ML24164A004
| ML24164A004 | |
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| Issue date: | 06/04/2024 |
| From: | NRC/OCM |
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| Download: ML24164A004 (79) | |
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1 UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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BRIEFING ON HUMAN CAPITAL AND EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
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- TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2024
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The Commission met in the Commissioners' Hearing Room, at 10:01 a.m. EDT, Christopher T. Hanson, Chair, presiding.
COMMISSION MEMBERS:
CHRISTOPHER T. HANSON, Chair DAVID A. WRIGHT, Commissioner ANNIE CAPUTO, Commissioner BRADLEY R. CROWELL, Commissioner
2 NRC STAFF:
KELLY BARRIE, Chief, Headquarters Operations Branch B, Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO)
CHRIS CRAIGHEAD, Team Lead, Agency Culture Team, Office of the Executive Director for Operations (OEDO)
ERIC DILWORTH, Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer, OCHCO MATTHEW EMRICH, Chief, Reactor Technical Training Branch, OCHCO SCOTT MORRIS, Deputy Executive Director for Reactor and Preparedness Programs, OEDO MEREDITH NEUBAUER, Senior Civil Rights Specialist, Civil Rights Program, Office of Small Business and Civil Rights (SBCR)
ALSO PRESENT:
DALE YEILDING, President of Chapter 208 of the National Treasury Employees Union
3 PROCEEDINGS 10:01 a.m.
CHAIR HANSON: Good morning, everyone. I convene 1
the Commission's public meeting on Human Capital and Equal Employment 2
Opportunity. Twice a year, we meet to get an update on strategic human 3
capital initiatives and equal employment opportunity activities to strengthen 4
the NRC workforce.
5 Our last meeting was in December. Today, we're going to 6
be discussing topics that are very important to ensuring NRC employees have 7
a safe working environment where they can pursue their career goals and help 8
fulfill the Agency mission. Before we begin, I'd like to ask my fellow 9
Commissions if they have any initial remarks they'd like to make.
10 (No audible response.)
11 CHAIR HANSON: Okay, thank you. So with that, I'll hand 12 is over to Scott Morris, our Deputy Executive Director for Reactor and 13 Preparedness Programs to provide his opening remarks.
14 MR. MORRIS:
Thanks, Chair.
Good morning, 15 Commissioners Wright, Caputo, and Crowell. Welcome to the NRC staff and 16 others joining us in person and online today.
17 We're here to share the current status and progress the 18 NRC staff has made in the areas of human capital management, 19 organizational culture development, and equal employment opportunity. Let 20 me begin by acknowledging the latest 2023 Best Places to Work in the Federal 21 Government rankings. These rankings are based on the results of the 22
4 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, or FEVS as well call it, conducted in 1
roughly May well, last year, it was between May and June.
2 And for 2023, the NRC was ranked number 23 out of 26 mid-3 size agencies which is lower than our 2022 ranking. Although this latest 4
ranking is obviously disappointing, I want to stress that in the past year, we 5
have taken and are continuing to take significant steps to improve our 6
organizational culture, including targeted actions to increase employee 7
engagement and satisfaction. I and the Agency's senior leadership team 8
recognize that much more needs to be done to build trust and to ensure our 9
employees are empowered and involved in the decisions that affect their work.
10 I'm absolutely confident that the genuine self-reflection we 11 are doing engaging in the conversations we're having with our staff throughout 12 the Agency and most importantly the actions we're taking will result in a more 13 inclusive and innovative work environment in which all employees feel valued 14 and inspired to actively collaborate to ensure the success of our Agency. I 15 believe that individuals join our Agency because of our important mission.
16 But they won't stay if they feel their contributions are not valued and they are 17 not part of a collaborative team. So I'll start with the Office of the Chief 18 Human Capital Officer or OCHCO.
19 Those staff are keenly focused on improving the 20 effectiveness of Agency-wide recruiting, hiring, and training new employees.
21 For example, they're actively working to minimize the time it takes between 22 posting an external vacancy and onboarding a new staff member and 23 implement efficiencies in this multi-step process. OCHCO staff are also 24
5 actively supporting our current employees through professional development, 1
cross training, and promotional opportunities.
2 Again, while we acknowledge much more work remains, 3
OCHCO is already creating internal efficiencies by aligning workload to 4
available resources, improving customer service to partner offices, focusing 5
on improved data collection and visualization, and collaborating with the 6
program and regional offices to ensure critical staff training and development 7
needs are met. OCHCO and the Executive Director for Operations Office are 8
also actively assessing the recommendations from our recently completed 9
third party strategic workforce planning process evaluation with the intent to 10 better integrate strategic workforce planning into the Agency's overall 11 planning, budgeting, and performance management efforts. As you know, 12 improving and sustaining organizational health is an NRC strategic goal and 13 a significant Agency priority.
14 And we remain committed to fostering a culture in which the 15 workforce is fully engaged, adaptable, and receptive to change. And where 16 we attract, develop, and maintain a high performing, diverse, skilled workforce 17 that meets our needs now and in the future. Senior Agency leadership with 18 support from OCHCO, the Agency culture team, and the Office of Small 19 Business and Civil Rights play an essential role in advancing this goal at the 20 Agency.
21 Within the Office of the Executive Director for Operations, 22 our newly reinvigorated Agency culture team works with management and 23 staff throughout the Agency to facilitate the NRC's attainment of its desired 24
6 culture and improve overall organizational health. Over the past year, 1
members of the culture team visited with each headquarters and regional 2
office, analyzed historical organizational culture inventor, and Federal 3
Employee Viewpoint Survey data and previous actions taken in response to 4
those surveys, explicitly defined and communicated our desired culture 5
established, and implemented the Agency culture leader model, and initiated 6
various other enterprise-wide culture improvement activities.
7 The culture team in close coordination with the recently 8
appointed culture leaders in each office and region along with a network of 9
over 200 volunteer change agents are dedicated to increasing employee 10 engagement and job satisfaction, knowing that doing so will improve overall 11 Agency effectiveness and efficiency in achieving our important mission. We 12 recognize that the primary driver of employee engagement is effective 13 leadership. And I along with all senior agency leaders are committed to 14 building a culture of accountability and transparency, a culture centered on 15 trust.
16 The culture leader model was established to improve 17 leadership accountability for enhancing the work culture and overall 18 organizational health of the Agency. As of the end of April, our culture 19 leaders who are designated executives or senior managers in each office 20 worked with their staff to develop culture improvement plans specific to each 21 headquarter and regional office. Senior Agency leadership will continue to 22 focus on making progress in organizational health improvement as part of our 23 enterprise risk management efforts.
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7 And I just want to call an audible. If you're a culture leader 1
or a change agent and you're in the room, would you just please maybe stand 2
and just be recognized for the work that you all are doing? We really 3
appreciate it.
4 (Applause.)
5 MR. MORRIS: So you can see we've got -- and that's --
6 thank you so much. And that's just here with us. We've obviously got plenty 7
-- many, many, many more people online as well. And I don't want to -- I want 8
to recognize them as well.
9 Last but not least, the Office of Small Business and Civil 10 Rights, or SBCR, supports the NRC mission by enabling a diverse and 11 inclusive workforce and advancing equal employment opportunities for both 12 employees and applicants, embracing diversity which includes supporting 13 accessibility for all, not only enhances the breadth of perspectives and 14 experiences within our workforce but also encourages the active elicitation 15 and consideration of different views in ways of thinking and fosters a more 16 inclusive environment. Today, representatives from OCHCO, the Agency 17 culture team, and SBCR will be providing information on these important 18 initiatives that we're pursuing to ensure the NRC is an employer of choice that 19 not only offers the opportunity to support a vital mission but also enables a 20 healthy organizational culture in a diverse, inclusive, and innovative work 21 environment. Next slide, please.
22 So now let me introduce members of our panel presenting 23 today. First, Eric Dilworth, our acting Chief Human Capital Officer will provide 24
8 an overview of strategic human capital management at the NRC. Eric will be 1
followed by Kelly Barrie, Chief of OCHCO's Human Resources Operations 2
Branch who will discuss several changes implemented recently to enhance 3
operational efficiencies.
4 Next, Matthew Emrich, Chief of the Reactor Technology 5
Training Branch, will discuss changes at the Technical Training Center to 6
increase instructor capacity. Matthew will be followed by Chris Craighead, 7
our Agency culture team leader, who will discuss specific actions we are taking 8
to achieve our desired culture. And finally, Meredith Neubauer, a Senior Civil 9
Rights Specialist in the Office of SBCR, will provide an update on activities to 10 advance civil rights and diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. Next slide, 11 please. Thank you and I will turn it over to Eric.
12 MR. DILWORTH: Thank you, Scott. I'm pleased to share 13 activities of our office covering the entire human resource portfolio. The 14 briefing today will also include information on enhancing the NRC culture and 15 equal employment opportunity activities. Next slide.
16 OCHCO activities are guided by the human capital priorities 17 in the human capital operating plan. The HCOP is updated annually and 18 submitted to the Office of Personnel Management. The HCOP provides the 19 plan for how the Agency will recruit, develop, and retain a diverse and highly 20 qualified workforce.
21 The strategic workforce planning process is an assessment 22 tool which is more specific to staffing and filling skill gaps. Offices begin the 23 process with an environmental scan to predict what skills are needed to meet 24
9 mission needs now and into the future. The annual SWP has been on hold 1
for two years while an independent evaluation was conducted; this evaluation 2
was concluded earlier this year. Staff are currently reviewing the findings and 3
developing implementation plans. Absent an annual SWP, offices are 4
continuing to assess the environment and monitor attrition to identify skills 5
required to meet mission needs.
6 An example of how we use SWP data is the identification of 7
the 801 engineering job series and also the 1306 health physicist job series 8
as critical skills that we need to fill for the Agency. We targeted recruitment 9
towards these series. And in FY '22, we onboarded 76 new employees in the 10 801 job series and also another 18 in the 1306 health physicist job series.
11 And in FY '23, we onboarded 92 employees in the 12 engineering job series and 19 in the health physicist job series. We also 13 continue to onboard a cohort of recent college graduates in engineering and 14 science skills for the Nuclear Regulatory Apprentice Network, NRAN.
15 Twenty-five NRANers will be onboarded this summer, and this will be our third 16 cohort.
17 Other entry level pathways include our summer hire 18 programs where we often convert those summer hires to co-op employees 19 and then find permanent placements for them in the future once they graduate.
20 A program called Embrace that's been developed and is executive sponsored 21 by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. The Embrace program focuses 22 on hosting activities throughout the summer, targeted at summer hires and 23 co-op students, but it's also open to all NRC employees.
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10 Some of the activities include technical sessions, meet and 1
greets, game nights, and more activities like this aimed to integrate those 2
summer hires and co-ops into the NRC culture. While recruiting and hiring is 3
a top priority, we also monitor attrition to identify why people leave the NRC.
4 On a quarterly basis, we brief this to the Human Capital 5
Council. And through this, we also obtain input from senior leaders. While 6
many employees retire, the primary reason for non-retirement attrition is that 7
employees are seeking out opportunities.
8 Our learning and development division is focused on 9
ensuring that the employees we have on board receive the training needed.
10 We also improve the knowledge management program to better position 11 employees for career advancement. OCHCO is also working toward gaining 12 efficiencies in the staffing and recruiting area.
13 NRC, like all federal agencies, we track our time to hire and 14 we strive to meet OPM standards. We're working to ensure our data is 15 accurate and currently estimate that the hiring process averages 16 approximately 130 days for NRC. The government averages 101 days. So 17 we have a goal there that we can strive towards. One of the ways we can do 18 this is through a process improvement event that will be aimed at reducing our 19 time to hire and also enhance overall effectiveness.
20 To round out my discussion this morning, I want share some 21 analytics that we use in OCHCO that we also share with the Human Capital 22 Council. Next slide.
