The Foreign Service Journal, December 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2015 51 Workforce Planning Overdue at FAS In Ambassador Barbara Stephenson’s October President’s Views column, she hit on the most pressing issue facing Foreign Service officers in the Foreign Agricultural Service today, one which will have important repercussions over the course of the next decade—workforce planning. Indeed, today the goal of creating a “cohesive, robust, resilient and confident” FSO corps seems a long way off. Instead, we are now in a state of crisis as a result of situationally expedient deci- sions made a decade ago. The number of FAS FSOs is at a historic low—20 percent lower than 10 years ago, despite the number of offices remaining roughly the same and U.S. agricultural trade growing in value and com- plexity. For example, we now have about the same number of FS-1 officers as overseas positions, leaving no room for officers to take advantage of training or fill Washing- ton positions. The next 10 years will bring even greater challenges, as the high rate of retirements continues to decimate the upper ranks. The “bulge” of officers that came into FAS in the late 1980s is rapidly shrink- ing due to Time-in-Class and Time-in-Service limits, but the cohort behind them is shockingly small. It is small because of painfully meager incoming classes in the mid- 2000s. All of this has contrib- uted to a severe shortage in the middle ranks, especially FS-1 and FS-2 officers. We need to dramatically improve our workforce planning to be able to fulfill our mission going forward. As I noted optimistically in my October column, a new officer recruiting system is leading to large and talented new classes of officers com- ing into FAS. However, these FS-3 officers and trainees need years to gain the neces- sary experience to take on leadership roles. This leaves FAS with a critical and wors- ening shortage of trained officers to serve as head of post or to fill other higher- level positions. The leadership shortage is manifested in many ways, including an extremely large number of stretch positions (40 percent of all assignments in 2014-2015), greatly reduced time in Washington to reconnect with FAS culture, officer burnout, higher rates of voluntary separation, skewed bidding incentives and increasing demands by Civil Service employees to serve multiple overseas assignments. The least noticed, but perhaps longest-lasting impact will be on the leadership training available to existing officers. With ever-higher demands placed on so few FSOs, we would do well to consider whether we will be able to provide them with the leadership training and mentorship they require. FSOs are accustomed to getting on-the-job training, but we also know that many hidden problems result when corners are cut to accommodate immediate needs. FAS’ Office of Foreign Service Operations has made progress on workforce planning and its execution. However, management and human resource officials don’t seem to share OFSO’s sense of urgency. We at AFSA, in collaboration with our members, must do more to educate FAS as to why this is such a critical period. We are in the midst of a crisis and need to make sure FAS doesn’t mortgage the future integrity of the Foreign Service in order to keep the lights on today. n With ever-higher demands placed on so few FSOs, we would do well to consider whether we will be able to provide them with the leadership training and mentorship they require. Views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the AFSA FAS VP. Contact: mark.petry@fas.usda.gov or (202) 720-2502 AFSA/MARIAC.LIVINGSTON On Oct. 30, the American Foreign Service Association and DACOR teamed up to host the graduation reception for the most recent Job Search Program class at the Foreign Service Institute. AFSAwas pleased to honor the Foreign Service employees who were retiring from diplomatic service, and looks forward to welcoming them as retiree members of the association and continuing to work on their behalf to protect their Foreign Service legacy and help them navigate their retirement. JOB SEARCH PROGRAM RECEPT I ON FAS VP VOICE | BY MARK PETRY AFSA NEWS