Summary

The Office of the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), which maintains congressional buildings, the Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress, lags behind other federal and private sector organizations in hiring women and minorities. Although GAO noted progress in some areas, many generally accepted principles of modern personnel management are absent in AOC's system. GAO concludes that this situation has led to a demoralized and distrustful working environment, as evidenced by the views expressed to GAO by employees working at the Senate Office Buildings and Senate Restaurants. AOC lacks an Equal Employment Opportunity Program with affirmative action features to ensure a diverse workforce. As a result, women and minorities at AOC were underrepresented in higher-paying skilled and managerial jobs. AOC's hiring and promotion policies and procedures are not defined in an agencywide staffing plan or other document. Case file reviews discovered that hiring and promotion procedures were not uniform or fully documented. Moreover, supervisors were not required to provide employees with annual performance appraisals or routine feedback on job performance, and AOC employees had little chance of receiving agency-funded, skill-based training.

GAO found that: (1) the AOC personnel management system does not exhibit many generally accepted personnel management principles; (2) AOC does not have an adequate equal employment opportunity (EEO) program to ensure that it achieves a diverse workforce and that women and minorities are fairly represented in higher-paying managerial positions; (3) AOC hiring and promotion policies and procedures are not well defined or adequately documented; (4) AOC employees were often unaware of their job performance because supervisors are not required to provide job performance appraisals or routine performance feedback; (5) AOC employees' ability to improve their performance and advance to targeted positions is hindered by the lack of skilled-based training opportunities; (6) although the AOC hearing process is generally fair, employees are often unaware of their options for appealing disciplinary actions; (7) AOC lack of communication with its employees has contributed to its workforce's low morale; (8) although AOC has taken some initial steps to update its personnel system, it needs to develop and implement a detailed plan to incorporate commonly accepted personnel principles and policies; and (9) AOC personnel management improvements will require increased congressional support, oversight, and funding.