Has the Government Missed the Mark on Leveraging Diversity?
With an executive order pushing for more diversity and inclusion in the federal government, how successful have agencies actually been in leveraging diversity to meet their goals?
In 2011, President Obama signed an executive order to promote diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce. Four years later, Government Business Council surveyed more than 750 federal employees to find out how this initiative has impacted government agencies. Over the next few weeks, this series will take a deeper dive into what our research uncovered.
The study shows that diversity and inclusion are viewed as beneficial by federal employees, with more than 80% of respondents identifying at least one positive benefit from greater mutual understanding in the workplace. But despite this support, only 28% of respondents report that their agencies are effectively leveraging diversity to achieve mission effectiveness. President Obama highlighted the importance of this task, stating that “our greatest accomplishments are achieved when diverse perspectives are brought to bear to overcome our greatest challenges.”
However, some agencies have taken steps to better leverage diversity to reach agency goals. A plurality of respondents indicate that their agencies are changing recruitment tactics to hire a larger variety of personnel with relevant backgrounds and skills. Another improvement has been collaboration between different agencies to work together to serve specific customer groups. A quarter of respondents noticed their agencies have started creating diverse teams to develop new service methods.
Even with these positive changes, federal agencies have a long road ahead to truly leveraging diversity to reach peak mission effectiveness. Next week, we’ll explore some of the challenges agencies are facing in the implementation process.
Methodology: GBC deployed a survey to a sample of Government Executive, Nextgov, and Defense One online and print subscribers in May 2015. The 752 respondents were senior-level federal employees, including those of GS/GM-11 to 15 grade levels and members of the Senior Executive Service. Click here to see the full report.
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