23 As you can see, the average numbers of years that an 24
11 employee stays on board past their retirement eligibility has remained 1
constant at about five years and this continues to trend up. Next slide.
2 When we look at separation and agency attrition rates, the 3
graphic shows the outlier years of 2016 and 2017, when early out and buyouts 4
were offered. It also shows that the attrition rate for 2021 is comparable to 5
recent years, between 26 and 27%. In 2022, the attrition rates were higher.
6 Many staff worked during COVID and as we re-entered the office, more 7
employees retired. As you can see, our attrition rate averages around 7, that 8
is actually around the government-wide attrition rate, between 7 and 9%.
9 Next slide.
10 Comparing gains with separations shows historically low 11 hiring rates while the Agency was reducing in size and then increased hiring 12 as FT allocations leveled off. However, some signs that the Agency has 13 leveled off in the last three years, external hiring has not kept pace with 14 attrition. Our increased focus on external hiring aims to reduce that deficit.
15 We expect to end the fiscal year with more employees 16 onboarded than that have separated for the year. Next slide. In FY '23, the 17 Agency hired 279 new employees. To date, we have onboarded 142 new 18 employees with 83 pending onboarding.
19 In addition to the external hiring actions, we've also 20 completed over 350 internal movements through promotions and career 21 development reassignments of current employees. External hiring numbers 22 are projected to increase and our most recent hire expo will assist in 23 increasing our onboard numbers.
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12 Kelly will provide more on the expo in her briefing. And 1
enterprise risk for staffing has been established to ensure the Agency 2
prioritizes hiring needs and fill critical vacancies. This hiring risk is reviewed 3
by Agency leadership at quarterly performance reviews.
4 Kelly will discuss some of the mitigating strategies in use 5
during her portion of the briefing. Next slide. To be successful, the NRC 6
needs to have both technical staff and also staff in our corporate areas. Due 7
to dedicated work of OCHCO staff in collaboration with leaders across the 8
Agency, we continue to position ourselves and meet future hiring needs.
9 As we onboard new employees, we also remain focused on 10 current staff. Knowledge management and cross training continue to be 11 important strategies used to meet mission requirements. Our hiring strategy 12 includes hiring new staff at all grade levels while balancing the need to retain 13 our current staff through professional development and promotion 14 opportunities.
15 I am confident that we are on the right path to enhance the 16 effectiveness of all human resource programs to support the NRC mission.
17 Next slide. Now we'll turn the briefing over to Kelly Barrie to discuss recent 18 changes to enhance operational effectiveness.
19 MS. BARRIE: Thank you, Eric. Good morning. My 20 name is Kelly Barrie. I'm the branch chief for recruiting and staffing in the 21 Human Resources Operation and Policy Division. Thank you for this 22 opportunity to provide an overview of OCHCO's efforts to improve its 23 operational efficiencies.
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13 In particular, I'll highlight the recent reorganization of the 1
Human Resources Operations and Policy Division known as HROP and 2
HROP's efforts to improve data collection and visualization. For context, 3
HROP is responsible for the delivery of human resources, policy, benefits, 4
award administration, and is the heart of hiring NRC employees. Prioritizing 5
hiring and filling critical vacancies across the agency is an enterprise risk the 6
agency is closely monitoring and mitigating to ensure the Agency is well 7
positioned to fulfill our regulatory responsibilities and maintain the necessary 8
services that are critical for meeting our mission.
9 Given the Agency's hiring goals and efforts, HROP's 10 workload had grown exponentially while the resources have not. This led to 11 backlogs, delayed deliverables, unbalanced workloads, increased errors, and 12 decreased customer satisfaction. These issues also led to morale and 13 burnout concerns for the OCHCO team whose goal is to provide exceptional 14 customer service to the Agency staff.
15 In 2023, OCHCO conducted an in-depth review of all 16 workforce functions to identify work misalignments, inefficiencies with 17 processes, under resourced needs, and loss of institutional knowledge and 18 experience. OCHCO employees were invited to contribute to this office-wide 19 review by identifying priority areas where we could gain efficiencies and 20 improve operations. Through the thoughtful input of our staff, the leadership 21 team was able to conduct an analysis of the data and collaboratively develop 22 proposed organizational structure designed to restore our capacity to deliver 23 timely and accurate results, enhance stakeholder satisfaction, and create an 24
14 environment where employees are happy, growing professionally, and 1
motivated.
2 The first phase of the reorganization went into effect on April 3
7th of 2024. At a high level, work activities were all aligned in the organization 4
under a series of business lines which allows for better coverage in the areas 5
that are one FTE deep, resulting in available bench strengths for spikes in 6
workload, through cross training within the business line. Additionally, the 7
changes result in more balanced workloads and reduce workload stress.
8 Our ultimatel goal is to add increased customer satisfaction 9
to the list of successes. To add efficiency, a dedicated processing and quality 10 control team was created. The processing and quality control team serves 11 as a centralized focal point for processing all headquarter HR actions into each 12 applicable HR system.
13 This team of HR specialists are exclusively responsible for 14 headquarters HR data entry, data accuracy, and data integrity. A 15 consolidated staffing and recruitment branch was created to address 16 disjointed work and operational inefficiencies. Through consolidation under 17 the human resources operations business line approach, OCHCO created 18 branches dedicated to a single function which results in aligned 19 responsibilities for all branch staff, optimized workload distribution, and 20 increased efficiency.
21 Additional consolidation occurred under the recognition 22 business line with all recognition programs rehomed into the benefits and 23 work/life programs branch which provides dedicated resources for effective 24
15 implementation and management of these programs. This change is 1
expected to result in increased customer satisfaction by improving the 2
timeliness of recognizing the exceptional efforts and contributions of NRC 3
employees. The reorganization also established a special hiring and 4
appointing authorities branch.
5 Establishment of this branch results in a centralized line of 6
business focused on special hiring authorities and appointment programs 7
such as student hires, veteran hires, and the hiring of people with disabilities.
8 It also centralizes knowledge and subject matter experts under one line of 9
business which will save time and resources in meeting agency needs and 10 resolving issues related to these critical programs. Finally, we created an 11 advisory services line of business, enhancing OCHCO's timely compliance 12 with regulatory requirements.
13 This line of business includes proactive process updates, 14 development and update of standard operating procedures, and creation of 15 job aides to be used by human resources specialists to comply with the latest 16 legal developments and federal best practices. The benefit of this change is 17 to increase the consistency and standardization across staffing and 18 recruitment branch and an in-depth knowledge repository for more efficient 19 operations. These strategic changes are designed to create efficiencies by 20 better aligning work, improving the customer experience, and enhancing 21 employee satisfaction while fostering a culture of excellence within the 22 organization. Next slide, please.
23 OCHCO's pursuit of excellence is tied to the feedback we 24
16 routinely gather from our NRC partners. As Eric mentioned, our focus this 1
year will be on gaining efficiencies and operations for staffing and recruitment.
2 I mentioned the enterprise risk for staffing earlier. In implementing our risk 3
mitigation strategy, OCHCO identified a methodology to better monitor the 4
operational phases of hiring activities to identify areas where we can gain 5
efficiencies.
6 This is done through integrating high quality timely hiring 7
data from different HR systems and presenting the information using power BI 8
dashboards to visually identify opportunities for improvement in operational 9
processes. This strategy allows OCHCO to identify the precise locations of 10 bottlenecks within our operational framework, identify areas where the agency 11 may be falling short of its human capital objectives, and pinpoint opportunities 12 for enhancement and refinement. Additionally, OCHCO will be able to 13 conduct analysis on each step of the hiring process, what we refer to as time 14 to hire.
15 The goal will be to improve the quality and speed of Agency 16 hiring to fill all vacant positions. Through measuring and analysis of the 17 qualify and timeliness of the hiring process, we can identify the causes of 18 Agency hiring issues and develop actions that will be taken to reduce them.
19 Improved data collection and visualization will help OCHCO communicate with 20 more clarity, precision, and transparency.
21 As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, 22 OCHCO is actively engaged in collaborative ventures with sister agencies by 23 pulling resources and expertise to explore and implement cutting edge data 24
17 visualization techniques and tools. Our objective is to harness the 1
transformative potential and advanced analytics to streamline consultation 2
processes, enhance organizational accountability, and power data driven 3
strategic decision making that drives sustained excellence and performance 4
across all facets of our operations. As you can see from the slide presented, 5
the importance of well-developed dashboards is to provide a quick high level 6
overview of areas that we can focus on.
7 This slide shows how age demographics have been moving 8
over the past eight years. A dashboard such as this could drive a 9
conversation regarding the need to ensure we have knowledge transfer from 10 a workforce where 24 percent are eligible to retire or a conversation on where 11 to target outreach efforts. OCHCO recognizes the efficiencies gained by 12 allowing us to connect with talented individuals who may be actively looking 13 for a new job and it helps build relationships with potential candidates.
14 And we want to continue dedicating resources for our 15 outreach programs. In early May of this year, we conducted our second 16 annual NRC hiring expo where we reached over 550 people interested in 17 working for NRC and extended invitations to more than 70 applicants to 18 interview. The success of these events brings awareness to career 19 opportunities with NRC, and large numbers of applicants make it a very 20 efficient way to fill our vacancies.
21 OCHCO and our partners in SBCR work closely to maximize 22 opportunities to broaden outreach to minority serving institutions, historically 23 Black colleges and universities, and other target populations and will utilize 24
18 the university champions, NRC university alumni ambassadors, diversity 1
management advisory committees, NRAN cohorts and resident inspector 2
pools to help staff booths at future events. OCHCO promotes vacancies on 3
various job boards such as American Nuclear Society, Corporate Gray which 4
targets veterans, Roadtechs, LinkedIn, and Handshake which targets college 5
students. A success to highlight is the use of NRC's social media platforms 6
to post hiring events and job vacancies with links to USAJOBS to view open 7
positions and allow applicants to directly apply.
8 In the last year in partnership with the Office of Public 9
Affairs, there were 185 postings across platforms such as Facebook, 10 Instagram, LinkedIn, and X where over 272,000 people viewed the post and 11 17,398 people engaged with the post, whether it was clicking on the link, 12 sharing it, or commenting on it. This shows a volume of people interested in 13 opportunities with NRC. OCHCO is dedicated to improving training on HR-14 related topics.
15 Recognizing that some of our challenges stem from lack of 16 knowledge and understanding in this area, OCHCO is committed to enhancing 17 enterprise both within OCHCO as we have hired many new people and in our 18 partner offices. Therefore, some of OCHCO's training will aim to develop 19 understanding of OCHCO's roles and functions and the information OCHCO 20 needs from hiring managers to timely process actions. OCHCO's expanded 21 training will also provide fundamental HR guidance essential for effective 22 career management.
23 OCHCO plans to provide additional information to hiring 24
19 officials on topics such as position management, classification principles, 1
hiring authorities and recruiting flexibility. Last but not least, OCHCO plans 2
to develop training for all employees on topics like successfully applying to 3
vacancy announcements, how to read leave and earning statements, and the 4
importance of the SF-50. OCHCO is dedicated to hearing and responding to 5
feedback from our valued customers on how we can improve.
6 We understand the critical importance of ongoing dialogue 7
and collaboration and addressing key concerns in driving organizational 8
success. As such, we are steadfast in our commitment to maintaining regular 9
meetings to facilitate open communication, exchange of ideas, and effective 10 problem solving. Next slide. And now I'll turn it over to Matt to discuss 11 increasing instructor capacity.
12 MR. EMRICH: Thank you, Kelly. Good morning. My 13 name is Matt Emrich and I'm the Chief for the Reactor Technology Training 14 Branch or RTTB at the Technical Training Center, TTC.
