[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

FEMA: BUILDING A WORKFORCE PREPARED AND READY TO RESPOND

=======================================================================

JOINT HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS,
RESPONSE, AND RECOVERY

AND THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON
OVERSIGHT, MANAGEMENT,
AND ACCOUNTABILITY

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

__________

JANUARY 20, 2022

__________

Serial No. 117-40

__________

Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security

[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov/

__________

U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
47-276 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi, Chairman
Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas John Katko, New York
James R. Langevin, Rhode Island Michael T. McCaul, Texas
Donald M. Payne, Jr., New Jersey Clay Higgins, Louisiana
J. Luis Correa, California Michael Guest, Mississippi
Elissa Slotkin, Michigan Dan Bishop, North Carolina
Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri Jefferson Van Drew, New Jersey
Al Green, Texas Ralph Norman, South Carolina
Yvette D. Clarke, New York Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa
Eric Swalwell, California Diana Harshbarger, Tennessee
Dina Titus, Nevada Andrew S. Clyde, Georgia
Bonnie Watson Coleman, New Jersey Carlos A. Gimenez, Florida
Kathleen M. Rice, New York Jake LaTurner, Kansas
Val Butler Demings, Florida Peter Meijer, Michigan
Nanette Diaz Barragan, California Kat Cammack, Florida
Josh Gottheimer, New Jersey August Pfluger, Texas
Elaine G. Luria, Virginia Andrew R. Garbarino, New York
Tom Malinowski, New Jersey
Ritchie Torres, New York
Hope Goins, Staff Director
Daniel Kroese, Minority Staff Director
Natalie Nixon, Clerk

------

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, RESPONSE, AND RECOVERY

Val Butler Demings, Florida, Chairwoman
Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas Kat Cammack, Florida, Ranking
Donald M. Payne, Jr., New Jersey Member
Al Green, Texas Clay Higgins, Louisiana
Bonnie Watson Coleman, New Jersey Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa
Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi (ex Andrew R. Garbarino, New York
officio) John Katko, New York (ex officio)
Lauren McClain, Subcommittee Staff Director
Diana Bergwin, Minority Subcommittee Staff Director
Aaron Greene, Subcommittee Clerk

------

SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT, MANAGEMENT, AND ACCOUNTABILITY

J. Luis Correa, California, Chairman
Dina Titus, Nevada Peter Meijer, Michigan, Ranking
Donald M. Payne, Jr., New Jersey Member
Ritchie Torres, New York Dan Bishop, North Carolina
Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi (ex Diana Harshbarger, Tennessee
officio) John Katko, New York (ex officio)
Lisa Canini, Subcommittee Staff Director
Eric Heighberger, Minority Subcommittee Staff Director
Geremiah Lofton, Subcommittee Clerk

C O N T E N T S

----------
Page

Statements

The Honorable Val Butler Demings, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Florida, and Chairwoman, Subcommittee on
Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery:
Oral Statement................................................. 1
Prepared Statement............................................. 2
The Honorable Kat Cammack, a Representative in Congress From the
State of Florida, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Emergency
Preparedness, Response, and Recovery:
Oral Statement................................................. 3
Prepared Statement............................................. 5
The Honorable J. Luis Correa, a Representative in Congress From
the State of California, and Chairman, Subcommittee on
Oversight, Management, and Accountability:
Oral Statement................................................. 6
Prepared Statement............................................. 7
The Honorable Peter Meijer, a Representative in Congress From the
State of Michigan, and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on
Oversight, Management, and Accountability:
Oral Statement................................................. 8
Prepared Statement............................................. 9
The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Mississippi, and Chairman, Committee on
Homeland Security:
Prepared Statement............................................. 10

Witnesses

Mr. W. Craig Fugate, Former Administrator, Federal Emergency
Management Agency:
Oral Statement................................................. 12
Prepared Statement............................................. 13
Mr. Christopher P. Currie, Director, Homeland Security And
Justice Team, U.S. Government Accountability Office:
Oral Statement................................................. 16
Prepared Statement............................................. 18
Ms. Carra S. Sims, Senior Behavioral and Social Scientist, The
Rand Corporation:
Oral Statement................................................. 25
Prepared Statement............................................. 27

For the Record

The Honorable Val Butler Demings, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Florida, and Chairwoman, Subcommittee on
Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery:
Letter From the American Federation of Government Employees,
AFL-CIO (AFGE)............................................... 42

Appendix

Questions From Ranking Member John Katko for W. Craig Fugate..... 47
Question From Honorable Diana Harshbarger for W. Craig Fugate.... 48
Questions From Honorable Peter Meijer for W. Craig Fugate........ 48
Questions from Chairwoman Val Demings for Christopher P. Currie.. 48
Questions From Honorable Dina Titus for Christopher P. Currie.... 49
Questions From Ranking Member John Katko for Christopher P.
Currie......................................................... 50
Question From Honorable Diana Harshbarger for Christopher P.
Currie......................................................... 53
Questions From Honorable Peter Meijer for Christopher P. Currie.. 54
Question From Chairwoman Val Demings for Carra S. Sims........... 55
Questions From Ranking Member John Katko for Carra S. Sims....... 55
Question From Honorable Diana Harshbarger for Carra S. Sims...... 61
Question From Honorable Peter Meijer for Carra S. Sims........... 61

FEMA: BUILDING A WORKFORCE PREPARED AND READY TO RESPOND

----------

Thursday, January 20, 2022

U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Homeland Security,
Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and
Recovery, and the
Subcommittee on Oversight, Management, and Accountability,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittees met, pursuant to notice, at 10:01 a.m.,
via Webex, Hon. Val Butler Demings [Chairwoman of the
Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery]
presiding.
Present from the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness,
Response, and Recovery: Representatives Demings, Jackson Lee,
Payne, Cammack, Higgins, Miller-Meeks, and Garbarino.
Present from the Subcommittee on Oversight, Management, and
Accountability: Representatives Correa, Titus, Meijer, Bishop,
and Harshbarger.
Chairwoman Demings. The Subcommittees on Emergency
Preparedness, Response, and Recovery and Oversight, Management,
and Accountability will come to order. Without objection, the
Chair is authorized to declare the subcommittees in recess at
any point. Good morning to everyone and thank you all so much
for joining us today.
We are here to discuss the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, FEMA, its work force. This topic is incredibly timely
given the tornadoes that struck southwest Florida Sunday
morning, destroying dozens of homes and leaving thousands
without power in Lee and Charlotte Counties. My thoughts are
with the families and we are committed to supporting their
communities as they recover. I am grateful that FEMA is already
on the ground assisting with the damage assessments necessary
for Federal assistance. Thank you, Chairman Correa and Ranking
Member Meijer for joining Ranking Member Cammack and me for
this important hearing.
I want to begin today's hearing by thanking the FEMA work
force for the job that they do every day. As an agency, they
have worked nonstop to help those in need. I have witnessed
FEMA come to the aid of hurting Floridians, and I am
tremendously grateful for their service.
I don't think that is something FEMA can help us with, but
we are going to continue our meeting. Can everyone hear me OK?
Chairman Correa. Yes, yes.
Chairwoman Demings. Thank you. Thank you all so much.
Representative Correa, I will just pick up where I left off.
Last weekend, the hostage situation in Colleyville, Texas
reminded us all just how important these grant programs are in
addressing terrorist attacks and how much we rely on the FEMA
work force to keep our communities safe. The demand on FEMA's
work force is already immense and it will only grow due to the
frequency and intensity of natural disasters that are predicted
to increase with climate change.
To put things into perspective, the average number of major
disaster declarations issued from 1960 to 1969 were roughly 18
per year. In contrast, in 2020, FEMA responded to a record 104
major disaster declarations. In 2021, FEMA responded to 58
major disaster declarations. While FEMA has responded to
disaster-assisted missions over the years, an increasing
workload has contributed to work force challenges related to
hiring, training, and retention.
After the record-breaking 2017 hurricanes, the Government
Accountability Office found that FEMA faced challenges in
training employees and maintaining staffing levels across four
concurrent disasters, which hindered the Agency's response.
Furthermore, in 2020, more FEMA workers transferred to other
agencies than in any other year over the past decade. This mass
exit may be attributed to the workload. Past employees have
described working 12-hour days and having little--not having
enough time in between to recover between assignments.
FEMA's work force is suffering from an increase in burnout
and it is crucial that FEMA address these concerns and
prioritize its work force and their needs.
Additionally, I am worried about the agency's lack of
diversity especially within its leadership roles. Only 24
percent of FEMA's senior executive service employees identified
as minorities, and 31 percent identified as female. Having a
diverse work force, as we all know, is critical to providing
equitable and comprehensive disaster assistance.
I am glad to see the Biden administration invest in FEMA's
work force and for release of the 2022 to 2026 FEMA Strategic
Plan that establishes three overarching goals for the next 5
years, improving equity in emergency management, leading the
field in climate resilience, and ensuring FEMA is ready to
respond to the many tasks the agency is assigned.
It is with sincere gratitude that I welcome our witnesses
here today. I look forward to hearing your perspectives on
FEMA's work force and what Congress can do to better support
them moving forward. The Ranking Member has joined us. The
Chair will now recognize the Ranking Member from the Emergency
Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Subcommittee, the
gentlewoman from Florida, Mrs. Cammack, for an opening
statement.
[The statement of Chairwoman Demings follows:]
Statement of Chairwoman Val Demings
January 20, 2022
We are here to discuss the Federal Emergency Management Agency's
(FEMA) workforce. This topic is incredibly timely, given the tornadoes
that struck southwest Florida Sunday morning, destroying dozens of
homes and leaving thousands without power in Lee and Charlotte
Counties. I offer my deepest sympathies for the Floridians who were
impacted and am committed to supporting their communities as they
recover. I am grateful that FEMA is already on the ground, assisting
with the damage assessments necessary for Federal assistance.
Thank you, Chairman Correa and Ranking Member Meijer for joining
Ranking Member Cammack and me for this important hearing. I want to
begin today's hearing by thanking the FEMA workforce for the job they
do every day. As an agency, they have worked nonstop to help those in
need. I have witnessed FEMA come to the aid of hurting Floridians and I
am tremendously grateful for their service. Over the years, FEMA has
responded to disasters, including multiple, simultaneous large-scale
disasters, and supported other Federal agencies with their missions.
Notably, FEMA continues to carry out critical parts of the Federal
response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
FEMA's workforce plays a crucial role in protecting our communities
from terrorism through the administration of the Department of Homeland
Security Preparedness Grants, which includes funding for the Nonprofit
Security Grant Program. Last weekend, the hostage situation in
Colleyville, Texas reminded us of just how important these grant
programs are in addressing terrorist attacks and how much we rely on
the FEMA workforce to keep our communities safe.
The demand on FEMA's workforce is already immense, and it will only
grow due to the frequency and intensity of natural disasters that are
predicted to increase with climate change. To put things into
perspective, the average number of major disaster declarations issued
from 1960 to 1969 was roughly 18 per year. In contrast, in 2020, FEMA
responded to a record 104 major disaster declarations and in 2021, FEMA
responded to 58 major disaster declarations.
While FEMA has responded to disaster assistance missions over the
years, an increasing workload has contributed to workforce challenges
related to hiring, training, and retention. After the record-breaking
2017 hurricanes, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that
FEMA faced challenges in training employees and maintaining staffing
levels across 4 concurrent disasters, which hindered the agency's
response. Furthermore, in 2020, more FEMA workers transferred to other
agencies than in any other year over the past decade. This mass exit
may be attributed to the workload; past employees have described
working 12-hour days and not having enough time to recover between
assignments. FEMA's workforce is suffering from an increase in burnout,
and it is crucial that FEMA address these concerns and prioritize its
workforce and their needs.
Additionally, I am worried about the agency's lack of diversity
especially within its leadership roles. Only 24 percent of FEMA's
Senior Executive Service employees identified as minorities and 31
percent identified as female. Having a diverse workforce is critical to
providing equitable and comprehensive disaster assistance. I commend
the Biden administration for investing in FEMA's workforce and for
releasing the 2022-2026 FEMA Strategic Plan which establishes 3
overarching goals for the next 5 years: Improving equity in emergency
management, leading the field of climate resilience, and ensuring FEMA
is ready to respond to the many tasks the agency is assigned.
It is with sincere gratitude that I welcome our witnesses here
today. I look forward to hearing your perspectives on FEMA's workforce
and what Congress can do to better support them moving forward.

Mrs. Cammack. Well, thank you, Chairwoman Demings and
Chairman Correa for holding this important hearing today. There
is a saying in the business world, a company is only as good as
its employees. This can apply most places and it certainly
applies to FEMA, whose vital mission is help people before,
during, and after disasters. Now, when people think of FEMA,
images are conjured of flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, the
devastation of an entire town like we sadly witnessed in
southwest Kentucky.
However, in recent years, FEMA's mission sets have grown.
In March 2020, when President Trump declared a Nation-wide
emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FEMA took a lead role
in our Nation's response. In March 2021, FEMA was tasked with
providing operational support to the Department of Health and
Human Services with unaccompanied children crossing the border.
Most recently in August and September of last year, FEMA
assisted in the Afghan refugee resettlement efforts.
Now, while FEMA employees are incredibly capable and
resilient, I am concerned that these multiple mission sets are
exhausting the work force. This sentiment was echoed during
FEMA Administrator Criswell's first all-hands meeting where she
identified employee burnout as a major issue. According to
FEMA's 2021 Preparedness Report, ``When multiple large-scale
incidents require simultaneous support . . . State and Federal
capability may be strained, reducing capacity to on-going
recovery efforts and to respond to additional incidents.'' The
report states that there are, ``More disaster declarations open
at the end of 2020 than at any other point since 1953, when
data collection began.''
Now, currently, the agency is responding to 77
Presidentially-declared disasters.
While employee fatigue poses extraordinary challenges at
FEMA, a recent report by the GAO highlighted that, ``Disaster
personnel experienced significant limitations with
qualification status matching performance in the field.''
Meaning that staff members who were qualified in FEMA's
qualification system, the system that tracks the training and
performance requirements for disaster work force positions, did
not have the skills or experience to effectively perform their
positions in the field. The GAO additionally found that FEMA's
disaster work force ``encountered challenges related to the
availability of courses, providing and receiving on the job
training and mentoring, and consistently receiving performance
evaluations.''
Now, these major shortcomings hinder staff development
necessary to increasing the skills and competencies needed
during these critical deployments. The GAO made three
recommendations to FEMA including developing a plan to address
the challenges that have hindered FEMA's ability to provide
reliable and complete information to field leaders and managers
about staff knowledge, skills, and abilities, (2) develop
mechanisms to assess how effectively FEMA's disaster work force
was deployed to meet mission needs in the field, and (3) create
a staff development program for FEMA's disaster work force.
Further, due to allegations of misconduct at the agency in
2019, FEMA requested a study be conducted on harassment and
discrimination in the FEMA workplace. The RAND Corporation
managed a survey to, ``Designed to estimate the annual
prevalence of workplace harassment and discrimination at FEMA
and to assess employee perceptions of leadership and work force
climate.'' Of the personnel that completed the survey, about 29
percent of employees experienced sex-, race-, or ethnicity-
based discrimination. As a result of the study, FEMA published
their culture improvement action plan designed to increase
employee awareness of the RAND survey results, provide
transparent communication of work force culture objectives,
programs, and improvement, and associated implementation time
lines.
It is my understanding that RAND has conducted a second
survey. I look forward to learning of those results and hope
that the agency culture has improved.
With all the aforementioned challenges, employee fatigue,
barriers to training, lacking necessary skills in the field,
and prevalence of harassment and discrimination in the
workplace, is the FEMA work force prepared and well-positioned
to respond to the disasters when needed? I certainly hope so. I
look forward to hearing from our witnesses today on their
perspectives on these challenges and what steps the agency
should take to move forward in a positive way.
Now, before I yield back, I do want to take a moment to
thank all of our incredible hard-working dedicated men and
women at FEMA. You guys have a tough job. We are so grateful
for the extraordinary work that you do. I don't believe that
you all are recognized or thanked enough. So, with that, I
would like to yield back to Chairwoman Demings. Thank you so
much and I look forward to the testimony here today.
[The statement of Ranking Member Cammack follows:]
Statement of Ranking Member Kat Cammack
Thank you, Chairwoman Demings and Chairman Correa for holding this
important hearing today.
There's a saying in the business world, ``a company is only as good
as its employees.'' This can apply most places and certainly applies to
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), whose vital mission is
to help people before, during, and after disasters.
When people think of FEMA, images are conjured of flooding,
hurricanes, or the devastation of an entire town, like we sadly
recently witnessed in southwest Kentucky. However, in recent years,
FEMA's mission sets have grown.
In March 2020, when President Trump declared a Nation-wide
emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, FEMA took a lead role in our
Nation's response. In March 2021, FEMA was tasked with providing
operational support to the Department of Health and Human Services with
unaccompanied children crossing the border. Most recently, in August/
September of last year, FEMA assisted in the Afghan refugee
resettlement efforts.
While FEMA employees are incredibly capable and resilient, I am
concerned that these multiple mission sets are exhausting the
workforce. This sentiment was echoed during FEMA Administrator
Criswell's first all-hands meeting where she identified employee burn-
out as a major issue.
According to FEMA's 2021 Preparedness Report, ``When multiple
large-scale incidents require simultaneous support . . . State and
Federal capability may be strained, reducing capacity to on-going
recovery efforts and to respond to additional incidents.'' The report
states that ``there were more disaster declarations open at the end of
2020 than at any other point since 1953, when data collection began.''
Currently, the agency is responding to 77 Presidentially-declared
disasters.
While employee fatigue poses extraordinary challenges at FEMA, a
recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
highlighted that ``disaster personnel experienced significant
limitations with qualification status matching performance in the
field.'' Meaning that staff members who were qualified in the FEMA
Qualification System, the system that tracks training and performance
requirements for disaster workforce positions, did not have the skills
or experience to effectively perform their positions in the field. The
GAO additionally found that FEMA's disaster workforce ``encountered
challenges related to the availability of courses, providing and
receiving on-the-job training and mentoring, and consistently receiving
performance evaluations.'' These major shortcomings hindered staff
development necessary to increasing the skills and competencies needed
during deployments.
The GAO made three recommendations to FEMA including: Develop a
plan to address the challenges that have hindered FEMA's ability to
provide reliable and complete information to field leaders and managers
about staff knowledge, skills, and abilities; develop mechanisms to
assess how effectively FEMA's disaster workforce was deployed to meet
mission needs in the field; and create a staff development program for
FEMA's disaster workforce.
Further, due to allegations of misconduct at the agency, in 2019,
FEMA requested a study be conducted on harassment and discrimination in
the FEMA workplace. The RAND Corporation managed a survey ``designed to
estimate the annual prevalence of workplace harassment and
discrimination at FEMA and to assess employee perceptions of leadership
and workplace climate.''
Of the personnel that completed the survey, about 29 percent of
employees experienced sex-, race-, or ethnicity-based discrimination.
As a result of the study, FEMA published their ``Culture Improvement
Action Plan'' designed to increase employee awareness of RAND survey
results; Provide transparent communication of workforce culture
objectives, programs, and improvements and associated implementation
time lines; and, Demonstrate continued leadership commitment to FEMA
core values.
It is my understanding that RAND has conducted a second survey. I
look forward to learning of those results and hope that culture at the
agency has improved.
With all these aforementioned challenges--employee fatigue,
barriers to training, lacking necessary skills in the field, and the
prevalence of harassment and discrimination in the workplace--is the
FEMA workforce prepared and well-positioned to respond to disasters
when needed?
I certainly hope so, and I look forward to hearing from our
witnesses today on their perspectives on these challenges, and what
steps should the agency take to move forward positively.
Before I yield back, I do want to take a moment to thank all the
incredible, hardworking, and dedicated men and women at FEMA. We are so
grateful for the extraordinary work that you do, and I don't believe
you all are thanked enough.
With that, thank you Chairwoman Demings, and I yield back.

