Hispanics In Governme Gs-13 And Above Essay Example for Free

Hispanics In Governme Gs-13 And Above Essay The federal government is the largest employer in the nation and does not only have the responsibility of serving all segments of society, it also has the added responsibility of treating the Federal employees who come from the various segments of the society in a fair and unbiased manner. In order to oversee such a process is implemented fairly, without any bias, there are boards such as the U. S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) in place and are required by the federal government to make periodical assessment, in order to ascertain the employees of the federal government are treated equitably. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 stipulates that merit should be the cornerstone of evaluating every employee, where the federal government should recruit and promote employees according to their ability, knowledge, and skills they acquired. Another point that is highlighted here is discrimination of any kind and preferential treatment should not be part of the procedure of any of the federal agencies are using in hiring, training, advancing, and retaining employees who could originate from the various segments of society. There had been instances of discriminatory practices in the employment scene in this century that makes it permissible to claim that there had been a negative impact on the representation of minorities in the workforce in proportion to their number. Starting from the year 1978, the employment statistics reveals that there was advancement, as far as the employment status of minorities was concerned. Especially, at the higher grade levels, as well as at administrative positions the area this paper is studying, the promotional process treats everyone, more or less, the same. Yet, it is difficult to say that minorities including Hispanics have attained an equal status with their counterparts the non-minorities despite their equal education level, experience, and according to various merits that are measurable. What this means is the employment and the advancement process is not yet completely free of bias when considering what takes place among the various minority groups and the non-minority groups. The MSAP board had conducted a survey where it claimed to find out that many employees from the minority ethnic groups believe that they had been discriminated and this outlook might be true as the non-minorities who were surveyed had also admitted that there is still some discrimination based either on sex, race, or color used as a determining factor when it comes who to hire, train, advance, or retain, revealing that it is not yet a plain level field for everyone (Morrison, 1992). The statistics, however, shows that there had been some advancement attained in all segments, including the higher grade levels. This paper will present the statistical findings of the stands the Hispanics have in comparison with the other ethnic groups in the nation, especially at the higher GS-13 level and above in proportion to their participation in the overall federal workforce. Chapter I Introduction What is possible to observe in today’s workplace in the U. S. is diversity management is bringing in more Hispanics into the Intelligence Community, although the number of Hispanics in upper management, GS-13 and above might not be representative of the percentage of Hispanics in the workforce. That could be the case even if the civilian workforce in the U. S. could surpass two million. In light of that this research paper will try to find out what the reality is, as there are conflicting findings that are emulating to show why the number of Hispanics in GS-13 and above might not be representative of their number in the federal workforce. It had been a while back, at least several decades since the federal government had started to be fair and equitable in its hiring process, so that what takes place will be representative of the reality, where national origin, race, or sex will not be the cornerstone of the hiring practice. The fact that minorities have become a larger proportion of the workforce that makes up the federal government employees has attested this fact. There is documentation that reveals women used to encounter special barriers in their effort to attain advancement, in spite of their qualification, an area where the other minorities were also suffering from the same fate. Awards and important assignments were skipping them simply because they were member of any of the minority groups that includes African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans. The Hispanic population has to compete with these groups fairly and equitably so that their stand should be clearly established and to enable the evaluation of whether the Hispanics are getting what they deserver according to the proportion of their number in the federal workforce. One good source where to see what kind of discriminatory practices had been taking place is to look at ongoing protests and lawsuits claiming that some kind of disparate treatment had taken place. One such finding was a government survey made in 1992 where 34 percent of African Americans, 30 percent of Asians of the Pacific region, 19 percent of members of the Hispanic community, and 11 percent Native Americans had claimed that they had experienced discrimination at various degree, where they had either been denied jobs, promotions, or benefits that go with jobs because of their race. This could be true because of the fact that it is recently the government had declared that it had become an equal opportunity employer that demonstrates it was not a leader in that endeavor earlier. What brought about a statuary protection for minorities was due to the enactment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972. The Act had enabled the government to keep its own house in order, simply because it is the largest employer in the nation. President Nixon’s government had come up with the â€Å"Sixteen Point Program† designed to avail equal opportunity participation for the Hispanic population. Among the efforts introduced, there was intensified job recruitment in the Southwestern U. S. , at metropolitan cities where there is high Hispanic concentration, and colleges where there is a large Hispanic enrolment. There was also effort to reach out in communities where there is a concentration of Spanish speaking population and publicize the availability of federal employments. In addition, there were programs intended to enable Hispanic students to stay in school longer, as well as the establishing of special hiring authorities that will tend for the need of the Hispanic population. The focus had been the recruiting and the upward mobility of the Hispanic workforce once they are under the federal employment. In the year 2000 President Clinton had also come up with an executive order similar to the 16-point plan and this one was OPS’ 9-point plan whose goal was to eliminate barriers that prevent the recruitment of Hispanics into the workforce, as well as to promote them in the managerial and leadership programs. Another Act passed in 1978 was the Civil Reform Act whose claimed policy was to make certain that the federal workforce would reflect the nation’s diversity. What this would introduce in the nation’s workforce arena is the prevalence of a diverse civil service that could be made up of divergent outlooks, possibly accompanied by diverse skills and talents that will put it in a position to handle various problems that come into existence and originate from various groups better (Thomas, 1996). In addition, when there is a diverse workforce in place it is possible to share the social responsibilities equitably making the various policies the government comes up with widely acceptable. Similarly, when the government avails any kind of the various services, such as health care, education, housing etc. the perception would be every member of the society was part of the consideration applied in the process of the decision-making. In the absence of a representative workforce, it will be difficult to instill a positive social conduct on the overall society, in such a way that a particular segment of the society could feel that it is not included fairly in what is accruing and it is possible that the youth could be discouraged when it comes to investing in education or other requirements that will qualify them for federal jobs. If such a practice persists it is possible to introduce in the society a cycle of exclusion where the outcome could be more costly, where adhering to the rules and regulations could also suffer deterioration. The other key point that will bring what this paper is researching on into light is taking the mentioned measures alone where offering equal employment opportunity only is not enough. In order to make it effective there is a need to introduce similar equal opportunity in the training, retaining, and advancing employees who originate from the minority groups. In order to arrive at what is happening in the highest and more influential positions such as GS-13 and above, it is important to look at those who should be allowed to advance into such positions should have to pass through. Because as some of the statistics highlights, there has to be some level of service and experience in place before anyone attains those higher positions. It is also important to examine the hiring procedure in the nation since it is complicated. The age structure of those who are on supervisory and managerial position reveals that there are various factors that would have to come together in order for them to make it to such level, such as the individuals should have been at a particular line of work or other similar work arrangements for at least 20 years before achieving the higher position, as those who are attaining those positions are mostly above 45 years age, where most mangers are between 50 and 54. Hence, there should have been various preparation phases that require surpassing in order to make it to the higher levels. One other point to raise there are exceptions where in the administration and profession job classification it is possible to be hired at the higher level of GS-13 and above, but the requirement would be very stringent as those who are hired for such positions would become supervisors or managers from the outset.