15 It is my pleasure to be here this morning to provide the 16 Commission with an update on recent hiring activities in OCHCO's Human 17 Resources Training and Development Division and how they have increased 18 our capacity to execute the training and development mission. Through 19 strategic hiring, a renewed focus on establishing bench strength and 20 continued collaboration with the program and regional offices, our division 21 continues to be ready to support the learning and development needs of our 22 staff, both now and in the future. Next slide, please. Over the past five 23 years, the Reactor Technology Training Branch has lost 8 of its instructors 24
20 due to retirements.
1 Based on age demographics, this was not a surprise. The 2
initial plan to mitigate the impacts of these losses was to double encumber 3
positions 6 to 12 months in advance of planned retirement dates to allow 4
knowledge transfer activities to occur. Based on the overall impact of the 5
COVID-19 public health emergency on many HR and Agency initiatives, this 6
mitigative strategy took some time to become a reality.
7 I'm happy to report that as of today, we're currently at our 8
full staffing levels in RTTB. So how did we get here, what worked well, and 9
what areas do we need to continue to keep on our radar? Our initial hiring 10 strategy was to post open until filled vacancy announcements on USAJOBS 11 that were available to both internal and external candidates.
12 This strategy allowed the HR -- I'm sorry, the hiring manager 13 to request periodic hiring certificates from the designated HR specialist and 14 helped eliminate significant rework in a period when it was known that we'd 15 be looking for multiple qualified applicants. The initial posting was kept open 16 for a period of 12 months and a second one for a period of a 6 months. We 17 made the decision to post the instructor vacancies as OPM Job Series 1701 18 general education and training at the GG-13 grade level.
19 Posting in this manner allowed us to broaden our candidate 20 pool due to some of the flexibility afforded by not having a hard and fast degree 21 requirement. We also utilized social media platforms, i.e. LinkedIn, to reach 22 a broader population regarding opportunities for employment with the NRC.
23 Also as an additional knowledge management strategy, we obtained approval 24
21 for and onboarded a previous senior reactor technology instructor for 12 1
months as a rehired annuitant to have additional mentor support for newly 2
hired instructional staff. Next slide, please.
3 As a result of the hiring strategies just discussed and a little 4
bit of luck, we've been able to recruit, interview, and onboard a wealth of 5
talented individuals into RTTB. This slide outlines the background of the 6
individuals that have been onboarded into the branch within the last three 7
years. All new reactor technology instructors bring with them licensed 8
operations experience and additionally many bring previous operations 9
training experience, either from the Navy or from the commercial nuclear 10 industry.
11 Additionally, they bring diverse knowledge across the 12 different light water reactor designs which allows us to address near term 13 training demands of the Agency while in parallel aligning these new instructors 14 to other vendor designs for cross certification. This allows us to build internal 15 bench strength across the technologies. Since being back to 100 percent 16 staffing, we've been able to schedule an additional offering of the 17 Westinghouse reactor series training to meet increased demand based on 18 recent Agency-wide hiring. Next slide, please.
19 We're extremely fortunate to have recruited so much talent 20 over the past three years, yet there's some potential issues that warrant 21 observation and consideration. For over a decade, the instructor staff in 22 HRTD had all been Grade 14 staff. We've begun filling instructor vacancies 23 as Grade 13 positions to more closely align with how program office and 24
22 regional offices are structured.
1 This structure embeds promotion potential in the branches, 2
but when dealing with a finite number of positions at the Grade 14 level, it 3
could potentially result in our instructional staff looking elsewhere for 4
promotion. Additionally, we'll continue to see losses in the instructor ranks 5
over the next several years based on retirements.
6 Part of the reason that we have continued to successfully 7
execute the mission over the past three years was our ability to double 8
encumber positions and allow knowledge transfer and training time for new 9
instructor hires. Even with the ability to recruit staff having operations and 10 training backgrounds from the industry, it still takes a minimum of 6 to 12 11 months to bring new instructors up to speed with a vendor design specific to 12 our training programs, provide cross training, and establish a baseline of 13 regulatory knowledge. We're also adding staff in specialized training areas 14 to support the increased demand for health physics and regulatory training.
15 A new health physics instructor started last year and an additional regulatory 16 skills position has been approved. Next slide, please.
17 The TTC is more than a simulator training facility. In fact, 18 most of the staff that we train never set foot in simulator at the TTC as part of 19 their training. Specialized technical training is offered in security, health 20 physics, regulatory skills, risk assessment in classrooms and labs at the TTC, 21 and offsite locations to support the qualification of staff from regional and 22 program offices and agreement states. HRTD prides itself on being strategic 23 partners with the regional and program offices.
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23 We find ourselves collaborating more and more with our 1
stakeholders outside of OCHCO on matters related to staff training and 2
development, mentoring, course effectiveness, and training needs for both our 3
internal staff as well as personnel for the National Materials Program. Our 4
instructors based on their hundreds of hears of collective experience are 5
sought out by NRC staff to assess technical issues, support field inspections, 6
and assist in a variety of other activities. As an example, we've been 7
collaborating with regional staff to provide practical exercises using the 8
simulation facilities at the TTC to provide additional training to staff in the 9
resident inspector development program.
10 These sessions were a collaborative effort facilitated by both 11 regional inspector staff, headquarters operations officers, and TTC instructors.
12 The attendees were given classroom training on the expected competencies 13 necessary for event response and how to set up the communications networks 14 tying in all the necessary decision makers. Once the attendee has completed 15 the classroom training, we utilize the simulator and TTC staff playing the role 16 of a licensee control room team and allowed them to put into practice what 17 was presented to them.
18 TTC instructional staff also continue to broaden their areas 19 of expertise in both their technical capacities as well as their regulatory 20 knowledge, skills, and abilities. Reframing expectations for broader 21 qualifications at the staff level ensures that we have a deeper bench strength 22 which will allow us to be more agile to shifting demands in the future. Many 23 instructors are inspector qualified and can support a variety of inspections if 24
24 needed.
1 As our new staff continue to mature as instructors, many 2
plan to cross qualify as either an inspector or a licensed examiner. As we 3
expand these qualifications, we can provide even more support to the regions 4
and program offices moving forward while also benefitting from gaining 5
additional regulatory perspective that can be brought back to the classroom 6
and simulator environment. Next slide, please.
7 So what does our increased capacity mean for the future?
8 The instructional staff in HRTD continue to drive towards increasing the 9
knowledge, skills, and abilities of the staff that come to us for their training and 10 development. We continue to partner with the regional and program offices 11 to understand the training needs of staff to make the most out of the time they 12 spend in training. We strive to be a customer focused organization that takes 13 feedback from our stakeholders to improve our products, both internal course 14 offerings as well as contractor-led offerings that we manage as contracting 15 officers representatives.
16 A near term focus for our division is to improve out we seek 17 out and obtain actionable feedback on real and/or perceived performance 18 gaps from our stakeholders and then partner with them to tailor our training to 19 better meet their needs and improve performance. Next slide, please. Over 20 the past couple of years, we have observed an increase in the number and 21 scope of requests for training support from our international regulatory 22 counterparts via the Office of International Programs or OIP. We continue to 23 support these requests as resources allow.
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25 For example, engagements with Canada, Poland, and 1
Japan. We also welcome international regulators in the training sessions that 2
we schedule for our internal staff as space allows. As our instructor 3
resources have grown, so has our ability to potentially support more of these 4
requests.
5 The industry has seen an increase in the procurement and 6
use of glass panel or touchscreen simulation technology. TTC simulator 7
engineering staff are currently collaborating with an outside vendor to obtain 8
similar technology to incorporate into our training programs. Glass panel 9
simulators provide increased flexibility for high training demands, significantly 10 reduce hardware replacement and maintenance costs, and potentially provide 11 a means to conduct smaller scale demonstrations using the simulator in virtual 12 training.
13 Additionally, this new technology serves as a potential host 14 environment for the simulation of advanced reactor designs. Our division 15 remains ready to support the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation on any 16 future requests for training development related to advanced reactors. We 17 also continue to pilot potential uses of virtual and augmented reality platforms 18 to determine potential use cases for our training. Next slide, please. I'll now 19 turn it over to Chris Craighead. Thank you.
20 MR. CRAIGHEAD: Thank you, Matt. My name is 21 Christopher Craighead. I'm the Agency culture team lead in the Office of the 22 Executive Director for Operations. It is with great pleasure that I'm here to 23 share with the Commission an update on our recent culture activities.
24
26 Culture is a heartbeat of an organization and at the very 1
center of any organization's culture is its people. I'm privileged to work with 2
such great mission driven people who are not just committed to protecting the 3
American people in their environment but also committed to restoring this 4
Agency as one of the top places to work in the federal government through its 5
culture. The NRC has a vast and rich history of establishing a strong culture 6
through the principles of good regulation, our organizational values or 7
ISOCCER, and our leadership model traits.
8 While these principles, values, and traits still hold merit and 9
define our current culture today, within this rapidly evolving work environment 10 and regulatory landscape, it is time to bring them back to the forefront of our 11 business and cast them in a fresh light. My fellow panelists have helped paint 12 a picture of our evolving work environment. And we must ensure and next 13 wave of nuclear regulators can identify and represent these values, principles 14 and traits which will drive us to our ideal culture.
15 With that, I'm deeply honored to roll out the Agency's ideal 16 culture statement to you this morning. Next slide, please. As noted on the 17 slide here, we achieve mission excellence by fostering an ideal culture 18 centered on trust characterized by high engagement, mutual support, and a 19 sense of belonging. All employees demonstrate behaviors consistent with 20 the ISOCCER values and fully embrace the traits established in the NRC 21 leadership model.
22 This statement in essence describes our goal in fostering an 23 ideal culture. It's an aspirational goal, and we're not there yet. But we are 24
27 working towards it.
1 And it's something we can achieve with the support and 2
cooperation from all levels of the Agency. The ideal culture statement directly 3
supports our goals and strategies outlined in the fiscal year 2022 through 2026 4
strategic plan. Namely, Organization Health Objective 1 which is foster an 5
organizational culture in which the workplace is engaged, adaptable, and 6
receptive to change and makes data driven and evidence-based decisions.
7 And Organizational Health Strategy 2.3.1 which states 8
ensure the Agency is an employer of choice that offers a work culture and 9
workplace environment that attracts and retains highly motivated employees 10 who are engaged, adaptable, high performing, and receptive to change. Our 11 most recent major step in the direction of this ideal culture was the 12 establishment of our culture leader model. Next slide, please. In December 13 of 2023, the Agency Culture Team or ACT for short implemented the culture 14 leader model as an Agency-wide initiative to promote constructive behaviors.
15 The model was in response to employee feedback and it was designed to 16 identify and address specific and unique challenges, barriers, and negative 17 sentiments concerning the culture of the agency as revealed in various data 18 sources, such as the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, or FEVS, and the 19 Organizational Culture Inventory Survey, or OCI.
20 Every program office was tasked with appointing an 21 experienced leader from the SES, where possible, to be accountable for 22 leading culture improvement efforts for their assigned office or region.
23 Commission level offices were also invited to support the effort, with several 24
28 offices joining in and appointing culture leaders. Let me pause here for a 1
moment and just focus on one word I mentioned. Accountable. The 2
ultimate goal of the culture leader model is to build accountability across the 3
NRC enterprise, not just discuss, but models the behaviors that will helps us 4
get to our ideal culture, just as I discussed on a previous slide. Next slide 5
please.
6 In February of 2024, 25 culture leaders representing almost 7
every office and region at the NRC attended an orientation hosted by the 8
agency culture team. During this orientation, the group was addressed by 9
senior leaders including Chair Hanson and were tasked with being 10 accountable for improving our culture and becoming students of the NRC's 11 culture. The orientation provided an in-depth data dive on the behaviors that 12 define our current culture, our ideal behaviors, and strategies and steps to 13 bring about needed change. Each culture leader was tasked with overseeing 14 the development of a culture improvement action plan to address the specific 15 challenges facing their office or region as identified by data sources such as 16 FEVS and OCI.
