AAAA Urges OPM and EEOC to Include Private Sector in a Consultative Role
The US Office of Personnel Management has issued the long-awaited Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan for federal employees. The OPM plan was a product of the presidential executive order 13583 calling for a diversity and inclusion policy and program for the federal sector. The Executive order "directs executive departments and agencies (agencies) to develop and implement a more comprehensive, integrated, and strategic focus on diversity and inclusion as a key component of their human resources strategies."
OPM defines workforce diversity and inclusion thusly:
"We define workforce diversity as a collection of individual attributes that together help agencies pursue organizational objectives efficiently and effectively. These include, but are not limited to, characteristics such as national origin, language, race, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, veteran status, and family structures. The concept also encompasses differences among people concerning where they are from and where they have lived and their differences of thought and life experiences.
We define inclusion as a culture that connects each employee to the organization; encourages collaboration, flexibility, and fairness; and leverages diversity throughout the organization so that all individuals are able to participate and contribute to their full potential."
The OPM's three principal goals are: Workforce Diversity (recruit from a diverse and qualified workforce), Workplace Inclusion (cultivate a culture that encourages collaboration and fairness), and Sustainability (develop structures to enable managers to manage diversity).
AAAA met with OPM staff including Director of Diversity Veronica Villalobos last week. OPM official Liz Montoya also addressed the AAAA board in September.
AAAA has urged the government to include non-governmental organizations including AAAA to assist in advising OPM in the development of such programs. Diversity management as a concept is not new to the private sector and AAAA is recommending that the government not reinvent the wheel and that it confer with those who have experience in managing diversity, affirmative action and EEO programs. The ultimate program may have implications for the private sector as well.
AAAA board members Gregory T. Chambers, ReNee Dunman, Delia Johnson and John Gonzalez have taken a lead role in this initiative. For a copy of the OPM Diversity and Inclusion Plan, go to: http://www.opm.gov/diversityandinclusion/reports/GovernmentwideDIStrategicPlan.pdf
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