitment or retention focus should lie and what other actions are needed to create a supportive work environment. Diversity program activities and objectives should be directly integrated into the agency's broader workforce planning activities. For example, workforce planning will surface opportunities for targeted recruitment.

A succession planning program is a deliberate and systematic effort by an agency to ensure continuity of leadership and critical staff skills in mission-critical positions as well as to encourage individual development. Succession planning is a subset of workforce planning, and is designed to ensure the continued effective performance of an agency by identifying, developing, and replacing key people over time. Again, succession planning provides an opportunity to align diversity management programs with the larger agency objectives.

Designing and Implementing a Diversity Program

When an agency is positioned for success, it can proceed to design and implement its diversity program to include those specific elements that will serve to build and maintain its diverse, high-quality workforce. In particular, the various assessments of the workforce profile, the agency's environment, and future workforce needs should have identified strengths, weaknesses, and targets of opportunity. Those will be important to factor into the specific activities that comprise the diversity program itself.

In general, an agency's diversity program must include elements that build diversity, through recruitment, outreach and hiring, and elements that maintain diversity, through the agency's use of learning and development, rewards and recognition, and a supportive work environment. A successful diversity program needs close, continuing partnerships between human resources and EEO/civil rights and special emphasis staff. In other words, each agency should have in place a comprehensive process to build and maintain a diverse, high-quality workforce.

Building a Diverse, High-Quality Workforce

Based on the results of assessing the current situation and the environment and conducting workforce planning, an agency will have identified the type and number of positions to be filled as well as any targeted needs. The agency is then ready to design a strategy to find and hire the diverse, high-quality workforce to achieve the agency's mission. To build a diverse workforce, agencies should incorporate tailored approaches to recruit and hire these individuals into their overall strategies. The first step is to find the candidates.

Recruitment

The purpose of effective recruiting is to attract strong candidates who are prepared both to meet the agency's strategic goals and priorities and to work in the agency's environment. Suggestions for effective recruitment techniques include:

• Ensure that recruiters and selection officials work closely with human resources and EEO/civil rights/special emphasis staff during the recruiting process. Maintaining close relationships with the experts will facilitate a smooth and easy recruiting process.
• Know the competition and their recruiting needs. Issuing one vacancy announcement is no longer an effective method of finding candidates. Learn where the candidates go to find jobs and information about finding jobs -- make sure the agency's message can be found. Consider using a variety of common job search locations, such as:
  • college placement centers,
  • minority student associations,
  • college organizations of students with disabilities,
  • high schools,
  • Internet websites,
  • newspapers and magazines,
  • community newsletters,
  • radio announcements,
  • community centers,
  • professional organizations,
  • minority organizations,
  • libraries, and
  • grocery stores.

In addition, employees can provide recommendations regarding good sources of diverse candidates (their alma maters, professional organizations, etc.).

• Candidates must feel there is a match between their personal goals and the agency's goals. To create and foster a positive image, state the agency's mission and goals clearly and include an inspiring vision. Develop a theme for the recruiting message and craft it to fit each audience.
• When developing a recruitment plan, consider campus visits, job fairs, brochures, displays, and website use.
• Design a long-term recruitment plan with input from managers, supervisors, and employees, as well as from specialists in the areas of human resources management and EEO/civil rights/special emphasis. Be creative.
• Develop and maintain long-term partnerships with academia and professional associations for the purpose of recruiting high-quality candidates. The goal of partnering is to start the recruitment process ahead of the actual recruitment schedule.  Relationships with these sources, which are often best formalized through memoranda of understanding or formal agreements, can afford both sides opportunities for increased awareness and opportunities.

