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ASPER, a small, specialized organization, occupies

a very influential position within the Department but had no minority professionals as of July 7, 1971. For this reason, the Task Force decided to make a case study of the office by interviewing all of its employees. During the interviews, conducted between March 15 and June 8, 1971, employees were asked their impressions of ASPER's past and present recruitment policy for minorities, and to present ideas for a more effective policy. Clerical employees were also asked about the amount of training opportunities available to them.

A. The Investigation

1. Historical Background

ASPER is responsible "for providing leadership in

the development of policies and programs needed to promote the welfare of all workers", and it serves as "the focal point of responsibility for initiating policy planning and research and for forwarding recommendations to the Secretary". The office began operations with a staff of several people in 1957 as the Office of Research and Development under then Deputy Assistant Secretary Charles Stewart. In 1963, it became the Office of Policy, Planning and Research with Daniel P. Moynihan as the Director. At that time, the staff had only about five professionals and did not grow in size significantly until 1969 when this number increased from approximately ten to twenty-two and the office assumed its present name. It

should be noted that most of this recruitment was done in

ternally but that no affirmative action was taken to

identify qualified and interested minorities.

1/United States Government Organization Manual;

1969-70, Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service, GSA, p. 299.

2.

Recruitment Considerations

Two major constraints in recruiting for ASPER are

1) the smallness of the office which limits the number

of available new slots, and 2) the lack of entry-level

professional positions, GS 5 - 9.

Since the expansion

in 1969, ASPER has recruited only five professionals

Six professionals

and now has a total of twenty-five. have left the organization in the past year but three of them retired, and no present employee is due to retire in the near future. In addition, very few people have left ASPER over the years to work elsewhere.

The office, however, is not limited in its recruitment effort by the need for any specific background. Present employees represent a diversity of backgrounds, which include law, teaching and economics. The type of work done in ASPER requires the ability to write, to be creative and to work without supervision, but does not require any particular academic degree or set of experiences. Factors considered in determining if a person is qualified are: 1) amount of independence; 2) a sample of analytical writing; 3) a personal qualifications

statement, Standard Form 171, and 4) a personal inter

view by at least one staff member.

3. Summary of Interviews

The Task Force encountered a wide range of reactions

to ASPER's EEO Action Plan and to the subject of minority recruitment in general. These attitudes included deep

concern, anger, frustration, resignation and complete passiveness.

Some employees suggested that more staff

time be devoted to minority recruitment. These additional efforts would include speaking at colleges and universities, leaving the National Office to interview minority candidates, and establishing working relationships with community organizations having knowledge of qualified minorities. It was suggested that minorities in the Department be given more consideration as potential ASPER employees. In addition, they could also be sources of information and communication for minority recruitment. Some employees were angered because of the lack of minority professionals but did not expect any positive action in this area. They were sharply critical of the original Action Plan, submitted in February of 1971, and

not much happier with the revised plan of April, 1971. The revised plan reserves "either one or two positions for minority persons" out of a total of seven, but does not specify whether these reserved positions are professional or nonprofessional. This distinction is important

because five of ASPER's nine secretaries were minorities

as of July 7, 1971, so that reserving a nonprofessional position for a minority would be unnecessary for EEO pur

poses.

Others regarded the new plan as a step in the right direction and felt that ASPER would begin to hire minority professionals in the near future. Even though the Action Plan does not specifically set aside a professional position for a minority, an an unsuccessful attempt was made to fill a position in the Office of Evaluation with a minority before the end of fiscal year 1971. biguity with regards to filling this professional position is symptomatic of the entire plan (see Appendix D-1).

The am

2/ "We are prepared to reserve one professional posi

tion to be filled by a minority employee before the end of this fiscal year". FY 71 EEO Action Plan for ASPER, p.22.

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