EEOC, OPM should work together on diversity, auditors say

A majority of federal managers surveyed by government auditors found both the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Personnel Management to be of limited help in advancing workplace diversity.

Fifty-six percent of managers said EEOC was only of some, little or no help in the quest to provide equal employment opportunities and achieve employee diversity. Eighty percent held the same views of OPM, according to a new Government Accountability Office report (GAO-06-214).

Survey respondents said the two agency's roles overlap, causing unnecessary administrative burdens and confusion. For example, EEOC oversees a portion of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act applying to disabled employees, and OPM oversees an executive order on such workers.

GAO recommends greater coordination between the agencies to improve efficiency, calling it "incumbent upon EEOC and OPM to avoid unnecessary conflict, competition, duplication and inconsistency in policies and requirements."

Specifically, GAO told the agencies to adopt common reporting requirements for agency employment data, regularly meet to exchange information, jointly conduct on-site visits and establish an "e-diversity" Web page maintained by both agencies.

The auditors did not, however, recommend that EEOC and OPM fold their diversity oversight roles into a single, joint process.

In written responses included in the report, both agencies bristled at GAO's criticism and many of the recommendations.

"It is EEOC's view that the multiple areas of information collection which GAO has described as redundant in the GAO report are not in fact unnecessary," EEOC Chairwoman Cari Dominguez said. "Several federal agencies have information collection requirements which overlap but serve different purposes."

Dominguez said OPM's data collection looks only at recruiting, training and career development in relation to diversity while EEOC monitors a much wider range of data, including training, promotions and bonuses.

"The report notes that OPM and EEOC have different focuses, but nevertheless makes recommendations that the two agencies merge into a collective approach," OPM responded. "It seems to OPM that a formal requirement of coordination simply adds a layer of complexity to a scheme that GAO complains already is duplicative and overly complex."

In the report, done at the request of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, GAO recommended that Congress require the two agencies to work more closely together.