The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2016

24 JULY-AUGUST 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FLO measures the success of the program by counting how many times family members reach out to GEAs for counseling sessions, and how many webinars or workshops are offered and the attendance of those events. Christopher Baumgarten, the employment program coordinator at FLO, notes that in 2014 GEAs held more than 4,300 one-on-one sessions with EFMs seeking employment. In 2015, they held more than 3,100 ses- sions. Frost also points out that while there has been a 25-percent increase in the number of spouses and partners overseas in the decade, the percentage of family members who are employed inside or outside of a mission overseas has remained static. “So that means employment and career-related programs have helped,” Frost says. “The department and other agencies have increased the number of positions and employment oppor- tunities overseas in the same percentage as the number of family members have increased.” Working Inside the Mission. Depending on the size and scope of the post, most missions have jobs open to family mem- bers. The jobs are often clerical or administrative though some, like the Community Liaison Office coordinator, can be profes- sional in nature. In addition to these, some posts (though not all) have posi- tions that are available through different centrally managed programs that tap into the EFM labor pool and provide more professional work. Centrally Managed Programs The Expanded Professional Associates Program. This FLO- coordinated program opens jobs that are the equivalent of entry- level FSO positions to family members. The program offers a total of 200 EPAP positions plus 50 additional positions in the Bureau of Information Resource Manage- ment. Each year EPAP advertises these positions through a USAJobs vacancy announcement. Once selected for an EPAP position, EFMs are hired on a family mem- ber appointment (FMA), which means they receive danger pay but do not receive other allowances. That means, for example, that at one Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs post that recently lost its danger-pay designation, the EPAP employee reported receiving $600 less per paycheck. The FSOs and specialists she worked with didn’t see the same reduction, because the cut in danger pay at post was offset by an increase in other allowances, which the EPAP participant was not eligible to receive. Used for many EFM hires, the FMA mechanism was first introduced in 1998 and it offers some real benefits, including annual and sick leave, Thrift Savings Plan participation, health benefits and life insurance. And, most importantly, it gives EFMs the opportunity to earn non-competitive eligibility, which enables them to more easily fill federal jobs back in Washington. But if an EFM is doing a job that is the equivalent of what an entry-level FSO would be doing, it can be hard for him or her to swallow this difference in allowances. And even though the FMA mechanism has real benefits, they’re not necessarily ones that soothe the EFM who feels the financial difference personally. Spouses who participated in a discussion with the FSJ on EFM employment were unanimously skeptical that the EPAP program provided any real benefit to them. In addition to finding the hiring process cumbersome, these spouses agreed that they could often get higher pay and better jobs by working with the post’s human resources section directly. “I would argue that as an employee you are better off not in the EPAP program,” said one focus group participant. Said another: “They want to take advantage of the qualified people at post, and they market the program as an entry-level Foreign Service officer. But they don’t want to pay you that way. And they expect you to take the same amount of leave and work full time.” Professional Associates. Also known as the Hard-to-Fill pro- gram, this program is managed through State’s Office of Career Source: State Department Family Liaison Office, Family Member Report, November 2015.