  Examples of partnering activities include:

  • making regular presentations to faculty, students, and the community about issues of interest to both the agency and the school or community
  • making visits to high schools, using video tapes and CD-ROMs to describe the agency's work
  • hosting field trips to the agency
  • sponsoring agency employee volunteer activities such as mentoring and tutoring
  • offering presentations at meetings and conferences of professional associations

• Consider partnering with OPM to help spread information about Federal job opportunities by supporting the installation of touchscreen computers in academic institutions with high enrollments of minorities.
• To help educate the Federal workforce of the future, work closely with minority academic institutions, school systems with significant minority representation, and minority-serving organizations throughout the Nation.
• Design activities to support Executive orders⁽²¹⁾ to strengthen the capabilities of minority academic institutions. This will enhance the institutions' ability to provide minorities with the skills and competencies that Federal agencies need.
• Widely publicize job opportunities inside and outside the Federal Government. Agencies now have the ability to develop their own vacancy announcements and instantly post them on USAJOBS network of information systems (Website, telephone, and kiosks) where they can be seen worldwide, 24 hours a day. Agencies should explore ways to recruit from all sources when filling positions, including those in the Senior Executive Service and managerial and supervisory positions at grades GS-13 to GS-15, in order to attract diverse candidates.
• Make sure vacancy announcements provide a realistic preview of the jobs and that they highlight points of interest. Think about what would make an exceptional person want to work for the agency.
• Select a diverse cadre of recruiters that includes representatives from program areas as well as staff areas such as human resources and EEO/civil rights/special emphasis. They should have the ability to deliver the recruiting message effectively. This is an essential step in achieving quality results in recruiting for diversity.
• Ensure that senior managers are directly involved in planning and conducting recruitment activities. As leaders who are familiar with their agency's cultures and needs, as managers who understand skills needs, and as selecting officials, they are an important part of the agency's recruitment activities.
• Design a training program for recruiters that includes information about internal hiring procedures, personnel flexibilities, effective interview techniques, affirmative employment goals, and appropriate questions and behavior.
• Follow up with candidates. Send follow up letters or make phone calls to candidates who were met on the recruitment trips. It is important to make sure that candidates have access to someone knowledgeable after the recruiting contact is over.

Hiring

After finding high-quality candidates, the agency must now hire them. When implementing a diversity program, several aspects of hiring are important to consider:

• Review internal human resources policies, processes, and operations. Often, if agencies are unable to make quick job offers, good candidates are lost to competitors who are able to move quickly. Many flexibilities are available to agencies and reviewing internal staffing procedures may identify new ways to streamline hiring.
• Take full advantage of customizing the competitive process by using the many staffing flexibilities and hiring authorities available. Take full advantage of technology by using USAJOBS and accepting online applications.
• Consider using a variety of available hiring authorities. The best method to fill jobs will differ depending on the situation. Commonly used appointing authorities include:
  • Student Employment Program. The program has two components: Student Temporary Employment and Student Career Experience. Both programs offer valuable, paid work experience to all students -- high school, vocational and technical, associate degree, undergraduate and graduate. Students may be employed year-round and receive a flexible schedule of work assignments.
  • Presidential Management Program (PMI) Program. This two-year internship program is designed to attract to the Federal service outstanding graduate students (Master's and Doctoral-level) from a wide variety of academic disciplines who have an interest in, and commitment to, a career in the analysis and management of public policies and programs. Upon successful completion of the internship, PMIs are eligible for conversion to a permanent Government positions and further promotional opportunities
  • Selective Placement Opportunities. These include special appointing authorities for people with disabilities. The use of these authorities provides a unique opportunity for appointees to demonstrate their potential to successfully perform the essential duties of a position.
• Use the Outstanding Scholar and Bilingual/Bicultural hiring authorities as a supplement to competitive examinations to recruit at the GS-5 and GS-7 levels for positions covered by the Luevano consent decree, as appropriate.
• Hire for part-time, intermittent, and seasonal work, or use temporary and term appointments where appropriate. This may attract a group of candidates who are not currently interested in full time or permanent jobs.
• Consider using the authority to pay recruitment and relocation bonuses to increase the agency's ability to compete with other employers.

Maintaining a Diverse, High-Quality Workforce

Achieving a diverse, high-quality workforce by successfully attracting and hiring the desired employee mix is only the first step. Having made investments to recruit and hire high-quality employees, the agency risks wasting those efforts absent a strong retention strategy. The agency's next objective is to ensure that their valuable employees stay with the agency. That goal is the focus of the second major set of elements to be included in the design and implementation of the agency's diversity program.

These elements can be described as part of a broad model of rewards, which sustain employee commitment. These rewards include support for:

• a flexible and supportive work environment, including the quality of the supervision and leadership employees receive
• an emphasis on learning and development
• effective rewards and recognition systems

These aspects of work and working conditions are clearly becoming at least as important to employees' decisions to stay with an organization as their direct pay and benefits levels. An agency that commits to cultivating these broader rewards will be far better positioned to retain the diverse workforce it builds.