Chairwoman Demings. I thank the Ranking Member and I know
my video feed cut out earlier but one part, a very important
part of this hearing is to acknowledge the amazing job. I hope
that at least that part got through to acknowledge the amazing
job that the men and women of FEMA do every day and we are so
appreciative for their service.
The Chair now recognizes the Chairman of the Subcommittee
on Oversight Management and Accountability, the gentleman from
the California, Mr. Correa, for an opening statement.
Chairman Correa. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I join you,
Chairwoman Demings and Ranking Member Cammack, in also thanking
FEMA for the good work you do for Americans and for others all
over the world. Again, Chairwoman Demings, thank you for
holding this hearing as well as my Ranking Member Meijer and
myself. Again, we are here to support FEMA's mission and are
essentially the backbone of the agency. From the field
operation teams and Reservists who deploy to disaster sites
within hours of emergency declaration, to those who work behind
the scenes who administer grant funding and organize countless
logistical efforts.
The FEMA work force is varied as a taskforce agency can be.
In the last few years, FEMA has had to juggle on-going Federal
responses, numerous record-breaking disasters, COVID-19, and
resettlement of refugees around the world. That doesn't capture
all of what FEMA has been doing in the last few years. It is a
testament to the skill and flexibility of FEMA's work force
that the agency is able to support the Federal Government's
efforts in so many different ways in so many different areas.
Yet it can't be said that the FEMA employees haven't felt the
strain of being pulled in so many directions. Your work force,
their work force, is suffering from an increase in burn-out in
recent years. Also, employees have left the agency in a higher
number than usual.
It is important that FEMA address these rising attrition
rates and prioritize. FEMA has failed to properly prioritize
work force management issues like recruitment, retention, and
the agency has struggled to deal with issues of harassment and
discrimination within your work force. But in recent years,
FEMA has taken significant and concrete steps to foster a more
inclusive and resilient work force. With the support of
Congress in 2019, FEMA created an Office of Professional
Responsibility to better investigate allegations of employee
misconduct. Under the Biden administration, FEMA has renewed a
focus in addressing long-term work force challenges by
increasing the availability and quality of training and
educational opportunities for the emergency management
community. Providing opportunities for advancement and the
development of new skills is important to retaining the
agency's skilled work force. Yet, we have much, much work to be
done.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about
what they would like to see FEMA do and demonstrate an on-going
commitment to supporting its employees, as well as how we in
Congress can assist you in this effort. It is not your job. It
is not our job. It is the job of all of us collectively working
together. We can all too easily get caught up in the immediacy
of responding to the next big hurricane, wildfire, or tornado.
But without doing the consistent and meaningful work to listen
and respond to the needs of FEMA on a continuous basis, the
agency puts in jeopardy its ability to effectively carry out
its mission. I look forward to taking time today to examine
these issues, to celebrate the accomplishments of your
tremendous work force, and to look ahead at the next step FEMA
must take to support its fine people. With that, I thank you
again for joining us today. Madam Chair, I yield.
[The statement of Chairman Correa follows:]
Statement of Chairman J. Luis Correa
January 20, 2022
We're here this morning to discuss the FEMA workforce. The men and
women who work to support FEMA's mission are the backbone of the
agency. From the field operations teams and Reservists who deploy to
disaster sites within hours of an emergency declaration, to those who
work behind the scenes to administer grant funding and organize
countless logistics. The FEMA workforce is as varied as the tasks the
agency is asked to carry out.
During the last few years, FEMA has had to juggle the on-going
Federal response to numerous record-breaking disasters, in addition to
the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resettlement of our Afghan allies. That
doesn't capture all of FEMA's duties. It is a testament to the skill
and flexibility of FEMA's workforce that the agency is able to support
the Federal Government's efforts in so many different areas. Yet it
cannot be said that FEMA employees haven't felt the strain of being
pulled in so many directions. The workforce is suffering from an
increase in burn-out and in recent years significantly more employees
have left the agency than usual. It is absolutely critical that FEMA
address these rising attrition rates, and prioritize the needs of its
people.
In the past, FEMA has failed to properly prioritize workforce
management issues like recruitment and retention and the agency has
struggled to deal with issues of harassment and discrimination within
the workplace. But in recent years FEMA has taken significant and
concrete steps to foster a more inclusive and resilient workforce. With
the support of Congress, in 2019, FEMA created an Office of
Professional Responsibility to better investigate allegations of
employee misconduct. Under the Biden administration, FEMA has a renewed
focus on addressing long-term workforce challenges by increasing the
availability and quality of training and educational opportunities for
the emergency management community. Providing opportunities for
advancement and the development of new skills is important for
retaining the agency's skilled workforce. Yet there is still more to be
done.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about what they would
like to see FEMA do to demonstrate an on-going commitment to supporting
its employees. As well as how we in Congress can assist this effort. It
can be all too easy to get caught up in the immediacy of responding to
the next big hurricane, wildfire, or tornado. But without doing the
consistent and meaningful work to listen and respond to the needs of
the FEMA community on a continuous basis, the agency puts in jeopardy
its ability to effectively carry out its mission.
I look forward to taking the time today to examine this issue, to
celebrate the accomplishments of this workforce, and to look ahead at
the next steps FEMA must take to support its people.

Chairwoman Demings. Thank you so much, Mr. Correa, for that
statement and for yielding back. The Chair now recognizes the
Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Management,
and Accountability, the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Meijer,
for an opening statement.
Mr. Meijer. Thank you, Chairwoman Demings and Ranking
Member Cammack and Chairman Correa for holding this hearing
today, the first for both subcommittees in 2022. Thank you to
our witnesses for giving us their time and insights into this
critical and timely topic.
I certainly appreciate the work that GAO and RAND have done
to improve FEMA's functions and the focus of today's hearing,
how we can help build that work force which is ready to
respond, and help FEMA fulfill its mission of helping people
before, during, and after disasters. We will hear about the
issues FEMA's work force has faced in the past and how FEMA has
worked to resolve those problems. But most importantly, I hope
we will hear how FEMA can help set itself up for success in the
future.
Before we begin, I would like to express as both the
Chairwoman and Chairman Correa have said and also Ranking
Member Cammack has said, express my sincere gratitude to the
brave men and woman working tirelessly at FEMA who have barely
had a break since the historic hurricane season of 2017. Just
last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
stated that the United States has experienced $750 billion in
damages from weather-related disasters just in the last 5
years. Moreover, in 2020 and in 2021, the United States
suffered from at least 20 individual disasters costing more
than $1 billion each. The magnitude of those numbers is
overwhelming and certainly speaks to the pressure that FEMA has
been under.
What is truly concerning is that the weather disasters are
only a portion of what FEMA has been dealing with in the past
several years. FEMA has also been at the forefront of the
COVID-19 pandemic response for almost 2 years now. For the
first time in history, FEMA is managing a disaster declaration
in every State and territory in the Nation, as well as the
District of Columbia. FEMA has been tasked with assisting in
the coordination of the resettlement of Afghan allies through
Operation Allies Welcome, as well as assisting in the border
crisis on our Southern Border. The mission at FEMA seems to
expand every few months and I can only imagine the stress and
strain that this has put on the work force.
So, again, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and
appreciation to the staff at FEMA for all the good work that
they do day in and day out. Because when they are called into
action, it is because the event is so catastrophic that local
and State resources are overwhelmed. They are the last line of
defense in recovery. America deserves and needs a strong FEMA,
one that can fulfill its mission every time it is called upon
because the American people expect this. As Members of
Congress, we should also expect a well-managed organization
that can fulfill its mission.
Several studies have made recommendations over the years on
how FEMA should recruit, train, and manage this work force. I
know we will hear about some of those today, as well as from
Mr. Fugate, a former FEMA administrator who has first-hand
knowledge about managing the FEMA work force. Some recent GAO
recommendations have been made to address these work force
challenges, including that the FEMA administrator should
develop a plan to address identified challenges, develop
mechanisms, including collecting relevant data, and create a
staff development program for FEMA's work force. FEMA has
agreed to implement--are working to implement these
recommendations and concurs with the conclusion. I hope that at
a future date, we will be able to hear directly from FEMA on
this matter. I also look forward to RAND's input on the survey
they did with FEMA to estimate the prevalence of workplace
harassment and discrimination in order to strengthen the core
of the employment base.
I am encouraged by FEMA's willingness to be open-minded and
listen to outside groups about ways to reduce harassment and
discrimination while also strengthening its work force both in
terms of its mission and its internal culture. Because, again,
FEMA plays a critical role in helping our citizens and
communities prepare for and respond to disasters of all kinds.
A strong work force is essential to carrying out this mission.
I know we will do everything that we can to ensure that FEMA's
work force is strong, equipped, and ready. I look forward to
hearing from our witnesses. With that, I yield back.
[The statement of Ranking Member Meijer follows:]
Statement of Ranking Member Peter Meijer
Chairwoman Demings, Ranking Member Cammack, Chairman Correa, thank
you for holding this joint hearing today, the first for both
subcommittees in 2022.
And thank you to our witnesses for giving us their time and
insights into this critical and timely topic--I certainly appreciate
the work that GAO and RAND have done to improve FEMA's functions.
The focus of today's hearing is on how FEMA can build a work force
that is ready to respond and help FEMA fulfill its mission of Helping
People Before, During, and After Disasters.
We will hear about the issues FEMA's workforce has faced in the
past, and how FEMA has worked to resolve those problems. Most
importantly, I hope we will hear how FEMA can set itself up for success
in the future.
However, before we begin, I would like to express my sincere
gratitude to the men and women working tirelessly at FEMA, who have
barely had a break since the historic hurricane season of 2017.
Just last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
stated that the United States has experienced $750 billion in damages
from weather-related disasters in the last 5 years alone. Moreover,
both in 2020 and 2021, the United States suffered from at least 20
individual disasters that cost more than $1 billion each.
The magnitude of those numbers is overwhelming and certainly speaks
to the pressure that FEMA has been under. What is truly concerning is
that weather disasters are only a portion of what FEMA has been dealing
with over the last several years.
FEMA has also been at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic for
almost 2 years. For the first time in history, FEMA is managing a
disaster declaration in every State and territory in the Nation, as
well as the District of Columbia. FEMA has also been tasked with
assisting in the coordination of the Afghan resettlement through
Operation Allies Welcome, as well as assisting in the border crisis.
The mission at FEMA seems to expand every few months, and I am sure
that this stress and strain has taken its toll on the workforce.
So, again, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and
appreciation to the staff at FEMA for all the good work they do day in
and day out.
FEMA is called into action when an event is so catastrophic, that
local and State resources are overwhelmed. They are the last line of
defense and recovery. America deserves a strong FEMA--one that can
fulfill its mission every time it is called upon. Americans expect
this, and as Members of Congress, we should also expect a well-managed
organization that can fulfill its mission.
Several studies have made recommendations over the years about how
FEMA should recruit, train, and manage its workforce. We will hear
about some of those today, as well as from Mr. Fugate, a former FEMA
administrator, who has first-hand knowledge about managing the FEMA
workforce.
Some recent GAO recommendations have been made to address work
force challenges, including that the FEMA administrator should:
Develop a plan to address identified challenges that have hindered
FEMA's ability to provide reliable information to field
officials about staff skills and abilities;
Develop mechanisms, including collecting relevant data, to assess
how effectively FEMA's disaster workforce was deployed to meet
mission needs in the field; and
Create a staff development program for FEMA's disaster workforce
that addresses training access, delivery of on-the-job
training, and other development methods.
FEMA has agreed with these recommendations and is working to
implement them.
I hope that at a future date we will be able to hear directly from
FEMA on this matter.
We will also hear from RAND about a survey they did on behalf of
FEMA designed to estimate the prevalence of workplace harassment and
discrimination at the agency. This survey certainly had some eye-
opening results, and I appreciate the opportunity to get more details
on those findings here today.
In response to this survey, FEMA developed a Culture Action
Improvement Plan, and in the past several years, established an Office
of Professional Responsibility and made anti-sexual harassment training
mandatory across the agency.
I am encouraged by FEMA's willingness to be open-minded and listen
to outside groups about ways to reduce harassment and discrimination
while also strengthening its workforce--both in terms of its mission
and its internal culture.
FEMA plays a critical role in helping our citizens and communities
prepare for and respond to disasters of all kinds, and a strong
workforce is essential to be able to do just that. I pledge to do
everything I can from this seat to ensure that FEMA's workforce is
strong, equipped with the tools it needs, and ready to help people
before, during, and after disasters.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses, and I yield back.

Chairwoman Demings. The Chair thanks the Ranking Member for
his statement. Members are reminded that the committees will
operate according to the guidelines laid out by the Chairman
and Ranking Member in their February 3 colloquy regarding
remote procedures. Without objection, Members not on the
subcommittees shall be permitted to sit and question the
witnesses. Additional Member statements may be included in the
record.
[The statement of Chairman Thompson follows:]
Statement of Chairman Bennie G. Thompson
January 20, 2022
I would like to thank the FEMA workforce for their service to the
country. In my home State of Mississippi, we have a lot of experience
with disasters, unfortunately, and know the value of having a strong
FEMA workforce.
FEMA has continued to help communities respond to and recover from
natural disasters. Meanwhile, it has carried out critical parts of the
Federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic and supported other Federal
agencies in the care of unaccompanied children at the border and the
resettlement of Afghan allies. FEMA has been challenged with responding
to multiple large-scale disasters while simultaneously being pulled
into other important missions. This workload has hindered efforts to
address workforce challenges, including hiring, training, and
retention.
The frequency and intensity of natural disasters due to climate
change have only exacerbated these workforce challenges. In 2017, we
saw the direct impact of a FEMA workforce that was understaffed,
undertrained, and overwhelmed when three major storms made landfall in
the span of less than a month. We need a robust FEMA workforce that is
prepared to handle our new reality, which includes extreme weather
events, pandemics, and other evolving threats.
My concern about FEMA's workforce strength is not new. In 2019,
then-FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor testified before this committee
that the FEMA workforce had a staffing deficit of a ``few thousand.''
However, I regularly hear from constituents that they do not receive a
response from FEMA when they apply for a job. There appears to be a
disconnect. The agency has also struggled with issues of harassment and
discrimination within the workplace, which is undoubtedly undermines
efforts to build a strong workforce.
Additionally, I continue to be concerned about the agency's lack of
diversity, particularly in leadership roles. The workforce should be
diverse and represent the country in order to provide, equitable, and
comprehensive disaster assistance. For these reasons, I am glad the
Biden administration demonstrated early on that strengthening the FEMA
workforce would be a priority. The President's fiscal year 2022 budget
request focuses on filling critical gaps in the agency's overall
staffing, with a particular emphasis on strengthening the incident
management workforce.
Moreover, FEMA's 2022-2026 Strategic Plan names building a diverse
and stronger workforce within FEMA as key objectives. The plan further
seeks to improve equity and increase the availability and quality of
training and educational opportunities for the emergency management
workforce. These are promising steps by the Biden administration, but
more work needs to be done.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about the
challenges FEMA faces and what Congress can do to aid them in making
FEMA's workforce stronger.

Chairwoman Demings. I now welcome our panel of witnesses.
Our first witness is former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate.
Mr. Fugate served as FEMA administrator throughout the Obama
administration. During his tenure, he led FEMA through multiple
record-breaking disaster years and oversaw the Federal
Government's response to multiple natural disasters, including
devastating tornadoes in the Midwest and Hurricanes Irene,
Matthew, and Sandy, among others. Prior to his time in the
Obama administration, Mr. Fugate was the director of Florida's
Division of Emergency Management. During his time in Florida,
he launched the largest mutual aid response to affected States
in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It is great to see you
and thank you for joining us today.
Our second witness is Chris Currie, the director of GAO's
Homeland Security and Justice team. Mr. Currie leads GAO's work
on emergency management disaster response and recovery and
Department of Homeland Security management in high-risk issues.
Mr. Currie began his tenure with GAO in 2002. It is great to
see you and welcome.
Our third and final witness is Carra Sims, a senior
behavioral and social scientist at the RAND Corporation. Ms.
Sims' current and past research includes investigating the
effects of workplace stressors on job attitudes and
performance, exploring the effects of organizational climate
and culture on job attitudes and behavior, and how best to
change organizational climate and culture and determining the
knowledge, skills, and abilities required for success in
various military and civilian jobs. Welcome, Ms. Sims, and
thank you so much for joining us today.
Without objection, the witnesses' full statements will be
inserted in the record. I now ask each witness to summarize
their statement for 5 minutes, beginning with former
Administrator Fugate.

STATEMENT OF W. CRAIG FUGATE, FORMER ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

Mr. Fugate. Well, thank you, Chair and the Ranking Member,
and the other Chair and Ranking Members. First of all, I would
like to acknowledge the fact of the thanks you gave FEMA
because I remember not too long ago in the distant past where
FEMA wasn't held in high regard. The aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina was a stain for the agency. As much as we are talking
about the challenges FEMA is facing, I also would like to
acknowledge how far FEMA has come from that response and the
improvements they have made. A lot of it with the support of
Congress.
You asked an important question. What can Congress do to
help FEMA develop and professionalize and continue to grow the
work force? I want to address a couple of key issues because I
think it is easy to state the problems. Quite honestly, a lot
of what is being discussed is process. It will not change the
outcome. You can do all the studies, gather all the data, do
all the reviews, and it still won't change the fundamental
process that FEMA depends upon a work force that is not what
many people think it is. We use the term reserves. But FEMA
employees that are hired as Reservists, are considered
intermittent employees. They are only employed when there is a
disaster. They have no benefits when they are not and they are
on call.
Now, think about the current work force that we are facing
in the Nation with job shortages. How do you attract qualified
people, train them, have them sit waiting in case there is a
disaster, then deploy them and expect to have that kind of
output with no other benefits or retentions outside of their
initial training. Now, again, FEMA has a lot of disasters. Some
folks are called up are a routinely deployed for long periods
of time. But other more specialized skills are only deployed
rarely. There is also the tendency to go to the same people
over and over again because they have more experience. Newer
people hired don't get the training, don't have the experience,
and don't always get called up.
So, the first thing I would ask Congress to look at is how
do you maintain a work force? This is the majority of the folks
that deploy in disasters are the Reservists that do the bulk of
the work in recovery. How do you maintain on-call qualified
trained staff that are only engaged when you deploy them to a
disaster and have no other benefits? Even in the military, and
again, we use the term Reservists, these are not the same type
of benefits the Reservists have in the U.S. military where they
are covered under the Uniformed Services Employment and
Reemployment Act, where if people have jobs and get called up
for military duty, those jobs are protected. That doesn't even
apply to FEMA Reservists. Reservists have a known deployment of
every month they have drill. They get reimbursed for that. They
have 2 weeks' annual training. Again, subject to any call-ups
for the Federal mission, protection for deployment. FEMA
Reservists get none of that.
So, I think the first thing we want to look at is can we
give FEMA more tools in recruiting and retaining qualified
Reservists that many of which only are going to deploy in
certain times of disasters and certain skill sets and address,
how do you incentivize people who would be available? Also,
understand that some of these folks work full-time. They can't
wait for a disaster. But they may have skills that are required
by FEMA as their way to provide tools there.
So, again, I would look at Reservists. Think about this.
These are literally up to thousands to tens of thousands of
people that we are deploying across this Nation. They are on-
call. They are totally subject to FEMA's needs. They are not
incentivized when they are not deployed. They really don't get
any benefits outside of when they are deployed. That model
doesn't scale up to the frequency of disasters, nor does it
work very good when the economy is strong because of the
shortfall points.
The second thing I would look at is the work that they are
doing. Much has been made--and I think you will hear this
across the board, is a concern that will be FEMA be able to
respond to the next disaster? I can tell you the answer. The
answer is yes, they will respond. That has not been the issue.
The issue has been having to take people off of previous
disasters where recovery work can take years, if not a decade,
and move them to the new disaster. Stopping or slowing down the
recovery from the previous disasters. I ask this question and I
have had conversations with my counterparts at GAO and others,
is our reimbursement process and rebuilding process takes
literally, in New Orleans, we are still doing recovery from
Katrina. I was still doing recovery when I left FEMA at
Katrina. Why does it take us a decade when insurance companies
are in and out in less than a year? I think we need to go back
and say, instead of working always on the work force, we need
to work on the process of how do we speed up the process of
reimbursing communities? This may not be a shock to you, but
too often decisions on how to process disasters are made based
upon what I hear in a lot of hearings we start out with to
avoid fraud, waste, and abuse, becoming the overriding decision
maker that nobody wants to take a risk of an adverse finding in
a IG report or a GAO report. So, we have such a high
requirement that we have built processes to minimize that at
the expense of helping communities recover quickly and
requiring a work force that is extremely large.
Think about it. I will almost guarantee the tornado
outbreaks we saw earlier around Christmas in Kentucky and the
other regions the insurance companies will be done within a
year. FEMA will be there for the next 5 years. Why? If we don't
fix the process, you are always going to need a lot more people
to administer this. So, two ways to check this is give them
better benefits to recruit them and look at how do we reduce
the process so it takes fewer people to be successful in
helping communities recover faster. Get the money there in the
first year of recovery, not 5 years later while we are still
trying to make sure the answer is perfect. Thank you Madam
Chair and Ranking Member.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Fugate follows:]
Prepared Statement of W. Craig Fugate
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Chair Val Demings, Ranking Member Kat Cammack, and Members of the
committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today about FEMA,
Building a Workforce Prepared and Ready to Respond.
First, I want to celebrate the fact that FEMA's workforce has
continued to respond to COVID-19, as well as hurricanes, floods, fires,
and severe weather outbreaks, while administering its authorized and
appropriated funded programs from Congress. Much has been done through
remote work which has allowed FEMA to continue its mission during this
pandemic.
While others will talk about the challenges that FEMA faces in
building and maintaining its workforce, I want to focus on possible
solutions.
FEMA is authorized major three classifications of workforce:
FEMA Permanent Full Time (PFT) employees are hired through a
competitive process that includes an application and interview. They
may gain competitive status after 1 year of continuous service and full
career tenure after 3 years of continuous service.
Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees (CORE)--are hired to
work for a specific, limited period, between 2 to 4 years. These
positions may be renewed if there is on-going disaster work and funding
is available. CORE employees are generally eligible for the same
benefits as PFT employees, but do not gain competitive status nor
career tenure during their term.
Reservists (On-Call)--FEMA consistently seeks talented and hard-
working people who are eager to assist disaster survivors and first
responders on an on-call basis as Reservist employees. They are the
main FEMA workforce during an emergency or disaster.
While there are other classifications such as FEMA Corps,
Internships, most of the workforce resides in the above three
classifications.
Additionally, to augment the disaster workforce, the Department of
Homeland Security maintains a Surge Capacity Force (SCF) and FEMA
continues to recruit, roster, orient, and deploy SCF members as
necessary.
recommendations
Better Utilization of the Permanent Full Time (PFT) Workforce in
Disaster Response
All PFT Workforce members should be trained in an emergency
role in addition to their full-time role.
PFT members should be allowed to deploy to disasters as part
of a rotational system to ensure daily operational needs of
FEMA are met.
FEMA should continue to utilize the PFT as a surge workforce
during major event.
Background
Many of the PTF workforce join FEMA to help in disasters but are
rarely deployed. Most disasters are managed by the CORE and Reservists
workforce. But during major events like Hurricane Katrina, Super Storm
Sandy, the hurricanes of 2017, and most recently the Federal response
to COVID-19, it was required that the PFT workforce deploy to support
emergency operations. Ensuring the PFT workforce is prepared and
trained to emergency operations is key to provide a rapid surge
workforce. There are three main activities that the PFT workforce are
expected to perform during these major events.
1. Deployed to the disaster to support emergency operations
2. Staff the National Response Coordination Center (RCC) or
Regional RCCs
3. Backfill for deployed staff to continue continuing of operations
for time-sensitive functions.
My experience during Super Storm Sandy was that many of the those
deployed for the first time came back with new appreciation for how
their jobs supported the FEMA mission.
When I became FEMA administrator in 2009, not every FEMA permanent
full-time employee had emergency duties in their position descriptions
even as this requirement was in the job postings. When I inquired about
this, I was informed that not all employees were expected to be
deployable in a disaster. We made a change that all new hires would
complete a signing statement acknowledging that they would be expected
to have an emergency function in addition to their full-time job. The
current statement on U.S.A. Jobs is as follows:

``EMERGENCY ASSIGNMENT: Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring
emergency management responsibilities, though not every position
requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are
subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations,
which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than
the official duty station, and may include duties other than those
specified in the employee's official position description. Travel
requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in
nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require
employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and
operationally challenging conditions.''

