§2736f Efforts to Improve Retention and Prevent Retaliation

Summary

The Secretary must set up one easy place to report discrimination and harassment within one year after December 22, 2023. That office must do a first review of complaints and let someone file several claims from one complaint if needed. Within 180 days after December 22, 2023, and every year after that, the Secretary must run an employee satisfaction survey with open-ended answers. The survey must ask about about 15 topics, including work-life balance, pay and benefits, career growth, fairness in reviews and promotions, communication, leadership, workplace culture, complaint processes, accessibility and accommodations, commuting, IT, understanding the Department’s mission, how work fits the mission, feeling able to make changes, and experiences with harassment, discrimination, or retaliation. Also within 180 days the Secretary must start a standard, confidential exit survey and interviews for staff who leave. Those exit tools must ask why people leave (including caretaking, partner career limits, or mistreatment), job satisfaction, work environment, growth, leadership, ideas to improve, and, if relevant, the name and industry of the new employer. The Secretary must compile anonymous exit data and, within 60 days after each survey ends, share key findings with staff and Congress. A Department-wide pilot survey of Locally Employed Staff must also be done within 180 days. To help stop retaliation, if a supervisor is under investigation for discrimination or harassment and that supervisor would rate a complainant, the complainant’s review must be done by the supervisor’s boss or another appropriate person. That change takes effect 90 days after December 22, 2023. Any employee accused of discrimination or harassment must get written guidance called a “retaliation hold” that explains actions that could be seen as retaliation. The accused employee’s immediate supervisor must get the same guidance.