Last week, I blogged about the importance of ensuring diversity in the federal information technology workforce, particularly when it comes to recruiting women and other minority groups to federal IT jobs. The Office of Personnel Management on Monday issued proposed regulations that would add a form to federal applications on USAJOBS.go that would collect demographic information on applicants.
The proposal, published in the Federal Register, would prompt applicants to fill out an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission form. Completion of the form would be voluntary, OPM said, and would help federal agencies in reassessing and improving their efforts to reach all segments of the population through their recruitment processes.
Information provided on the forms would be kept separate from the application, so no individual personnel selections would be made based on the information, OPM said. The data would simply be used by agencies as part of their organizational self-analyses to determine whether barriers exist that might include certain groups, according to the notice.
The change will become effective without further notice on Sept. 1.
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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