The Disaster Staffing Support Program (DSSP) is comprised of FEMA
HQ FTE staff who do not typically deploy.
This internal, surge workforce is made up of PFTs and COREs across
the FEMA HQ who currently hold Ancillary Support, Unassigned, or
Mission Essential designations.
Improve Benefits and Retention of the Reservist Workforce
1. Provide all Reservist with a minimum of 2 days a month and 2
weeks a year of paid training if not deployed in that fiscal
year for at least 30 days.
2. Consider adding the FEMA Reservist workforce to the Uniformed
Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act or provide
similar protections under the Stafford Act.
3. Continue to improve the implementation of Disaster Reform and
Recovery Act (DRRA) where CORE and Reservists can compete for
PFT positions at FEMA under Merit Promotion after 3 or more
years of continuous work.
Background
Reservist at FEMA are not the equivalent of the military Reservist
who are covered under the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-
Employment Rights Act. Rather FEMA Reservist are considered on-call who
work intermittently with little benefits when not deployed. They have
no protections if they have full-time employment when called up.
Hiring and maintaining FEMA Reservists is a continuous process. As
the work is on-call, and intermittent, attracting talent in tight job
markets is a challenge. Without incentives to recruit and maintain
Reservists, this workforce will continue to be a staffing challenge for
current and future disasters.
Hiring Under the Disaster Reform and Recovery Act (DRRA)
Before the Disaster Reform and Recovery Act, Stafford Act employees
could only apply for Permanent Full-Time (PFT) positions open to the
general public. Now, Stafford Act employees can compete for PFT
positions at FEMA under Merit Promotion after 3 or more years of
continuous work.
Reduce the Workforce Requirements to Administer Disaster Assistance
Under the Stafford Act
1. Speed disaster recovery by using estimated cost rather than
actual cost. Adapt Insurance Industry best practices to ensure
fair payouts for eligible work in a declared disaster in
months, not years.
2. Continue the Dispute Resolution Process (Arbitration) for all
current and future disasters where agreement cannot be reached
in recommendation 1.
3. Do not allow a mentality of zero fraud, waste, or abuse to drive
process. Review how much it cost to administer $1 in public
assistance to see how this has driven up the cost, staffing
requirements, and time it takes.
Background
Current staffing plans are based on the current implementation of
disaster assistance under those programs available under Stafford Act
Disaster Declarations.
FEMA was given new tools in the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of
2013 to include using estimates for public assistance projects rather
than actual cost.
Continue support the FEMA Administrator's plans to address
workplace harassment and discrimination.
Background
In the Spring of 2019, FEMA hired a third-party organization, RAND,
to conduct an employee survey on workplace harassment and
discrimination in response to an internal investigation that found
disturbing evidence of misconduct within FEMA's senior leadership
ranks. The survey focused on the time frame of Spring 2018 through
Spring 2019 and ultimately found numerous FEMA employees reported
experiencing civil rights violations on the basis of sex, race, or
ethnicity.
Female employees reported experiencing a less positive experience
in the workplace than their male counterparts.
The report also identified that:
Employees felt a gap in trust with agency senior leaders.
Employees felt barriers to reporting civil rights violations
existed.
Employees who did report violations or misconduct felt they
experienced retaliation.
There is a lack of understanding of what constitutes sexual
misconduct and appropriate behaviors.
Employees expressed feelings of isolation and heightened
levels of vulnerability.
There is a perception that perpetrators are not held
accountable.
Employees found there is inconsistency in conduct
expectations.
FEMA provided this below information as they continue to improve
the agency's work climate and engagements to help implement those
changes.
Conducted Listening Sessions for FEMA Staff to share
concerns on RAND report findings and next steps.
Developed central ``landing page'' on the FEMA intranet to
serve as a one-stop shop for employee resources regarding
culture improvement.
Developed and implemented Standards of Conduct for all
employees.
Addressed Agency culture during new employee on-boarding
regarding FEMA's core values and our commitment to a workplace
free of harassment and discrimination. In addition, the agency
is updating the exit interview process to better identify
issues raised by employees moving on to different
opportunities.
Required anti-harassment training for all employees.
Reporting disciplinary actions in the FEMA Weekly for
agency-wide situational awareness.
Field Operations Training.--FEMA is partnering with RAINN (Rape
Abuse Incest National Network), the largest anti-sexual assault
organization in the country.
Since early 2020, RAINN initiative trainings have occurred
at 14 Joint Field Offices (JFOs) with a total of 2,000
participants and will include additional JFOs going forward.
FEMA's goals, through the RAINN trainings are to:
Raise awareness of sexual misconduct within selected JFOs.
Provide JFO staff with tools to better prevent and respond
to sexual misconduct.
Align community members within selected JFOs on next steps
toward safer environments.
Create a culture of accountability and preparedness when
it comes to sexual misconduct.
Execute a proactive approach to addressing sexual
misconduct.
Implement sustainable change across the organization.
Through March 2022, future trainings will occur at 6
additional JFOs and all trainings will be held virtually in
fiscal year 2021, with tentative options to deliver trainings
in-person in fiscal year 2022 pending COVID-19 restrictions.

Chairwoman Demings. Mr. Fugate, I am sorry. I am so sorry
to have to interrupt you, but your time has expired. We have
gone a little bit well over. I would ask that during one of the
questions, if there is additional information that you would
please present it at that time because you have such a great
perspective.
I do also need to remind Members that votes have been
called. I know that Members have been leaving. We are going to
continue through. So, if you have not voted yet, please go
ahead and vote and we are going to continue with the hearing.
Thank you so much for your indulgence. I now recognize Mr.
Currie to summarize his statement for 5 minutes. Mr. Currie.

STATEMENT OF CHRISTOPHER P. CURRIE, DIRECTOR, HOMELAND SECURITY
AND JUSTICE TEAM, U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

