Audit of the Human Resources Division Overview of Audited Entity

This section describes the makeup and responsibilities of the Human Resources Division.

Overview

The Human Resources Division (HRD) was established under Section 4A of Chapter 7 of the Massachusetts General Laws, as amended by Section 23 of Chapter 46 of the Acts of 2015. HRD is a division of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance and is headed by the chief human resources officer. The Secretary of the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, with the approval of the Governor, appoints HRD’s chief human resources officer. HRD provides human resource services to the Commonwealth’s executive branch and is its central personnel department. In addition, HRD administers the Commonwealth’s civil service system for all state agencies and many local governments.

According to HRD’s website,

The mission of the Human Resources Division (HRD) is to attract, engage, educate, develop and retain a high performing and diverse workforce.

Our programs and services include:

• Recruiting new employees
• Delivering learning and development opportunities for existing employees
• Administering [human resources] policy, employee benefits, and compensation
• Offering employee self-service [human resources] related support
• Administration of collective bargaining agreements and contracts
• Ensuring an inclusive, safe and productive workplace
• Administering examinations for public safety and promotional opportunities

As of June 30, 2022, HRD had 156 full-time employees. In fiscal years 2021 and 2022, HRD received state appropriations of $44,208,471 and $44,483,701, respectively.

Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity

On June 17, 2003, the Governor signed Executive Order (EO) 452, which, among other things, established the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity (ODEO) within HRD and provided for a director of ODEO to be selected and supervised by HRD’s chief human resources officer. During the audit period, there were four employees in ODEO: a chief diversity officer (a role also known as the ODEO director), a diversity compliance manager, an equal employment opportunity diversity coordinator, and a diversity and inclusion program manager.

According to Section 6 of EO 452,

The primary purpose of the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity shall be to encourage the recruitment and retention of talented individuals from all backgrounds at every level of government. In addition, the overall goals of the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity shall include:

• Creating a State workplace that welcomes, respects and values people of all abilities, cultures, nationalities, religions, races, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds and veteran’s status;
• Ensuring that diversity is reflected in all state government activities, including planning, decision-making and design and delivery of services to customers;
• Identifying and removing barriers to making programs and services accessible to all the citizens of Massachusetts;
• Developing partnerships with public and private organizations to share best practices for enhancing diversity;
• Planning and implementing community outreach and diversity recruitment programs to increase the diversity of job applicants;
• Establishing guidelines for Secretariat diversity plans and ensuring the compliance of each Secretariat with its diversity plan;
• Complying with all federal and state reporting requirements. Ensuring that all activities are in compliance with applicable state and federal laws.

ODEO is also responsible for ensuring that state agencies comply with EO 452. One measure ODEO takes to meet this responsibility is to publish an annual calendar that informs state agencies of specific due dates for affirmative action plans, diversity plans, and the annual progress reports related to those plans. Below are the due dates that were related to the audit period.

• Due dates for affirmative action plans and diversity plans were as follows:
  • September 10, 2019 for state agencies and September 30, 2019 specifically for secretariats (for plans effective for the period October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2021) and
  • September 10, 2021 for state agencies and September 30, 2021 specifically for secretariats (for plans effective for the period October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2023).
• Due dates for annual progress reports for affirmative action plans and diversity plans were as follows:
  • August 30, 2020 (for plans effective for the period October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2021; this is for the progress state agencies made toward their goals during year 1 of this period’s plan);
  • August 30, 2021 (for plans effective for the period October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2021; this is for the progress state agencies made toward their goals during year 2 of this period’s plan); and
  • August 30, 2022 (for plans effective for the period October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2023; this is for the progress state agencies made toward their goals during year 1 of this period’s plan).

Additionally, ODEO is responsible for following up with state agencies that are noncompliant with these plans and reports (e.g., plans or reports that state agencies submitted late or that are missing information).

EO 592

Since the Governor signed EO 452, there have been three superseding EOs, as follows:

• The Governor signed EO 478 on January 30, 2007. EO 478 stated that the Commonwealth reaffirmed its commitment, outlined in EO 452, “to ensure that non-discrimination, diversity and equal opportunity are safeguarded, promoted, and reflected in state workplaces, decisions, programs, activities, services, and contracts.”
• The Governor signed EO 526 on February 17, 2011. This EO reaffirmed the Commonwealth’s commitment to protect civil rights, as outlined in EO 478. It also stated that gender identity or expression would be added to the list of protected classes.
• The Governor signed EO 592 on October 22, 2020. This EO reaffirms the Commonwealth’s commitment, outlined in EO 526, to advance workforce diversity, inclusion, equal opportunity, nondiscrimination, and affirmative action. EO 592 eliminated the Governor’s Non-discrimination, Diversity and Equal Opportunity Advisory Council.

