A Better, More Diverse Senior Executive Service in 2050

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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
Making a commitment to closing the diversity gap in the SeniorExecutive ServiceThe Obama administration’s recent executive order recognizes the importance of leadershipfrom the center of government. It asks OPM and OMB to work together with theEEOC and departments to develop a government-wide plan to improve diversity. Webelieve the government-wide plan should include a strong focus on closing the diversitygap in the Senior Executive Service.Given the findings of this report, we recommend the top priority should be to addressthe very significant underrepresentation of Hispanics. It is also important to continueto make progress to increase the number of women in Senior Executive Service roles.We recommend that the government-wide plan should take the following steps.Set an objective to close the diversity gap for the career Senior Executive Service by 2030Doing so would ensure representation of women and all ethnic and racial groups betterreflects their likely representation in the civilian labor force. The best way to showleadership is to make a clear commitment to closing the diversity gap. But changetakes time, especially in relation to the composition of a 7,000-strong workforce. Thatis why we believe 20 years is a sensible timeframe.Set out interim milestones on the progress that should be made across executivebranch agencies every four yearsThese milestones will allow the federal government to monitor progress and hone itsstrategies to maximize the chances of closing the diversity gap. Changes to strategyshould be reflected in revisions to the government-wide plan that is due to be revisedevery four years.Embark on a special initiative to increase the representation of Hispanics in the SeniorExecutive ServiceThe most serious issues of underrepresentation apply to Hispanics, and they applynot only to the Senior Executive Service but also to the feeder grades of GS-13,GS-14, and GS-15. The federal government should embrace this challenge head onand make it its top priority.Include a strong focus on closing the gender gapOur model predicts women will remain significantly underrepresented in the SeniorExecutive Service by 2030. We believe the gap is likely to close by 2050, which is toolong to wait. The government-wide plan should commit to actions to accelerate thepace of improvement in gender diversity.20 Center for American Progress | A Better, More Diverse Senior Executive Service in 2050
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