Mr. Currie. Thank you very much, Chairwoman Demings and
Chairman Correa and Ranking Members Cammack and Meijer. I
appreciate the opportunity to discuss our work on FEMA's work
force over the years. I would also like to say that I have a
deep respect for the men and women at FEMA. I have worked with
them for many years. They work long hours, thankless jobs. They
are away from home long periods of time. Also, many of them are
also veterans and have joined FEMA to continue their service to
the country.
So, the findings of our work have nothing to do with the
dedication and hard work of FEMA, but more about how the agency
manages its people and how I think that could get better. I
agree with Mr. Fugate, I mean, I think it is both. I think
there are certainly areas within FEMA that could be improved
and better managed, but I agree, we need to look at some long-
term reform efforts. I am going to talk about that in a minute.
But today there has never been more pressure on the FEMA
work force and they are tired now. In recent years, disasters
have not just increased, but they are often sequential. There
is no down time. There is no disaster season anymore. It is all
year long. This requires FEMA's work force to deploy from one
place to another after another. Then add to that that because
of FEMA's capabilities, they have had to help with the pandemic
response. Not just help but lead the response. Assist CBP at
the border and help resettle Afghan refugees. So, you know,
FEMA is asked to do these things because they have the
resources, they have the authorities and the logistical
abilities that many other Federal agencies don't have. However,
they have taken on all these responsibilities with a work force
structure and staffing process that hasn't transformed to keep
up with this pace of what they are expected to do today.
The existing work force models were designed to scale up
during a past time long ago when disasters and large disasters
were rare. I will talk a little bit about our work and then I
will talk about, I think, some of the things we need to do
moving forward. But our work, as has been stated, has
identified a number of challenges internally that I think are
going to get worse if they are not addressed over time. For
example, FEMA has long faced challenges in deploying staff with
the right qualifications and skills to meet the disaster needs.
So, this is not just us. But we talked to FEMA leaders. We
talked to Federal coordinating officers, field people, people
on the ground. They told us that the agency's qualifications
system, which is critical deploying the right people, doesn't
effectively capture staff qualifications. Often leads to
unqualified or untrained people being deployed to disasters.
This causes problems and I think this needs to be fixed.
We also found that FEMA struggles to train, coach, and
develop its work force. Particularly, it is incident management
work force, especially when deployed in the field. Field
leaders told us they struggle to get the training and
development necessary to be effective. For example, Reservists
who make up, you know, 35 to 40 percent of FEMA's work force,
they have problems accessing developmental opportunities when
they are not deployed. This gets to some of the structural
reforms Mr. Fugate talked about. For example, getting paid time
in technology to train when they are deployed is very difficult
because of the way they have to be paid through a specific
disaster. So, what we recommended is that they--and this has
been talked about already. They develop a more specific
developmental program that addresses a lot of these challenges
where we can do this outside of some of these deployments too.
The other thing I would like to mention is FEMA has hired
thousands of new employees in recent years. According to the
data I have seen, they have increased their total force by over
5,000 people in the last 6 years. They now have over 22,000
staff ready to respond. Additional staff are fantastic given
their increased workload, but it is not the only solution to
this. They are likely to make some of these training and
qualifications challenges even more difficult. For example,
this means that less experienced staff are likely to be staffed
to a number of these disasters. So, this is going to be
something that we have to continue to address.
So, I think as I mentioned, the problem is a little bit
more complicated than just tweaking internal process. I think
FEMA and the Congress should consider two larger areas. Some of
this is going to align with what Mr. Fugate said. First, we
need to consider a broader work force reform effort involving
Congress and potential legislation. New authorities may be
necessary to address some of these issues. For example, the
restriction on training, reserve employees, and paying for
training and development when they are not actually deployed to
a disaster. The way that works now is the large part of the
incident management work force is being trained when they are
deployed to a disaster. This is great real-life experience, but
it often means that training is not going to be a priority, not
surprisingly.
Second, we need to look at the process, I agree, and
workload we are asking FEMA staff to perform. While, you know,
most folks, I think, think of FEMA staff as immediately
responding to a disaster with the blue jackets on with FEMA on
the back, the truth is is that much of FEMA's work force
manages grants and money and recovery efforts from prior
disasters. There are many disasters that stay open for 5 to 10
years or 15 years or 16 years, in the case of Hurricane
Katrina. FEMA told us last year that they were managing almost
1,000 prior disasters that were still in some stage of
recovery. This means, we are still cutting checks from
disasters that happened 15 years ago, as Mr. Fugate mentioned
about Hurricane Katrina.
So, the bottom line is that streamlining existing programs
to be more efficient would also help cut down on FEMA's
workload and help them focus on the things we think they need
to be focused on. This completes my statement today. I look
forward to discussing how we can address the challenges and to
your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Currie follows:]
Prepared Statement of Christopher P. Currie
Thursday, January 20, 2022
gao highlights
Highlights of GAO-22-105631, a testimony before the Subcommittees
on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery and Oversight,
Management, and Accountability, Committee on Homeland Security, House
of Representatives.
Why GAO Did This Study
FEMA has long been tasked with the difficult job of leading the
Federal response to natural disasters. The increasing frequency of
disasters and the additional responsibilities of responding to the
COVID-19 pandemic and other events have stretched the FEMA workforce in
unprecedented ways.
This testimony discusses GAO's prior work on various FEMA workforce
challenges. This statement is based on products GAO issued from July
2015 to August 2021. For those products, GAO reviewed and analyzed
Federal law, Federal data, and agency documentation and interviewed
Federal, State, and local officials as well as representatives of
stakeholder groups impacted by disasters. GAO also conducted some of
these interviews as part of visits to locations affected by hurricanes
in 2017 and 2018. Additionally, GAO conducted 17 focus groups with FEMA
staff.
What GAO Recommends
GAO has made numerous recommendations in prior reports designed to
address the workforce challenges discussed in this testimony. FEMA has
taken steps to address these recommendations and GAO is monitoring
FEMA's on-going efforts.
fema workforce.--long-standing and new challenges could affect mission
success
What GAO Found
GAO's past work has identified long-standing challenges facing the
Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) workforce. In May 2020,
for example, GAO reported on the following workforce challenges within
FEMA:
Staffing shortages.--The 2017 and 2018 disaster seasons created
unprecedented demand for FEMA's workforce. FEMA deployed over 10,000
personnel during the peak of each season but faced shortages in over
half of its cadres--operational or programmatic groups--when disasters
began. For example, 18 of 23 cadres operated with 25 percent or less of
staff available to deploy when Hurricane Maria made landfall in 2017.
In addition, many employees--up to 48 percent in some cases--declined
deployments due, according to FEMA officials, to burn-out and austere
conditions in the field.
Workforce qualifications.--GAO found that FEMA faced challenges
deploying staff with the right qualifications and skills at the right
times to meet disaster needs. Qualification status in FEMA's systems
was not a reliable indicator of staff's ability to perform in the
field. For example, in 14 of the focus groups GAO held with FEMA staff,
participants said that staff who were designated as qualified in FEMA's
system did not always have the necessary skills for their position. GAO
recommended that FEMA develop a plan to address challenges in providing
quality information to field leaders about staff qualifications. FEMA
told GAO in December 2021 that its Field Operations Directorate has
created plans to inform field leadership about staff skills and
abilities, among other things. GAO also recommended that FEMA develop
mechanisms to assess deployment outcomes. FEMA said it is modifying its
force structure targets, with input from field leadership, and has
implemented continuous data collection efforts.
Staff development.--GAO found shortcomings in FEMA's ability to
ensure staff training and development for the skills needed in the
field. For example, Reservists--often comprising the greatest
proportion of FEMA staff in the field during a disaster--faced barriers
to staff development and inconsistently received performance
evaluations. GAO recommended that FEMA create a staff development
program that addresses access to training, development, and feedback.
In response, FEMA has taken a number of steps, including process
improvements for development opportunities and creating a plan to
consistently conduct performance reviews.
GAO will continue to monitor FEMA's actions and assess the extent
to which these actions address GAO's recommendations.
These workforce challenges can affect FEMA's ability to achieve its
mission to help people before, during, and after disasters. For
example, GAO has reported on challenges with inadequate training and
low morale for Disaster Recovery Center call center employees.
Improving training and employee engagement and morale may help improve
services provided to disaster survivors.
With an increase in the frequency and cost of disasters, and with
FEMA supporting numerous efforts outside of its normal core
responsibilities, GAO is concerned that FEMA personnel may not be
prepared to manage a catastrophic natural disaster or concurrent
disasters.
Chairwoman Demings, Chairman Correa, Ranking Members Cammack and
Meijer, and Members of the subcommittees: Thank you for the opportunity
to discuss our work on the challenges facing the Federal Emergency
Management Agency's (FEMA) workforce.
FEMA has long been tasked with the difficult job of leading the
Federal response to natural disasters and other emergencies. It funds,
manages, and coordinates response and recovery efforts with other
Federal agencies; States; local, Tribal, and territorial governments;
and others. The increasing frequency of disasters and the additional
responsibilities of responding to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-
19) pandemic, assisting at the Southwest Border, and resettling Afghan
refugees have stretched the FEMA workforce in unprecedented ways. In
recent years, we have reported on long-standing workforce management
challenges within the agency. FEMA management has had to redeploy
response personnel from one disaster to the next, and the agency has
reported facing staffing shortfalls in response to some disasters. In
addition, a large influx of new employees has added to the challenges
of providing timely, program-specific training.
Successfully addressing these challenges is important because, as
we reported in May 2020, FEMA's disaster workforce will be in high
demand for the foreseeable future.\1\ The U.S. Global Change Research
Program and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and
Medicine project that extreme weather events will become more frequent
and intense due to climate change.\2\ The historic 2017 and 2018
disaster seasons pushed FEMA well beyond its routine disaster response
posture. In 2017, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, and the severe
wildfires in California, collectively affected 47 million people--
nearly 15 percent of the Nation's population. In 2018, Hurricanes
Florence and Matthew and another severe California wildfire season
again necessitated a major Federal response. The numbers of FEMA staff
deployed for each of these seasons were more than double the roughly
5,000 personnel deployed at the peak of the 2016 disaster season.
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\1\ GAO, FEMA Disaster Workforce: Actions Needed to Address
Deployment and Staff Development Challenges, GAO-20-360 (Washington,
DC: May 4, 2020).
\2\ GAO, Climate Change: Information on Potential Economic Effects
Could Help Guide Federal Efforts to Reduce Fiscal Exposure, GAO-17-720
(Washington, DC: Sept. 28, 2017). Managing fiscal exposure due to
climate change has been on our high-risk list since 2013, in part,
because of concerns about the increasing costs of disaster response and
recovery efforts. See GAO-21-119SP; also https://www.gao.gov/highrisk/
limiting-federal-governments-fiscal-exposure-better-managing-climate-
change-risks.
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These increased demands on the FEMA workforce persist. FEMA
responded to many disasters in 2020, including a record-breaking
hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean, and the most active fire year
on record for the West Coast, with record-breaking wildfires in several
States.\3\
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\3\ In addition to supporting the COVID-19 response, FEMA supported
California's largest fire in history and managed the response to 10
named storms in September 2020 alone. As of February 2021, FEMA had
personnel deployed to 173 active disasters and was supporting 956 open
disasters.
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Concurrent with this increase in natural disasters, FEMA has been
tasked with new responsibilities. In particular, FEMA has played a key
role in the Federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to an
assessment report issued by FEMA in January 2021, the scale and
duration of COVID-19 operations challenged FEMA's capabilities. Among
other things, FEMA established mass vaccination sites and provided
funeral assistance to families, the scope of which is unprecedented for
the agency. We found that between mid-April 2021 and late-June 2021,
FEMA received and processed over 222,000 applications for funeral
assistance. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, FEMA had processed
approximately 6,000 cases of funeral assistance over the past decade.
The increased frequency and cost of disasters and FEMA's support of
numerous efforts outside of its normal core responsibilities present
challenges to FEMA, as it must ensure that its personnel are prepared
to manage a catastrophic natural disaster or concurrent disasters.
My statement today discusses our prior work on FEMA's workforce,
including challenges FEMA faces and how these challenges can affect
FEMA achieving its mission.
My statement today is based on products we issued from July 2015 to
August 2021. To perform our prior work, we reviewed and analyzed
Federal law, a non-generalizable sample of post-disaster contracts,
agency guidance, and other agency documentation. We also analyzed data
from FEMA, the General Services Administration, and the Office of
Personnel Management. We interviewed officials from FEMA and other
selected Federal agencies; and State, territory, local, and nonprofit
officials impacted by disasters. We conducted some of these interviews
as part of visits to locations affected by hurricanes in 2017 and 2018,
where we also met with disaster survivors. Additionally, we conducted
17 focus groups with FEMA staff. More detailed information on the scope
and methodology of our prior work can be found in each of the issued
reports cited throughout this statement.
We conducted the work on which this statement is based in
accordance with generally accepted Government auditing standards. Those
standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain
sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our
findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that
the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and
conclusion based on our audit objectives.
workforce challenges could affect fema achieving its mission
FEMA's Workforce Challenges
In May 2020, we reported that FEMA has faced challenges with: (1)
Staffing shortages, (2) workforce qualifications, and (3) staff
development, and we made recommendations to address aspects of these
challenges.\4\
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\4\ GAO-20-360.
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Staffing shortages.--During the 2017 and 2018 disaster
seasons, several large-scale disasters created an unprecedented
demand for FEMA's workforce. FEMA deployed 14,684 and 10,328
personnel, respectively, at the peak of each of these seasons
and reported staffing shortages. FEMA faced shortages across
over half of its cadres--groups organized by operational or
programmatic functions--when disasters made landfall or began
during the 2017 season, and FEMA faced similar shortages during
the 2018 disaster season. For instance, according to FEMA's
deployment data, 18 of 23 cadres operated with 25 percent or
less of staff available to deploy when Hurricane Maria made
landfall in Puerto Rico. In addition, many staff members who
were available to deploy declined when requested to do so. For
example, 48 percent of FEMA staff declined a deployment to
Puerto Rico in 2017 after Hurricane Maria, in part due to the
austere conditions and burn-out, and 40 percent declined a
deployment to California wildfires in 2018.
With an increase in the frequency and cost of disasters, and with
FEMA simultaneously supporting numerous efforts outside of its
normal core responsibilities, we are concerned that FEMA
personnel may not be prepared to manage a catastrophic natural
disaster or concurrent disasters. We recently initiated work
related to FEMA's recruitment, hiring, and retention.
Workforce qualifications.--In addition to staffing
shortages, we reported that FEMA faced challenges with
deploying staff with the right qualifications and skills to
meet disaster needs. FEMA field officials reported the
qualification status in FEMA's qualification systems was not a
reliable indicator of staff's ability to perform in the field.
For example, in 14 focus groups we held, participants stated
they encountered staff members who were designated as qualified
in FEMA's system but did not have the skills or experience to
perform effectively in their positions.\5\ Additionally,
planning managers in a joint field office we visited said that
staff inaccurately designated as qualified in FEMA's
qualification system were sometimes only able to complete half
of the tasks expected of them, which hindered the cadre's
ability to support mission needs. They noted that this affected
morale, added to others' workload, and could turn a 12-hour day
into a 14-hour day.
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\5\ The number of focus groups in this section excludes the 3 focus
groups we conducted with local hires. We excluded them from the counts
because local hires do not consistently use the FEMA Qualification
System.
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We recommended that FEMA develop a plan--with time frames and
milestones--to address identified challenges that have hindered
FEMA's ability to provide reliable and complete information to
field leaders and managers about staff knowledge, skills, and
abilities. FEMA concurred with this recommendation. In December
2021, FEMA reported, among other things, developing
qualification plans for cadre personnel to better inform field
leaders about staff knowledge, skills, and abilities, and we
are conducting additional follow-up to assess FEMA's actions.
To address the complex and interrelated challenges we
identified, it will be important for FEMA to take a
comprehensive approach to this issue and consider cross-cutting
solutions.
We also found that FEMA did not have a plan to evaluate staffing
challenges. Specifically, we found that FEMA lacked mechanisms
to assess deployment outcomes or the extent to which it
deployed the right mix of staff at the right time to meet
mission needs. FEMA collected data related to staffing levels
and availability, such as comparing staff qualification rates
to targets and tracking the number of staff deployed to
disasters. However, these measures did not directly demonstrate
deployment outcomes or how effectively FEMA deployed available
staff. Without the ability to assess outcomes, FEMA officials
lacked critical information to evaluate the effectiveness of
its deployment strategies.
We recommended that FEMA develop mechanisms, including collecting
data to determine how effectively its workforce was deployed to
meet mission needs. FEMA concurred with this recommendation.
FEMA officials have stated that the agency is making progress
toward meeting the force structure targets it established in
2019 and has a process in place to modify the targets as
needed. In December 2021, FEMA officials said FEMA is modifying
its force structure targets, with input from field leadership,
and has implemented continuous data collection efforts. We are
continuing to assess whether these efforts address our
recommendation, which focuses on FEMA systematically collecting
feedback and relevant data on the extent to which its
deployment processes met field needs during disasters.
We designated these 2 recommendations related to workforce
qualifications as priority recommendations for the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS), meaning we believe they warrant
priority attention and can substantially improve or transform
major Government programs or agencies.\6\
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\6\ See GAO, Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Homeland
Security, GAO-21-377PR (Washington, DC: Aug. 13, 2021).
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Staff development.--Finally, we found shortcomings in FEMA's
ability to ensure staff development--that consists of training
courses, on-the-job learning, coaching, and mentoring--for the
skills and abilities needed in the field. Staff told us they
received inadequate on-the-job training or coaching, even
though most participants in our focus groups said that these
types of learning are the most useful. We found that at the
start of their deployment during the 2017 and 2018 disaster
seasons, 36 percent of FEMA's incident management workforce did
not have an official assigned to coach and evaluate their task
performance--the primary mechanism the agency depends on for
coaching. Furthermore, when such officials were assigned, they
often lacked time to coach staff. For example, officials at one
of the joint field offices we visited said mission needs always
come first and coaching and evaluating responsibilities are
frequently not a priority. Supervisors in the field also often
inconsistently completed performance evaluations for deployed
staff. Additionally, Reservists--who often comprise the
greatest proportion of FEMA staff in the field during a
disaster and make up 35 percent of FEMA's workforce as of
August 2021--faced barriers to accessing developmental
opportunities when not deployed, including lack of paid time
and technology needed to access training. Effective and
consistent staff development is particularly important because
FEMA has hired a large number of Reservists over the past few
years. Our analysis of FEMA data showed that from June 1, 2017
to May 31, 2019, the agency hired over 3,200 Reservists, which
was 40 percent of the agency's entire Reservist workforce as of
June 1, 2019. The challenges associated with underqualified
staff we noted previously underscore the need for a
comprehensive staff development program that would equip all
staff to meet mission needs in the field.
We recommended that FEMA create a staff development program that
addresses access to training, on-the-job training, use of
performance evaluations, and consistent developmental
opportunities regardless of whether FEMA employees are
deployed. FEMA concurred with our recommendation and has taken
a number of steps to improve staff development. Steps FEMA has
taken include developing processes to improve access to
training and coaching and creating a plan to consistently
conduct performance reviews during deployment. We are
continuing to monitor FEMA's actions to assess the extent to
which these actions constitute an integrated and cohesive
program to develop its workforce and help ensure the best
results for disaster survivors.
We have also reported on the importance of employee engagement to
achieving an agency's mission.\7\ Based on the Federal Employee
Viewpoint Survey, FEMA's measure of employee engagement
recently increased.\8\ In 2019, FEMA's Employee Engagement
score was 65.8, placing it sixth out of 15 DHS components. That
number trended upwards in 2020, to 72.2 in 2020, moving it to
fourth within DHS and on par with the Government-wide average
of 72.4. Further, in the survey, 87.6 percent of FEMA employees
said they know how their work is related to agency goals. FEMA
has a critical mission to help people before, during, and after
disasters, and each employee plays a role in achieving the
agency's mission. However, the stress of challenges we
mentioned today, including staffing shortages, coupled with
burn-out associated with the increased frequency of disasters
and an expanded scope of responsibility over time, have the
potential to negatively affect FEMA employees' engagement and
morale. Additionally, in recent years, there have been concerns
about FEMA's workplace culture and climate, specifically
regarding harassment and discrimination, which can affect
workforce morale and retention.\9\ We have on-going work on
FEMA's actions to address harassment and discrimination. We
expect to report these findings in fall 2022.
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\7\ In 2015, we reported that a number of studies of private-sector
entities have found that increased levels of employee engagement result
in better individual and organizational performance. This includes
increased employee performance and productivity; higher customer
service ratings; fewer safety incidents; and less absenteeism and
turnover. Studies of the public sector, while more limited, have shown
similar benefits. See GAO, Federal Workforce: Additional Analysis and
Sharing of Promising Practices Could Improve Employee Engagement and
Performance, GAO-15-585 (Washington, DC: July 14, 2015). For more
information about employee engagement at DHS and its component
agencies, such as FEMA, see GAO, DHS Employee Morale: Some Improvements
Made, but Additional Actions Needed to Strengthen Employee Engagement,
GAO-21-204 (Washington, DC: January 12, 2021).
\8\ The Office of Personnel Management administers the annual
Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey and uses the responses to calculate
the employee engagement index. The Office of Personnel Management
defines employee engagement as employees' sense of purpose that is
evident in their display of dedication, persistence, and effort in
their work or overall attachment to their organization and its mission.
\9\ In 2018, FEMA began an investigation into allegations of
harassment and misconduct by a senior executive within the agency. In
2019, FEMA commissioned a survey from the RAND Corporation to estimate
the prevalence of harassment and discrimination. In its 2020 report,
the RAND Corporation estimated that 29 percent of FEMA employees
experienced discrimination or harassment related to sex, gender, or
race/ethnicity in the previous year. See RAND Corporation, Harassment
and Discrimination on the Basis of Gender and Race/Ethnicity in the
FEMA Workforce (2020).
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Examples of How Workforce Challenges Affect FEMA's Mission
Experiences from the 2017 and 2018 disaster seasons highlight the
importance of continuing to make progress on addressing the long-
standing workforce management challenges. Such workforce challenges can
affect FEMA's ability to carry out its mission. We have reported
examples of how these workforce challenges affect FEMA's operations and
those FEMA serves, including that: (1) Contracting staff shortages
exacerbated challenges for recovery efforts (2) Public Assistance
programs in Puerto Rico faced challenges due to high staff turnover,
and (3) low morale and inadequate training at call centers decreased
the quality of service delivery.
Contracting staff shortages exacerbated challenges for recovery
efforts. In April 2019, we reported on the Federal Government's
contracting efforts for preparedness, response, and recovery efforts
related to the 2017 hurricanes and California wildfires. We found,
among other things, that FEMA experienced contracting staffing
shortages, which exacerbated challenges for disaster response and
recovery.\10\
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\10\ GAO, 2017 Disaster Contracting: Actions Needed to Improve the
Use of Post-Disaster Contracts to Support Response and Recovery, GAO-
19-281 (Washington, DC: April 24, 2019).
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As we reported in April 2019, FEMA cited that contracting workforce
shortages severely taxed its contracting processes and personnel. For
example, 8 of FEMA's 10 regional offices, which cover all U.S. States
and territories, had only one permanent full-time contracting official.
Regional offices are responsible for managing post-disaster contracts,
which are awarded after a disaster hits, even if regional procurement
staff were not involved in the initial award of those contracts. Post-
disaster contracts can last for years after a disaster occurs.
In that report, we noted that FEMA took some steps to address gaps
in its contracting workforce. For example, officials told us they
planned to hire additional contracting staff; however, it was unclear
when these staff would be hired or how they would be allocated across
FEMA's Office of the Chief Procurement Officer. Furthermore, we also
found that FEMA had not assessed its contracting workforce needs since
2014. Without such an assessment, FEMA is at risk of not having a
sufficient contracting workforce during a disaster. We recommended that
FEMA assess its workforce needs--including staffing levels, mission
needs, and skill gaps--for contracting staff, to include regional
offices and Disaster Acquisition Response Teams; and develop a plan,
including time lines, to address any gaps. FEMA concurred with this
recommendation. FEMA identified a number of actions it would take to
address this recommendation including competency modeling for its
contracting staff and a workforce analysis to identify skill gaps. As
of May 2021, these actions were still in progress.
Public Assistance programs in Puerto Rico faced challenges due to
high staff turnover. In our March 2019 report on recovery efforts in
Puerto Rico, we found that workforce capacity constraints were a
challenge.\11\ We reported that both FEMA and municipal officials had
concerns about FEMA staff turnover and lack of knowledge about how the
Public Assistance alternative procedures were to be applied in Puerto
Rico.\12\ While several municipal officials we spoke to remarked
positively on consistent communication with FEMA officials, municipal
officials in six municipalities we visited cited high levels of
turnover among FEMA staff as a challenge with the recovery process.\13\
For example, officials in three municipalities said that discontinuity
in FEMA personnel had caused them to have duplicative conversations
with FEMA. This issue has persisted over time, as we reported in our
February 2020 report on continuing disaster recovery efforts in Puerto
Rico.\14\ Municipal and Puerto Rico agency officials we spoke to
experienced confusion about changing FEMA Public Assistance guidance
partly due to changing points of contact.\15\ We reported that reliance
on Central Office of Recovery, Reconstruction, and Resilience, which
was created by the Government of Puerto Rico, or individual FEMA staff
to deliver and distribute FEMA guidance posed a risk that the guidance
would not be accessible to all partners involved in recovery efforts.
FEMA officials acknowledged that they faced difficulties in
disseminating information in Puerto Rico. We recommended FEMA develop a
repository for all current applicable Public Assistance policies and
guidance for Puerto Rico and make it available to all recovery
partners.
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\11\ GAO, Puerto Rico Hurricanes: Status of FEMA Funding,
Oversight, and Recovery Challenges, GAO-19-256 (Washington, DC: Mar.
14, 2019).
\12\ Unlike in the standard Public Assistance program where FEMA
will fund the actual cost of a project, the Public Assistance
alternative procedures allow awards for permanent work projects to be
made on the basis of fixed cost estimates to provide financial
incentives for the timely and cost-effective completion of work. This
makes the recipient or subrecipient responsible for any project costs
that exceed the agreed-upon fixed-cost estimate. However, if actual
costs are less than the fixed-cost estimate, the recipient or
subrecipient may use all or part of excess funds for other eligible
purposes, such as additional cost-effective hazard mitigation measures
to increase the resilience of public infrastructure, see 42 U.S.C.
5189f. For more information, see GAO-19-256.
\13\ During interviews with officials from 10 selected
municipalities, officials identified various challenges during the
course of our discussions. When we reported the number of
municipalities that identified a particular challenge, this did not
necessarily mean that the remaining municipalities did not also
experience the challenge. It meant that those municipalities did not
raise the challenge during the course of our interviews.
\14\ GAO, Puerto Rico Disaster Recovery: FEMA Actions Needed to
Strengthen Project Cost Estimation and Awareness of Program Guidance,
GAO-20-221 (Washington, DC: Feb. 5, 2020).
\15\ FEMA iteratively developed, refined, and clarified Public
Assistance guidance in Puerto Rico to respond and adapt to changing
recovery conditions since the 2017 hurricanes.
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In response to this recommendation, FEMA made Public Assistance
policies and guidance documents accessible to Puerto Rico recovery
partners through its internal Public Assistance application management
system. By doing so, FEMA improved the accessibility of information and
its assurance that recovery partners are aware of current guidance.
With real-time access to FEMA's current applicable guidance, there
could be less confusion and need for additional requests for
clarification. Even with improved access to policies and guidance, FEMA
employees will continue to be an important source of information and
support for disaster survivors and local officials. The local
officials' experiences we previously reported on highlight how FEMA's
workforce challenges, including staff turnover, can affect disaster
recovery efforts.
Low morale and inadequate training at call centers affected service
delivery. Other examples of how workforce challenges can affect FEMA's
services include challenges with call center employee morale and
training. In September 2020, we reported that for several years leading
up to our reporting, FEMA's call center workforce faced challenges
using program guidance to assist survivors and struggled with low
morale.\16\ We also reported that following the catastrophic 2017
hurricane season, call center staff worked without adequate training,
in part due to high disaster activity in 2017 and 2018. The training
FEMA provided did not effectively support staff in applying guidance to
answer survivors' questions and process cases encountered in their
work, according to National Processing Service Center staff. In
addition, Disaster Recovery Centers provide an important resource to
survivors who do not have electricity or reliable cell phone service,
as is often the case following a disaster, as well as those who do not
regularly use computers. However, the limitations of staff
qualifications and capabilities at these locations resulted in missed
opportunities to help survivors quickly.
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\16\ GAO, Disaster Assistance: Additional Actions Needed to
Strengthen FEMA's Individuals and Households Program, GAO-20-503
(Washington, DC: Sep. 30, 2020).
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In that report, we also found that opportunities existed to improve
employee engagement and morale among National Processing Service Center
staff. Staff we spoke to consistently cited engagement challenges that
undermined morale in all 4 call center locations. According to National
Processing Service Center staff at all 4 locations, poor employee
engagement from their management and supervisors resulted in pressures
related to productivity, among other challenges, particularly since the
2017 hurricane season generated a high work volume for Individual &
Households Program call center staff. National Processing Service
Center staff in all 4 locations stated they felt pressured to meet
productivity standards, which conflicted with providing quality service
to the survivor.
We recommended, among other things, that FEMA use desirable
characteristics of employee engagement--including performance feedback,
career development, communication, and attention to work-life balance--
while completing planned activities for improving morale among call
center staff, assessing staff satisfaction scores, and identifying
additional steps to strengthen employee morale. We also recommended
that FEMA assess the effectiveness of the staff training for the
Individuals & Households Program and implement strategies to ensure
staff deployed to the Disaster Recovery Centers has the needed
capabilities to provide support to survivors. DHS concurred with our
recommendations and has taken steps to address them, but has not yet
completed planned work, partly due to increased disaster operations and
the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing these recommendations remains
important, particularly given that FEMA has since established a
dedicated call center number and staff to the COVID-19 funeral
assistance program.
Thank you, Chairwoman Demings, Chairman Correa, Ranking Members
Cammack and Meijer, and Members of the subcommittees. This concludes my
prepared statement. I would be happy to respond to any questions you
may have at this time.

Chairwoman Demings. Thank you so much for your testimony.
The Chair now recognizes Ms. Sims to summarize her statement
for 5 minutes.

STATEMENT OF CARRA S. SIMS, SENIOR BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL
SCIENTIST, THE RAND CORPORATION

Ms. Sims. Thank you, Chairman and Chairwoman, Ranking
Members of the subcommittees for allowing me to testify today.
I am a principal investigator and author of a study published
in December 2020 on the prevalence and characteristics of civil
rights violations at FEMA. First, I am going to tell you a
little bit about the history of the study. Next, I will share
some results. Finally, I will highlight some of our
recommendations.
In 2018, FEMA executed an internal investigation into
sexual harassment and misconduct in its senior leadership
ranks. Unlike most organizations confronted with these issues,
FEMA leaders chose to openly discuss and address the problems.
As part of that, they reached out to us to provide an
independent and objective assessment across the organization
about the overall prevalence and characteristics of harassment
and discrimination at FEMA.
Working with FEMA, we decided to focus on two classes of
civil rights violation that we and they felt were likely to be
most common. First, harassment and discrimination on the basis
of sex and gender. Second, harassment and discrimination on the
basis of race/ethnicity. I use the term civil rights violation
to apply to both. Now, I will review three main findings,
though you can find more detailed results in the written
testimony and, of course, in the written report.
First, we found civil rights violations affected many
employees in the FEMA work force. Almost one-third of employees
categorized as having experienced at least one gender-based or
race/ethnicity-based civil rights violation in the previous
year. Women were more likely to experience these than were men.
Groups such as African American employees experienced these
more frequently as well. Rates of civil rights violations
varied across offices as you can see in Figure 2 of my written
testimony.
Second, we also examined perceptions about key leadership,
key leaders that play a critical role in overall workplace
climate for gender-based and race/ethnicity-based harassment.
As well as looking at climate or general workplace instability.
As an example of a key leadership behavior, it is a legal
requirement that supervisors forward reports to them to an
appropriate authority. However, about one-fourth of women were
not sure that their supervisors would report sexual harassment
to the right FEMA authority. About one-fourth of African
American employees felt similarly with regard to how their
supervisors would handle a racial/ethnic harassment complaint.
About 40 percent of women and African American employees
expressed similar sentiments about FEMA senior leaders. In
general, men had more positive perceptions of the work
environment at FEMA than women did. In addition, White and
Hispanic employees had more positive perceptions of the work
environment than did African American employees. This suggests
FEMA employees perceive discrepancies in the leadership
enforcement of workplace norms for professional behavior.
Third, employees' concerns are also reflected in the
actions that employees took after experiencing a civil rights
violation. FEMA employees did not always report the incident,
not to an official channel. Top barriers to reporting included
that the employee did not think anything would be done and they
wanted to forget about it and move on. Most FEMA employees who
reported discrimination, were not satisfied with FEMA's
response, possibly due to the actions taken or not. In fact,
about 40 percent of those having reported discrimination were
encouraged to just drop the issue. Of those who reported
harassment, one-fourth or more indicated having been subject to
some form of retaliation, which is itself illegal, as did more
than one-third who reported discrimination.
If FEMA employees are to trust the system in which they
report these negative workplace experiences, then
accountability and transparency at all levels of leadership is
essential. Finally, I will discuss a few of our
recommendations. We suggested FEMA explore differences in
climate between offices that had low and high rates of civil
rights violations. We also suggested they increase
accountability and transparency in dealing with violations and
ensure that leaders at all levels understand how best to do so.
We suggested they continue monitoring harassment and
discrimination in the work force. Evidence that harassment and
discrimination exists within their walls is unwelcomed to
organizations unwilling to do the work to improve their
workplace environment for their employees.
FEMA is the only organization, to our knowledge, to
confront such evidence voluntarily and publicly. This effort
offers the opportunity to move the evidence-based needle not
just for FEMA, but also more broadly for other organizations on
appropriate interventions to reduce and prevent harassment and
discrimination. Congressional support for such efforts is
critical. Thank you, again, for the opportunity to appear
before you today about this important subject. I look forward
to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Sims follows:]
Prepared Statement of Carra S. Sims \1\ \2\
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\1\ The opinions and conclusions expressed in this testimony are
the author's alone and should not be interpreted as representing those
of the RAND Corporation or any of the sponsors of its research.
\2\ The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops
solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities
throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more
prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public
interest. RAND's mission is enabled through its core values of quality
and objectivity and its commitment to integrity and ethical behavior.
RAND subjects its research publications to a robust and exacting
quality-assurance process; avoids financial and other conflicts of
interest through staff training, project screening, and a policy of
mandatory disclosure; and pursues transparency through the open
publication of research findings and recommendations, disclosure of the
source of funding of published research, and policies to ensure
intellectual independence. This testimony is not a research
publication, but witnesses affiliated with RAND routinely draw on
relevant research conducted in the organization.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 20, 2022
Thank you Chairwoman Demings and Chairman Correa and Ranking
Members Cammack and Meijer for allowing me to testify before this joint
hearing of your subcommittees today. I am Carra Sims, a senior
behavioral and social scientist with the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND
Corporation and principal investigator and author of a study published
in December 2020 on the prevalence and characteristics of sexual
harassment, gender discrimination, racial/ethnic harassment, and
racial/ethnic discrimination at the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA).
In 2018, FEMA executed an internal investigation into sexual
harassment and misconduct in its senior leadership ranks. However, very
unusually, they did not stop there. Unlike most organizations
confronted with these issues, FEMA leaders chose to openly discuss and
address the problems. As part of this effort, they reached out to the
Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC)--which is
operated by RAND for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)--to
provide an independent and objective assessment across the organization
of both the overall prevalence and the characteristics of harassment
and discrimination at FEMA.
We found that civil rights violations had affected many employees
in the FEMA workforce. Twenty percent of employees categorized as
having experienced a gender-based/sexual civil rights violation, and
18.4 percent of employees categorized as having experienced a violation
on the basis of race/ethnicity in the year prior to the survey. The
risk of experiencing such a violation varied across FEMA offices, and
employee perceptions of leadership behaviors that set a climate for
harassment and civility varied by demographic group. Employees' actions
after experiencing a civil rights violation reflect these perceptions;
many did not report their concerns formally and for those that did,
though some experienced a positive result, a substantial minority did
not.
In light of these findings, we recommended that the agency:
1. explore differences in culture and climate between offices that
had low rates of civil rights violations and those with higher
rates
2. explore interventions with leaders at all levels to ensure that
leaders understand how best to handle harassment and understand
their responsibility to address it
3. reduce barriers to reporting
4. increase accountability and transparency in dealing with
harassment and discrimination reports at all levels of
leadership
5. continue monitoring harassment and discrimination in the
workforce.
Now I'd like to go into a bit more detail about the study and its
findings as I think the subcommittees might find the information
helpful.
the study and findings
After FEMA's 2018 internal investigation into sexual harassment and
misconduct, FEMA leaders chose to openly discuss the problems and the
need to develop and maintain a workplace in which all employees are
treated with professionalism and respect. Although FEMA's investigation
provided insights into the culture and misconduct in one FEMA office,
it was not designed to provide a comprehensive account of harassment
and discrimination across the organization; that was HSOAC's task.
Working with FEMA,we prioritized key areas of focus for a survey
that would provide them with an objective assessment of prevalence.
We decided to focus on two classes of civil rights violation:
First, harassment and discrimination on the basis of sex/gender, given
the origin of the survey effort, and second, harassment and
discrimination on the basis of race/ethnicity.
We did not want to use a lengthy survey that included every
possible workplace problem because it might not be answered thoroughly
and carefully, leading to biased results. Race/ethnicity was selected
because both we and FEMA hypothesized that it would be the second-most
common form of discrimination in the workplace, with gender-based
concerns being the most common.\3\ We intended to provide a more
complete description of the types of civil rights violations
experienced by FEMA employees. (Civil rights violation is an umbrella
term that includes harassment and discrimination on the basis of
membership in any protected class.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ We used behaviorally-based survey measures to estimate the
percentage of FEMA employees who had experienced at least one civil
rights violation in the preceding year. These measures of harassment
and discrimination first documented inappropriate workplace behaviors,
followed by (where applicable) an assessment of additional legal
requirements necessary for these experiences to rise to the level of
civil rights violations. We categorized an employee as having
experienced a civil rights violation if their survey answers indicated
that someone from work had engaged in (1) harassing behavior that
offended the respondent and was either persistent or severe or (2)
behavior perceived as discriminatory that caused a workplace harm. This
classification treats the survey respondents' answers as accurate. An
independent investigation of the experiences described by respondents
could discover that some people had experienced civil rights violations
even though we had not classified them as having had one, while some
people whom we classified as having experienced violations did not.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We also focused on perceptions of leadership climate for gender-
based and race/ethnicity-based harassment, assessing perceptions of
leadership behaviors. Such behaviors play a critical role in
establishing and maintaining climate.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ M.G. Ehrhart, B. Schneider, and W.H. Macey, Organizational
Climate and Culture: An Introduction to Theory, Research, and Practice,
New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2014.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We used multiple survey items to ensure that we covered key aspects
of harassment climate. These key aspects included employees'
perceptions related to the risk of making a complaint, perceptions of
possible sanctions for the perpetrator, and perceptions that their
concerns would be taken seriously.\5\ We assessed both perceptions of
severe behaviors and examples of experiences that happen frequently and
are sometimes considered less severe. We measured climate at two
levels: The immediate supervisor and FEMA senior leadership. Finally,
we examined general workplace incivility, which is low-intensity,
deviant behavior that is not specifically directed at a protected class
of employee but speaks to workplace climate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ C.L. Hulin, L.F. Fitzgerald, and F. Drasgow, ``Organizational
Influences on Sexual Harassment,'' in M.S. Stockdale, ed., Sexual
Harassment in the Workplace: Perspectives, Frontiers, and Response
Strategies, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, Inc., 1996, pp.
127-150.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
HSOAC fielded this survey in April and May 2019. Of the 21,982 FEMA
personnel invited to participate, 8,946 responded (a 44.9-percent
response rate). These responses were weighted to represent the FEMA
population.
Overall, civil rights violations affected many employees in the
FEMA workforce, with 20.0 percent of employees categorized as having
experienced a gender-based/sexual civil rights violation; women were
more likely to experience a civil rights violation (26 percent) than
were men (14 percent).
As shown in Figure S.1, 18.4 percent of employees were categorized
as having experienced a violation on the basis of race/ethnicity in the
past year.