According to Section 3 of EO 592,¹

All state agencies shall develop and implement affirmative action and diversity plans to identify and eliminate barriers in the workplace which are discriminatory in intent or effect; remedy the effects of past discriminatory practices; identify, recruit, hire, develop, promote, and retain employees who are members of under-represented groups; and ensure diversity and equal opportunity in all facets, terms, and conditions of state employment. Such plans shall set forth specific goals and timetables for achievement of these goals, shall comply with all applicable state and federal laws, and shall be updated, at a minimum, every two years.

Section 7 of HRD’s Guidelines for Implementing Executive Order 592 quotes EO 592 directly regarding the ODEO chief diversity officer’s authority to do the following:

• Establish guidelines for agency affirmative action and diversity plans (“plans”);
• Review all such plans and either approve, return for amendment, or reject them;
• Establish periodic reporting requirements for agencies concerning the implementation of their plans and all actions taken to ensure compliance . . . ;
• Provide assistance to agencies in achieving compliance with their plans and with applicable state and federal laws;
• Monitor and assess the status of agency compliance and receive such information deemed appropriate for purposes of monitoring compliance;
• Investigate instances of non-compliance with plan submission and reporting requirements and, where appropriate, determine and impose remedial courses of action. 

Affirmative Action Plans

HRD’s Guidelines for Implementing Executive Order 592 define affirmative action as the following:

A policy or program that seeks to redress past discrimination by increasing opportunities for under‑represented groups.

For example, in the area of employment, affirmative action is accomplished by taking specific steps to identify, recruit, hire and/or develop for advancement persons who are identified as part of a specific protected class.

As expressed in these guidelines, state agencies establish affirmative action plans to address and remove obstacles that are purposefully discriminatory or that result in discrimination. In an effort to standardize its information collection, HRD provides state agencies with an affirmative action plan template.

Affirmative action plans must not only comply with relevant state and federal laws, but must also include specific goals and a timeframe for accomplishing these goals. As explained in Section 5.1 of HRD’s affirmative action plan template, “Where there is an underutilization of [people of color], women, persons with disabilities, or veterans in any job category, vigorous recruitment efforts shall take place to locate qualified candidates to achieve the diversity objective.”² In the event that a state agency does not meet its affirmative action plan goals, it must document the good faith efforts³ it made in its attempt to meet these goals in its annual progress report.

According to HRD’s Guidelines for Implementing Executive Order 592, affirmative action plans must include the following:

(1)  Introduction and Policy Statement;

(2)  Designation of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Designations and responsibilities;

(3)  Organizational Profile;

(4)  Identification of Problem areas;

(5)  Action-Oriented Programs;

(6)  Internal Audit and Reporting Systems; and

(7)  Dissemination and Communication.

Diversity Plans

HRD’s Guidelines for Implementing Executive Order 592 define diversity as the following:

A policy or program that values differences among the Commonwealth’s employees and all those with whom it does business.

These differences include but are not limited to race, gender, gender identity or expression, color, national origin and ancestry, religion, age, mental/physical disabilities, sexual orientation, veteran’s status, organizational level, economic status, geographical origin, marital status, communication and learning styles, and the other characteristics and traits. The goal of this policy is to develop an inclusive environment that capitalizes on each individual’s talents, skills, and perspectives to increase organizational productivity and effectiveness.

These guidelines further state that diversity plans must contain “an agency vision, agency mission statement, and diversity and inclusion goals with written strategy and measures.”

According to Section 8.2 of HRD’s Guidelines for Implementing Executive Order 592, diversity and inclusion planning includes taking the following steps:

• Drafting, implementing, and monitoring policies and procedures that support the administration’s diversity and Inclusion vision and programs.
• Developing programs that encourage recruiting and retaining highly skilled and diverse talent.
• Promoting a workplace culture that values, respects, and supports diversity, equity, and Inclusion.
• Implementing accountability systems to support diversity throughout the talent life cycle.
• Modeling a commitment to diverse and inclusive workplace culture.
• Encouraging a culture of continuous learning through any of the following:
  • Legal updates (i.e., [the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission], Executive Order or State/Federal Law changes as they pertain to [affirmative action]/Diversity)
  • Affirmative Action updates (i.e., [Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs] changes as they pertain to [affirmative action] planning)
  • Monthly newsletters
  • Seminars/Workshops
  • Heritage Celebrations and Diversity events
  • Diversity Training
  • Establish a diversity council and/or [employee resource groups]
  • Panel Presentations
  • Book Clubs
  • Listening Sessions

