Linda Thomas-Greenfield,
Chief Human Capital Officer
Linda Taglialatela,
Led by Director General Nancy J. Powell, we are dedicated to having the right people in the right place at the right time. We enjoy the full support of the Secretary of State and her management team. Secretary Clinton has said that “The heart of smart power is smart people," a saying that guides how we manage HR.
We have established the following priorities for the Bureau:
- Carry out the Secretary's goal of increasing the size of the Foreign Service by 25% by 2013 so that we can eliminate persistent staffing gaps and create a training float;
- Align staffing to fully staff Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan in support of our foreign policy priorities;
- Use Diplomacy 3.0 (Diplomacy, Development, and Defense) to effectively recruit, assign, and train employees in the tools they will need for a career in both the Civil and Foreign Service;
- Expand employee capacity through ongoing training, mentoring, and career development guidelines in order to create a highly skilled State Department workforce equipped to effectively handle the increasingly daunting and complex worldwide mission.
We also are taking many other initiatives to make this a better, more family-friendly place to work. For example, HR has received administration and congressional backing for a solution to the locality pay gap between Washington and the field, expanded the professional associates program for family employment, implemented benefits for same sex domestic partners and created a Disability and Reasonable Accommodations Division. HR is also developing a voluntary retirement savings plan to supplement the retirement plans of our LE Staff.
The Bureau of Human Resources (HR) has the critical responsibility of hiring, developing, assigning, and supporting the Department of State’s greatest assets – our people. The Bureau of Human Resources works to provide you with fast, fair, transparent, and compassionate service, and continually strives to serve you better.