17 Each action plan has been completed and submitted to the 18 Agency culture team and are currently undergoing implementation Agency-19 wide. Next slide, please. As part of the action plan, each culture leader was 20 tasked with building a coalition by recruiting and engaging with change agents 21 in their respective offices. Change agents represent employees at all levels 22 of the agency, and they are critical to identifying areas for improvement.
23 Change agents are committed to modeling our desired 24
29 behaviors as they collaborate and execute the actions and solutions identified 1
in the plans. These solutions range from improving communication across 2
all levels of the organization, through strengthening a sense of belonging, 3
through the creation of more effective and meaningful employee recognition 4
programs. Some offices and regions have as many as 30 change agents 5
working on these various projects and activities, all designed to increase 6
constructive interactions and behaviors.
7 Together, the Agency culture team, the culture leaders, and 8
the change agents form the NRC culture network as depicted on the graphic 9
in this slide. We recognize and celebrate our culture network as the essential 10 component to our culture improvement efforts. It represents a critical mass 11 of employees who are invested in our culture and our future by volunteering 12 their diverse talents to help make the NRC a better place to work.
13 As part of their roles and responsibilities, each culture leader 14 will be required to report back to the group on their action plans, including 15 implementation status and the specific actions of their change agents.
16 Reporting on actions being taken will demonstrate accountability and will also 17 provide an opportunity for our culture leaders to exchange effective and 18 leading practices which will contribute to an internal community of practice, 19 thus enhancing the Agency's progress. Moving forward in July of 2024, the 20 Agency culture team plans to bring together all the culture leaders for a retreat 21 to continue learning more about our unique OCI and to report out on their 22 current action plan implementation progress. Next slide, please.
23 Next, I would like to acknowledge the NRC's standing in the 24
30 recently released rankings of best places to work in the federal government.
1 On May 20th, 2024, the Partnership for Public Service released the annual 2
rankings of best places to work in the federal government. For 2023, the 3
NRC dropped from 21 out of 27 to 23 out of 26 for mid-size agencies.
4 Based on FEVS data from last year which we've analyzed, 5
we were not surprised by the drop from 21 to 23. And while I have this 6
opportunity, I want to remind everyone the 2024 FEVS is currently open. You 7
voice matters, and employee input is critical to helping the NRC move forward 8
and restoring our Agency as a top place to work in the federal government.
9 Next slide, please.
10 Even prior to this latest ranking, the Agency has been 11 tracking sustaining a healthy organization as an enterprise risk. We 12 recognize that if we do not foster a healthy culture in which our workforce is 13 diverse, engaged, agile, innovative, risk informed, and inclusive, and adheres 14 to the NRC values, then our effectiveness in meeting our mission could be 15 adversely impacted. However, a lot has happened in the realm of culture in 16 the past year to help improve our rankings in the future.
17 Specifically, our efforts surrounding promoting 18 accountability amongst the Agency's leaders regarding culture and creating a 19 shared understanding about what defines our ideal culture. We've also 20 integrated the conversation about our ideal culture during Agency onboarding 21 activities. This includes NRC Connect and new employee orientation where 22 we provide an overview of our current culture, our ideal culture. And we invite 23 new employees to get involved.
24
31 Additional culture improvement efforts include 1
benchmarking with our federal counterparts. For example, in March of 2024, 2
one of our culture leaders spearheaded a meeting with leaders from NASA to 3
exchange effective practices. Among our many takeaways from this meeting 4
were insights on how behaviors and culture at NASA have helped shape their 5
operating policies, procedures, practices, and even their organizational 6
structure.
7 We recognize that there is much more to learn. But the 8
energy and focus on culture, we have confidence in our direction. And most 9
recently, we have rolled out a more detailed version of the graphic depicted 10 here on the slide as a visual showing us the connection between our mission 11 and our culture. Next slide, please.
12 As I said at the outset of my portion of this presentation, it 13 all starts with the principles, values, and traits. Our values dictate our 14 behaviors. Our behaviors build our culture. Our culture defines our 15 performance.
16 Each of us needs to demonstrate behaviors consistent with 17 our values every day and in every context. When we see behaviors that are 18 incongruent with our values, there needs to be a pathway to reset and provide 19 feedback, irrespective of level or rank. Our culture needs to nourish an 20 environment centered on trust, to hold ourselves accountable for modeling our 21 values.
22 If we do that as outlined in our ideal culture statement, we 23 will once again rise in the rankings of best places to work in the federal 24
32 government and continue to be an employer of choice leading to the 1
successful accomplishment of our mission with excellence for years to come.
2 Next slide, please. Thank you, and now I will turn it over to Meredith 3
Neubauer to provide an update on civil rights, diversity, and inclusion.
4 MS. NEUBAUER: Good morning. Thank you, Chris. My 5
name is Meredith Neubauer, and I am a senior civil rights specialist in SBCR.
6 My pronouns are she, her, and hers. And for anyone who may need a visual 7
description, I am a White woman with dark red hair, blue eyes, blue glasses.
8 And today, I'm wearing a black and tan plaid dress.
9 Now you may be wondering why I chose to introduce myself 10 in this fashion. The answer is simple. I want to be inclusive of all the 11 attendees. By sharing my pronouns, I am signaling to other participants that 12 this is a safe space where they can also share their pronouns if they so 13 choose.
14 In addition, people without visual disabilities take in a lot of 15 information about the people and environment around them, the way 16 individuals are dressed, how their hair is styled, and whether those glasses 17 look smart on someone. Providing a visual description offers context and 18 access for all by eliminating an accessibility barrier for those with visual 19 disabilities. In fact, if I was facilitating or giving training, I would also 20 encourage virtual participants to utilize the accessibility features in Teams like 21 live captioning, sign language interpreting, or focus on content so the text is 22 larger on the screen.
23 You may be thinking that this makes for a long introduction.
24
33 But introductions like this provide a constructive ways to disclose visual and 1
audio information to individuals with disabilities and promote an all-inclusive 2
meeting. Next slide, please. So what is accessibility?
3 A simple definition is the practice of making information, 4
activities, and/or environments sensible, meaningful, and usable for as many 5
people as possible. With the U.S. Census Bureau reporting that there are an 6
estimated 42.5 million people in the U.S. with a disability, it is important to 7
recognize that removing barriers to accessibility helps new applicants and 8
other skilled workers enter and thrive in the workforce. Next slide, please.
9 This sounds like a great and important practice, but it's not 10 discretionary and it's mandated by law. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 sets 11 forth several provisions which mandates the elimination of accessibility 12 barriers. Section 501 requires federal agencies to recruit individuals with 13 disabilities and ensure that individuals are aware of and have an opportunity 14 to apply for positions.
15 In 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 16 set forth the final rule on Section 501 which established a federal agency 17 should set a goal of 12 percent representation and 2 percent for people with 18 targeted disabilities. This is to be achieved through hiring and voluntary self-19 disclosure of current employees. The goal is in place so that when we add 20 to our diversity of our physical bodies, we also add to diversity of thought and 21 experiences, enriching the workplace.
22 Reasonable accommodation is also covered under the 23 Rehabilitation Act under Section 501 and is a right of any employee with a 24
34 disability who needs a modification in performing their essential work 1
functions. Examples of reasonable accommodations includes sign language 2
interpreters, screen writing software for computers, and sit/stand desks 3
amongst many others. Each one of those examples is aimed at removing an 4
accessibility barrier for employees.
5 In addition, Section 508 addresses information technology.
6 Specifically, it requires federal agencies information and communications 7
technology to be accessible to all people regardless of ability or disability.
8 And this applies to all employees and members of the public. Next slide, 9
please.
10 I'd like to turn now to some EEO data on the EEO complaint 11 process and explain how the data is relational to diversity, equity, inclusion, 12 and accessibility. As you look at the slide, you probably first notice that I am 13 using a pattern fill on the columns. This is removing an accessibility barrier.
14 The pattern fill assists individuals with color blindness so 15 that they are able to differentiate between the columns. What you don't see 16 is that I also added alt text to the chart as well. This allows an individual using 17 screen reading software to hear and evaluate the data as a sighted person 18 would visually perceive it.
19 Examining the numbers this fiscal year, so far we have 20 handled 21 contacts. This is people looking for information on the EEO 21 complaint process. Of those 21 contacts, only 10 individuals filed a pre-22 complaint.
23 You will see on the screen that there are 12 pre-complaints.
24
35 And this is because individuals have filed more than one. Of those 12 pre-1 complaints, only 7 chose to file a formal complaint of discrimination. I 2
attribute this low filing rate to our excellent level of personal customer service.
3 When an individual first makes contact, we provide that individual with all of 4
their options, be it the EEO complaint process, negotiated grievance, 5
OCHCO's anti-harassment, or even just speaking directly with their 6
supervisor.
7 Assuming a workforce of 2,889 employees based on our FY 8
'23 numbers, the number of filings represent 0.002 percent of our total 9
workforce. Next slide, please. With only 7 formal complaints filed, we 10 cannot determine any trends of the bases regarding filing at this point. But 11 so far, our bases include race, color, national origin, sex, specifically female, 12 age, disability, and reprisal.
13 It should be noted that complainants and often do allege 14 more than one basis when filing their complaints. Next slide, please. Like 15 with the bases, identifying trends and issues is difficult with such little data.
16 As each case is factually distinct from another, with these smaller numbers, it 17 is difficult to determine any emerging issues.
18 However, our top issues are promotion non-selection, terms 19 and employments of condition, and harassment, both sexual and non-sexual.
20 Next slide, please. Circling back to disability and accessibility, a deeper dive 21 into our complaint numbers is warranted. Looking at the interactions and 22 complaints filed from FY 2020 to FY '24, we can note a few things.
23 First, you will notice that every year we do interact with 24
36 individuals who allege disability as a basis for the alleged discrimination.
1 These numbers include EEO contacts, pre-complaints, and formal complaints.
2 We see fairly low numbers with the exception of FY '22 which corresponds 3
with the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine requirements, and reentry into the 4
building.
5 FY '22 is a perfect example of how external and 6
environmental factors can influence EEO complaint activity. Next slide, 7
please. If we look further into the complaints where disability is a basis and 8
reasonable accommodation as an issue alleged, we also see the spike in FY 9
'22. But the main takeaway from this slide is that complaints where disability 10 is alleged does not always encompass reasonable accommodation.
11 Other issues like assignment of duties or promotion non-12 selection or other employment issues may come into play. So while it is vital 13 that we maintain a robust reasonable accommodation program, we also need 14 to recognize that other issues may affect individuals with disabilities in the 15 workplace. Next slide, please. As we examine the numbers and given the 16 increased hiring of new employees, how is the Agency making accessibility a 17 priority?
18 First, I would like to give credit to the NRC Advisory 19 Committee for Employees with Disabilities, ACED. Last October, they held a 20 panel discussion for National Disability Employment Month in which members 21 from SBCR, OGC, and OCHCO participated. At the start of the panel 22 discussion, one of the panelists disclosed that they are diagnosed with major 23 depressive and obsessive compulsive disorders.
24
37 And while I'm not here to suggest that people publicly 1
disclose their disabilities unless they want to, it was a very powerful statement 2
given to remove the stigma surrounding mental disabilities. And it's further 3
explained by the panelist given to show the importance of self-disclosure as it 4
relates to the Rehabilitation Act. ACED is also leading the way through their 5
goals of promoting the self-identification of disabilities and staff personnel 6
records, sharing best practices for interacting with persons with disabilities in 7
the workplace and identifying opportunities to address accessibility issues and 8
NRC's policies and practices, amongst others.
9 I also want to recognize the efforts of the Acquisition 10 Management Division in ADM who ensures that all NRC contracts include 11 provisions related to Section 508 compliance. At the suggestion of the core 12 working group of which I am a member, AMD will also be hosting a masters 13 of acquisition training on 508 compliance later this year. This training aims 14 to teach contracting officers representatives not only what is 508 compliance 15 but why it is contained in our contracts and how to ensure contractors are 16 meeting those provisions.
