The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Personnel Management need to better coordinate their roles in leading EEO in the federal workplace, the Government Accountability Office has said.
It stated that EEO and human capital officials it surveyed said not all requirements in the EEO framework contribute to affirmative employment, workforce diversity, or influencing human capital policies, practices, and strategic planning.
Officials also said some requirements such as EEOC’s affirmative employment program and OPM’s program for recruiting minorities and women are redundant, according to GAO-06-214.
It said that agencies sometimes have to submit the same information in different reports to EEOC and OPM, and that officials said they experienced additional administrative burden because of inconsistent requirements.
Officials also said that guidance from EEOC on EEO, affirmative employment, and workforce diversity issues was more frequent and more useful than that from OPM, according to the report.
It said officials also questioned the usefulness of feedback from EEOC and OPM on their agencies’ performance or reports the agencies submitted, with under half reporting that feedback was useful.
GAO also said it found little evidence of coordination at the operating level between EEOC and OPM in developing policy, providing guidance, and exercising oversight, despite overlapping responsibilities in federal workplace EEO.
The two agencies do not routinely review reports that one or the other receive from other agencies, nor do EEOC and OPM officials coordinate when conducting on-site reviews of EEO-related matters at agencies, GAO said.
It said good management practice as well as federal statute and executive order call for coordination, and that not doing so results in a lost opportunity to realize consistency, efficiency, and public value in EEO policy making and oversight.
