A Better, More Diverse Senior Executive Service in 2050

Recommendations to achieve a better,more diverse Senior Executive ServiceThe federal government should take several steps to ensure the career SES looks morelike the country over the next 20-40 years and best serves the diverse nation it represents.Building on the actions taken by the Obama administration—see the box below—wecall on the federal government to take the following three steps:• Make a commitment to closing the diversity gap in the Senior Executive Service.• Develop a stronger applicant pool.• Use data to better promote diversity.Let’s look at each of these steps in turn.The Obama administration’s commitment to diversityOn August 18, 2011, President Obama issued an executive orderto establish a coordinated government-wide initiative to promotediversity and inclusion in the federal workforce. The executiveorder requires the Office of Personnel Management and the Officeof Management and Budget to work with the deputy secretaries ofagencies and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission todevelop a government-wide plan to promote diversity. The executiveorder says the plan must “identify appropriate practices toimprove the effectiveness of each agency’s efforts to recruit, hire,promote, retain, develop, and train a diverse and inclusive workforce.”The plan must be issued by mid-November and updatedevery four years.The executive order then requires each major executive branchagency to take action to implement the government-wide plan.There is a specific requirement for each agency to develop its owndiversity and inclusion strategic plan for “recruiting, hiring, training,developing, advancing, promoting, and retaining a diverseworkforce”—these plans need to be complete within 120 daysof the government-wide plan (by mid-March 2012) and updatedevery four years.The Obama administration recently also made a commitment topromote diversity in the Senior Executive Service. In a joint memoto all of its members, OPM Director John Berry and OMB DeputyDirector Jeff Zients committed to set up a pilot project to develophigh-potential staff at the GS-13-15 level and prepare them forthe Senior Executive Service. They also promised a shared capacityacross agencies to market and recruit, and an external talent searchto attract diverse candidates. The recommendations of this reportbuild on these initiatives. 35The Obama administration also has hired a much more diverse groupinto senior political appointments. In September 2010 24 percentof political appointees were minorities and 40 percent were womencompared to 10 percent and 23 percent, respectively, four yearsearlier under President Bush. The Obama administration also is notedfor its diverse hiring efforts on the federal bench. Elena Kagan andSonia Sotomayor both now sit on the Supreme Court, but efforts toimprove judicial diversity have not been limited to the top of thesystem. To date, the president has had 97 of his judicial nomineesconfirmed. As reported recently in The New York Times, nearly half ofthe confirmed nominees are women, 21 percent are African American,and 11 percent are Hispanic. 3619 Center for American Progress | A Better, More Diverse Senior Executive Service in 2050