IDENTIFYING TARGET POSITIONS

Critical to the preparation of the plan is the identification of appropriate target positions for which lower level employees will be developed. To arrive at the number and kinds of target jobs, agencies should:

First.-analyze current and projected staffing needs to determine the number and series of anticipated position vacancies and estimate when those vacancies need to be filled. (FPM 332, Appendix M-Guide to Short-Range Manpower Planning)

Second.-review current employee skills to determine which of these position vacancies may be filled through merit promotion procedures by persons who presently meet qualification standards. (FPM 713, Subchapter 2 and Appendix A-Maximum Utilization of Skills and Training)

Third.—determine which current and projected position vacancies are appropriate for Upward Mobility purposes; review existing technical and professional positions to determine those which may be restructured for Upward Mobility purposes. Designate these target jobs. (Handbook X118 and Personnel Management Series Pamphlet #26-Upward Mobility Through Job Restructuring)

ASSESSING EMPLOYEE POTENTIAL

As a prerequisite to employee participation in an Upward Mobility program, the potential of eligible employees should be determined. Potential is defined as the ability (including desire) to acquire and use skills and knowledges needed to successfully perform higher level work, specifically in those kinds of occupations and at grade levels which could or will be targets for upwardly mobile employees.

The first step in the assessment of employee potential is to identify the skills, knowledges and abilities required for successful performance in the target job. These may be identified through job analysis. Agencies should define the target job in terms of specific tasks to be performed and establish those skills, knowledges, and abilities required to perform each task. With data obtained from this analysis, employee potential for the target jobs may then be measured by such tools as:

(1) performance ratings which show transferability of related knowledges, skills and abilities;

(2) self-rating instruments which show employee motivation to assume more complex tasks and greater responsibilities;

(3) tests and interviews which measure likelihood of success in meeting target job requirements. (See FPM Letter 335-10, Revised Instructions for Use of Written Tests in Promotion and Internal Placement.)

In all cases, employee potential must be identified through merit principles. (FPM Supplement 335-1, Evaluation of Employees for Promotion and Internal Placement.)

To complete the planning process, agencie should follow the steps outlined in the attached Upward Mobility Planning Chart.

TRAINING FOR UPWARD MOBILITY

In developing training plans in support of Upward Mobility programs, agencies must ensure that any training is related to the performance of official duties in a position commensurate with the employee's potential. All training programs called for in the EEO Act fall within the bounds of Chapter 41 of Title 5, United States Code (formerly the Government Employees Training Act), if the particular agency is covered by that chapter. Congress fully anticipated that the law would be used to fund training for advancement as well as for the performance of an employee's current official duties. The only restrictions on training for advancement in Chapter 41 are (1) the prohibition on training for an academic degree in order to qualify for a position for which the degree is a basic requirement and (2) the prohibition on training an employee in a non-Government facility for the purpose of filling a position by promotion if there is in the agency concerned another employee of equal ability and suitability who is fully qualified and available.

Other pertinent requirements of particular significance which affect training in support of Upward Mobility programs are the following:

FPM 335 and FPM Supplement 335-1 Evaluation of Employose a Pron and temal Plocard F4 410 Training

'Guidelines for Agency Intamal Evo edon of EEO Programs CSC Panel Stereyament Soria Pamplet #24 (PQ #0600-0613)

When agency employees are trained at agency expense, the training must be to meet demonstrated agency needs for trained manpower and be utilized by the agency.

All training must be related to current or future duties within the employing agency. Training for possible vacancies in other agencies is not authorized.

An agency must use established merit promotion procedures in selecting employees for Upward Mobility training given primarily to prepare trainees for advancement and which is required to qualify for promotion or for reassignment to a position with known promotion potential.

For a more detailed statement, designed to equip agency managers, training specialists, EEO staffs, and others with a working knowledge of the purpose of Upward Mobility training and the requirements of law and regulation which have a particular bearing on this kind of training, see "Training in Support of Upward Mobility Programs" (Attachment to CSC Bulletin 410-83). That statement is in harmony with policies on training appearing in Chapter 410 of the Federal Personnel Manual.

Available only from Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington, D.C. 20402.

Personnel Management Series No. 19.

Personnel Management Series No. 24.

Personnel Management Series No. 23.

"How to Make the Most of the Merit System".

"Guidelines for Agency Internal Evaluation of EEO Programs".

"Guidelines for Federal Women's Program Coordinators".

Personnel Management Series No. "Upward Mobility Through Job Restructur26.

FEEO-1

PS 14 June 1968.

Films

ing".

"Expanding Opportunities-Women in the

Federal Government".

"Matching Person to Job-The Job Element Method ... What it is and How it Works".

"What's the Matter with Alice?"-A 25-minute 16mm color film for orientation of supervisors to Upward Mobility concepts. May be purchased for $225 per print from NEWSFILM USA, 21 W. 46th Street, New York, N.Y. 10036

"The Supervisor and Equal Employment Opportunity"-A 35-minute 16mm color film which develops a variety of opinions and attitudes toward the EEO program and presents a clear statement of the EEO responsibilities of Federal supervisors. May be purchased for $185 per print from DATAFILMS, 2625 Temple Street, Los Angeles, California 90026

"Remember My Name"-An 18-minute, 16mm color film which presents views of Federal employees and managers on Upward Mobility. May be purchased for $74 per print from the National Audiovisual Center, Washington, D.C. 20409

"Upward Mobility-The NAVAIR Way”—A 30-minute color film describing how Naval Systems Command conceived and planned its Upward Mobility program. Available on loan from CSC Central and Regional Offices, the Regional Office of Naval Civilian Manpower Management or by contacting the nearest Naval installation.