Based on the 2019 survey, we estimated that about one in three FEMA
employees experienced at least one gender-based/sexual or race/
ethnicity-based civil rights violation in the preceding year.
Risk Varies By Office
Rates of civil rights violations varied across offices. For
example, women in Mission Support and the Office of the Chief Financial
Officer were less likely to be categorized as having experienced
gender-based/sexual harassment than women in other offices. Similarly,
the estimated rate of racial/ethnic harassment was lower in Mission
Support and in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer than in other
offices. Figure 2 shows one of these findings.

some employees mistrust leadership, and perceptions of work environment
vary
Findings from our climate assessment suggest some areas of concern.
Despite the majority of FEMA employees saying that leaders would
respond appropriately to harassing behaviors, a fairly substantial
proportion perceived leadership behaviors as neutral at best and
perhaps actively harmful. FEMA employees' perceptions of their direct
supervisors' responses to sexual and racial/ethnic harassment were
consistently more positive than their perceptions of senior-level FEMA
leaders' responses.
For example, 24 percent of women indicated that they were neutral
about, disagreed with, or strongly disagreed with a statement that
their supervisors would report sexual harassment to the right FEMA
authority, while approximately 28 percent of African-American employees
had similar opinions about how their supervisors would handle racial/
ethnic harassment. Approximately 40 percent of women and 40 percent of
African-American employees expressed similar sentiments about senior
leaders. Figure 3 shows these results.

In general, men had more positive perceptions of the work
environment at FEMA than women did. This was true for perceptions of
their supervisors, FEMA leader response to sexual harassment, and the
general work environment climate.
In addition, African-American employees tended to have less-
positive perceptions of the climate for racial/ethnic harassment and
the general work environment climate than White or Hispanic employees
had.
To the extent that enforcement of workplace norms for civility and
professional behavior relies on strong, consistent, and unambiguous
support for appropriate norms, this suggests that FEMA employees
perceive discrepancies.
Reporting Decisions Suggest That Barriers Exist
FEMA employees' concerns are reflected in the actions that they
took after a civil rights violation. Only one-third to one-half of FEMA
employees who had experiences consistent with harassment or
discrimination in the preceding year had reported the incident to a
supervisor or manager or through another official channel (see Figure
4).\6\ The top three barriers to reporting were that the employee ``did
not think anything would be done'' about it, wanting to ``forget about
it and move on,'' and fearing being ``labeled as a troublemaker.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ One important issue to consider when exploring why someone does
or does not report harassment or discrimination is whether the victim
considers the experience to be something worth reporting. This judgment
often hinges on whether the victim labels the experience as harassment
or as discrimination. It is not uncommon for people who describe
experiences on a survey that are classified as harassment or
discrimination to not label these experiences as civil rights
violations--that is, not to consider their experiences as harassment or
discrimination on the basis of a protected class. Most lay people are
not familiar with laws surrounding Title VII or equal employment
opportunity law and related regulations, and, although they might view
their experiences as problematic, they were unlikely to be able to
label them as civil rights violations (L.F. Fitzgerald, S. Swan, and K.
Fischer, ``Why Didn't She Just Report Him? The Psychological and Legal
Implications of Women's Responses to Sexual Harassment,'' Journal of
Social Issues, Vol. 51, No. 1, 1995, pp. 117-138.).

Many of the common barriers to reporting can be alleviated by
ensuring that leadership at all levels knows what to do with a report
and has the tools at hand to take action. Supervisors should also be
held accountable for dealing with concerns of retaliation. Including an
evaluation of how supervisors handle these issues as part of the
performance review cycle is one possibility; it is unclear whether this
is already a consistent part of that process at FEMA.
Most FEMA employees who reported discrimination felt either neutral
or dissatisfied with FEMA's response. This result could be related to
the actions taken in response to the report: About 40 percent of those
having reported gender (40.0 percent) or racial/ethnic discrimination
(42.1 percent) were encouraged to drop the issue, and 39.6 percent of
those who reported gender discrimination and 34.2 percent of those who
reported racial/ethnic discrimination indicated that the person that
they told had taken no action to improve the situation.
Employees also noted frequent retaliation. Of those who reported
harassment, 20 percent or more indicated having been subject to some
form of retaliation. Of those who reported discrimination, 35 percent
or more indicated having been subject to retaliation.
If FEMA employees are to trust the system through which they must
report negative workplace behaviors, then accountability and
transparency at all levels of leadership should be increased so that
employees have some sense that action will be taken to protect them
from further negative workplace experiences.
Continue Monitoring Harassment and Discrimination in the Workforce
This study provides a baseline of workplace harassment and
discrimination at FEMA. Refielding the survey every 2 or 4 years would
allow FEMA leadership to track the prevalence of civil rights
violations in the workforce over time and would provide an objective
measure of the effectiveness of any policy changes and prevention
efforts.
conclusion
The data from this survey has few comparators. Measures of
violations are not the same across organizations, which makes direct
comparisons with other organizations difficult. Differences in civil
rights violation rates could be caused by a genuine difference in the
prevalence of violations, or they could simply be a consequence of
different measurement strategies.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ This is the case not only with measurement of harassment and
discrimination but also with other measures that do not use the same
items.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moreover, organizations that are not required to measure the
prevalence of violations are unlikely to do so, and they are even less
likely to report their findings. Other than the military, which is
required by law to assess the prevalence of these types of experiences,
organizations that assess violations tend to be required to do so as
part of the evidence-gathering process for a class-action lawsuit.
Evidence that harassment and discrimination exist is unwelcome to
organizations unwilling to do the work to create better working
environments for their employees. FEMA is the only organization, to our
knowledge, to confront such evidence voluntarily and publicly,
demonstrating the agency's commitment to face issues head-on and work
to improve. This effort highlights FEMA's commitment to transparency to
the public and to its employees as it tackles these issues. It also
offers the opportunity to advance the study of harassment and
discrimination in the workplace and help solve issues elsewhere.
Changing organizational culture and climate is no easy task, and
prescriptions for how to do so tend to be so vague as to not be useful.
A comprehensive and holistic set of interventions that incentivize
professional and respectful workplace behavior could help leaders
prevent and effectively address negative behaviors in the FEMA work
environment. One vital component in organizational change, however, is
measurement of the problem. Supporting organizations that measure
transparently and share their findings helps establish an evidence
basis for other organizations that wish to alleviate issues of
harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Given the relative lack
of comparators and empirical guidance,\8\ organizations that engage in
interventions and report results are standard-bearers whose
transparency can help society change for the better. FEMA now has an
empirical estimate of the prevalence of gender-based/sexual and race/
ethnicity-based harassment and discrimination to serve as a yardstick
against which to measure change efforts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ See, e.g., evidence presented in C.R. Feldblum and V.A. Lipnic,
Select Task Force on Harassment in the Workplace, Washington, DC: U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2016; and National Academies
of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Sexual Harassment of Women:
Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering,
and Medicine, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2018.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chairwoman, Chairman, and Ranking Members, thank you again for the
opportunity to appear before you today about this important subject. I
look forward to answering your questions.