17 And finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention the 18 inclusive language ambassadors in our grassroots efforts as well. While we 19 do not specifically speak on accessibility, we teach people how to make 20 inclusive introductions and promote language as a powerful tool for 21 discussions around ability and disability. As you may have noticed, I have 22 always referenced a person with a disability as opposed to saying a disabled 23 person.
24
38 One of the tenets of inclusive language it to be person 1
focused first. And I like to think that we have helped shape many 2
conversations and work products here at the NRC. Next slide, please. So 3
what does the future hold?
4 There is still much more work to be done. SBCR along with 5
its partners are creating an agency policy statement on Section 508 6
compliance. Additional training and awareness, especially around employee 7
responsibilities on how to create accessible documents needs to be held and 8
adopted as part of our Agency culture.
9 As we increase awareness and diversify our workforce, 10 potential new accessibility barriers will be identified. And we must work 11 together to eliminate them. Thank you. Next slide, please.
12 MR. MORRIS: Thank you, Meredith.
13 I'd like to conclude today's remarks by expressing my 14 gratitude to the staff and management in OCHCO, SBCR, the Agency culture 15 team, our culture leaders and change agents, and indeed, staff from all around 16 the Agency. You continue to focus on mission achievement and improving 17 our organizational health.
18 As I said earlier, I'm absolutely confident that the initiatives 19 we are implementing now, along with the continued enterprise-wide focus at 20 the senior leadership level, over time, will significantly advance us towards 21 realizing our ideal culture and workplace and maximize our overall 22 effectiveness and efficiency in achieving our mission.
23 Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you today and 24
39 we look forward to your questions.
1 CHAIR HANSON: Thanks, Scott.
2 Thanks to all the staff for their presentations this morning.
3 We'll begin questions with Commissioner Wright.
4 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Thank you, Chair.
5 Good
- morning, everyone.
Thank you for your 6
presentations and I know it took a lot of time to prepare for that.
7 And so, thank your staffs as well that supported you.
8 Before I get started, Kelly, I understand this is your first 9
Commission meeting.
10 MS. BARRIE: It was.
11 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Welcome.
12 And to celebrate with you, I'm not going to ask you any 13 questions.
14 (Laughter) 15 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: It's Chris's, too? All right, 16 very good.
17 But you stood up before, I've seen you at some of the other 18 things.
19 So, but do feel free to jump in if you feel you can add value 20 and in support of your colleagues here on the panel.
21 So, welcome.
22 Before I get into the questions a little bit, Scott and Craig, 23 y'all both used something, and I just want to ask about a definition of 24
40 something.
1 You spoke about the organizational health strategy 2.3.1, 2
right?
3 And you -- the things that the panel's here today trying to 4
support and talk about this, that feed into that, right?
5 But you -- what is the definition for employer of choice?
6 What does that mean?
7 MR. CRAIGHEAD: Thank you for the question, 8
Commissioner.
9 So, employer of choice, in my view, would be a highly 10 desired place to work where you have a high applicant pool, a lot of interest, 11 a top place to work.
12 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Okay.
13 Only just a suggestion, if we're going to use a term like that, 14 maybe we should define it somewhere. Because I looked around, I couldn't 15 find what it meant so that's why I was asking the question.
16 But I understand kind of the principle and I was thinking 17 maybe that's where you were going with it, but it'd be nice to maybe define 18 that a little bit better.
19 The -- and also, I forget which one, I think Matthew, it was 20 you.
21 You talked about a little bit of luck that you had. Right?
22 Quite honestly, after hearing you talk, I can tell you, I've 23 heard the phrase before. There is no such thing as luck, you know, but 24
41 success happens when preparation meets opportunity.
1 And it sounds like you've been very prepared in what you 2
were doing in order to have the success that you've had at the TTC.
3 So, congratulations on that.
4 But, yes, it's the preparation that leads to that success.
5 So, yes.
6 And we're going to be in touch with you about some other 7
opportunities that I've talked with some of the states about that maybe you 8
can plug into a little bit.
9 So, at least advise us on, so thank you for that.
10 (Off mic comments) 11 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Yes.
12 Eric, welcome.
13 You know, OCHCO has faced a number of challenges in 14 recent years that have impacted morale. Right? And it's been pretty 15 obvious.
16 There's been considerable turnover and increase in 17 workload given the hiring efforts that we've had, impacts on the budget due to 18 NEIMA and other requirements, and also, changes in senior leadership, right, 19 which we're still going through.
20 And I've got a couple of questions. I'm going to give you a 21 couple of simple ones real quick here.
22 What is OCHCO doing to address those issues and these 23 changes?
24
42 And how are we making sure that we're getting the right 1
people and not just warm bodies?
2 You addressed a little bit of it, but can you give a little more 3
detail to that?
4 MR. DILWORTH: Yes, thank you, sir.
5 I'll talk about OCHCO first, morale, and those type of things.
6 You know, creating a culture of respect is first where all the 7
employees feel respected. And when I talk about that, that means respecting 8
their professional work, respecting the ideas, and professional advice that they 9
provide to me and other senior leaders, and giving them the opportunity to do 10 that and know that they're going to be supported in their efforts and we're all 11 working together to be successful, be highly successful.
12 Other way you do that is empower people. Empower them 13 to make the appropriate decisions at the right level.
14 And that's giving them confidence, giving them the training 15 to do their jobs, giving them leadership support, and then, peer support.
16 Those things will increase and enhance the culture within 17 OCHCO.
18 And we have a good strong culture of teamwork, support, 19 that goes across the agency. It makes us do a better job for the -- allows us 20 to do a better job for the agency.
21 And also, it goes into, you know, moving us up in the best 22 places to work.
23 We have a strong OCHCO team that's providing great 24
43 service to the workforce.
1 So, that's where we're building and already seeing that 2
happen.
3 The second part of your question, you -- if you'd read that to 4
me again, sir --
5 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Yes, so --
6 MR. DILWORTH: -- I just want to make sure I touch on it.
7 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: -- what do we -- how are we 8
making sure that we're getting the right people and not just warm bodies?
9 MR. DILWORTH: And I'll tell you, our supervisors are 10 really good at interviewing, ask the right questions.
11 But one of the things we're going to support them with is do 12 more training. And Kelly talked about that, more supervisory training, so they 13 fully understand the process so when they're working with applicants, you 14 know, they can help the applicant understand the process, how that's going to 15 work out.
16 But we have a strong --
17 And then, giving them the best candidates, going through 18 our lists, making sure that we're giving them qualified people to hire from.
19 And that goes to training my staff. You know, we have a lot 20 of new people with experience, but maybe need some enhancements and 21 some training here and there.
22 So, doing that is going to ensure that we recruit the right 23 people and go to the right places.
24
44 We talk about recruiting, and we do go out to a lot of different 1
campuses, different professional organizations, conferences.
2 But we need to do more of assessing, you know, are we 3
going to the right places?
4 Are we receiving resumes?
5 Are we hiring from those?
6 Maybe we're going to a place where there's a lot of folks, 7
but we're just not competitive. So, we've got to do a better job at that.
8 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: So, you've opened up a 9
number of areas I would love to ask questions on. I will not have time, 10 probably, but I'm going to throw out a couple of things at you.
11 So, opportunities to -- I have noticed you expanded a little 12 bit. You're doing a little bit more public stuff.
13 But one opportunity that was clearly missed was the RIC 14 where, you know, we had a paid for auditorium that you could have easily put 15 a table up at.
16 Others had tables there that they were hiring people.
17 MR. DILWORTH: Yes, sir.
18 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: You know, potentially, NRC 19 people away from here.
20 We should have had a table as well.
21 So, I would take those opportunities that are like -- those are 22
-- that's a gift horse right there, take those opportunities. Clearly something 23 that's open to you to do.
24
45 You know, you mentioned that -- and we've been told that 1
hiring had gone from 140 days down to about a 120.
2 Now, you just said, I think it was 130 days. Right?
3 OPM target is 80.
4 You said that our -- the average of government is a 100.
5 Right?
6 MR. DILWORTH: Yes, sir.
7 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Have you engaged our -- any 8
sister agencies of ours that have the same issues we may have, right, 9
background checks, stuff like that, and see what they may be doing and how 10 they may be doing their stuff?
11 Because I know FERC is like 80 days.
12 MR. DILWORTH: Right.
13 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: You know?
14 MR. DILWORTH: They are.
15 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: And you know, the things that 16 they're doing that we're not or that we could maybe, you know, copy.
17 MR. DILWORTH: In fact, before I -- about a month ago, I 18 had been talking about we need to do a process improvement event within 19 NRC for a while in our staffing and recruitment area.
20 So, as I was talking to several leaders about that, talking 21 about our entire staff, I did reach out to the FERC CHCO. We had a great 22 conversation, Eddie, a couple weeks ago.
23 And one of the things they did, you know, he's been in that 24
46 seat for 14 years. But they were just -- they set goals for one thing.
1 We really just started measuring our time to hire really 2
getting our data. And I still -- I'm still not all there on our data and that's going 3
to be part of our time to hire event.
4 But one of the things they did continuous process 5
improvement, not just a one-time shot.
6 Because they, in fact, they changed their goal. Their goal 7
was 55 days, but now, they've moved it up to 75 because they saw that they 8
needed to add some nuances in their process that it was going to take longer.
9 But still, 75 days, and they're meeting that goal.
10 But it takes process improvement, system management, 11 doing the most with the system you're using. And they use the same 12 operating system we use in the staffing process.
13 So, he's willing to work -- have his folks work with my staff 14 as we go through our process improvement event.
15 But that's really where we're going to gain those efficiencies.
16 We have to -- I can tell you, I can look and kind of tell you where we have 17 many areas to improve, but we -- and we will.
18 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: So, thank you for that.
19 And I know -- you are -- we've had conversations on that 20 and I am definitely convinced you're going to go that route and you're going to 21 do that.
22 I wanted to ask one quick -- one other question before I turn 23 it over to my fellow Commissioners.
24
47 And I think it's more about messaging than anything else.
1 But we've been told that we'd hired, you know, nearly 300 2
people last year and we were heading toward 300 this year.
3 But in reality, we're not hiring new people like that. We're -
4
- the majority of hires of the -- that we've had have been internal. And it's 5
mainly been the kind of reshuffling deck chairs from regions to headquarters 6
or headquarters to regions and whatever, right, fill in those jobs.
7 I'm all for opportunity in our people filling those slots. I'm 8
for that.
9 But if we're -- but if we've only really on boarded 100, maybe 10 200 people max, maybe, is that --
11 MR. DILWORTH: No, we did around 280 last year, new 12 people. And we're on target to do around that many this year, 250 and above.
13 But the issue is we do another 350 internal actions.
14 So --
15 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Okay.
16 MR. DILWORTH: -- you know, the balance the workload 17 for managers and for OCHCO, that's where we know we struggle.
18 So, one of the things with that is that we -- and Kelly's 19 branch, they have been maybe 50 percent manned or staffed -- 50 percent 20 staffed most of the year.
21 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Right.
22 MR. DILWORTH: Now, we're finally staffing up to a full 23 level.
24
48 That will allow us to meet the internal effort to move -- make 1
-- doing all those actions --
2 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Right.
3 MR. DILWORTH: -- and doing the external actions.
4 Also, with our, you know, with all the hiring we have done, 5
fortunately, we're getting our -- getting up to our FTE level.
6 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Right.
7 MR. DILWORTH: So, our hiring effort will decrease, 8
external hiring effort will decrease somewhat in 2025, where we can meet it.
9 But hopefully, we're going to be more efficient and get even 10 better at it.
11 That's how we'll meet that internal and external balance.
12 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Right.