A Supportive Work Environment

A supportive work environment is one that provides employees with the direction and tools they need to perform the work of the organization to the very best of their ability. As an employer, the Federal Government offers many governmentwide programs to support employees; other aspects of a supportive work environment are in the hands of individual agencies. Actions to support employees include:

• Ensure that supervisors and managers are provided leadership and diversity training. Their understanding of the benefits and rewards of a diverse workforce helps create a supportive work environment that enhances the potential of all employees.
• Emphasize existing quality of worklife initiatives as effective policies that advance the interests of a diverse workforce. These initiatives include programs such as:
  • Alternative Work Schedules
  • Family-Friendly Leave Programs
  • Part-time Employment and Job Sharing
  • Telecommuting
  • Dependent Care Support Programs
  • Employee Assistance Programs
• Develop a process to provide reasonable accommodation to job applicants and employees with disabilities. Agencies are required to make reasonable accommodations to the physical and mental limitations of an applicant or employee who is a qualified person with a disability, unless the accommodation would impose undue hardship on the agency. In addition, competitive service agencies shall include reasonable accommodation language in job announcements to inform applicants with disabilities that Federal agencies will consider reasonable accommodation requests.
• Ensure that agency facilities offer a safe and productive work environment. Employees spend a significant portion of their lives in agency surroundings. Keeping them pleasant conveys a sense of pride and respect that helps keep employees on board.
• Foster a community spirit and a sense of belonging by offering employees a vehicle for becoming involved outside the formal workplace in a variety of recreational and volunteer activities.

Learning and Development

Professional development and training opportunities are important reasons why valued employees choose to stay with an organization. Agencies can use a variety of approaches to establish a climate that supports continuous learning and development, including:

• Establish clear paths for acquiring the skills, knowledge, and experience that employees need for their continual learning and career development.
• Use a variety of ways to provide training and development experiences for employees, such as:
  • developing formal and informal mentoring programs,
  • using CD-ROMs and other interactive and online training technology,
  • using internal and external training courses, and
  • establishing individual learning accounts (ILAs).
• Provide training opportunities for all employees.  Through investments in training, agencies reflect the value they place on employees and support employees in their own interest in keeping their skills updated in order to remain competitive.
• Encourage employees to become mentors. In particular, senior managers should be strongly encouraged to mentor individuals from different cultural, racial, or academic backgrounds.
• Use tuition reimbursement programs. Agencies have the authority to pay all or part of the necessary expenses for training and formal education.
• Widely publicize developmental opportunities for employees, such as detail assignments and leadership training, to give everyone interested a chance to participate in assignments that prepare them for higher-level positions.

Rewards and Recognition

The systems that reward and engage employees are key to maintaining a diverse, high-quality workforce. All people desire to see their efforts acknowledged. Many aspects of Federal pay, awards, and benefits systems are subject to governmentwide policies and procedures. Nonetheless, agencies must be vigilant about ensuring that merit and results serve as the drivers of differences in rewards. Agencies should use all aspects of pay flexibilities and awards to retain top employees.

• Use awards to recognize significant contributions. These can be lump sum awards or accelerated pay provided through quality step increases. Agencies should continually monitor their use of awards, incentives, and recognition to ensure that individuals and groups all receive their fair share based on transparent criteria and well-understood processes for nominating and granting awards.
• Consider paying retention allowances when challenged to keep particular skills available. Agencies should continually monitor the use of such allowances to check for any evidence of discrimination, and act quickly in the event any is detected. Such internal accountability will help preserve the credibility of such tools and their utility for dealing with retention problems.

Sustaining Commitment

The mark of a truly successful diversity program is one that becomes ingrained in the culture and the business processes of an agency and is sustained over time. Agencies can take several steps to facilitate this continuity.

Monitor Results

Agencies should develop systems of measures to continually monitor the effectiveness of their diversity initiatives and make adjustments as needed. The results should be shared and discussed with senior managers and supervisors.