Chairwoman Demings. Thank you so much for your testimony
and thank you to all of the witnesses. I will remind the
subcommittees that we will each have 5 minutes to question the
panel. I will now recognize myself for questions and I
appreciate the panel's indulgence as we are in the middle of
votes.
This question is for all of you. FEMA's work force has
supported the Federal Government's response to a growing number
of obligations, including numerous record-breaking disasters,
Operation Allies Welcome, and the COVID-19 response. Just last
week, FEMA was tasked with additional responsibilities in the
on-going fight against COVID-19, including creating new testing
sites and assessing National hospital bed capacity. FEMA's
ever-increasing workload has caused a significant strain on the
work force, resulting in employees leaving the agency at
increased rates. What would you say FEMA can do or Congress can
do to help prevent burn-out in the work force? Mr. Fugate, I
will start with you.
Mr. Fugate. Well, you know, part of the question is with
all of these other things coming in, is this really FEMA's job?
My answer is, yes. You created FEMA not just to respond to
natural hazards. FEMA was created to respond to disasters that
require the capabilities that FEMA has been blessed with, with
the funding and capabilities that you have given them. So, the
question is: Should you take things away from FEMA? I think
that is the wrong answer.
I think the better answer is how do we make sure FEMA has
the work force required to do this? They lean heavily on the
ability to fund out of the Stafford Act, the Reservists, and
their CORE, which are their full-time not permanent employees
that are termed employees that they use in disaster response.
But I would also go back and look at your career base. FEMA has
not substantially grown since Hurricane Katrina, yet the
workload has been growing quite rapidly. So, it is always a
touchy issue when you talk about growing the work force, you
need more people. The reality is FEMA is going to need to look
at staffing requirements going forward with the mission set to
frequency of disasters in the career work force. Balance that
with the funding from the Stafford Act employees that are the
CORE and the Reservists and making the Reservists more
practical as a retention function, again, going back to the
benefits. As the GAO pointed out, and I tried to do this and
found out I couldn't do this, is how do you train them when
they are not deployed to a disaster? Because they are paid by
disaster, not out of a general fund that could be used for all
of those points.
Chairwoman Demings. Thank you so much. Mr. Currie.
Mr. Currie. I mean, I agree with a lot of what has been
said. But I think it actually, some of this is a good thing for
FEMA because they are reliable. The reason they get asked to do
so much is because they have the authority, the funding, the
relationships in the State and local level to execute logistics
like in the pandemic response. Next to the military, there is
nobody better. So, in many ways it is a good thing because it
means their response function is working pretty well. But I
think the bottom line is that the work force structure has not
been transformed and evolved to fit what we are asking them to
do right now.
But I also think there are multiple sides to this. I mean,
there is the hiring and the flexibilities piece of like what do
we need? Then how do we get what we need and how does it need
to function? But internally too, you mentioned the retention
issue. It is just as important, you know, if we are going to
hire 6,000 in the last few years like they had, the internal
functioning better work pretty well too. Or else you are not
going to retain these people. It doesn't matter if you hire
6,000 people if you lose 3,000 of them.
So, I think we have to look at all of it. That is why I
think there needs to be a more holistic transformation effort
looked at in this regard and figure out, you know, what maybe
legislative changes might be needed. What can FEMA do on its
own? Maybe there are special authorities similar to what has
been done in the past with the National Guard or the military
reserves that can be done to help some of these training and
deployment challenges that we face. So, I think that, you know,
it has got to be a multi-faceted approach.
Chairwoman Demings. Ms. Sims? Yes, Ms. Sims.
Ms. Sims. Hi. I will agree to the holistic approach. I had
a pretty specific study but, you know, making sure the backend
harassment and discrimination have been linked to retention.
So, you know, alleviating these kinds of workplace challenges
also helps keep your work force intact. I see we are running
out of time, so.
Chairwoman Demings. Thank you all so much. I will now go to
the gentlewoman from Iowa, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Thank you, Chair Demings. This is a
question for Mr. Fugate and Mr. Currie. From responding to
disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic to assisting with UACs
along the border and assisting in the resettlement of Afghan
refugees, FEMA has a number of competing priorities. How are
these competing and added responsibilities affecting the FEMA
work force?
Mr. Fugate. Ma'am, I will start first. Again, when you look
at all the things that FEMA is doing, the one that takes the
most people is responding to disasters. That is the bulk of the
work force. What FEMA is doing in the coordination of the COVID
is less about deploying people but using headquarters and
regional functions to coordinate that and coordinate other
agency staff. FEMA is not actually sending their people into
hospitals. They are coordinating HHS and other resources on
behalf of the Governors. That is something they are built and
set up to do.
Again, when I was in FEMA, we dealt with the Southwest
Border. We were given the mission by the White House to do the
unaccompanied children. It was a skill set we had because it
was mass care taking care of children. So, while those seem to
be very large operations, it turned out that in an organization
of almost 20,000, what you will find is it is a task, but it is
not overwhelming. The bulk of the large force of FEMA is
actually tied up in responding to and more importantly, what
was pointed out, is the recovery from disasters for years.
Thank you.
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Mr. Currie.
Mr. Currie. Sure, thank you. If I remember right, from
talking to you before, I believe you come from a public health
background, right? So, I will use the COVID example with FEMA.
So, something that was never envisioned 3 or 4 years ago with a
pandemic like this is that we would have, you know, almost 60
Federally-declared disasters across the States, territories,
Tribes for a public health emergency. So, just in that alone,
FEMA is processing--I don't have an exact number, but the last
one I have seen is, you know, well over 30, maybe 40,000
grantees for the pandemic just on grant reimbursements alone
for PPE, COVID costs, schools, you name it. So, you add that on
top of what I said before, which is like almost 1,000 prior
disaster recovery declarations where they are still processing
public assistance claims, the grants. That alone is just
astronomical.
I actually don't think the Afghan and the border tasking,
that is more the response side of the house. They deploy
quickly. They use their resources. They get out. I think what
we see is this long tail on recovery and processing projects.
By the way, this is probably what you hear most frustration
about at the State and local level is, you know, where is my
grant money? Where is my reimbursements? Why are we fighting
over this? But this is what the majority of the workload there
is dealing with. I don't think there is a clear understanding,
as Mr. Fugate said this up-front, that what they are actually
doing outside of just the immediate response, is not quite, I
think, what people think.
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Yes, and I thank you for that. You are
correct, Mr. Currie, I am a physician, a military veteran, and
I do come from a public health background as a State director.
I found it unusual to have put FEMA in charge of vaccine and
vaccine clinics. They don't have medical personnel. I can tell
you my local public health agencies with whom I am in contact
with, and I did vaccine clinics in all 24 counties, that, you
know, they have the wherewithal and the knowledge to have been
able to have done that and to have done that effectively
without increased burden and costs to FEMA.
I also find it interesting and I am not sure how you all
feel about it, but in processing, when I went to Quantico and
learned about the processing of Afghan refugees, all of the
Afghan refugees get vaccinations for all childhood
immunizations. They are COVID-19 tested and then they are
offered the COVID-19 vaccine, but it is not mandatory. But yet,
on our Southern Border, as you are processing and being
required to help process people on the Southern Border, there
is no COVID-19 testing. So, I am not sure if you feel, that the
CBP feel, that they are put at risk that your agents are also
put at risk in helping to manage those coming in our country
either through Afghanistan or through the Southern Border. It
is OK, you don't need to respond. Thank you, Madam Chair, I
yield back.
Chairwoman Demings. The gentlewoman yields back. The Chair
now recognizes the Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight,
Management, and Accountability, the gentleman from California,
Mr. Correa, for 5 minutes.
Chairman Correa. Madam Chair, thank you very much. I want
to thank our witnesses. Some excellent presentations. You know,
I think of FEMA, I think of other Government agencies, esprit
de corps, just serving because they believe in the mission.
They believe in service for our country. They believe in saving
people, rescuing people in the most dark time of crisis. They
are veterans. You have a lot of veterans that join FEMA. You
have a lot of service corps individuals. So, you have, I would
say, a very envious work force that are there because they
believe. So, given the challenges that you have, which you are
overextended, multi-missioned. Sometimes you get controversy.
Again, I just heard a minute ago that the locals just want to
get their grants and please move on. But if you got a worker,
he or she, coming in there with the best intentions, then they
experience civil right violations, sexual harassment, it kind-
of makes things a little difficult.
So, my question, and this is a general one for all of you.
You can be brief in your answer, given that I only have a few
moments here. What can we do to assure those individuals that
are victimized that once they, you know, essentially blow the
whistle, and turn somebody over, how can we make sure that
those violators, those offenders are held accountable for their
action? How can we give the incentive to let folks know if
somebody wrongs you in this great gold-plated FEMA agency, we
are going to take of you? Thank you.
Mr. Fugate. Well, this is Craig. I think you really need to
ask this of FEMA Administrator Criswell because I think she has
taken the RAND study. She has implemented an action plan. She
is doing things that I think get to your issue. They are
publishing in their weekly newsletter to their employees those
sexual harassment cases that are being disciplined. That has
never been done before. Again, I think they are trying to bring
a level of transparency that has never been done before. This
won't be cured overnight. But the steps they are taking are
concrete. They have asked RAND to come back and do multiple
surveys. Not just do one and done. But to see if these steps
they are taking is changing that culture so they can continue
that feedback loop of making sure that when you come to FEMA,
you are there to do your job, not deal with, as you point out,
sir, the other issues, the harassment, just a lot of stuff that
is just not tolerated in the organization. I think the
administrator has made that clear from her first day. Her
approach to that is going to be very hands-on and very
transparent.
Chairman Correa. Thank you.
Ms. Sims. Based on the recommendations from our study, we
did say increasing accountability and transparency and make
sure leadership at all levels, including those who are
deployed, as we have heard, may not have the training that they
need necessarily to begin to start. Make sure they have the
training so that they know how to handle these kinds of things
so that they can address them when they happen. FEMA I do think
is doing a rolling-out the plan and implementing it over time.
That is what it will take. It is simple, but it is not easy. It
is something that will take a while.
Chairman Correa. Usually, the simplest solutions are the
toughest ones to implement. They are usually the most
effective. Mr. Currie.
Mr. Currie. Yes, this requires cultural change, which takes
time. But there are building blocks to cultural change. I mean,
I have been encouraged to see some of the things that have
happened recently. I agree that the way you solve this is not
by burying it. They have been very transparent, very open,
which is a very humble approach to this, which is necessary.
But there is also very specific EEOC best practices that we
have seen across Government that are done. For instance, they
set up the Office of Professional Responsibility, which reports
to the administrator. They are neutral. They are sort-of a
third party within the agency. That was done to set up
transparency and legitimacy to these harassment reviews. So,
people don't see them as influenced by other managers.
So, there are lots of pieces to this. I think they are
doing all the right things. We are just, you know, we are
looking at it right now and I think we are just going to have
to see what the impact of this is, you know, year 1 or 2 after
these changes have been made.
Chairman Correa. Let me just add that I think you are
right, it is a cultural societal issue. It is not only one at
FEMA, but I think society as a whole. We are trying to get
there. So, all of us are working together. But again, our
offer, as the Chair has said, if you need any help from us
legislatively, please let us know. Thank you very much. Madam
Chair, with that, I yield.
Chairwoman Demings. The gentleman yields back. The Chair
now recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Payne, for 5
minutes.
Mr. Payne. Am I muted?
Chairwoman Demings. We can hear you. Mr. Payne?
Mr. Payne. Is that better? There we go.
Chairwoman Demings. Yes. We can hear you.
Mr. Payne. OK, thank you. Good morning, Mr. Fugate. It is
good to see you again, been a little while. Let's see. In 2020,
GAO released a report that discussed FEMA's staffing shortages
in 2017 and 2018. A period when multiple hurricanes made
landfall in less than a month. At the time, FEMA has to
redeploy personnel from one disaster to the next. Mr. Fugate
and Mr. Currie, what impact do these redeployments and lack of
staffing have on FEMA's ability to carry out its mission? What
impact does this have on employee morale and performance?
Mr. Fugate. Well, I will start and it is good to see you,
Congressman. When you looked at what FEMA had to do in 2017,
with the 3 major hurricanes, and again in 2018, I was very
familiar with that all the way back in Florida where I got hit
by 4 hurricanes in one season. So, I know this from the local
and State perspective, as well as the Federal perspective. You
are always going to go and focus on the immediate response,
life safety, the needs of the public, the individual assistance
programs. Those get the highest priority, which means you are
going to pull people from the recovery. So, what it does is it
delays communities from recovering. It delays the funding that
FEMA provides for communities to rebuild. It results in local
governments and States having to borrow money because they
can't get reimbursed fast enough. I know in Florida I talked to
officials from Monroe County that were having to borrow money
to pay for Hurricane Irma response because it took too long to
reimburse for debris.
So, it really is FEMA taking what they have. It is always
focused on life safety, the individual assistance, and
immediate response at the expense of the recovery, which both
cost the local communities, but ultimately the Federal taxpayer
more money in overhead, administrative costs, mistakes, and
delays, and recovery.
Mr. Payne. And the morale?
Mr. Fugate. You know, again, I think the morale piece is
when you can't get breaks. When you are just doing serial
response and the same people are getting called out. I think
that is one of the things Administrator Criswell on her first
day when she talked to folks and said, look, we are busy, but
when we can get down time, I want people to take some down
time. We don't have to be at work every day, if you have that
ability. The problem is, is disasters dictate that.
Another interesting thing is what I found in FEMA, and this
was kind-of a number I was always fascinated with, we lost more
people in the first 3 years of their employment at FEMA than at
any other time frame. I am thinking a lot of it came about
because they were there for the response phase. They didn't
necessarily realize they had signed up for a grant phase of
long-term recovery of sitting in offices processing paperwork.
That wasn't what they thought they were signing up for. So, I
think----
Mr. Payne. Got you.
Mr. Fugate [continuing]. That is another challenge they
face.
Mr. Payne. OK, thank you. Mr. Currie?
Mr. Currie. Yes, I mean, it is not just about numbers,
Congressman Payne. I mean, if it was just about numbers, I
think they would be doing pretty well. You know, they have
hired what, 6,000 people over the last 5 years. They have got
22,000 people sort-of on staff. But I think there is a
misconception that they are just all those people are waiting
around for a disaster to happen then they deploy everyone. The
truth is is that most of that work force is already committed
to something else in one of those prior 1,000 disaster
recoveries that are still going on. So, at any given time, they
might have, you know, 30 to 40 percent of their work force
actually able to be deployed when something actually happens.
So, it is not just things that are going to happen in the
future. It is all the cumulative things that are still going on
from the past, and then you add on that what happened like in
2017, when you had 3 sequential hurricanes and the huge
wildfires in the West. Then you are overwhelmed because you
really only started with having 30 to 40 percent of your work
force available.
So, I think we have got to figure something out where, you
know, we are able to scale-up for those kind of situations in a
much better way. I think it is the process issue of like what
are all those people working on from past disaster recoveries?
The grants, the paperwork, you know, there has got to be a way
to streamline that so we can focus folks on what we want them
to really be focused on.
Mr. Payne. Thank you. Madam Chair, I will yield back. Thank
you.
Chairwoman Demings. Thank you so much. The gentleman yields
back. I am going to recognize myself for additional questions.
Mr. Currie, after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, one
reason for the delays in disaster assistance was an
insufficient number of bilingual FEMA employees. FEMA's
guidance required all communications to be in Spanish, yet the
agency did not have enough emergency responders who could meet
the requirement. So, could you talk a little bit and I know
everybody probably can clearly understand how important the
cultural competency is to having an appropriate response, but
just talk about some of the challenges in recruiting a
bilingual work force.
Mr. Currie. It is a great question. The situation in Puerto
Rico was so extreme just because of the bilingual needs there
and the size of that disaster. So, there is no doubt they
didn't have the capacity they needed to handle something like
that when it happened. One of the things FEMA does is they, you
know, they try to hire locally under the Stafford Act to
address these challenges when they come up. They did that in
Puerto Rico. They hired thousands of local folks, you know, for
these missions. That is great to address this need. But the
other challenge is is that these folks have no experience with
FEMA programs or, you know, in some cases, emergency
management.
So, you know, there are ways to try to address this
challenge to help the linguistics issue. But it is also hard to
just have, you know, a work force kind-of sitting around ready
for any contingency that might happen. You know, in this
country we have so many languages spoken. So, depending on
where the disaster hits, it is really difficult to do that. So,
again, it is this issue of are we ready to scale up or scale
down when this is needed? There may be other things to look at
besides only hiring folks that speak Spanish or other
languages. Maybe there are other resources they could bring in
from other agencies or partnerships where they can scale up
when it is necessary.
Chairwoman Demings. Yes, thank you so much for that. You
are correct, there are so many languages in our country, which
is a beautiful thing. But I do think that Spanish is one of
those prevalent languages in our country. Mr. Fugate, anything
you would like to add to that?
Mr. Fugate. Well, again, in Florida, we face language
issues. It is not only Spanish. We have Creole languages. In
New York City when we were dealing Superstorm Sandy, we had
literally dozens of major languages that we were having to deal
with. So, again, what GAO says, we would hire local people to
act as translators. It gives us several things. No. 1, they
know the communities, they know the neighborhoods, they know a
lot of the underlying issues. I think this is why a big part of
what I pushed at FEMA was always hire local and buy local as
much as you can to help the local economy.
I wouldn't expect the new hires in Puerto Rico to run the
programs. What I would expect them to do is to be partnered
with somebody at FEMA who knew the programs to then integrate
that with the local officials, act as the translators. But also
give them a better understanding of the context of what they
are dealing with. I have always found that local people
understand issues in a way that somebody coming from outside of
that community just never grasp. So, that is why I put it a big
premium. But it has got to be done in a way that it is subject-
matter experts tied with that local hire to be effective. It
can't just be a hire the local person and turn them loose and
expect the programs to be administered.
Chairwoman Demings. Do either of you know of any
adjustments that were made? Mr. Currie, you are absolutely
correct. Puerto Rico did provide some unique challenges. I had
an opportunity to visit the island in 2017, with a
Congressional delegation. You know, once you experience the
challenges in terms of the language barriers, the lack of
bilingual employees, were there any adjustments that were made
or recommendations that were made to prepare for the next time?
Mr. Currie. Yes, and I too, I have been there 5 times since
Hurricane Maria as well. I have gotten to understand the
situation pretty well. I think the bottom line is right now, I
think they are really well-prepared for something that is going
to happen because they have so many people they have hired
locally. A lot of those people have converted over to full-time
or reserve or CORE positions and gone to other parts of the
country or stayed there in Puerto Rico are now managing the
program and they have the experience. So, I think their
capacity level is really high in terms of preparedness to deal
with something else.
Now, honestly, it has taken 4 years to get there. It was a
struggle and it was not pretty the first couple years. It has
gotten better. So, I think they are in pretty good shape to
handle, you know, response to disasters that may happen. I
think the challenge in Puerto Rico has more to do with the
financial situation of the recovery and the funding that is
necessary to rebuild all the damaged infrastructure because
they haven't even really, you know, started to tackle the long-
term projects yet. A lot of that has to do with the financial
condition of Puerto Rico.
Chairwoman Demings. Thank you so much for that. Ms. Sims,
anything at all that you would like to add to this particular
question?
Ms. Sims. No, thank you.
Chairwoman Demings. OK, thank you. Mr. Fugate, last year
the union that represents FEMA, the American Federation of
Government Employees, sent a letter to the incoming FEMA
administrator, which highlighted that the FEMA work force were
comprised of only 5,000 full-time employees out of 26,000,
roughly, total employees. Over the past few years, we have
witnessed numerous disasters including hurricanes, floods,
fires, tornadoes, and, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. With
year-round disasters, we need year-round employees who can
respond to those disasters. Could you talk a little bit, would
it benefit or how would it benefit FEMA to change the
composition of its work force to hire more permanent, full-time
employees? Or do you believe that there should be a significant
contingency of part-time employees as well to be able to
fulfill the mission?
Mr. Fugate. I think you are going to have to have all of
that but the ratios are wrong. I think you need to go back to--
originally FEMA deployed permanent work force as the primary
disaster responders. The problem was they were staying out so
long, the other work wasn't getting done. That really created
this move toward almost all disasters being handled by the
nonpermanent work force with the permanent work force not
deploying.
When I got to FEMA, it turned out there was people in the
permanent work force that didn't even have emergency functions
in their position descriptions and legally, couldn't be
deployed against their will. Even though FEMA requires every
employee, now, to do that. When I got there even though the
statement said you are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
deployed, the vast majority of FEMA staff had never been
deployed and were not allowed to deploy or it wasn't in their
position description. We changed that. But I think it is
important that people that, in my experience, was when the FEMA
folks deployed, the permanent work force, it not only gave us
additional personnel in the field, it was more important to the
overall FEMA's mission because they got to see the things they
were administrating at headquarters in the field and understand
what the challenges were. It made them better, including our--
what was interesting was our grants people. As you pointed out,
all the funding that FEMA provides through the grants program,
the Homeland Security grants and the, you know, the funding
there to help build preparedness. It was amazing that the
grants people had never seen the outcome of their work. When
they went to Superstorm Sandy, they saw all that equipment and
all that capability for the first time deployed and they were
going, I never realized we had that big of an impact. I said
that response wouldn't have occurred without the funding you
administered.
So, I think the permanent work force needs to be part of
disaster response. It needs to be built into their DNA. We must
be able to continue the existing work. So, I think we need to
grow that permanent work force. We need to make it where they
do deploy more frequently so they have that connection between
their mission and what is done in the field. But also balance
that with there is no way to have that big of a work force that
may not have a lot of disasters to go to using the CORE and the
reserve work force to be a balanced response. So, we have surge
work force capabilities, but we also are not excluding the
permanent work force from being part of the disaster response
team.
Chairwoman Demings. You know, Mr. Fugate, I was hoping that
the Chair of the full committee was going to be able to join us
today. He is not. So, the question is: When you testified
before the committee in October 2015, Chairman Thompson asked
whether our disaster response work force was as robust as it
would need to be to respond to a disaster on the scale of
Hurricane Katrina as we talk about work force numbers. At the
time, you told the committee that we are not there. In 2019,
Chairman Thompson asked then FEMA Administrator Gaynor a
similar question. He responded that FEMA had a deficit of a few
thousand. We keep hearing time and time again that FEMA does
not have enough staff and we have also talked about some of the
challenges for that. What do we need to do or how can we help
FEMA to be better able to recruit, and sometimes that is the
easy part, but to retain more employees?
Mr. Fugate. Well, my experience tells me that people that
are attracted to FEMA, who don't really understand FEMA, are
attracted to what they see as the response role. It turns out
the response role is one of the things that most people at FEMA
and the permanent full-time jobs do the least of. So, there is
often a mismatch between expectations and reality. I think we
need to do a better job of doing that. But I also think we need
to provide to the permanent work force more opportunities to be
in disaster response without necessarily taking away from the
day-to-day mission, which means better staff, more staff, and
more flexibility there.
But I think the last piece goes back to the Reserve work
force. If we expect to have well-trained quality folks, we have
to do something besides only dealing with it when we employ
them in a disaster. This is something that Congress needs to
look at. Provide FEMA the authority through Stafford Act funds,
to train Reservists not tied to a disaster so that they get
minimal training on a reoccurring basis to improve retention
and make better-trained Reservists before they are deployed.
Also, look at other incentives that the military reserve has to
protect those people who may come off of existing jobs to help
in disasters so that we can attract the best quality folks,
best retention, and good benefits.
But I think just one thing, if you just got the Stafford
Act amended where FEMA could train Reservists not tied to a
disaster response, but out of what they generally refer to as
the DSR surge account, so that it would be a reoccurring
training. Including things like harassment training, which
turns out a lot of these folks don't have any of that until
they show up at the job site and then that is hard to get as a
priority when you are dealing with everything you are faced in
the first 30 days of a disaster. But I think this is one thing
that would help. Clarify and give FEMA the authority to use the
funding in the disaster relief fund to train Reservists outside
of being deployed to a specific disaster.
Chairwoman Demings. Thank you so much for that. I do ask
unanimous consent to submit into the record a letter from the
American Federation of Government Employees. So moved.
[The information follows:]
Letter From the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO
(AFGE)
January 19, 2022.
The Honorable Val Demings,
Chairwoman, Emergency Preparedness, Response, & Recovery Subcommittee,
House Homeland Security Committee, H2-176 Ford House Office
Building, Washington, DC 20515.
The Honorable Kat Cammack,
Ranking Member, Emergency Preparedness, Response, & Recovery
Subcommittee, House Homeland Security Committee, H2-176 Ford
House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515.
The Honorable Lou Correa,
Chairman, Oversight, Management, & Accountability Subcommittee, House
Homeland Security Committee, H2-176 Ford House Office Building,
Washington, DC 20515.
The Honorable Peter Meijer,
Ranking Member, Oversight, Management, & Accountability Subcommittee,
House Homeland Security Committee, H2-176 Ford House Office
Building, Washington, DC 20515.
Dear Chairs Thompson, Demings, and Correa, Ranking Members Katko,
Cammack, Meijer and Members of the subcommittees: On behalf of the
American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (AFGE), which
represents more than 700,000 Federal and District of Columbia
government employees, including 5,000 within the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), we appreciate the subcommittee addressing how
FEMA can build a workforce prepared and ready to respond to National
disasters. We thank you for your support of a strong Federal emergency
management program and your recognition of the importance of a
professional, apolitical civil service supporting the American public
during natural disasters.
Our country has been devastated by one of the most active disaster
seasons in recent memory. FEMA employees have responded to hundreds of
disasters, including the COVID-19 pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes,
tornadoes, and record flooding. FEMA employees work to make victims
whole again after natural and human-created disasters. FEMA first
responders stay on the ground sometimes for months or years to ensure
that the Americans affected by natural and human-made disasters can
return to normalcy and rebuild their lives. FEMA urban search-and-
rescue teams extricate survivors and victims from burning cars and
flooded homes. FEMA safety officers ensure downed power lines do not
electrocute survivors and hazardous substances in flood waters do not
sicken communities. FEMA firefighters and police officers work hand-in-
hand with State and local emergency management agencies to suppress
fires and prevent crime. FEMA claims adjusters work to compensate
victims after their homes have been destroyed. FEMA logisticians
compile data and predict when and where future disasters will occur and
how to prevent them. FEMA grant and contracting officers ensure
community needs are met in the aftermath of destruction.
Most FEMA employees are non-permanent. Out of a workforce of more
than 20,000 total employees, only about 5,000 are full-time permanent
employees. FEMA employees are over-worked, under-resourced, and
frequently deployed to multiple disaster zones without adequate
recuperation time.
In 1988 the Stafford Act created two sets of non-permanent
employees to be hired during disasters, including (1) Cadre of On-Call
Recovery/Response Employees (CORE) and (2) Disaster Response Workers
(DRW) Temporary Workers. CORE and DRW employees are brought on using an
expedited hiring process during disasters. For the purposes of this
letter, CORE and DRW employees will be referred to as Stafford Act
employees.
Although Stafford Act employees were intended to supplement
permanent employees during short-term disasters, in practice Stafford
Act employees often serve for much longer than the 2- to 4-year periods
specified in their contracts, sometimes for 10 years or more. The
excessive use of Stafford Act hiring results in permanent FEMA staff
positions going unfilled for extended periods.
Stafford Act employees should be deployed to disaster zones for
specified time periods to respond to specific disasters. These
positions were not designed to assist or replace permanent full-time
employees for non-disaster work. However, this frequently occurs
because of permanent staff vacancies within FEMA, with Stafford Act
employees performing work outside of their job descriptions. The
excessive use of Stafford Act employees means that personnel are
constantly being shifted from one disaster site to the next, harming
retention and recruitment efforts, the inevitable result of grueling
hours and low morale.
Instead, FEMA should hire more permanent full-time employees who
are emergency management, safety, and program management professionals
with appropriate skills and expertise. Such action will benefit the
agency and its employees, including qualified Stafford Act employees
who could transition into appropriate permanent positions.
In contrast to full-time or temporary Title 5 employees, Stafford
Act employees lack civil service rights and protections that help to
improve workplace safety, labor-management relations, and
communication, and to prevent harassment and discrimination in the
workplace. When Stafford Act employees experience discrimination,
harassment, or other inappropriate treatment, they have few avenues for
pursuing remedies. Without union representation, Stafford Act employees
lack effective mechanisms for reporting, resolving, or de-escalating
workplace conflicts and grievances.
Following a high-profile harassment case involving a FEMA senior
executive in 2018, a study by the RAND Corporation revealed that 29
percent of FEMA employees experienced a civil rights violation during a
single year. Fewer than half of these employees formally reported these
incidents to management, fearing in part that nothing would be done. A
more recent Department of Homeland Security OIG report from September
2021 found that one-third of employees had experienced sexual
harassment or misconduct but did not report it, believing that the
incidents would not be properly investigated. The OIG found that FEMA
had a fragmentary record for investigating and taking corrective action
in some 305 cases of harassment and misconduct that were reported to
agency officials. The agency's 2021 Culture Improvement Action Plan has
several laudable goals, which will be much more easily achieved if the
agency transitions away from the excessive use of non-permanent
employees who have completely inadequate workplace protections.
FEMA's workload is constantly increasing, as the Nation faces an
unprecedented onslaught of disasters. For FEMA to succeed, it is
critical that Congress and the Administration prioritize hiring more
full-time permanent Title 5 employees. If they do so, FEMA will be a
stronger, more agile, and responsive agency in protecting the American
public from national disasters.
Sincerely,
Julie N. Tippens,
Director, Legislative Political and Mobilization Department.

