The Foreign Service Journal, March 2014

12 MARCH 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL it just can’t be me. That would be a conflict of interest.” My colleagues and I were shocked and disheartened by that comment. No matter how committed and effective we were, we had to accept this inequity, a lukewarm evaluation and a promotion culture of “wait your turn.” We wondered with every work assignment whether we were being set up for success or failure. Suspicion and mistrust quickly became the USAID mis- sion’s culture. This inequity is not limited to a specific FS rank, and it may be growing. Many of the more than 500 New Entry Professionals hired since 1998 at the FS-4 level are now FS-3s, who are supervising and evaluating other FS-3 officers. The nearly 900 Development Leadership Ini- tiative FSOs hired and quickly promoted may face the same situation before long. Concerned about the culture of com- petition at USAID, I wrote to Administra- tor Rajiv Shah when I retired, but got no response. Moreover, even though senior agency leaders have the authority to make a quick and meaningful fix, they have not yet taken the necessary steps. Addressing the inequity would reduce the plethora of supervisory and deputy director positions (54 percent), and a flatter agency would provide staff greater access to, engagement with and mentor- ship by senior, experienced leaders. Evidence of employee dissatisfaction with the promotion and evaluation pro- cess surfaced in the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey conducted between April 30 and June 14, 2013. That dissatis- faction may be reflected in survey results showing that 34 percent of employees are considering leaving USAID in the next year. USAID Administrator Shah and the U.S. Congress have worked diligently over several years to bring talented and committed FSOs into the agency. For that, they should be commended. However, such progress could easily be squandered if FSOs discouraged by the inequity of the promotion and evalua- tion systemmake the difficult decision to leave USAID. Chris O’Donnell USAID FSO, retired Founder, Development Essentials Alexandria, Va. Hiring Domestic Workers As a Foreign Service labor officer who worked to combat trafficking in persons and child labor and employed domes- tics overseas, I found Laura Fabrycky’s “Rethinking the Role of Madam” (December) thoughtful and moving. Over the years I have seen and heard many cases of abused domestics and workers—male and female, and some still children—and understand her con- cerns about the practice. However, I must disagree with her conclusion that we should not hire adult domestic workers overseas because doing so perpetuates an abusive system. As an economic officer focused on development, I would argue that Ameri- cans serving overseas make a valuable contribution to the local economy when they hire local domestics and house- hold workers. Our family has hired such employees in Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Poland, South Korea and Kenya, and brought them with us to the United States. When we first hired live-in help, we felt the same concerns as Fabrycky about privacy and whether our children would grow up spoiled and unable to keep a neat house. However, the ability to hand the baby over to someone at 10 p.m. and get a good night’s sleep, to come home to a cooked meal after work and to have Take AFSA With You! Change your address online, visit us at www.afsa.org/address Or Send changes to: AFSAMembership Department 2101 E Street NW Washington, DC 20037 Moving?