A common complaint is that in the past the A/A officer was not given the authority or the information to fulfill these responsibilities. Too often/ says Andree, 'an officer finds out about a training program or a job opening after the fact'

cost of living). As employees are tested and placed on eligibility lists, grades and positions should also be recorded. Information on personnel turnover, retirement, terminations, or vacancies should be constantly updated. Exit interviews are also valuable. The Department of Personnel will provide assistance in collecting and analyzing such data. Ultimately, the data can be used to provide promotional listings, fill vacancies and to document complaints, but the major use lor the data is to help the director to determine if his agency is failing to provide equal employment opportunity.

Promotion precedes new hiring
What specifically should the agency affirmative action officer look for in analyzing the data? "I think the key to the whole thing is to determine those women and minorities who are working out of classification." says Evelyn Andree, who spent nine months with the Department of Personnel helping to draw up the Slate program. "Before you hire anyone new, you promote people who have earned the right to move up."

Upward mobility and adequacy of training are, in fact, the first priorities of the A/A Program. In his own department, Stackler requires supervisors to announce the availability of training programs and the right of employees to attend information sessions sponsored by the Department of Personnel and by any other agency. "Our role," Stackler says, "is to encourage employees to improve skills so they can get better jobs."

After base-line data has been collected and analyzed, the A/A officer, along with the director, must then set up goals and specific timetables. Often the size and complexity of a department as well as budget restrictions present problems. Stackler found that the various personnel requirements of his department necessitated different timetables in the accomplishment of his plan. Additionally, his budget required cuts in existing personnel. Despite these difficulties, Stackler's agency has developed guidelines on promotion procedures, including a process for identifying employees with managerial capabilities, setting up a skills bank, and upgrading minority and female employees within turnover projections.

Initially, the A/A officer in Slackler's agency had additional duties. "I learned quickly," he says, "that the person who handles affirmative action ought to be somebody who can devote substantial lime to it." Because his department is large and includes employees in three locations, Stackler also appointed an advisory committee to help him administer the plan.

A/A officer needs authority The responsibilities of the A/A officer include reviewing agency policies to determine their effect on present and potential employees, negotiating grievances, recruiting new employees and assessing current employee status. Yet, a common complaint is that in the past the A/A officer was not given the authority or the information to fulfill these responsibilities. "Too often," says Andree, "an officer finds out about a training program or a job opening after the fact, leaving him no chance to recruit." Stackler agrees, but feels this problem can be solved by opening up communication between the officer and I the agency's personnel department. Andree also notes that training programs offered by the State Department of Personnel, the U.S. Civil Service and the Chicago YMCA "Answer Dome" are good ways to train prospective A/A officers and aid present ones.

Stackler thinks communication with all the employees of an agency regarding A/A is important. "While the executive officer has to be committed to the plan," he says, "he can't do it all by himself. And he can't really impose it." Before his program was submitted, employees in Stackler's department were asked for suggestions on how the program could be put together and what it should contain. "You have to be willing to invite complaints," Slackler says. "Employees have to feel that it's not a threat to their careers if they should presume to criticize the affirmative action stance of the agency."

"Affirmative action," says Geter, "encompasses all aspects of agency employment. It is not simply limited to recruiting or promoting employees, but includes such day-to-day operations as the relationship between supervisors and employees, work assignments, facilities and job location, transportation to and from work, budget allocations, and community attitudes." Stackler agrees. "Our long-term hope," he says, "is that the affirmative action plan will begin to work changes on basic attitudes."

46 /Illinois Issues/February 1975