13 And because we've heard about the workload.
14 MR. DILWORTH: Yes.
15 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: We hear a lot about that.
16 Right?
17 And if -- my concern was, if all we're doing is moving bodies 18 around, we're not bringing in the, you know, the calvary to help out, to train 19 and do what we need to have done.
20 So, thank you for --
21 MR. DILWORTH: And we can't stop the internal actions 22 because it is promotion opportunities and reassignment and career 23 development opportunities. So, we don't want to slow that down, either.
24
49 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Thank you very much.
1 MR. MORRIS: And I think just last year was the first time 2
in several years where we've actually on boarded -- we had a net gain from 3
on boarding new to attrition. And that continues to rise.
4 COMMISSIONER WRIGHT: Very good, thank you.
5 CHAIR HANSON: Thank you, Commissioner Wright.
6 Commissioner Caputo?
7 COMMISSIONER CAPUTO: So, for those who might be 8
watching us on webcasts, just want to let you know, we've got a couple rouge 9
flies buzzing around the table. So, if you see people swiping at their ears and 10 whatnot, we've got interlopers that we're dealing with.
11 I want to acknowledge all the participants, you know, in their 12 preparations for today. You've clearly covered a lot of ground. There's a lot 13 of substance here.
14 Like Commissioner Wright said, I'm going to have more 15 questions than we have time for today.
16 But these meetings are so essential to understanding the 17 current state of play in terms of human capital, EEO efforts, with an eye toward 18 making progress.
19 So, it's critical in addition to hiring that the Agency ensures 20 that it retains highly skilled and capable workforce for today's needs and those 21 in the future.
22 So, I just -- I want to make a special thank you to Eric for 23 serving as Acting Chief Human Capital Officer for OCHCO and your 24
50 leadership in this crucial role.
1 And to his team for all of their hard work and that team 2
certainly extends beyond this table.
3 But it's been a big challenge for a long time and a sustained 4
effort. And that sustained effort is going to continue into the future.
5 So, I want to recognize that hard work.
6 I want to call out, too, the two observations just from the 7
presentations this morning about our use of data.
8 Kelly, I really appreciated that.
9 Matthew, I really appreciated your focus on cross training, 10 cross qualification. I think that's going to be really important as we go 11 forward, so thank you for those.
12 But in keeping with the more questions than I have time for, 13 I'm going to keep things at a pretty high level.
14 So, workforce surveys are an important tool for leaders to 15 gain feedback from employees and to focus on continued improvement.
16 But they are not a substitute for leadership direction.
17 So, as Scott mentioned, we've dropped from 21 to 23. I'm 18 concerned that the decline is related to leadership and communication.
19 Scores are likely suffering, in part, due to a lack of clear 20 goals and objections.
21 Without clear goals and objectives, it's difficult for staff to 22 see how their day-to-day efforts align and support higher level mission 23 objectives.
24
51 So, this can erode engagement and job satisfaction.
1 So, I would like to see the Agency return in the scores to be 2
one of the best places to work in the federal government.
3 And we clearly continue to have brilliant and capable staff 4
that will strive to meet and exceed the goals that are set.
5 And achieving those goals, and celebrating those 6
successes are an essential element to job satisfaction, staff engagement, and 7
pride in the Agency.
8 So, Scott, you referred to a need for leadership, trust, but 9
it's not clear from the discussion that senior leadership team understands 10 what's driving these numbers.
11 So, can you tell me, I understand you've set up a culture 12 leaders network, but can you describe for me what actions senior leadership 13 is prepared to take to ensure the Agency heads in the right direction?
14 We can't survey people into job satisfaction.
15 MR. MORRIS: Yes, thanks for the question.
16 It's really important and we -- well, first of all, let me start 17 with, we own this. Right? Myself, Ray, the senior leaders in this room and 18 watching online throughout the Agency.
19 We've had these conversations and we continue to have 20 these conversations about the why.
21 What's going on that's driving the trend?
22 And it starts with us. We know that. Right?
23 And so, we, at our level, have to demonstrate these 24
52 behaviors and hold each other accountable at our level first.
1 But we can't expect anyone in the staff to follow that if we're 2
not doing it ourselves. We have to walk the talk.
3 So, that's number one.
4 And we can talk about how a little bit, if you'd like.
5 But the other thing is, is also, and Chris mentioned, we 6
defined the culture we're striving for so we can all speak with a common 7
language about what it is -- what is the goal we're trying to achieve?
8 Clearly and articulately state, this is it. This is what we're 9
trying to do so that we can hold the mirror up to ourselves and each other and 10 say, you're not doing that.
11 You know, we're -- you're not -- but in a respectful way.
12 Right? And not in a combative way.
13 So, doing that.
14 It's also sharing with the staff in more frequent interactions, 15 whether that be through a more interactive town halls that we've done at the 16 EDO level. We've changed the format of that to try to create more dialogue 17 and engagement with senior leaders.
18 We just had a senior leadership meeting where, historically, 19 we've talked about, you know, enterprise-wide risks or other changes and 20 things that are going on.
21 We're shifting that, we're shifting away from that to focus 22 those meetings on team building at our level, to focus on our own culture at 23 our level.
24
53 You know, Chris -- we mentioned the culture leader thing 1
and we had a really great orientation.
2 We've got another culture retreat coming up this summer, 3
active engagement, not just from myself, but also our executive champions, 4
Von Ordaz, Dave Pelton, and Julio -- so, it's a lot of things.
5 COMMISSIONER CAPUTO: I'm sorry, Scott, I need to ask 6
a clarifying question.
7 MR. MORRIS: Go ahead.
8 COMMISSIONER CAPUTO: So, you said the leadership 9
had a meeting -- I'm aware of strategic alignment meeting that focused on 10 organizational health and stakeholder confidence.
11 You're saying that there was a senior management meeting 12 on enterprise risk management?
13 MR. MORRIS: No, what I'm saying is, is that we're 14 retooling a lot of our meetings, including what we have -- we have a senior 15 leadership meeting generally every three to four months hosted by the EDO.
16 All the senior leaders from around the Agency attend. It's usually a two-day 17 agenda.
18 And we have, historically, focused on topical things, you 19 know, the issues that we're working on technically or programmatically and 20 less about teamwork and culture development and team building.
21 That's the shift I'm talking about there, to deal with all the --
22 to address all the other things we're challenged with, the programmatic and 23 technical things, and enterprise wide, risk management, we're sharpening our 24
54 focus at our quarterly performance reviews.
1 We're taking advantage of our biweekly leadership touch 2
point meetings, which is, again, the same audience of senior leaders meeting 3
every two weeks to talk and keep the focus on the enterprise-wide risk 4
management activities.
5 Staffing is one of those --
6 COMMISSIONER CAPUTO: Okay.
7 So, you are --
8 MR. MORRIS: -- it's just one of them.
9 COMMISSIONER CAPUTO: Because that's kind of my 10 question. Right?
11 I mean, strategic alignment meeting on organizational 12 health and stakeholder engagement.
13 But there's clearly a need, given where we are in terms of 14 the challenges with executing efficient licensing reviews.
15 There's a need to balance --
16 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
17 COMMISSIONER CAPUTO: -- improvement and how we 18 execute our mission.
19 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
20 COMMISSIONER CAPUTO: And to balance those efforts 21 with the efforts on organizational health.
22 Do you believe senior management has an appropriate 23 balance?
24
55 MR. MORRIS: I think we are -- we tend to be, and this is 1
my opinion, I think we tend to focus on mission, which is important and getting 2
the job done, and less on how we interact with each other to get the job done.
3 So, I believe we need to do a better job which is why we're 4
shifting the focus to some of these meeting opportunities and having, you 5
know, providing this type of feedback.
6 We talk about it in our succession planning meeting that we 7
just had about as we provide feedback to each of our executives about --
8 COMMISSIONER CAPUTO: So, I'd to ask a slightly 9
different question.
10 At the last Commission meeting I asked a question related 11 to shedding low priority work to enable staff to focus on priority work and on 12 training and workforce development needs.
13 The EDO, at the time, mentioned efforts at managing the 14 work, prioritizing, and making sure that we are consciously identifying lower 15 priority work as an outcome to the June 2023 Agency Jam sessions.
16 So, we are a year past the Jam, and I'm not clear what 17 actions the Agency has taken to look at shedding or deferring lower priority 18 work to manage the work burden on employees.
19 MR. MORRIS: Yes, thanks for that.
20 That's a -- so, you're correct, there was -- this was one of 21 the two key outcomes from the jam last year was knowledge management 22 and workload.
23 And we had Rob Lewis and others led an effort and continue 24
56 to lead an effort. In fact, they just briefed the -- they provided an out brief at 1
the last EDO town hall on all the work that they had done and are doing to 2
support the branch chief, primarily, first line supervisors, and managing their 3
workload, and identifying low-value work, and shedding that, and how to 4
communicate that and build alignment vertically through the organization 5
about what we're not going to do.
6 So, I'm not -- I can't, off the top of my head, rattle off all the 7
things that he and his team have done --
8 COMMISSIONER CAPUTO: Right.
9 Well, I'd like to get --
10 MR. MORRIS: -- but they are --
11 COMMISSIONER CAPUTO: -- a briefing on that.
12 MR. MORRIS: Yes, absolutely.
13 COMMISSIONER CAPUTO: And Eric, it was great to see 14 the sustained hiring effort.
15 You know, we've heard, and Commissioner Wright 16 mentioned, 600 new employees.
17 You mentioned 350 reassignments.
18 That means knowledge management and training is going 19 on with approximately 950 employees, which is, you know, a third of the 20 workforce.
21 So, that's a big challenge.
22 Thank you, Matt, for working on that, because I continue to 23 be concerned that we are making sure we are preparing mid-career staff for 24
57 increasing responsibilities and leadership. So, thank you for that.
1 The last thing I'd like to say is, just to acknowledge a 2
tremendous effort that recently went into an event related to women's issues 3
in the work environment.
4 The communication workshop was entitled Stronger 5
Together, Advocating for Yourself and Others. It took place on April 30th.
6 It would not have been possible without the support of the 7
Office of Small Business and Civil Rights, thank you, Meredith, Federal 8
Women's Program Advisory Committee, the Technical Women's Network, 9
regional participation, and Agency employees who volunteered to serve in a 10 variety of roles.
11 I believe we need to continue fostering an inclusive work 12 environment that values and empowers all employees to fully contribute to our 13 mission and to reach their full potential.
14 These issues are deeply personal to me and I'm thrilled that 15 so many people participated.
16 For anyone who participated, you could tell there was a high 17 level of energy in the room and discussions, lively discussions.
18 So, I am hopeful that this conversation was very helpful and 19 beneficial to those who participated.
20 I am really thankful for everyone who supported the event.
21 In going forward, I look forward to continue to participate in 22 organizing sessions like this, including future events, charting career 23 pathways, among some other ideas.
24
58 So, thanks to everyone. I look forward to really building 1
some momentum here and creating some tangible progress going forward.
2 Thank you.
3 CHAIR HANSON: Thank you, Commissioner Caputo.
4 Commissioner Crowell?
5 COMMISSIONER CROWELL: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
6 Thank you all for your presentations today. I appreciate it.
7 This is not the first time that Commissioner Caputo has 8
stolen a joke of mine that I wanted to give, too.
9 But I was going to say, Meredith can be -- is going to file a 10 harassment complaint against the fly that has been harassing all of us at this 11 table today. It's been quite a distraction.
12 Matt, kudos to you for ignoring it so well. I don't even know 13 if you knew it was crawling all over you, but I couldn't ignore it.
14 (Off mic comments) 15 COMMISSIONER CROWELL: So, and you know, I'm 16 going to do a little bit more talking than asking questions, which is not my 17 normal MO, but it's just the nature of the topic today.