Chairwoman Demings. Thank you, Mr. Fugate. You spoke about
harassment. Ms. Sims, the RAND 2020 Report highlights several
challenges--I think we talked a little bit about those--FEMA
faces in the effort to create a more inclusive work force,
including barriers that can prevent employees from reporting
incidents of harassment and discrimination. Can you describe
just some of the barriers while conducting your survey, if
there were any, with FEMA employees?
Ms. Sims. So, I guess I would say having the reserve work
force as it was, was not necessarily a barrier, but it was a
challenge, right? Because obviously, they are a huge part of
what FEMA does and we definitely wanted to get their
perspective, especially since there was some indication that
possibly during deployments, they might experience challenges
there. So, you know, it was key to get a good estimate of
prevalence across the organization to be able to recruit them.
Now, FEMA did help us out during the course of the survey.
They sent an email through their system, their DTS system, to
FEMA Reservists so that they could know to check their FEMA
email. Because we sent the invitations with unique links to
FEMA employees in emails. But it was interesting, you know, we
worked with FEMA to try and get Reservists paid to take the
survey because they are doing FEMA's work when they are taking
the survey, right? They are helping FEMA understand what their
experience was. That was a challenge because there was no
functionality in the sense of if they were paid, if they
claimed that time, then FEMA would know they took the survey
and we were also trying to protect their confidentiality. So,
there are some tricky things there with the reserve work force.
Chairwoman Demings. OK. Thank you so very much. Mr. Currie
or Mr. Fugate, anything you would like to add to, you know, how
we can better interact with the FEMA employees because of the
large numbers and the Reservist status to get the information
that we need? Mr. Sims.
Ms. Sims. Ms. Sims or Mr. Currie?
Chairwoman Demings. Oh, I am sorry. I am sorry. Mr. Currie.
Mr. Currie. Sorry. No, I agree. I think this--you can
probably hear this issue of how do you pay and train your
intermittent work force is a challenge. You know, I am not--I
think the military analogy is somewhat useful. I mean, I don't
want to say that system is perfect, but you know, back when the
Reservists in the National Guard employee flexibilities and
titles were developed, it was to address this same issue. You
know, how do we--we have our permanent military and but how do
we scale up when we have a need? That includes not just hiring
people and training people, but how do you deploy them given
their specific skill sets? Very similar at FEMA. I mean, I
think we need a relook at this whole system. There has been
some things done. I mean, for example, the DRRA bill back in
2018, gave FEMA flexibility to more easily convert CORE and
Reservists to full-time positions, without having to rego
through the whole Federal hiring process, which is not easy.
So, I mean, there has been some things around the margins. But,
I mean, you have got to look at this in totality from hiring to
on-boarding to training to retention.
Chairwoman Demings. Mr. Fugate.
Mr. Fugate. Yes, some of this is going to require a lot of
work. I think the simplest thing is to--and this can be done in
the budget process. So, as we are working on the next budget,
this is really a simple fix if you can get people to agree to
it. Give FEMA the authority to pay for Reservists outside of
them being deployed to a disaster. So, if they already have
that 2 days a month and 2 weeks a year if they are not
deployed, they get training, the things like these surveys
don't become an issue of trying to get people to take a survey,
yet risk identifying them because they are getting paid.
It also goes back to better retention. This is something we
can do right now. You have this in the budget process. It would
be an addition to the authorizing language, the appropriations
language, to give FEMA the ability to do this. I don't think
this would require new funding. I think you fund the disaster
relief fund at adequate levels, you are going to have to do
some additional adjustments based upon the level of disasters.
But I don't think this is a huge challenge of new money that
has to be found, new authority that has to be found. It just
needs to clarify that FEMA has the authority to use the relief
fund to train Reservists outside of a specific disaster.
Chairwoman Demings. Thank you so much. The Chair will now
recognize the gentlewoman from Nevada, Ms. Titus, for 5
minutes.
Ms. Titus. Well, thank you so much. Mr. Currie, over the
past year, FEMA has placed COVID-19 surge response teams in my
district, and they have been going door-to-door canvasing
efforts to try to increase vaccination rates. I represent one
of the most diverse districts in the country and I wonder if
you could address whether FEMA makes any attempt to send people
who match the neighborhood so that they can be more effective.
Also, since the Biden administration has highlighted diversity
as one of the goals for FEMA, how can you all reach out to
better hire a diverse work force that looks like the people in
my community?
Mr. Currie. Yes, ma'am, thank you. So, based on the work
that we have done evaluating FEMA, I mean, we know that they do
attempt at the regional level to deploy people that have the
background of that area and speak the language if that is
necessary to try to better connect with those communities. They
absolutely do that. I don't have data with me on how well they
do that or any metrics, but I do know that is a priority.
On the hiring side, I think at FEMA, and not just at FEMA,
but at DHS, I mean, they take hiring through the lens of
diversity very seriously. I have seen their human capital
monitoring and metrics, which, you know, where they monitor by
gender, by race, by ethnicity, by language, by veteran status,
you know, who they hire, who they retain. I mean, there is a
lot of focus on that right now. I think even more so over the
last year as the Executive Orders have come out about, you
know, trying to promote additional diversity in the Federal
work force.
Ms. Titus. Do you know if you have reached to the
historical Black colleges or minority-serving institutions as
part of the recruiting process?
Mr. Currie. No, ma'am, I don't know if FEMA has done that
because we haven't looked at that.
Ms. Titus. Well, I think that would be a good idea. That
would be a way to attract some bright young people and get some
diversity at the same time. Speaking of young people, tell me
about the FEMA Corps that is that service program between FEMA
and AmeriCorps that is trying to recruit young people to get
engaged when they are--before they are ready for a job to
perhaps learn the ropes and then choose that as a career.
Mr. Currie. Yes, no, and this is something that at GAO we
looked at this right after Hurricane Sandy, when FEMA Corps was
first rolled out. I know when it first came out, they were
trying to have this be, you know, a force of several thousand
young persons who could help them surge in the case of a major
disaster. We saw that they did that. I think the challenge that
we saw with the surge there--or the FEMA Corps was just, you
know, plugging them into an existing complicated process too. I
mean, there were a lot of things that they can do in the
immediate response. Things like helping, you know, go door-to-
door, get people information, talk to survivors, those types of
things. But when it came down to some of the more technical
processes that are involved in response and recovery, they may
not have had the training that was necessary to do that. So, I
think it was hard for FEMA field leaders who we talked to to
plug them in where it was necessary.
Ms. Titus. Well, maybe we ought to look at that training
program and try to help fill some of these vacancies. Also,
there might be some additional incentives to attract people to
the program and then they will stay in FEMA for a career.
Mr. Currie. Yes, ma'am. I know that was the goal. We
haven't looked at it again over the last 5 years or so. But
what we have seen over time is the numbers of FEMA Corps kind-
of go down. I am not sure what the exact numbers now. I think
it is in the hundreds. It seems like they have gotten a little
bit away from using FEMA Corps in their response efforts.
Ms. Titus. Well, we are talking about a Climate Corps, and
I think a FEMA Corps is a good thing and we want to attract the
best and brightest, get people interested in these jobs at a
early age. So, we might want to revisit that and see how we can
bump it up some. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
Chairwoman Demings. Thank you so much. The gentlewoman
yields back. With that I want to thank our witnesses for your
valuable testimony today. Of course, we did not anticipate the
change in our vote schedule. Votes were called in the middle of
our hearing. But we were able to get through it. I thank you so
much for your patience. I also thank the Members of both
subcommittees who participated today in this very important
discussion. I look forward to working with our panelists on
some of the issues that we discussed here today.
The Members of the subcommittees may have additional
questions for the witnesses and we ask that you respond
expeditiously in writing to those questions. The Chair reminds
Members that the subcommittees' record will remain open for 10
business days. Without objection, the subcommittees stand
adjourned. Thank you all.
[Whereupon, at 11:28 p.m., the subcommittees were
adjourned.]

