Obama Orders Agencies to Develop Plans to Increase Workforce Diversity
August 18, 2011
President Obama on Thursday issued an executive order directing federal agencies to develop strategic plans to recruit and retain a more diverse workforce.
The directive will promote diversity in the federal workforce through a governmentwide initiative and a timeline for results, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry said during a conference call with reporters.
Berry, along with Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Jeff Zients, the President's Management Council, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, will release a strategic framework for the effort and guidance to agencies in 90 days to help them develop their own roadmaps for hiring, training and promoting more minorities, women, and disabled employees in an effort to diversify the federal government, particularly at the senior levels.
Agencies will have 120 days after that to devise their own plans for implementing the initiative. The governmentwide plan will be updated every four years, and agencies will be expected to revisit their own plans in the same time frame, officials on the conference call said.