Mr. KATOR. All right, we do have some statistics here. Mr. Buchanan? Mr. BUCHANAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just on the line-I am not against everybody in the civil service that is already there-let me ask you a question or two about that. Is there a limit as to how far a person may move up at any given point in time as to the number of grades, for instance, if an opportunity comes along?

Mr. HAMPTON. There is an amendment in the law called the Whitten amendment which requires a person must serve at least 1 year in the next lowest grade before he even becomes eligible for promotion. Mr. BUCHANAN. Can he leapfrog among grades?

Mr. HAMPTON. Not without receiving an exception. It is based upon your certain criteria.

Mr. BUCHANAN. This is all set by law?

Mr. HAMPTON. Yes.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Do you feel this is in any way an inhibition to upward mobility?

Mr. HAMPTON. I don't think insofar as upward mobility is concerned that the Whitten amendment has any impact.

Mr. BUCHANAN. The fact a person goes in as a GS-12, and has to go up step by step-say a GS-15 opens up-you feel that is not an inhibition? Mr. HAMPTON. Not in terms of upward mobility because when I am talking about upward mobility, I am talking about basically lower level jobs than a grade 12.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Lets say the higher levels then, would this apply at the higher levels?

Mr. HAMPTON. Yes.

Mr. BUCHANAN. A GS-12, could he move to a GS-15?

Mr. HAMPTON. No.

Mr. ANDOLSEK. Not without an exception.

Mr. BUCHANAN. What would be the occasion for an exception? Mr. HAMPTON. Undue hardship to the agency is one of them and grounds of inequity, and I don't remember all of the exceptions.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Do you have any idea as to how many exceptions would have been granted, for example, in the course of a year's time? Mr. HAMPTON. Not very many.

Mr. KATOR. The individual at the grade 12 level, who is qualified for a 13, before the year is up may go to the 13, if he comes from a competitive register of persons who are available for the position.

Mr. HAMPTON. Take an individual who has accepted a position at grade 11. At the time he accepted that position, he was also qualified for a grade 13, 14, or 15, and was on the register. If he is selected off the register, he can go.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Let me ask you about advertising of jobs. Are all of these upward jobs advertised so the people, in general, know about them and have an opportunity to get a shot at them?

Mr. HAMPTON. It depends on the individual agency's merit promotion program. I think, in our requirements for merit promotion, I am not sure exactly how that goes, but it is optional with the agency on the advertising outside the agency of top-level jobs.

Mr. BUCHANAN. So top-level jobs may open in agency A, about which people in agencies B and C might be qualified, but would not necessarily know-people in the outside community might not necessarily know about it?

Mr. HAMPTON. That is correct. There are a lot of merit promotion programs though that do have requirements that supergrades be advertised as well as lower grades, such as grade 15.

Mr. BUCHANAN. All grades up through 15-are they advertised, in all cases?

Mr. HAMPTON. I am not sure of that. Some agencies have a nationwide plan on advertising and others don't. Some have collective bargaining agreements.

Mr. KATOR. But all people have an opportunity for positions at grades 13 or 14, because we have registers for open competitive purposes and agencies oftentimes, as a part of their promotion program, will go to those registers to seek out additional people in order to review their qualifications against those already in the agency.

Mr. HAMPTON. The agency can request a certificate at any time to fill any position.

Mr. BUCHANAN. But it is optional to the agency?

Mr. HAMPTON. Yes. Some agencies have said in their agreements they would not do that.

Mr. BUCHANAN. We are talking about grade 15 down. Above that level, in a instances, there would not be advertising?

Mr. KATOR. At those levels agencies are required to make an outreach recruitment effort and to attempt to make an executive search. They are required to do that before we can fill a supergrade position. Mr. HAMPTON. And also we have a special roster of people in grades 15 and so forth. It is up to date at varying degrees because it requires an individual, on his own initiative, to keep his name in it. An agency can come to us and get a list of anyone qualified for particular positions.

Mr. BUCHANAN. I found out the other day about a good job in an agency that is 2 years old and it is hard for me to see how the people having been there 2 years-have any more right to

Mr. HAMPTON. Chances are that job was canceled because they usually withdraw it if it is not filled in 6 months.

Mr. BUCHANAN. I mean the agency was 2 years old, not the job. Mr. KATOR. If it is a supergrade position, the agency does have to tell the Commission what their recruiting plan is and we have to approve that before they can go out and make the search and then we look at the qualifications of the various people they want to hire and our approval is required before they can be hired.

Mr. BUCHANAN. They are required to notify you that position does exist?

Mr. KATOR. Yes, if it is at the supergrade level.

Mr. BUCHANAN. You mentioned the Spanish language arrangements you had made. Have you made any such arrangements with respect to other language groups, Oriental Americans or any others?

Mr. KATOR. No, not as to publications or other languages.

Mr. BUCHANAN. Spanish language is significantly a larger number of people.

Mr. HAMPTON. The same principal would apply in the Southwest and California, where you have a large number of Spanish-speaking people