AAFEA IN THE
NEWS
April 4,
2008
Concerns
About Diversity Bills
The Bush administration yesterday lodged "initial concerns" about legislation
that would provide for more diversity in the Senior Executive Service, a group
of about 6,000 career leaders who usually hold high-level management jobs in
government agencies.
Minorities are underrepresented among federal executives compared with lower
levels of the government.
Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.)
and
Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii)
have been holding hearings on diversity in the executive ranks.
Bills sponsored by Davis and Akaka would require the
Office of Personnel Management
to create a Senior Executive Service resource office. The bills also would
order each federal agency to create three-member SES panels, each of which
would include at least one member of a racial or ethnic minority and at least
one woman.
Nancy H. Kichak, an associate director at the OPM, said at a House-Senate
hearing yesterday that the
Justice Department has
advised that imposing race and gender requirements on the proposed panels "are
likely unconstitutional" under equal-protection precedents.
And creating a new office in the OPM would substantially increase costs for
the agency, she said.
Several
employee groups said the Davis-Akaka bill is long overdue. William A. Brown
Sr., president of the African American Federal Executive Association,
said the legislation would provide a substitute for current methods of
selecting federal executives "that will give us better results."
The bill provides for "a diverse panel and a better way, if you would, of
doing business," he testified.
February 28, 2008
WAEPA To Sponsor President's
Award At AAFEA Conference
Worldwide Assurance for Employees of Public Agencies (WAEPA) has announced
that it will be sponsoring the presentation of the President's Award at the
fourth annual conference of the African American Federal Executive
Association (AAFEA).
The conference is being held on April 8, 2008 at the Mayflower Hotel in
Washington, D.C. The theme of this year's conference is "Leadership Ready,"
and will feature workshops and presentations on subjects such as developing
executive core competencies, interviewing techniques, mentoring, mobility in
the Senior Executive Service (SES), and the legislative process. The
conference is aimed at GS-14
and GS-15 federal employees, as well as members of the SES.
...Founded
in 1943, WAEPA provides life insurance and long-term care coverage to civilian
federal employees and their dependents. To learn more about WAEPA, visit
their website or call
1-800-368-3484.
October 5, 2007
Bill Pushes Diversity Among
Senior Executives
Legislation to promote diversity in
the government's career executive ranks was introduced yesterday by the
chairmen of the House and Senate federal workplace subcommittees.
Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.) and
Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) said their bill would address the lack of
diversity in the Senior Executive Service, the group of about 6,300 career
executives who manage the day-to-day operations of the government.
...The bill also would require
federal agencies to establish SES evaluation panels to review the
qualifications of applicants for SES jobs. Each panel would have three
members. One must be a woman and one other a member of a racial or ethnic
minority group.
...Leaders of employee groups were
on hand for yesterday's announcement to show support for the legislation.
They included William A. Brown Sr.,
president of the African American Federal Executives Association; Jose
Osegueda, president of the National Association of Hispanic Federal
Executives; Carson K. Eoyang, executive director of the Asian American
Government Executives Network; Rhonda Trent, president of Federally Employed
Women; and Darlene H. Young, president of Blacks in Government. [more]
October 3, 2007
Lawmakers propose new board to
oversee pay policies, promote diversity in SES
Two subcommittee chairmen will
introduce legislation Thursday that would create an office to oversee
policies, standards and promote more diversity in the Senior Executive
Service.
The
bill proposes to create a Senior Executive Service Resources Office that would
track the race, ethnicity, gender and disabilities
of people qualified to be
appointed to the SES. It would also track and publish statistics on the SES
composition, create a program to recruit minorities, women and disabled
people, and establish mentoring programs.
[more]
May 31, 2007
Getting to the SES
A federal
employee's ultimate pay raise comes with entrance to the Senior Executive
Service, where salaries top out at about $170,000 a year.
But to snag one of the 6,000 or so spots in the SES, employees have to attain
a very specific set of skills and knowledge. The Office of Personnel
Management calls them Executive Core Qualifications. There's a myriad of them,
and they can be hard to demonstrate. Employees looking to make the jump to the
SES are advised to tailor their career moves with the qualifications in mind.
...In late April, the African American Federal Executives Association
announced a new training initiative for its members at its annual conference
in Williamsburg, Va. It's a leadership development program that will pair
current and retired SES members with up-and-coming federal employees to help
them with resumes and interview techniques, and give them a chance to gain
needed experience.
[more]
May 15, 2007
Little
progress in hiring minority executives
Agency
leaders must do more to bring minorities into executive-level positions in
government, minority groups told a House panel last week..
Of 6,350
senior executive positions, 546 8.6 percent are occupied by blacks,
according to Government Accountability Office data through September. And
Hispanic executives number 229 3.6 percent of career senior executives,
according to GAO.
The
reason the work force is not adequately diverse is because of flaws in the
selection process, not lack of training, said William Brown of the African
American Federal Executives Association at a May 10 hearing of the
House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on the federal work force.
[more]
May 11, 2007
Lawmakers probe agencies' diversity
efforts
At a hearing before the House
Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce,
representatives from six agencies and the U.S. Postal Service indicated that
while they have made great strides in increasing the number of women and
minority employees at their respective agencies, their greatest challenge is
drawing a more diverse pool of applicants.
...Still, some groups argued that
the government is not doing enough, especially in the face of a retirement
wave. "We must have a replacement workforce that will represent the mosaic of
America," said William Brown, president of the African American Federal
Executives Association.
Brown recommended that Congress work to ensure that OPM expand its SES
Candidate Development Program, which trains and prepares employees to become
senior executives. He recommended the program be expanded and funded to
accommodate 200 positions, adding that last year, OPM received approximately
5,000 applications, but accepted only 20 people.
[more]
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