LETTER TO THOMAS K. LATIMER FROM ROBERT W. MAGEE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B01390R000400540029-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 9, 2011
• Sequence Number: 29
• Publication Date: September 16, 1986
• Content Type: LETTER

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/09: CIA-RDP90B01390R000400540029-6
SEEP 1 6 _
Mr. Thomas K. Latimer
Staff Director
House Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
This letter is a follow up to our conversation on 9 September regarding
the Agency's career and pay experiment for its secretarial occupation. As we
discussed, I believe there are several aspects of the program that need
clarification.
As we all know, secretarial turnover is a problem throughout both the
Federal Government and the private sector, and the Agency is no exception.
However, the Agency does have a unique problem created by secretarial
turnover. Our security requirements and long recruitment lead times make it
nearly impossible for our recruitment system to cope. As a result,
organizations throughout the Agency experience long secretarial vacancy
periods (often several months), and recruiting for other critical occupations
suffers because of the effort which must be devoted to replacing secretaries.
Hence, our focus on solutions now.
In the analysis of the Agency problem, we concluded that attraction was
not the problem. We have always been able to find secretaries who were
interested in Agency employment, but have been unable to get them in at a rate
sufficient to keep up with the movement out of the occupation into other
Agency occupations and out of the Agency altogether. Our surveys of the
occupation throughout the years have consistently shown that the movement out
of the occupation has been primarily created by the lack of career opportunity
within the occupation, both from the standpoint of growth in responsibility
and in pay.
Our new program is structured to stem the exodus from the occupation by
addressing the career growth concerns. From the outset, the idea of simply
paying our secretaries more money to keep them in the occupation was
rejected. We concluded that this approach would be unacceptable because it
would create internal inequity, and would not address the basic career growth
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expressed by the secretaries. The program we have designed combines certain
elements of the General Schedule and the grade banding concept we are
experimenting with in our Office of Communications with a job enrichment
program that is intended to increase the level of responsibility in many of
our secretarial jobs. As with all of our pay programs, we have maintained the
linkage of the secretarial program to the Agency and the General Schedule
position classification and pay systems.
Within the Secretarial Career System, we have established four job
levels. Each of these levels is based on individual job content rather than
the hierarchical relationship to the supervisor's position as has been past
practice. Responsibility levels for these positions have been defined by
internal standards that are derived from the General Schedule and internal
Agency standards we use for other Agency positions. Thus, the four levels
have been established as follows:
IS-0l
Secretarial Trainee
GS-05
IS-02
Secretary
GS-07
IS-03
Senior Secretary
GS-09
IS-04
Executive Secretary
GS-l0
For pay purposes, the linkages have been established between the midpoints
of the corresponding GS and IS levels, with a 50 percent spread from minimum
to maximum of each level. As we advised in our earlier letter, participants
will receive an annual increase for fully satisfactory performance which is
smaller than a GS step increase (2 percent vice 3 percent) to provide
continuing recognition for good performance without increasing costs. In
addition, we have established a performance award pool intended to reward
exceptional performance through one-time payment cash awards that do not
increase the employees' base rate of pay.
The most significant aspect of this system, however, is our effort to
increase the number of senior-level jobs within the occupation by adding new
responsibilities to individual jobs through top-down mandated job enrichment
supported by a defined employee development program. The increased costs we
have projected for the Secretarial System result directly from this job
enrichment aspect of the program and the resulting increased numbers of senior
positions. We take this program very seriously, and are looking at it not
only as a means to address a critical organizational problem, but also as an
affirmative action for an occupation which is predominantly female.
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We will be continuing to evaluate the Secretarial Career System both from
the standpoint of effectiveness in retaining secretaries and system costs over
the next several years. We will continue to share our experiences with you,
and look forward to your continuing support as we tailor our personnel system
to more effectively meet our organizational needs.
Sincerely,
'Robert Magee
Original - Addressee
1 - O/Compt.
1 - OCA
1 - DDA/MS Subject
1 - DDA Registry
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ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional)
FROM:
Robert W. Magee
EXTENSION
NO.`__.-_~~~?_??
6
Director of Personnel
DATE
16 September 1986
TO: (Officer designation, room number, and
building)
DATE
RECEIVED FORWARDED
OFFICER'S
INITIALS
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
1 0/Comptroller
71216 NOR
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3. C~~
a
D/OC
FYI and passage to Tom Latimer
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