The Foreign Service Journal, September 2015

46 SEPTEMBER 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Conversions In addition to building the future structure in terms of organi- zations and regulations, implementation of the Foreign Service Act has also required close attention to transitional problems immediately affecting a large number of State Department employees. The most urgent of these have involved conversion of members of the Service from one personnel category to another. These have included conversion to the Senior Foreign Ser- vice of senior officers available for worldwide service, if they so request; conversion to the new specialist category (and the accompanying Foreign Service pay schedule) of worldwide avail- able Foreign Service Reserve officers below the senior level and of members of the Foreign Service Staff Corps; conversion to the new Foreign Service schedule of FSOs below the senior level; con- version to the Civil Service personnel system of domestic FSRs, FSRUs, and FSSs [Foreign Service Reserve and Staff categories] not available or needed for worldwide service; and conversion to the appropriate worldwide Foreign Service category of certain individuals from the Civil Service. Under provisions of the act, this conversion process will in fact require three years to complete, since affected individuals in some categories have up to three years to accomplish conversion. Nev- ertheless, the conversion process is well under way, and most of those affected by it have in fact been processed into their new per- sonnel status. The Senior Foreign Service, for example, currently has a total of 1,100 members from the five agencies, of whom 703 are on the rolls of the State Department. Only 42 eligible senior FSOs in the department declined conversion and thus retained their previous rank through the three-year transition period. All members of the Foreign Service, other than senior offi- cers, were switched to the new Foreign Service Schedule for pay purposes in October 1980, and in February 1981 were, in turn, converted automatically (if worldwide available) to the new grade structure and categories. Under Section 2104 of the act, 471 Foreign Service employees were notified that they were considered to be in domestic status and thus subject to conversion to the Civil Service. Approximately one-fourth of the individuals so notified appealed their designa- tion, seeking to remain in the Foreign Service. About one-fourth of those who appealed, or roughly six percent of the total group, were successful in winning retention in the Foreign Service as a result of the deliberations of the department’s Appeals Committee. Of the balance of those identified for conversion to the Civil Service, approximately 15 percent have already converted to GS or SES appointments, while the remainder are deferring conversion, as the law permits them to do. Flow-Through Planning Finally, the Report to Congress includes five-year projections of attrition, recruitment and promotion. Such projections have been standard management tools in the State Department for some time as an element of flow-through planning, but these have now been made mandatory under the act and must henceforth be included in the department’s annual report on implementation. The purpose of flow-through planning is to ensure that man- agement policies provide for a predictable flow of talent into and through the Foreign Service personnel system. Through this effort, management seeks to balance projected needs and projected employment. To develop the assessment on which this balance is based, both internal and external factors are defined which will influence attrition, recruitment, promotions and other variables. Based on these factors, management can then calculate the number of employees required in each skill group and each class. These calculations result in a set of options used to create yearly management plans which, in turn, are then subject to regular reassessment as conditions change. The calculations required this year have been made more complex by the introduction of limited career extensions for certain categories of career members of the Foreign Service whose time-in-class is due to expire. The number of such extensions will be determined annually by management to meet Foreign Service needs and to permit predictable promotion flows, and will be granted on the basis of rank ordering by the Selection Boards. Extensions will be used to ensure an appropriate balance between rates of attrition and retention of skilled members of the Service. Within this balance, we expect that a substantial number of limited career extensions can be granted in 1983—when the first group of members of the Service subject to the new shorter time- in-class will be considered for them—and in subsequent years. When significant annual variations in extension opportunities are anticipated, averages will be employed to ensure, insofar as possible, a regular annual level of mandatory retirement. Detailed regulations covering extensions are among those still remaining to be developed. —Andrew L. Steigman In 1982, Andrew L. Steigman was deputy assistant secretary of State for personnel. A career Foreign Service officer since 1958, he was ambassa- dor to Gabon from 1975 to 1977. In 1980 he was named director of the Office of Foreign Service Career Development and Assignments.