Building a Resilient Workforce Opportunities for the Department of Homeland Security: Workshop Summary (2012) / Chapter Skim
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2 Overview of the Department of Homeland Security Resilience Issues and Programs
2 Overview of the Department of Homeland Security Resilience Issues and Programs
Pages 9-42
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Kimberly Lew, chief of DHS's Personnel Security Division in the Office of the Chief Security Officer, presented an overview of the security clearance process. Brooks, Kruger, and Lew also participated in a panel discussion on employee perceptions and disincentives for seeking assistance that may negatively affect resilience.
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Additional information about resilience concerns and programs within individual DHS component agencies can be found in Chapter 8. BOX 2-1 DHS-Identified Employee Stressors Repeated exposure to traumatic critical incidents Fatigue from shift work or chronically long hours Nature of the mission Frequent job relocation and deployment Balance between professional and personal obligations Real and perceived consequences of seeking assistance such as stigma, lose of clearance, impact on promotion possibilities DHS-Perceived Challenges in Developing Resilience Programs Large, decentralized organization with diverse cultures Privacy laws and regulations that may restrict outreach to families Funding and prioritization of resources Stigma associated with seeking assistance Decentralization of human resource infrastructure and operations AN OVERVIEW OF DHS RESILIENCE PROGRAMS In late 2009, Deputy Secretary Lute tasked the DHS Office of Health Affairs to develop a department-wide wellness and resilience initiative.
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Planning committee chair James Peake asked if DHS was able to stratify the EVS results by component to see if there is variance across the organization, and if so where. Green responded that EVS results are provided at three levels.
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That type of initiative would not be culturally relevant to law enforcement agencies. The DHSTogether initiative also looked outside the government for guidance.
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NOTE: A/S, Assistant Secretary; CMO, Chief Medical Officer; DHS HQ, Department of Homeland Security Headquarters; FLETC, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center; OCHCO, Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer. Leadership After looking at several models of employee and organizational resilience interventions, it was clear that leadership had to be a priority.
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Over time, the actual day-to-day knowledge or involvement has diminished as other important issues have taken priority. Training While developing the initial training sessions, the program borrowed heavily from Army and Navy resilience models.
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Fifty people from the components, headquarters, and peer-support staff attended the first symposium, and 62 people attended the second. Brinsfield commented that 92 percent of DHS employees participated in the first training with positive feedback in 70 percent of the participants.
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Another contracting concern is that most contracts do not specify that EAP providers must be familiar with the populations and their cultures. In the case of law enforcement officers, it is important that EAP providers, whether they be counselors or peer-support facilitators, must understand the background of their clients.
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After the first DHSTogether training session, representatives from the components contacted OCHCO and indicated that EAP utilization numbers were going up. From the perspective of the resilience initiative this was seen as a positive sign.
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Green noted that based upon some of the feedback from the training sessions, her primary concern was survey fatigue. Training participants have commented that it was hard to see the value of the survey when they had answered these questions before and no changes resulted.
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Summary panelist Kevin Livingston commented that in the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center the majority of
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Green responded that some of the components have had leadership training programs in place for a long time and others have not. Within the past year, a leader development program started out of the Chief Human Capital Office.
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Planning committee chair James Peake noted that it would be worth giving the issue a more in-depth look to determine if there are specific legal prohibitions or if there are other means to reach out to the families and include them in resilience programs. Logistic concerns and barriers to family outreach are also discussed in Vicki Brooks' Department of Homeland Security's Human Capital Framework presentation below.
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Traumatic Incident Management Policy Green mentioned that DHS is now in the process of revising the traumatic incident management policy. The new policy recommends that components have a comprehensive traumatic incident management strategy in place.
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are now getting a suicide prevention buddy check program in their initial training. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY'S HUMAN CAPITAL FRAMEWORK Vicki Brooks is the Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer at DHS.
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Brooks was asked to discuss the constraints and complexities of managing human capital components in DHS, program outreach to employees' family members, and how EAP contracts are structured to fit the needs and cultures of DHS employees. Centralization of Human Resource Functions DHS celebrated the eighth anniversary of its creation in March 2011.
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There is a thin line between centralization and component autonomy for management functions and human capital functions. Each component has a human capital director or human resource director who is typically at the senior executive service (SES)
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Mugno asked if there are any real or perceived career consequences associated with seeking EAP services. Green noted that it is hard to comment on possible real consequences because it is not something that is tracked given the clear line between the EAP and the organization.
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The intention is that these messages will be part of annual trainings and happen more broadly on an ongoing basis throughout the organization. Program Outreach to DHS Employees' Families There are programs and services such as the EAPs that are available to family members.
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Working in an Operations Center The national operations center has representatives from all of the components of DHS, interagency representatives from the Department of Energy and the National Security Agency (NSA) , as well as state and local law enforcement officers.
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The pace at the center can go from tedious and monotonous to extremely high pressure and fast paced in a matter of moments. Operations center staff work on a shift schedule that can contribute to burnout.
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Kruger noted that these gaps in training and support create a Catch-22 for the employees. COMMUNICATING THE SECURITY CLEARANCE PROCESS AND REQUIREMENTS Kimberly Lew is chief of DHS's Personnel Security Division (PSD)
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The background investigation is needed to determine the applicant's suitability and fitness for the position. The second type of investigation is for the subset of DHS employees who also must be investigated in order for a security clearance to be granted.
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Investigators also take into consideration if there is an effort for rehabilitation and if the applicant is in treatment. Security Guidelines For applicants that require security clearances, the investigation includes assessing the applicant's information against the security clearance criteria and guidelines.
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The security office does not obtain EAP records. Lew shared that after the previous chief of personnel security lost her battle with cancer, her office brought in EAP counselors to support the staff.
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A workshop participant asked how the security clearance process at DHS has changed the ability of disaster response organizations such as parts of the Coast Guard and FEMA to function effectively in their disaster response duties by requiring them to get clearances. Lew did not feel it had changed significantly.
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She added that in the 2.5 years she has been in headquarters, she was only aware of one case where a mental health problem triggered a security clearance action. Patty Hawes, a workshop participant from the National Security Agency, asked if the department performs psychological interviews.
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Lew responded that besides that initial contact, periodic reinvestigation, and some refresher trainings, PSD staff do not have many opportunities for such efforts. Although the personnel security office has EAP posters and promotes the use of those services, currently there are no efforts under way to specifically address misinterpretations and stigma.
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EAP Models and Counselors Given some of the situations they might be exposed to while treating a patient, Kruger and Mugno asked if EAP counselors have security clearances. Lew replied that to her knowledge EAP counselors were not cleared.
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Peer Support While running the Los Angeles Police Department operations center, planning committee member Cathy Zurn instituted a peer-support program to address concerns around stress. The program gave coworkers an opportunity to speak to each other in a supportive environment.
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Social Media and Security Standing committee member Merrie Spaeth asked if the security clearance process assesses people's computer habits. Given the types of problems the private sector is having with applications such as Twitter and Facebook, are there concerns about the use of social media?
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Peake commented that the military is moving toward embedded mental health providers within the units, which may be a way to consider supporting groups such as operations centers. Kruger added that embedding somebody into the operations center or into any area where people have these high-level clearances could help people feel more comfortable because they are part of the work family.
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41 OVERVIEW OF DHS Wakeman, C
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