EEOC: Not including the EEO director among senior management may suggest a lack of priority. Image: ANDREI ASKIRKA/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffFederal agencies are still lagging on some measures of commitment to equal employment opportunity, the EEOC has reported, most notably regarding whether the top official for EEO reports directly to the head of the agency.
That was the case with just 66 percent of agencies in an assessment covering fiscal 2021 even though that reporting structure has been required by rules for many years and was codified in law in 2021, the EEOC said. “Not including the EEO director among senior management may suggest to employees that the agency does not consider EEO a priority,” it said, noting that a 2022 study found that nine tenths of agencies with such a structure say it has a positive effect on their EEO program.
Om the other three measures of EEO commitment that the EEOC uses, senior managers participated in the barrier analysis process at 78 percent of agencies, 93 percent evaluate managers and supervisors on commitment to EEO. and 93 percent have prominently posted reasonable accommodation procedures for those with disabilities.
“Previous research has shown that employers who demonstrate commitment to EEO through their policies and practices have better EEO outcomes. For example, managerial involvement in EEO efforts and placing those with EEO responsibilities in high-ranking position have been shown to improve diversity and inclusion. In addition, reasonable accommodations [for those with disabilities’ not only increase workplace diversity, but improve retention and morale,” the report says.
The report also showed, as have prior reports, that the federal government employs higher percentages of minority groups than their share in the overall workforce except among Hispanics/Latinos (the report’s terms); that by gender, its percentage of males is higher than the overall workforce; and that both women and minorities are less represented in the government at higher levels than at lower levels. It further said that in 2021 the government for the first time reached a goal of persons with certain more severe “targeted” disabilities making up at least 2 percent of the workforce.
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