• Regularly monitor the agency workforce profile. Periodic analysis of the resulting data will help determine progress and successes. In turn, the data may be used to adjust recruiting strategies and other workforce planning initiatives as needed.
• Monitor existing career development systems and programs (e.g., who is being chosen for non-routine assignments, special projects, rotational opportunities, training, and conference participation) to ensure that cultural bias is not a factor in participation rates. Evaluate and re-engineer career development systems and programs to better achieve the agency's diversity goals.
• Work with EEO/civil rights office to monitor agencywide numbers and trends regarding formal EEO complaints.
• Monitor the number and diversity of applicants and participants in developmental opportunities and assess the effectiveness of the publicity efforts.

Accountability

To succeed in developing and sustaining strong diversity initiatives, agency heads should hold their executives, managers, and supervisors accountable for achieving results. OPM also assesses agencies' effectiveness in implementing diversity initiatives.

• Build accountability for hiring, retaining, and developing a diverse, high-quality workforce into the performance management systems for managers and supervisors.
• Ensure that candidates for the Senior Executive Service have certain leadership competencies which include "Cultural Awareness." Selecting officials are accountable for ensuring that the candidates provide examples which evidence possession of such competencies.

Celebrate Success

In addition to holding managers and supervisors accountable for building and maintaining a diverse, high-quality workforce, agencies should also remember to recognize successes.

• Identify and reward champions, publicizing their accomplishments.
• Consider nominating senior executives for Presidential Rank Awards to recognize their accomplishments related to building and maintaining a diverse, high-quality workforce. The Rank Award is the highest level of recognition a member of the Senior Executive Service can receive. The selection criteria for this award use ECQs to recognize executives who have demonstrated unusual success in building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse, well trained, highly motivated, and productive.
• Consider establishing an agencywide diversity award.

OPM Leadership Activities OPM is assessing agencies' effectiveness in implementing their diversity initiatives. OPM's Office of Merit Systems Oversight and Effectiveness reviews agency efforts and results as part of its overall assessment of the effectiveness of personnel management in each agency. Individual oversight reports to each agency includes the findings regarding diversity issues. OPM reviews and reports on the progress of each agency's Hispanic Employment Initiative in its "Annual Report to Congress: Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program." OPM ensures that the Federal Government's senior executives are selected and developed for leadership competencies that support diversity. These leadership competencies are associated with the Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs), which are the foundation upon which senior executives are selected and developed governmentwide. "Cultural Awareness" is the ability to initiate and manage cultural change within the organization to impact organizational effectiveness. The key characteristics are: "Valuing cultural diversity and other differences; fostering an environment in which people who are culturally diverse can work together cooperatively in achieving organizational goals." "Assessing employees' unique developmental needs and providing developmental opportunities that maximize employees" capabilities and contribute to the achievement of organizational goals; developing leadership in others through coaching and mentoring." "Resolving conflicts in a positive and constructive manner. This includes promoting labor/management partnerships and dealing effectively with employees relations matters, attending to morale and organizational climate issues, handling administrative, labor management, and EEO issues, and taking disciplinary actions when other means have not been successful."

Continuing Communication and Development

To sustain the successes of expanding the diversity of the workforce, agencies should ensure that they have effective communications strategies and diversity training in place for managers, supervisors, and employees.

• Provide training to all staff and managers about practical ways to make a diverse workforce a strength for the entire organization. This may include such subjects as the value of understanding differences, identifying an agency's culture and values, and cross-cultural communication.
• Train managers and supervisors about their EEO and AEP responsibilities as well as the existing tools to help them carry out their responsibilities in these areas.
• Sponsor special observances to help educate the general workforce about the contributions of diverse groups and/or help eliminate some of the stereotypes that serve as impediments to full employment. The SEP Managers can help plan and implement these events.

OPM Leadership Activities OPM's management leadership curriculum is keeping pace with the evolution of diversity. In these key leadership seminars, managers and executives learn how to make diversity an organizational advantage. The Management Development Centers offer a diversity seminar, "Diversity: A Business Necessity for the Millennium," for individuals GS-13 through GS-15 or equivalent who have responsibility for supervising or managing a workforce and who want a better understanding of how to build and manage a diverse, high-quality workforce. The seminar focuses on how to treat diversity as an important organizational advantage for public organizations of the 21st century. OPM has also incorporated the subject of diversity into the Federal Executive Institute's offerings to members of the Federal Senior Executive Service.