We have made a special effort to recruit minority persons who receive Master's degrees in public administration (MPA) under the Urban Administration Fellows Program which is administered by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Public Administration under a Ford Foundation grant.
D. Since October we have offered jobs to 67 college women (this figure does not include 36 minority women). So far 37 have accepted positions. Three offers are still outstanding.
Our minority recruitment effort is not geared to only entry level GS-7 and 9 professionals. Since December we have hired 48 persons at the GS-11 level and above. Of those who have accepted these positions 9 are black (three of them are GS-15's) for 18.8 percent of the total. We have also hired 5 women (non-minority)--1 at grade 11, 3 at grade 13, and 1 at grade 15.
Our overall professional recruitment figures--college
recruits and upper levels--show that by June 30 we
can expect to hire 378 persons. Of these, our pro-
jections indicate that 85 of them will be minorities,
or 22.3 percent. Another 42 will be women (non-
minority), or 11.2 percent. If we further predict
that our current ratio of minority acceptances to
job offers remains steady at about 50 percent, we
predict that there will be 10 acceptances of the
20 job offers we now have outstanding. This would
boost our minority college recruits to 25.3 percent
of our total college hires.
Organization and Staffing
I. Personnel Relations Planning Committee
Established 20 months ago; members at senior
directorate level; considers and resolves policy
matters in personnel relations, union activities,
and EEO; meets quarterly
Steering Committee of PRPC meets semi-monthly.
Its 8 members include:
Established 20 months ago; elected by rank-and-
file employees in secret ballot; purpose is to
provide an effective means through which employees
may participate with management in developing EEO
policies and programs.
Election of new Council was conducted February 16;
14 members were elected, half for 2-year terms and
half for one-year terms; 4 additional seats are
guaranteed to employee organizations--American
Federation of Government Employees, National Federa-
tion of Federal Employees, GAO Employees Association,
and GAO Black Caucus.
Council members are granted four hours every two weeks to work on Council business.
EEO Officers and EEO Counselors
Thirteen new EEO Officers at senior management level were appointed in February to reflect GAO's new organizational alignment; each regional manager was also designated an LEO Officer.
In February some 40 persons responded to our request
for volunteers to become EEO Counselors; they were
screened and interviewed by members of the EEO Ad-
visory Council, the EEO Coordinator, and the Federal
Women's Program Coordinator; 13 persons were chosen
to become counselors in our headquarters facility;
they recently completed required Civil Service Com-
mission training and are now functioning as counselors.
We have also appointed persons in each regional office
to be counselors.
In October this full-time position was established
at the GS-15 level; it is presently filled by a
minority group member (Spanish surname). He also
has professional staff assistant, a woman, assigned
to his office full-time.
As needed, full-time professional staff is detailed
to EEO work on a project basis; for example, during
a 7-week period earlier this year 4 persons did
research on upward mobility programs in Federal
agencies and in GAO.
In February we had approximately 15-20 people
working full-time on updating and developing a
comprehensive statistical profile of GAO employees.
Basic purpose of this project is to provide a pre-
cision analytical tool for our EEO program, and
for our management improvement program in general.
This full-time position was created almost 2 years
ago in the Office of Personnel Management. It is
filled at the GS-13 levei by a minority group member
(Black).
In July 1972, at the request of the EEO Advisory
Council, we established the practice of using job
vacancy announcements to fill all competitive
positions below the GS-15 level, thereby permitting
all interested and qualified persons to compete more
openly for various jobs.
A frequent employee complaint is that the effective-
ness appraisal system dampens upward mobility because
it does not accurately measure an individual's pre-
sent job performance and his future potential. Our
Office of Personnel Management is presently engaged
in a comprehensive survey to determine how this
system can be improved.
In April 1971, a program was introduced in the
Transportation and Claims Division to provide greater
opportunity to employees in dead-end clerical positions.
To increase job opportunities for these employees, new
career ladder cierical positions that provided rota-
tional assignments, career counseling, and on-the-job and
classroom training were established at the GS-2, 3, and
4 grade levels. Additionally, senior clerical and
supervisory positions at grades GS-5, 6, 7, and 8 were
established to be filled on a competitive basis. Since
inception of the program, 6 employees have been promoted
to GS-3, 100 to GS-4, 41 to GS-5, 27 to GS-6, 1 to CS-7,
and 9 to GS-8.
What began several years ago as our secretarial training
program has now evolved into a major segment of our
upward mobility training program. Then, the training
was predominantly external. Today, it is mostly internal.
Last year this upward mobility training program provided
typing and other secretarial skills to 33 persons. Re-
cently we critically evaluated the program and have now
substantially revised it. Starting in June we will have
a 6-month training program for an initial group of about
25 employees at the GS-3, 4 grade levels who desire a
new career as a secretary.
In February a task force was established to develop
new job classifications of a "pre-professional"
nature. These will be "bridge" jobs between our
nonprofessional and professional positions. We
envision a career program under which employees will
be provided training and education which together with
required job restructuring will allow for greater ad-
vancement opportunities. The task force has been
directed to present by early Fall full recommendations
and a timetable for inmediate program implementation.
The task force, of which our EEO Deputy Director and
EEO Advisory Council chairman are members, meets at
It has a full-time profes
sional staff of 2 persons, one of them a woman. Within
the next 2 months we expect to hire a well-qualified
person to administer the program full-time. Several
weeks ago representatives of the Civil Service Commission's
Office of Upward Mobility received a detailed briefing
on the work of the task force to date, and their oral com-
ments were highly favorable.
During the period from July 1, 1971, through March 31, 1973, cur EEO Counselors were contacted by 35 employees with complaints of alleged discrimination. Twenty-eight of these complaints were informally resolved at the counseling stage. Seven employees did not obtain informal relief
and subsequently filed formal complaints of discrimination. Of these 7 complaints, 2 were subsequently withdrawn when resolutions were obtained which involved promotions.
The five remaining complaints were resolved or are being resolved as follows:
Case closed--Board of Appeals decision in favor
of GAO's decision--no discrimination found.
Case closed--Board of Appeals decision in favor
of GAO's decision--no discrimination found.
Case pending--GAO proposed decision of no dis-
crimination--complainant requested hearing by
Civil Service Commission--hearing held in March--
awaiting decision of complaint examiner.
Case pending--GAO decision of no discrimination--
complainant expected to appeal.
Case pending--GAO dismissed complaint for failure
of employee to prosecute--complainant appealing to
Board of Appeals.
See attachments for current estimates of personnel and financial resources for EEO in calendar year 1973.
1/ Serves as Coordinator, Sixteen-Point Program for the Spanish-speaking
2/ Regional Managers serve in these positions
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