Annual Progress Reports for Affirmative Action Plans and Diversity Plans

Annual progress reports allow ODEO to evaluate the progress a state agency has made toward the goals outlined in its affirmative action plans and diversity plans. These annual progress reports include the state agency’s self-assessment of whether it met its goals and what steps it took toward meeting its goals. If a state agency did not meet its goals during a plan’s two-year cycle, then that state agency can carry those goals forward, but the state agency must change its strategy for how it will achieve these goals and its measures to track its success in whether it achieved its goals. State agencies must submit these annual progress reports to ODEO by August 30. For the status of goals as of June 30, 2021 for the state agencies that comprised our sample, see the Appendix.

ODEO’s Web-Based Workflow Tracking Tool

On October 5, 2020, ODEO implemented a web-based workflow tracking tool that lets each diversity director and diversity officer monitor the full lifecycle of their state agency’s affirmative action plans, diversity plans, and annual progress reports. During the first year that ODEO used the web-based tracking system, state agencies submitted hard copies of their fiscal year 2020 plans and annual progress reports to HRD, then HRD would scan these plans and annual progress reports into the web-based workflow tracking tool. After that first year, all parties began executing this process electronically.

When ODEO assigns a plan or annual progress report to the corresponding state agency’s diversity director or diversity officer, that diversity director or diversity officer receives an email notification that contains a link to the plan or annual progress report and the due date for submitting it. The web-based workflow tracking tool helps each diversity director or diversity officer enter the required data in the correct format. Once the diversity director or diversity officer submits a plan or annual progress report for approval, these plans and annual progress reports start going through the approval chain and the web-based workflow tracking tool will assign approval tasks to the relevant approvers (i.e., each state agency’s top administrator and secretary, as well as ODEO employees). The plans and annual progress reports stay in the web-based workflow tracking tool (which requires a password for access) and remain visible only to the authorized users from ODEO and the corresponding state agencies. 

State Agency Workforce Demographics

The graph below shows the demographics of the state agency workforce as of June 30, 2021 compared to benchmarks⁴ based on the US Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey’s census data for Massachusetts, which HRD used in its Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity Annual Report 2021. According to this report, self-identifying as either a veteran or a person with a disability(ies) is voluntary, meaning that employees who belong to these groups but who do not self-identify themselves as such to their state agency employer are not included in the state agency workforce count. Therefore, the exact representation of these two groups is likely to be higher than the statistics reported in the graph below.

State Agency Workforce as of June 30, 2021
Compared to Benchmarks from the 2010 Census

The workforce exceeded benchmarks for representation of women and people of color but did not reach benchmarks for veterans and people with disabilities for the reasons stated above. This means that a higher percentage of the state employee population was female, as an example, than the population of Massachusetts as a whole (as of the 2010 census).

1.   Section 1 of EO 592 states, “This Executive Order shall apply to all state agencies in the Executive Branch.” This section goes on to say that the term state agency refers to “all executive offices, boards, commissions, agencies, departments, divisions, councils, bureaus, and offices, now existing and hereafter established.” For the purposes of this audit report, we use the term state agency to refer to state agencies in the executive branch (unless stated otherwise).

2.   HRD’s Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity Annual Report 2021 lists the following eight job categories, which are referenced in the excerpt from HRD’s affirmative action plan template: officials and administrators, professionals, technicians, protective service: sworn, protective service: non-sworn, office/clerical, skilled craft, and service maintenance. These job categories come from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

3.   According to an email HRD officials sent to us on November 10, 2023, HRD defines “‘Good Faith Efforts’ as documented, honest attempts to reach affirmative action goals.”

4.   According to the US Census Bureau’s website, the Census Bureau calculates and publicly reports the diversity of America’s labor pool using “a comprehensive set of tables of the civilian workforce showing the demographic characteristics of sex, race, and ethnicity, by detailed occupation, for the nation, states, metro areas, counties, and places. This immense tabulation serves as the primary benchmark for organizations wishing to compare the diversity of their labor force with the diversity of the areas from which they draw their workers, and for the federal government to monitor and enforce compliance with civil rights laws.”

 

 

Date published:	July 5, 2024