18 And you know, Scott, I want to start by saying, you know, I 19 appreciate you saying that, you know, we own this.
20 However, I would say, it's not just that, it's that we own it, 21 too. This is -- we're all in this together. And so, the solution is going to be 22 determined together as well.
23 So, I appreciate the sense of responsibility, but it extends to 24
59 all of us on both sides of the table.
1 And I, you know, I think that leads directly into some of the 2
FEVS scores stuff that we've been talking about today.
3 And again, data can't -- isn't -- doesn't always paint the best 4
or most accurate picture. But it is a viewpoint into our daily work lives.
5 But when you look at the FEVS scores, and you know, it 6
stands out pretty clearly that, you know, the low bar here or the low scores are 7
effective leadership at -- for senior leaders.
8 Well, that's most of us sitting at this table.
9 And if you look at effective leadership supervisors, those are 10 really high scores.
11 And so, what happens from when you go from being a 12 supervisor to a senior leader that you are no longer getting high scores and 13 effective leadership?
14 Something's going on.
15 And so, you know, that tells me that, you know, we need to 16 look at our SES and SL and those ranks and above and find out what's going 17 on.
18 My gut, just from my experience over time in government 19 organizations where I spent most of my career at the state and federal level, 20 it usually comes down to communication.
21 And I think, you know, an organization that has good, robust 22 communication usually has a good culture because people feel like they're 23 included and they know what's going on. And for better or for worse, they 24
60 know what's going on and they don't feel like they're on the outside looking in.
1 And I would say that I think that our post-COVID world is 2
influencing that somewhat because life has changed and communications 3
patterns have changed. And we're still learning and adapting to how to 4
communicate most effectively.
5 I'm not giving that as an excuse, it's just a challenge for all 6
of us to figure that out.
7 Fortunately, I think it can be figured out. We just need to 8
make sure it is a priority as we do so.
9 You know, and I'm encouraged by the new hire news that 10 says that we're starting to turn the corner and we're doing something right.
11 I'm going to -- the questions I do have today are probably 12 things that you don't have ready answers for, but I'd be interested in hearing 13 as follow up.
14 But on those new hires, I'd be interested to know how many 15 are coming from other public sector government agencies versus the private 16 sector?
17 So we have a sense of how well we're doing recruiting 18 against, you know, particularly the private sector where we can't compete 19 necessarily in the same way for those employees.
20 And you know, I don't know if we've done this, and I'll also 21 step back here for a second, and Eric, this one's going to come to you, I know 22 a lot of you are pitch-hitting in roles are new or pitch-hitting in roles you haven't 23 done before. And so, I appreciate you doing what you do and being here 24
61 today and fielding some questions that are oftentimes challenging.
1 Do we have a process for soliciting input from new hires 2
about the recruitment hiring and on boarding process so we can get better at 3
that?
4 MR. DILWORTH: We do. What we -- and we really just 5
started last year. We do it through our reconnect program.
6 It's -- we're educating them, but we also receive feedback 7
because it's a six-series program where we teach about the culture and about 8
the values of NRC.
9 And then, about some basic benefits and federal benefits, 10 that type of thing.
11 So, we receive feedback in that.
12 And also, in our on boarding, because that's the process 13 where we really, you know, how long it took them to get their job offers, all of 14 this stuff. So, we're going about receiving feedback from that.
15 I don't think we have it quite formalized yet, but that's where 16 we really need to get it, when they first finish the on boarding process.
17 So, we have work to do there, too.
18 COMMISSIONER CROWELL: I think this goes without 19 saying, but the best hiring and recruitment tool is everyone in this room and 20 every employee at the Agency.
21 I mean, the best way to recruit is to hear from some other 22 employee at the Agency.
23 And if, you know, if I'm not telling a good story about my on 24
62 boarding to the NRC to my friend who is qualified to work here, it's, you know, 1
it's not going to -- certainly not going to respond to a vacancy announcement 2
that's just random.
3 So, we all have to be ambassadors and have to tell that 4
good story.
5 I'm also interested in knowing, and I don't think you'll have 6
this at your fingertips today, but, you know, how many engineers and scientists 7
we have performing non-engineering and science roles?
8 Because I think that's another point here at the NRC that 9
I've noticed over my time is that we do a lot of internal moving people around 10 but putting them in positions that they're skill set is not suited for. It's not -- it 11 doesn't mean they can't do it, it doesn't mean people can't, if they want to, 12 switch career paths and learn all this stuff.
13 But we seem to do too much of it where we just assume that, 14 if you're, you know, have this one technical specialty, you'll be great at human 15 capital as well.
16 And there will be cases where that's true, but for the most 17 part, it doesn't always work very well.
18 So, we need to be cognizant of how we're matching skill sets 19 up with job responsibilities.
20 Meredith, I'm going to turn to you here for a second.
21 One, I really appreciate your presentation.
22 I -- no, I don't take too much offense at it, but, you know, my 23 friends and colleagues gave me a hard time because I need to have a big font 24
63 and I can't see the difference between colors these days, you know, but it does 1
make a difference and it adds up.
2 And these are small things that don't get talked about but 3
make a big difference for people in their daily lives.
4 So, I appreciate you pointing those things out.
5 But with regard to the, you know, you referenced the low 6
number of complaints filed, and that doesn't give enough data to really data 7
trend.
8 Yes, that's true, but is there another way to look at that?
9 Whereas, the low number of complaints and, therefore, data, that's a silver 10 lining? That's a good sign that there's not a lot?
11 If you had a lot of data, you've got a bigger problem going 12 on.
13 MS. NEUBAUER: I think so.
14 And I think, most importantly, showing that, yes, we've done 15 21 contacts. But then, we're giving people various options. Right?
16 So, it's not necessarily resulting in an EEO complaint.
17 And then, from there, we're resolving them at the informal 18 level so that we have a small number of formal complaints going forward.
19 I think that is absolutely a great testament of what we are 20 doing and how we are making things work.
21 As to the number itself of having low level number of 22 contacts, yes, it absolutely could be seen as a good thing. But I think it also 23
-- we need to explore are people afraid to enter the EEO process?
24
64 How is the environment reflecting on what peoples' 1
mentality is about the complaints or about what their work environment is?
2 So, I don't think that's necessarily to speculate as a good 3
thing in and of itself.
4 COMMISSIONER CROWELL: Yes, I agree.
5 And it is -- I often find it's much more challenging for folks to 6
bring a complaint or a concern forward if it's about -- if it's not about the 7
substance of the job, but it's something more reflective of them or how they 8
feel and their colleagues are much more reluctant to bring that forward.
9 So, I think the low data reflects that, too. So, we need to 10 make that safe environment a priority.
11 Chris, quick question for you.
12 You mentioned ISOCCER, the organizational values.
13 And I was looking through the briefing book but I can't find 14 what the organizational values are.
15 What are the organizational values that ISOCCER 16 represents?
17 MR. CRAIGHEAD: You're putting me on the spot to quote 18 the acronym here. I might need some help.
19 (Laughter) 20 MR. CRAIGHEAD: But the integrity, service, openness, 21 commitment --
22 MR. MORRIS: Collaboration, excellence, and respect.
23 MR. CRAIGHEAD: Yes, thank you.
24
65 COMMISSIONER CROWELL: Okay, okay, got you.
1 Yes, thank you.
2 And I will leave it there for now, but I think -- I appreciate all 3
that you --
4 No, I'll make one other comment.
5 There's a slide in the background material here where it 6
shows that there is some small amount of employees at the Agency that are 7
over 80 years old, and I want to say, thank you, congratulations for going that 8
-- I mean, that is like really putting your life aside for the benefit of an agency.
9 So, whoever you are, thank you.
10 And with that, I will turn it to the Chair.
11 Thank you.
12 CHAIR HANSON: Thanks, Commissioner Crowell.
13 Okay, well, here I am batting clean up. So, but I am going 14 to take a note from Commissioner Crowell here and just talk for a few minutes.
15 Thank you all for your presentations this morning. I think it 16 was a really insightful discussion and thank you all for your service.
17 I wanted to, speaking of the background material, I mean, 18 one of the things I noticed was several pages on kind of a proposed list of 19 recruiting events that we have in front of us.
20 And it wasn't just universities, although there are a lot of 21 universities on here, it was also things like the Society of Black Engineers.
22 There was recruiting at career fairs at say the naval 23 shipyards and other kinds of things.
24
66 And it's a really comprehensive list and I don't know, you 1
know, obviously, there wasn't a commitment to do all of these, but if we even 2
do some of these with, you know, reaching out to Veterans and the HBCUs 3
and the Hispanic serving institutions on this list, I think we're poised to get a 4
really robust group of people.
5 And I want to celebrate the broad kind of thinking that went 6
into this, because I think it's exactly where we need to go. So, thank you.
7 I wanted to really echo Commissioner Caputo's remarks 8
about the special emphasis programs and the EEO Advisory Committees. I 9
think they play a really, really important role in the Agency in building a diverse 10 and inclusive workforce.
11 And all the events she mentioned, the storytelling event 12 which I heard great things about.
13 And of course, the Technical Women's Network did their 14 action plan and these kinds of things.
15 So, I encourage everybody to get involved with that as I 16 know we all are.
17 I'll make a small PSA for Pride Month. June is Pride Month.
18 It's a time to celebrate and reflect. And I think it's these kinds of events, you 19 know, getting back into the EEO Advisory Committees, et cetera, are a great 20 time to get out there and enjoy, you know, join your fellow colleagues.
21 There's a short ceremony to raise the Pride flag out front of 22 One White Flint tomorrow morning at 9:00.
23 And then, there will be a keynote in the Two White Flint 24
67 auditorium I think at noon called Behind the Performance Culture on Self-1 Expression with Drag.
2 And so, I hope to see you all there. I'll be there.
3 So, I do actually have a question, believe it or not.
4 But let me make kind of an observation, particularly Scott 5
and Chris.
6 I agree with -- and this picks up on something I think that 7
Commissioner Crowell mentioned and Commissioner Caputo -- about the 8
communication in the organization.
9 And Scott, you know, you talked about the senior leaders 10 kind of talking better amongst themselves.
11 But if -- and I agree with Commissioner Caputo about the 12 importance of setting expectations.
13 But that's a vertical problem.
14 This expectation setting and the communication is a vertical 15 problem, not necessarily a horizontal one.
16 And I know in the culture change stuff, Chris, that you're 17 talking about, it's really a matter of both. Right?
18 But one of the key words that you called out in your 19 presentation was about accountability.
20 And accountability seems, yes, you know, Scott, to your 21 point, amongst senior leaders, we can look at each other and hold up our 22 behaviors and say, does this look like what we're aspiring to? And say, yes 23 or no.
24
68 But it's also about, hey, how are leaders in the Agency 1
building that culture of trust so that then, they can also have that culture of 2
accountability?
3 And I don't know one of both of you kind of want to respond 4
to this.
5 MR. MORRIS: Yes, I --
6 CHAIR HANSON: But I think it's really important and I think 7
it's kind of -- I'm concerned that it's kind of getting lost in part of the 8
conversation.
9 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
10 No, it's -- I just didn't have enough time to get there.
11 (Laughter) 12 MR. MORRIS: So, we've done a number of things and are 13 continuing to do some things.
14 We just instituted, for example, what we call the COM 7 15 process. It's the name of a procedure. There is no calm one through six, it's 16 Calm Seven because, in effective communications theory, I guess, you know, 17 there's this notion that you have to say something seven times in seven 18 different ways before people really embrace it and understand it.
19 So, we actually call it the COM 7 process. And it is to 20 ensure that, A, there's leadership and the messaging that we're trying to 21 convey to the staff, you know, congruity, you know, we're agreeing at the 22 senior, and writing it down so that -- and publishing those things so people can 23 see and hold us accountable to actually doing what we say.
24
69 So, that's one piece.
1 I mentioned the EDO town halls where we're trying to be 2
more active, more interactive and engaging and calling up people, you know, 3
senior leaders from the audience to respond to different issues that get raised.
4 We're evolving our -- we have a biweekly leadership touch 5
point meeting every Wednesday.
6 And you know, one of the things we do in those 7
conversations, as well as others, is to make sure that whatever decisions that 8
we're making, that we're communicating those decisions in a consistent --
9 clear and consistent manner.
10 We've got a long way to go. We recognize there's -- I agree 11 with Commissioner Crowell, that, you know, I think communication is a large 12 part of the challenge that we're working on.
13 But these are some of the things that we're trying to do to, 14 not only just reflect and talk about the feedback, but actually do something 15 about it.
16 CHAIR HANSON: Chris, you can add whatever you'd like.
17 MR. CRAIGHEAD: I'll add to that, so, thank you, it's a great 18 question.
19 I think communication comes up all the time. It's one of our 20 major challenges.
21 And so, I have here the culture improvement plans that 22 every culture leader has submitted to the culture team.
23 And as I've been looking over for the last two weeks, 24
70 communication comes up in every single plan.
1 And so, as an organization, our culture leaders are looking 2
at how are we communicating within our office or our region and how can we 3
build trust with that communication?
4 So, every office and region is focused on that. And so, we 5
hope that and believe that we'll see some improvements in terms of 6
communication lineally and vertically as well.
7 CHAIR HANSON: Yes, I think it's not just necessarily -- this 8
is also an issue of kind of quality as much as it is quantity. Right?
9 It's not just more communication, it's actually, we are all 10 saying the same things because we share the same the same values and we 11 have the same expectations and we have the same goals. Right.
12 So, consistency kind of up and down the organization.
13 MR. MORRIS: Could I just add one thing?
14 So, the FEVS surveys only come out once a year. So, it's 15 sort of a lagging indicator.
16 What -- the other conversation we're having at the senior 17 leadership level is to institute more frequent pulse surveys, short, very short, 18 pithier, but on a more frequent basis so we can get more real-time feedback 19 about how we're doing. How effectively we're communicating.
20 CHAIR HANSON: I get that, but I think Commissioner 21 Caputo had it -- she had it exactly right. We can't survey our way into --
22 MR. MORRIS: I understand that, but we can't -- we're dead 23 reckoning right now.
24
71 Without -- we're looking back at a year-old data sets and 1
trying to decide what it -- what have I done in the last six months that's moving 2
the needle?
3 I won't know that for another six months.
4 CHAIR HANSON: Yes, no, okay, fair enough.
5 In terms of appreciations, Matt, you had a slide that was like, 6
you know, the TTC is the NRC's best kept secret, which I think is unfortunate.
7 Right? It shouldn't -- it actually shouldn't be the best kept secret.
8 And I think there's just a tremendous amount of value that 9
you guys do.
10 And I guess I'll just put in a small plug. I mean, it seems --
11 you noted a lot of the places where you're seeing increased demand for the 12 TTC services, right, from both existing NRC employees, Agreement States, 13 international partners, all of this stuff on a whole range of technical topics.
14 Right? Reactors and materials and everything else.
15 Have you all thought about doing kind of a blue sky exercise 16 that was kind of like, look, if we looked at all of the demand that's either out 17 there today or out there over the next five years, this is what a TTC would look 18 like and this is all of the capability and all the technology and so forth, has that 19
-- have you guys thought about doing something like that?
20 MR. EMRICH: I appreciate the question, Chair Hanson.
21 I guess the short answer is, not officially. I mean, certainly, 22 we have our fingers on the pulse of what's going on from the technical office 23 perspective.
24
72 We're in frequent communication, in fact, I have two 1
meetings tomorrow with OIP to talk about regulatory -- or international 2
regulatory support and maybe some future forward thinking, you know, what 3
can we do for the international community going forward.
4 Because there's going to be a lot of demand coming from 5
those areas.
6 But as far as an official have we sat down and really mapped 7
out, you know, what's -- what do we anticipate five years from now?
8 And I think anybody at this table is like, good luck with that.
9 Right?
10 I mean, the amount of small modular and advanced, you 11 know, kind of figures right now are out there, but nobody's ponying up the 12 money to actually build one of these things yet.
13 So, it's -- how do you budget for that? It makes it extremely 14 difficult.
15 CHAIR HANSON: There's a little bit of a chicken and egg 16 problem there, I get it, absolutely.
17 MR. EMRICH: But to your point on the TTC, and I mean, I 18 wasn't trying to be cliche with best kept secret, but I've been with the Agency 19 for 13 years.
20 The technical staff I think know about the TTC, but the 21 corporate support staff, they don't get down there.
22 We just hosted folks from OCFO yesterday at TTC for a tour.
23 Small Business and Civil Rights is coming down I think in 24
73 two weeks, Meredith, to kind of get a feel for what we do, but also to come 1
and tell us what they do.
2 Because the TTC is a little isolated which is -- can be a good 3
thing, can be a bad thing as well.
4 But we are, in some respects, people don't realize the 5
amount of years of experience and technical capacity we have there.
6 CHAIR HANSON: Thanks, yes, I really appreciate that.
7 Well, like everybody here, I think there are more -- I've more 8
questions than there is time.
9 But so, thank you for that.
10 I think that's -- it's -- that might be worth considering even as 11 you rightly point out, Matt, that the future is a little murky.
12 So, thanks.
13 With that, I will call on Dale Yeilding from National Treasury 14 Employees Union to give a few minutes of remarks.
15 Dale?
16 MR. YEILDING: Testing one, two?
17 Excellent.
18 Thank you, Chair, staff, union members for this opportunity 19 to speak on a couple of brief union statements about ten issues.
20 I'm the Chapter Executive Vice President and a past 21 President from 2000 to 2012. So, I can bring a little history into some of my 22 comments here.
23 EEO complaints versus an EEO grievance. I am pleased 24
74 to now see that the Agency's websites regarding the EEO complaint process 1
also includes information about employees' alternative to process the 2
discrimination concerns to a negotiated grievance process along with help of 3
an NTEU union steward.
4 I am not pleased that the Agency sees no benefit to track 5
the many grievance concerns employees have filed, some of which may also 6
claim discrimination.
7 Grievances could be a metric to indicate staff level of 8
dissatisfaction.
9 SBCR continues to discourage EEO grievances.
10 The Agency recently proposed to change the Management 11 Directive 10.161 with a long title, Civil Rights Program, Affirmative 12 Employment, and Diversity Management Program, and Diversity, Equity, and 13 Inclusion Outreach.
14 A word search on complaint reflected 37 occurrences.
15 A word search on grievance was zero.
16 Thus, again, SBCR is not equally promoting both the formal 17 complaint process along with the employees alternative to claim a 18 discrimination through the union's process where they can have assistance 19 from a union steward.
20 Age discrimination. Age discrimination is just as illegal as 21 discrimination based upon race, color, religion, gender, et cetera, but 22 somehow is more commonly accepted at the NRC.
23 A question at the recent Regulatory Information Conference 24
75 to a Commissioner was, how can the Agency hire more younger employees?
1 The answer was so matter of fact and acceptable, both the 2
senior manager asking and the Commissioner answering, without realizing 3
that the question in itself accepts age discrimination at the NRC.
4 Senior SBCR managers suggest changing the term younger 5
to entry-level, not realizing using the same applicant target with a different 6
name is still discriminating.
7 EEO Advisory Committee on Ageism has been analyzing 8
performance appraisal data trying to confirm is a past SBCR analysis 9
confirming age discrimination continues at the NRC.
10 Alternate dispute resolution should be independent from the 11 EEO complaint process.
12 Alternate dispute resolution as managed by SBCR is a 13 voluntary option for resolution of an EEO dispute.
14 Federal agency of the OE Commission, which is a federal 15 agency that has established guidance for alternate dispute resolution directs 16 agencies to have a separate ADR office that functions independently of the 17 traditional EEO office.
18 At the NRC, independence is not established with SBCR 19 administrating both the EEO complaint process and the alternate dispute 20 resolution process.
21 I'll talk a little bit about retention.
22 A lengthy quote here from an OIG report of November 2023, 23 Ten Most Serious Management Performance Challenges Facing the NRC in 24
76
'24.
1 Challenge number five, hiring and retaining sufficiently 2
highly skilled employees to carry out the mission.
3 The OIG went on to say, external and internal stakeholders 4
have raised questions about the NRC's ability to carry out its mission as the 5
Agency's full-time staff declined from approximately 3,700 in '15 to 2,800 in 6
2023.
7 Current Agency annual attrition rates under 10 percent are 8
considered manageable.
9 However, NRC officials acknowledge that hiring in recent 10 years has not kept pace with attrition, even as new staff members are 11 recruited, the challenge to strengthen the organizational culture and maintain 12 a collaborative work environment to retain and develop staff and effectively 13 meet the NRC Mission.
14 So, the focus on that was retention and the focus on this 15 meeting so far has been recruiting.
16 Let me talk a little bit now for the rest of statement here on 17 retention.
18 Past best place to work. When I was president of the union 19 over a decade ago, NRC was rated the number one best place to work in the 20 federal government for four straight years.
21 What happened back then?
22 Flexible work schedules treated in the collective bargain 23 agreement.
24
77 Telework was born then.
1 Successful negotiations on most matters occurred.
2 Minimal grievances back then.
3 Now, we are rated 23 of 26 mid-size federal agencies near 4
the bottom.
5 Both the OIG report reported concerns for retention and the 6
declining FEV scores need explanation.
7 I'd like to address four areas where -- why the decline.
8 Small workstations. The Agency renovates floors reducing 9
the size of workstations from 80 square feet to 36 square feet, sixth floor of 10 One White Flint.
11 The Agency and the union have reached agreement on two 12 floors now being renovated to 46 square feet but are at an impasse on future 13 renovations.
14 The impasse is based upon the Agency's proposal to keep 15 small workstations with many conference rooms and a large kitchen.
16 The union proposal retains the same number of 80-square 17 foot workstations on the floor but eliminates the unnecessary large kitchen 18 and retains only needed conference rooms.
19 Why the FEV decline?
20 Hoteling. Agency quotes OPM and GSA a decade-old 21 regulations to efficiently use office space. Hoteling takes away employee's 22 workstation that frequently telework.
23 The recent Agency regional proposal moved employees into 24
78 hoteling with the same number of workstations utilized both before and after 1
the implementation of hoteling.
2 Thus, no efficiency realized.
3 Does efficient use of office space trump employee 4
satisfaction?
5 Why the decline?
6 Agency failure to withhold union dues. The union has filed 7
three grievances involving the Agency's failure to meet its statutory obligation 8
to withhold dues for 59 new union members.
9 The Agency further failed to notify the employees to allow 10 for a waiver appeal before garnishing their paycheck for the past due amounts.
11 Why the decline?
12 Telework, flexible work models. EDO sanctioned two 13 working groups to analyze telework after return from the pandemic.
14 Successful union negotiations involved the increase in 15 telework frequency associated with staff embracing presence with purpose to 16 independently determine the necessary in office versus hybrid needs.
17 The Commission then attempted to override a negotiated 18 agreement committing an unfair labor practice that will proceed to hearing in 19 the fall.
20 Agency scrutiny of the many matters currently in dispute 21 with the union may shed some light on why employees are dissatisfied and 22 FEV scores are declining.
23 NTEU encourages employees to contact the union with 24
79 issues and consider joining NTEU to support their exclusive representative 1
fighting for you on the front lines.
2 Thank you very much.
3 CHAIR HANSON: Thank you, Mr. Yeilding.
4 And thanks, again, to everyone for the presentation this 5
morning and for all of your efforts in the preparation.
6 And thanks to my colleagues as well for your thoughtful 7
questions and comments.
8 With that, we are adjourned.
9 (Whereupon, the above-entitled matter went off the record 10 at 11:58 a.m.)
11