A P P E N D I X

----------

Questions From Ranking Member John Katko for W. Craig Fugate
Question 1. In your opinion, what steps should FEMA be taking to
effectively balance and respond to these priorities?
Answer. I would defer to FEMA Administrator Criswell on how she is
approaching this issue. I would note however that FEMA is asked to do
many things because they have capabilities that are needed by other
Federal agencies or the Nation. This is a good thing if FEMA is
resourced to do the work. If not, then who else is going to do it?
Question 2. During a Transportation and Infrastructure hearing last
year, Administrator Criswell noted ``many of our staff have been
activated in support of COVID-19 response operations and numerous other
disaster declarations for over a year . . . '' How is employee morale
and job performance impacted when response personnel are continually
redeployed from one disaster to the next?
Answer. My experience is that FEMA morale is highest when FEMA
staff are in direct support to communities in a crisis. The challenge
in longer-term recovery operations where FEMA staff are pulled from to
go to the next disaster response.
Question 3. We understand that it takes a village to get people
back on their feet after their homes have been struck by disaster.
After the December tornadoes that wreaked havoc across 6 States, we
were proud of the FEMA emergency responders who quickly mobilized to
lend a helping hand. In your experience, what measures does FEMA take
not only to quickly mobilize a massive workforce in response to
disaster, but also to ensure that qualified staff are being deployed to
sites?
Answer. As noted in my written testimony, the lack of on-going
training for FEMA Reservist outside of disaster deployments and limited
benefits results in high staff turn-over and limited training for their
disaster mission.
Question 4a. The RAND report found that almost 30 percent of FEMA's
workforce experienced a sex- or race-based rights violation in 2019.
Although this report was after your time at FEMA, the issue at FEMA is
likely not new. In your tenure at FEMA, what measures did you take to
ensure a safe work environment, free to sex- or race-based violations?
Answer. Some of the steps we took were to increase funding for the
FEMA Equal Employment Opportunity Office to address a backlog of
discrimination cases, some dating back to the Hurricane Katrina
response. We increased training for front-line supervisors.
Question 4b. Could you please describe the specific types of
trainings FEMA leadership, versus employees and supervisors, underwent
to reduce the occurrence of workplace harassment and discrimination
based on sex, gender, race, or ethnicity?
Answer. Response was not received at the time of publication.
Question 5a. Does FEMA's current hiring process hinder their
ability to address staffing shortages?
Question 5b. If so, how? Specifically, what parts of the process
are limiting FEMA's ability to hire the people the agency needs and
what can be done moving forward?
Question 5c. Does FEMA need additional hiring authorities to
address staffing shortages?
Answer. The answers to the above are complex and are better
addressed by the current administration. The one that I would like to
comment on is the FEMA Reserve Workforce. Reservist at FEMA are not the
equivalent of the military Reservist who are covered under the
Uniformed Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act. Rather FEMA
Reservist are considered on-call who work intermittently with little
benefits when not deployed. They have no protections if they have full-
time employment when called up.
Hiring and maintaining FEMA Reservists is a continuous process. As
the work is on-call, and intermittent, attracting talent in tight job
markets is a challenge. Without incentives to recruit and maintain
Reservists, this workforce will continue to be a staffing challenge for
current and future disasters.
Improve benefits and retention of the Reservist workforce
1. Provide all Reservist with a minimum of 2 days a month and 2
weeks a year of paid training if not deployed in that fiscal
year for at least 30 days.
2. Consider adding the FEMA Reservist workforce to the Uniformed
Services Employment and Re-Employment Rights Act or provide
similar protections under the Stafford Act.
3. Continue to improve the implementation of Disaster Reform and
Recovery Act (DRRA) where CORE and Reservists can compete for
PFT positions at FEMA under Merit Promotion after 3 or more
years of continuous work.
Question From Honorable Diana Harshbarger for W. Craig Fugate
Question. In your view, would awarding FEMA contracts to
contractors physically located near disaster sites produce favorable
outcomes both by expediting the process of getting boots on the ground
and by providing work to residents affected by the disaster? Should
FEMA consider updating their contracting processes to prioritize
contractors located near the disaster site?
Answer. Yes, my time as administrator, I urged that we buy local
and hire local to help the local economy in the aftermath of a
disaster. We supported that process by deploying purchasing staff to
help local businesses navigate Federal contracts and to directly
purchase goods and services from the communities in the disaster zone.
Local hiring is another tool to put people to work that are displaced
by the disaster.
Questions From Honorable Peter Meijer for W. Craig Fugate
Question 1. GAO has reported that FEMA workforce issues are long-
standing and are often at the core of other FEMA operational
challenges. Considering this, when you were at FEMA, did FEMA ever
consider a significant overhaul, or reboot of how it manages its
workforce?
Answer. The first item we implemented was the requirement that all
full-time staff have an emergency job in addition to their full-time
position. This gives FEMA employees the chance to deploy to disasters
in the immediate aftermath.
The second was to equip full-time staff with laptops and cell phone
to work remotely when necessary.
The third item failed. We attempted to provide minimum training and
hours to FEMA Reservist (part-time, on-call) consisting of 2 days a
month and 2 weeks a year in not deployed to a disaster in the recent
past. Due to how the Reservist are funded, we were unable to provide
training outside of a disaster deployment.
Question 2. Given the challenges the FEMA workforce has faced over
the past few years, such as staff shortages and burn-out, what is the
most critical step FEMA should take to ensure it can respond adequately
to hurricanes and wildfires in 2022? Could you tell us, to your own
knowledge, if FEMA has implemented this action?
Answer. FEMA staff, both full-time and the Reservist have always
been there to respond to the next disaster. The shortfall is in the
recovery workforce.
Questions from Chairwoman Val Demings for Christopher P. Currie
Question 1. Developing and maintaining a high-performing workforce
is a top priority for the Department of Homeland Security and several
DHS components have developed innovative solutions for attracting and
retaining new and diverse employees. For example, the Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency is leveraging the newly-launched
Cybersecurity Talent Management System to better recruit and retain
cyber talent. Similarly, Customs and Border Protection announced the
launch of the CBP Applicant Portal to provide a centralized location
for applicants to receive tailored information on their application
status. What lessons can FEMA learn and apply to its workforce
development efforts from these and other DHS components?
Answer. Our body of work on strategic human capital management has
highlighted strategies that can help agencies better manage the current
and future workforce, including managing the timing of recruitment,
writing user-friendly vacancy announcements, leveraging available
hiring and pay flexibilities, increasing support for an inclusive work
environment, and encouraging rotations and other mobility
opportunities.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ GAO, Human Capital: Improving Federal Recruiting and Hiring
Efforts, GAO-19-696T (Washington, DC: July 30, 2019).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have not yet examined the Cybersecurity Talent Management System
or the CBP Applicant Portal to identify lessons learned. Both of these
efforts are relatively new, and once they have been in place long
enough for CBP and DHS to identify lessons learned, DHS's Human Capital
Leadership Council, which consists of Department-wide human capital
leaders, can provide a forum through which FEMA's human capital leaders
could learn about the benefits and challenges of these new approaches.
Additionally, FEMA could take additional steps to implement one of
our recommendations related to workforce development. Specifically, in
May 2020, we recommended that FEMA should create a staff development
program for FEMA's disaster workforce that, at a minimum, addresses
access to training, delivery of on-the-job training and mentoring, use
of performance evaluations, and consistent developmental opportunities
regardless of deployment status.\2\ As discussed in greater detail
below, FEMA has taken steps in response to this recommendation to
improve staff development, but further action is needed to create an
integrated and cohesive program to develop its disaster workforce.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ GAO, FEMA Disaster Workforce: Actions Needed to Address
Deployment and Staff Development Challenges, GAO-20-360 (Washington,
DC: May 4, 2020).
\3\ FEMA's steps to respond to this recommendation are detailed in
response to a subsequent question in this enclosure and are also
detailed on GAO's website at https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-360.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question 2. The Biden administration's 2022-2026 FEMA Strategic
Plan identifies increased efforts to recruit from a wider variety of
locations and backgrounds as key to the development of a diverse
workforce. What can FEMA do to recruit and engage with potential
candidates from underrepresented communities?
Answer. Leading practices for human capital management,
specifically for diversity management, include having a recruitment
process for attracting a supply of qualified, diverse applicants for
employment.\4\ For example, to ensure that agencies are reaching out to
diverse pools of talent, they can widen the selection of schools from
which they recruit to include, for example, historically Black colleges
and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and women's colleges.
Agencies may also want to consider partnering with multicultural
professional organizations and speaking at their conferences to
communicate their commitment to diversity to external audiences and
strengthen and maintain relationships. We have reported on the extent
to which other Federal agencies have implemented recruitment strategies
to attract qualified, diverse applicants for employment.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ GAO, Diversity Management: Expert-Identified Leading Practices
and Agency Examples, GAO-05-90 (Washington, DC: Jan. 14, 2005). See
also https://www.gao.gov/leading-practices-human-capital-management for
more details on our leading practices for human capital management.
\5\ For example, see GAO, Army Corps of Engineers: Workforce
Planning Follows Most Leading Practices but Could Be Enhanced with
Additional Actions, GAO-22-104054 (Washington, DC: Dec. 9, 2021) and
GAO, Intelligence Community: Additional Actions Needed to Strengthen
Workforce Diversity Planning and Oversight, GAO-21-83 (Washington, DC:
Dec. 17, 2020).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FEMA's Strategic Plan states that FEMA will partner with
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the American Indian
Higher Education Consortium of Tribal Colleges and Universities to
create hiring pipelines into the field of emergency management. We
recently initiated work on FEMA's hiring process and staffing shortages
and the impact these shortages might have on disaster response efforts.
As part of this work, we will be examining FEMA's hiring initiatives,
which could include targeting candidates from underrepresented
communities for recruitment.
Questions From Honorable Dina Titus for Christopher P. Currie
Question 1a. Following the release of RAND's report on harassment
and discrimination in the FEMA workforce, FEMA released a Culture
Improvement Action Plan, which details several steps it plans to take
to address RAND's report's findings and recommendations. At the request
of this committee, GAO is performing a review of FEMA's implementation
of this action plan.
What actions has FEMA taken thus far to implement this plan?
Answer. As part of our on-going work, at the request of Chairman
Thompson, we are identifying what actions FEMA has taken since fiscal
year 2019 to prevent and respond to harassment and discrimination in
the workplace. Some of these actions detailed in the Culture
Improvement Action Plan involve offering additional training--including
sexual misconduct awareness and response training at Joint Field
Offices as well as civil treatment training for employees and
supervisors--and increasing engagement between FEMA workforce and
agency leadership by hosting all-staff Town Halls and listening
sessions between leadership and FEMA Employee Resource Groups.
Additionally, in 2019, FEMA restructured its processes to respond
to allegations of harassment by establishing the Office of Professional
Responsibility. The Office of Professional Responsibility is
responsible for investigating reports of employee misconduct, including
harassment. In 2021, FEMA adopted an anti-harassment program
instruction, which guides the agency's response to harassment for any
FEMA employee, contractor, vendor, applicant, or individual that comes
into contact with FEMA employees.
Question 1b. What reaction has the FEMA community had to these
actions?
Answer. As part of our on-going work, we are meeting with each of
FEMA's 10 Employee Resource Groups to obtain their perspectives on
FEMA's actions to address harassment and discrimination since RAND
published its report, Harassment and Discrimination on the Basis of
Gender and Race/Ethnicity in the FEMA Workforce. The 10 Employee
Resource Groups represent a variety of employee identities, including
African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian American-Pacific Islander,
American Indian/Alaska Native, LGBTQIA, military veterans, National
service alumni, women, older employees, and employees with
disabilities.
We expect to publish our report on this topic in fall 2022.
In addition, FEMA contracted with RAND to conduct a follow-up
survey in 2021. All FEMA employees were invited to participate in this
survey, which included similar questions to the initial survey about
the prevalence of workplace harassment and discrimination and
perceptions of agency leadership. Results from this follow-up survey
are expected in summer 2022.
Questions From Ranking Member John Katko for Christopher P. Currie
Question 1. In your opinion, what steps should FEMA be taking to
effectively balance and respond to these priorities?
Answer. FEMA's disaster workforce will be in high demand for the
foreseeable future.\6\ We have previously reported that the rising
number and costs of disasters and the increasing reliance on the
Federal Government for disaster assistance will likely continue to rise
as the climate changes.\7\ Recently, as we mentioned in our January
2022 testimony statement, the increasing frequency of disasters and the
additional responsibilities of responding to the Coronavirus Disease
2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, assisting at the Southwest Border, and
resettling Afghan refugees have stretched the FEMA workforce in
unprecedented ways.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ GAO-20-360.
\7\ GAO, Climate Change: Information on Potential Economic Effects
Could Help Guide Federal Efforts to Reduce Fiscal Exposure, GAO-17-720
(Washington, DC: Sept. 28, 2017).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
To balance and respond to these and any future priorities, we
believe that FEMA needs to review its workforce in a holistic manner
and make progress on addressing some of its long-standing challenges.
We have made numerous recommendations in prior reports designed to
address FEMA workforce challenges. As discussed in greater detail below
in response to your third question, in our May 2020 report on FEMA's
disaster workforce, we made 3 recommendations, 2 of which we designated
as priority recommendations for DHS, meaning we believe they warrant
priority attention and can substantially improve or transform major
Government programs or agencies.\8\ Although FEMA has taken some steps
to implement these 2 priority recommendations, it has not yet fully
addressed them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ GAO-20-360 and GAO, Priority Open Recommendations: Department
of Homeland Security, GAO-21-377PR (Washington, DC: Aug. 13, 2021).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through coordination with key Governmental and non-Governmental
partners and collaboration on crosscutting efforts to improve program
management and operations, FEMA could also help ensure that its
available workforce can achieve greater results. We also have on-going
work examining the coordination of Federal disaster programs, in which
FEMA, as the Federal agency with primary responsibility for
coordinating disaster response across approximately 30 other agencies,
plays a vital role. As part of that work, we will be examining the
design and implementation of some of FEMA's programs--specifically
Public Assistance and Hazard Mitigation--to assess the extent to which
they facilitate or hinder a coordinated approach to disaster recovery.
We will also be examining what actions Congress or Federal agencies
could take to provide for a more efficient and coordinated Federal
approach to disaster recovery and post-disaster investments in
resilience. We expect to report on this work in late 2022.
Question 2. During a Transportation and Infrastructure hearing last
year, Administrator Criswell noted ``many of our staff have been
activated in support of COVID-19 response operations and numerous other
disaster declarations for over a year . . . ''. How is employee morale
and job performance impacted when response personnel are continually
redeployed from one disaster to the next?
Answer. We have not specifically examined how the frequency of
deployments has affected employee morale or job performance. However,
as we stated in our January 2022 testimony statement, staffing
shortages, coupled with burn-out associated with the increased
frequency of disasters and an expanded scope of responsibility over
time, have the potential to negatively affect FEMA employees'
engagement and morale. For example, in May 2020, we reported that FEMA
officials believe that fatigue from previous deployments to Hurricanes
Harvey and Irma contributed a high rate of staff deployment
declinations to respond to Hurricane Maria. Specifically, these
officials cited that 48 percent of FEMA staff members who showed
availability declined to deploy to respond to Hurricane Maria when
requested to do so.\9\ In this May 2020 report, we recommended that
FEMA develop mechanisms, including collecting relevant data, to assess
how effectively FEMA's disaster workforce was deployed to meet mission
needs in the field. FEMA concurred with this recommendation.
Implementing this recommendation, the status of which we discuss in
response to your third question below, could help FEMA better
understand the impact that continuing to deploy from one disaster to
the next might have on the employee morale and job performance of
response personnel.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ GAO-20-360.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We also reported in January 2021 that top leaders at DHS have
stated that concerns with working conditions and workload have
negatively affect employee morale and engagement.\10\ In that report,
we found that DHS and each of its major components--including FEMA--
face the same key drivers of employee engagement as the rest of the
Federal Government. Among these key drivers of employee engagement is
work-life balance. We have found improving employee engagement,
including through strategies can give them more work-life balance, is
important because engaged employees are more innovative, more
productive, more committed to their employer and its mission, more
satisfied, and less likely to leave.\11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ GAO, DHS Employee Morale: Some Improvements Made, but
Additional Actions Needed to Strengthen Employee Engagement, GAO-21-204
(Washington, DC: Jan. 12, 2021).
\11\ GAO, Federal Workforce: Key Talent Management Strategies for
Agencies to Better Meet Their Missions, GAO-19-181 (Washington, DC:
Mar. 28, 2019).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question 3. Given FEMA's mounting mission sets, spanning from
natural disaster response to assisting with the crisis at the Southwest
Border and resettling Afghan refugees, it is imperative that the agency
be able to resolve challenges to its workforce capacity. Could you
please provide the committee with an update on the steps FEMA has taken
to implement GAO's recommendations?
Answer. In our May 2020 report on FEMA's disaster workforce, we
made three recommendations.\12\ Although FEMA has taken some steps to
implement our recommendations, it has not yet fully addressed them. A
detailed status update is provided below for each recommendation. We
designated Recommendations 1 and 2 as priority recommendations for DHS,
meaning we believe they warrant priority attention and can
substantially improve or transform major Government programs or
agencies.\13\ We will continue to monitor FEMA's on-going efforts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\ GAO-20-360.
\13\ GAO-21-377PR.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recommendation 1.--The FEMA administrator should develop a
plan--with time frames and milestones and input from field
leadership--to address identified challenges that have hindered
FEMA's ability to provide reliable and complete information to
field leaders and managers about staff knowledge, skills, and
abilities.
Status.--DHS concurred with our recommendation. As of December
2021, according to FEMA officials, FEMA has taken steps to
enhance the FEMA Qualification System's coach-and-evaluator
program to provide more oversight of the program and help
ensure greater reliability for personnel who receive
qualification status. For example, FEMA stated that it has
implemented assessments that cadres can use to help ensure that
coach-and-evaluators are effectively coaching disaster staff.
FEMA also stated that it is facilitating virtual coach-and-
evaluator deployments to maximize pairing opportunities and
increase Position Task Book completion rates among staff who do
not have available coach-and-evaluators to pair with in the
Deployment Tracking System. In addition, FEMA officials said
that they conducted a listening session in April 2021 with
field leadership to gather input on the FEMA Qualification
System. As a result of this session, FEMA officials said that
they have developed qualification plans for cadres, conducted a
field leader training analysis, and standardized coach-and-
evaluator selection and activity. While these are positive
actions, in order to address the complex and interrelated
challenges we identified in our report, it will be important
for FEMA to take a comprehensive approach and develop a plan
that considers solutions that may cut across multiple systems
and processes.
Recommendation 2.--The FEMA administrator should develop
mechanisms, including collecting relevant data, to assess how
effectively FEMA's disaster workforce was deployed to meet
mission needs in the field.
Status.--DHS concurred with our recommendation. As of December
2021, according to FEMA officials, the agency is making
progress toward meeting the force structure targets it
established in 2019 and has a process in place to modify the
targets for certain cadres on an annual basis if needed.
According to these officials, such modifications will be based
in part on feedback they receive via continuous coordination
with the field on how deployments are meeting mission needs.
FEMA officials noted that this will help cadres improve
staffing models to better reflect how many personnel are needed
to meet field requirements, including how quickly those staff
are needed to phase into disasters and for how long they are
likely required to meet disasters of different scales and
complexities. While implementing our recommendation could
include similar inputs as this planning process, our
recommendation is focused on FEMA systematically collecting
feedback from field leadership and relevant data on the extent
to which its deployment processes and decisions (e.g., number
and timing of deployments) met field needs during disasters. In
its December 2021 update, FEMA officials stated the Field
Operations Division works closely with the National
Preparedness Directorate, which routinely engages with both
field leadership and staff, during and after disasters, to
solicit feedback, conduct analyses of field staffing
challenges, and provide specific recommendations to programs
for improvements. Officials also stated that one of the
directorate's data collection priorities is disaster workforce
staffing. To satisfy the conditions of this recommendation,
FEMA will need to provide evidence that it has established
mechanisms--including collecting relevant data--that would
allow the agency to assess how effectively FEMA's disaster
workforce was deployed to meet mission needs.
Recommendation 3.--The FEMA administrator should create a
staff development program for FEMA's disaster workforce that,
at a minimum, addresses access to training, delivery of on-the-
job training and mentoring, use of performance evaluations, and
consistent developmental opportunities regardless of deployment
status.
Status.--DHS concurred with our recommendation. FEMA has taken a
number of steps to improve staff development. For example, to
facilitate staff's ability to take training outside of the
requirements in their Position Task Books (e.g., refresher
training, training related to their deployed responsibilities),
FEMA stated that, in October 2020, it built a new mechanism
into the Deployment Tracking System that allows cadre
management to assign such training to employees so that they
can register for these classes. FEMA officials noted that this
will make training more accessible and allow staff to
continuously improve their performance. Further, in its 2021
updates, FEMA stated that it has implemented assessments that
cadres can use to help ensure that coach-and-evaluators are
effectively coaching disaster staff. FEMA also stated that it
plans to facilitate virtual coach-and-evaluator deployments to
maximize pairing opportunities for staff who do not have
available coach-and-evaluators to pair with in the Deployment
Tracking System. In addition, FEMA has issued a Deployment
Performance Evaluation Directive, which provides guidance to
Temporary Duty Supervisors for conducting deployment
performance reviews of disaster staff and addressing
performance deficiencies. The deployment performance
evaluations are recorded in the Deployment Tracking System and
use the same core competencies as those for full-time staff.
FEMA stated that these evaluations will be a key part of the
Reservist Performance Management Program, which establishes a
process for providing annual performance appraisals for
Reservists and assisting them in maintaining and improving
performance. We will continue to monitor FEMA's actions to
assess the extent to which these actions constitute an
integrated and cohesive program to develop its disaster
workforce.
Question 4. GAO reported that FEMA faced staffing shortages during
the 2017 and 2018 disaster seasons, including shortages in its
contracting workforce. Unfortunately, since those two seasons, the
prevalence of disasters does not seem to be slowing down. Have these
shortages continued since that time, and if so, how has FEMA responded?
Answer. FEMA has steadily increased its total force numbers--
including permanent full-time staff, Cadre of On-Call Response
Employees (CORE), and Reservists--in recent years, however we have not
specifically assessed to what extent these increases have kept pace
with the demands on FEMA. In response to a request from Chairman
Thompson and Subcommittee Chairwoman Demings, we have recently
initiated a review to identify whether staffing shortages have
persisted. This review will also include an in-depth examination of
FEMA's hiring processes and initiatives and will address actions FEMA
has taken to ensure it has the workforce needed to meet its various
missions.
Question 5. In 2020, GAO reported that FEMA does not adequately
ensure staff development, such as providing training courses, on-the-
job learning, coaching, and mentoring. This is especially true of
Reservists, who make up a large percentage of FEMA's disaster
workforce. As FEMA continues to increase its workforce, how can it
ensure that personnel are able to access timely and program-specific
developmental opportunities--on the job and when not deployed?
Answer. In May 2020, we recommended that FEMA should create a staff
development program for its disaster workforce that, at a minimum,
addresses access to training, delivery of on-the-job training and
mentoring, use of performance evaluations, and consistent developmental
opportunities regardless of deployment status.\14\ DHS concurred with
our recommendation, and the status of FEMA's efforts to implement our
recommendation is detailed in response to question 3 above.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ GAO-20-360.
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Question From Honorable Diana Harshbarger for Christopher P. Currie
Question. In your view, would awarding FEMA contracts to
contractors physically located near disaster sites produce favorable
outcomes both by expediting the process of getting boots on the ground
and by providing work to residents affected by the disaster? Should
FEMA consider updating their contracting processes to prioritize
contractors located near the disaster site?
Answer. Awarding contracts to contractors located near disasters is
an important concept supported by statute and regulation. Specifically,
the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2007 (Post-Katrina
Act) amended the Stafford Act to provide a contracting preference for
local vendors.\15\ The Stafford Act, as amended, contains mechanisms to
provide Federal assistance to affected communities in the aftermath of
a major disaster and jump-start the local economy through the award of
contracts to local businesses in the disaster area. The act states,
among other things, that agencies shall provide a contracting
preference, to the extent feasible and practicable, to organizations,
firms, and individuals residing or doing business primarily in the area
affected by the major disaster or emergency. To this end, agencies may,
for example, set aside contract awards so that only vendors residing or
primarily doing business in the declared disaster area are allowed to
compete for an award. Further, contracts not awarded to local vendors
after a major disaster, such as if it is not feasible or practical,
shall be justified in writing in the contract file. After the enactment
of the Post-Katrina Act, changes were made to the Federal Acquisition
Regulation (FAR) to implement provisions regarding the preference for
local vendors when contracting for major disaster for emergency
assistance activities.
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\15\ 42 U.S.C. 5150.
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Although the contracting preference for agencies using local
vendors in the aftermath of a major disaster is clear in statute and
regulation, our past work identified challenges with FEMA's use of
local vendors. However, FEMA has subsequently improved its guidance on
these issues. Specifically, in September 2015 we found that some FEMA
contracting officers were confused about how to define the area of a
local area set-aside and we recommended that the FEMA administrator
provide new or updated guidance to ensure contracting officers are
aware of requirements concerning how to contract with local
vendors.\16\ DHS concurred, and updated guidance to reiterate the
requirements and clarify how to determine the geographic area of a
local area set-aside. Subsequently, in April 2019 we found that FEMA
officials accurately identified the set-aside area for 6 selected
contracts awarded in response to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and
Maria.\17\ Additionally, as of 2021, FEMA included information on
requirements related to contracting with local vendors following a
major disaster, in both guidance and training that they provide to
contracting officers. Specifically, FEMA's 2020 Disaster Contracting
Desk Guide and its disaster contract file verification toolkit--a
checklist of steps for contracting officers to take prior to award--
include requirements related to using local area set-asides or
documenting why using a local business may not be feasible. Further,
local area set-asides were included as a training topic in FEMA's
annual disaster contracting webinar in 2020. Finally, FEMA included
information on requirements related to contracting with local vendors
and the disaster contract file verification toolkit in its recently
published FEMA Acquisition Manual.
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\16\ GAO, Disaster Contracting: FEMA Needs to Cohesively Manage Its
Workforce and Fully Address Post-Katrina Reforms, GAO-15-783
(Washington, DC: Sept. 29, 2015).
\17\ GAO, 2017 Disaster Contracting: Actions Needed to Improve the
Use of Post-Disaster Contracts to Support Response and Recovery, GAO-
19-281 (Washington, DC: Apr. 24, 2019).
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While FEMA has clarified in its guidance requirements related to
contracting with local vendors following major disasters, limitations
in Government-wide guidance on emergency acquisitions remain. In April
2019, we found that contracting and legal officials at FEMA and at the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) were unsure what or how much
information was sufficient to determine that an offeror qualifies as a
``local firm'' under the FAR.\18\ Further, we found that USACE and FEMA
applied the FAR criteria that contracting officers may consider to
determine whether an offeror resides or primarily does business in the
set-aside area differently. We recommended that the administrator of
the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) provide additional
clarification on how contracting officers should determine whether
offerors reside or primarily do business in a disaster area for the
purposes of a local area set-aside contract. OFPP concurred with the
recommendation and identified the Emergency Acquisition Guide, which
was last updated in 2011, as a vehicle to address the recommendation.
As of May 2021 OFPP staff stated that the agency plans to update the
Emergency Acquisition Guide to include information on how contracting
officers should determine whether offerors reside or primarily do
business in a disaster area, but did not provide a time line for doing
so. Without clarifying guidance, contracting and legal officials will
likely continue to have varying interpretations of the FAR criteria for
determining that an offeror qualifies as a local firm, increasing the
risk that an offeror may be considered local by some agencies, but not
others.
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\18\ GAO-19-281.
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Questions From Honorable Peter Meijer for Christopher P. Currie
Question 1a. Mr. Currie, in May 2020, GAO published a report citing
critical challenges to FEMA's disaster workforce. These challenges
included staffing shortages, qualification concerns upon deployment,
and a lack of development opportunities for staff. Could you please
tell the committee what kind of risks these challenges pose to FEMA's
mission sets?
Question 1b. Staff development plays a key role not only in
ensuring disaster responses are properly staffed, but in retaining
qualified staff for future response efforts. Could you please explain
to the committee the current challenges FEMA is facing in implementing
further staff development opportunities?
Answer. As we mentioned in our January 2022 testimony statement,
staffing shortages, workforce qualification concerns upon deployment,
and a lack of development opportunities for staff pose risks to FEMA
being able to achieve its mission of helping people before, during, and
after disasters. Regarding risks posed by staffing shortages, with an
increase in the frequency and cost of disasters, and with FEMA
simultaneously supporting numerous efforts outside of its normal core
responsibilities, we are concerned that FEMA personnel may not be
prepared to manage a catastrophic natural disaster or concurrent
disasters. As for qualification concerns upon deployment, FEMA planning
managers noted that having staff inaccurately designated as qualified
in FEMA's qualification system hindered FEMA's ability to support
mission needs and affected morale by adding to others' workload.
Finally, consistent and effective staff development is particularly
important to help build the skills of staff who are qualified in the
FEMA qualification system but unable to proficiently perform their
duties and develop the large number of staff that FEMA has recently
hired to meet its new disaster workforce targets.
Regarding current challenges FEMA is facing in implementing further
staff development opportunities, we recommended in May 2020 that FEMA
create a staff development program for its disaster workforce.\19\ This
staff development program should, at a minimum, address access to
training, delivery of on-the-job training and mentoring, use of
performance evaluations, and developmental opportunities. Such a
program would help FEMA ensure more consistent and comprehensive
development of the skills and abilities needed during deployments. FEMA
has taken a number of steps in response to this recommendation, as
detailed in response to Ranking Member John Katko's third question, and
we will continue to monitor FEMA's actions to assess the extent to
which these actions constitute an integrated and cohesive program to
develop its disaster workforce.\20\
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\19\ GAO-20-360.
\20\ FEMA's steps to respond to this recommendation are detailed on
GAO's website at https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-360.
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Question 2. Given the challenges the FEMA workforce has faced over
the past few years, such as staff shortages and burn-out, what is the
most critical step FEMA should take to ensure it can respond adequately
to hurricanes and wildfires in 2022? Could you tell us, to your own
knowledge, if FEMA has implemented this action?
Answer. We believe that implementing key GAO recommendations
related to FEMA's disaster workforce is a critical step FEMA should
take in ensuring that it can respond adequately to disasters in 2022
and beyond. We have designated two recommendations related to FEMA's
workforce as priority recommendations for DHS, meaning we believe they
warrant priority attention and can substantially improve or transform
major Government programs or agencies.\21\ Specifically, FEMA should:
(1) Develop a plan--with time frames and milestones and input from
field leadership--to address identified challenges that have hindered
FEMA's ability to provide reliable and complete information to field
leaders and managers about staff knowledge, skills, and abilities; and
(2) develop mechanisms, including collecting relevant data, to assess
how effectively FEMA's disaster workforce was deployed to meet mission
needs in the field. Although FEMA has taken some steps to implement
these two priority recommendations, it has not yet fully addressed
them. We have provided a detailed status update for each recommendation
in response to Ranking Member John Katko's third question.\22\
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\21\ GAO-20-360 and GAO-21-377PR.
\22\ FEMA's steps to respond to these recommendations are detailed
on GAO's website at https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-360.
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Question From Chairwoman Val Demings for Carra S. Sims \23\ \24\
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\23\ The opinions and conclusions expressed in this addendum are
the author's alone and should not be interpreted as representing those
of the RAND Corporation or any of the sponsors of its research.
\24\ The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops
solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities
throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier, and more
prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public
interest. RAND's mission is enabled through its core values of quality
and objectivity and its commitment to integrity and ethical behavior.
RAND subjects its research publications to a robust and exacting
quality-assurance process; avoids financial and other conflicts of
interest through staff training, project screening, and a policy of
mandatory disclosure; and pursues transparency through the open
publication of research findings and recommendations, disclosure of the
source of funding of published research, and policies to ensure
intellectual independence. This testimony is not a research
publication, but witnesses affiliated with RAND routinely draw on
relevant research conducted in the organization.
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Question. The 2020 RAND report on harassment and discrimination in
the FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] workplace concludes that
``One vital component in organization change is measurement of the
problem.''\25\ To that end, I know the RAND Corporation conducted a
follow-up survey of the FEMA workforce last year. What is the status of
this follow-up survey and when do you expect to release your findings?
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\25\ This is referring to Coreen Farris, Carra S. Sims, Terry L.
Schell, Miriam Matthews, Sierra Smucker, Samantha Cohen, and Owen Hall,
Harassment and Discrimination on the Basis of Gender and Race/Ethnicity
in the FEMA Workforce, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, RR-A383-
1, 2020, www.rand.org/t/RRA383-1.
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Answer. We have fielded a second survey at FEMA. We are currently
conducting this analysis and completing documentation. While we do not
have an expected release date yet because the work is still in
progress, we will share the published report with the committee and its
members as soon as it is complete, has gone through RAND's rigorous
quality assurance review, and has cleared FEMA and the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security's (DHS's) public release review process.
Questions From Ranking Member John Katko for Carra S. Sims
Question 1. In your opinion, what steps should FEMA be taking to
effectively balance and respond to these priorities?
Answer. Our study did not speak to how FEMA should balance its
priorities, though a reduction in harassment and discrimination would
potentially facilitate staff retention and productivity. Our study did
provide recommendations aimed at helping FEMA leadership make decisions
about programming and policy responses to address harassment and
discrimination in the workplace. In 2019, we offered several
recommendations to FEMA, including the following:
1. Explore differences in culture and climate between offices that
had low rates of civil rights violations and those with higher
rates.
2. Explore interventions with leaders at all levels to ensure that
all understand how best to handle harassment and understand
their responsibility to address it.
3. Reduce barriers to reporting.
4. Increase accountability and transparency in dealing with
harassment and discrimination reports at all levels of
leadership.
5. Continue monitoring harassment and discrimination in the
workforce.
Question 2. During a Transportation and Infrastructure hearing last
year, Administrator Criswell noted ``many of our staff have been
activated in support of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] response
operations and numerous other disaster declarations for over a year . .
. ''. How is employee morale and job performance impacted when response
personnel are continually redeployed from one disaster to the next?
Answer. The question relates to how employees manage stress and
well-being and maintain performance when they are assigned to one
disaster after another with no rest period in between. Our study did
not directly investigate the effects of COVID-19 and continual disaster
deployment on morale at FEMA, or how employees manage stress and well-
being and maintain performance. However, our study did suggest that
experiencing harassment and discrimination may reduce productivity and
retention, while the broader literature suggests more-general wellness
impacts.
Other colleagues at RAND have examined the issue of workforce
stress and resilience. For example, experts have reviewed existing
programs for the DHS workforce to support psychological health and
resilience and have found a limited evidence base for most workplace
psychological health interventions, as well as variation in access to
services and the potential effectiveness of programs. Their
recommendations suggest additional ways for DHS to move forward in
ensuring its employees have access to evidence-based programs to
support the response to the stressors they inevitably face.\26\
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\26\ Carrie M. Farmer, Katie Whipkey, and Margaret Chamberlin,
Programs Addressing Psychological Health and Resilience in the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND
Corporation, RR-1952-DHS, 2019, www.rand.org/t/RR1952.
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Question 3. The RAND report states that FEMA asked you to determine
the extent to which harassment and discrimination based on sex, gender,
race, or ethnicity occurred in its entire workforce. How typical of a
request is this--for an agency to request a self-assessment--and how
does FEMA compare to other Federal agencies in this regard?
Answer. This is not a typical request. In fact, FEMA is, to our
knowledge, the first organization to request such information formally
or informally without some external requirement being instituted by
Congress or by a class action lawsuit. By utilizing independent
expertise and publicly sharing this information, FEMA allows other
organizations, both public and private, access to credible estimates
and the opportunity to learn from its experience.
The uniqueness of this request is actually why it is so difficult
to provide comparators for the prevalence rates FEMA experienced in the
year prior to the survey. Biennial Department of Defense (DoD) surveys
and the 2016 U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board survey of Federal
employees are among the exceptions. In DoD's case, those surveys are
actually mandated by law rather than organizational choice.
Comparing Sexual Harassment at FEMA to Other Organizations
Using a similar measurement approach, designed by the same team of
RAND researchers, DoD found that 24.2 percent of active-duty service
women and 6.3 percent of active-duty servicemen experienced sexual
harassment in the past year. Compared to the annual estimates for FEMA
employees (19.3 percent of female FEMA employees and 7.0 percent of
male FEMA employees), the prevalence was higher for women in DoD and
similar for men in DoD.
The DoD workforce skews very young, which may explain the
difference among women; younger adults are at higher risk than older
adults.
The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board used a different survey
measure of sexual harassment than was used for the FEMA Workplace
Support Survey and assessed sexual harassment in the past 2 years
rather than only the past year. Across the entire Federal workforce
(including DoD), the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board estimated that
20.9 percent of women were sexually harassed in the past 2 years, while
we estimated that 19.3 percent of FEMA women were sexually harassed in
the past year.
Comparing Racial/Ethnic Harassment at FEMA to Other Organizations
Using a similar measurement approach, DoD found that 16.5 percent
of active component service members experienced racial/ethnic
harassment and 5.6 percent experienced racial/ethnic discrimination in
the prior year. Compared to the annual estimates for FEMA employees
(16.0 percent racial/ethnic harassment and 6.5 percent racial/ethnic
discrimination), the DoD estimates are similar.
Question 4. The RAND report found that women were more likely to
experience a civil rights violation; however, the rates of civil rights
violations varied significantly across offices. Specifically, women in
FEMA Regional Offices and the Office of the Administrator reported the
highest percentage of employees having experienced a gender-based/
sexual harassment violation. While I recognize that the report did not
explore why some offices have higher prevalence rates than others,
based on other findings in the report, do you have any thoughts on what
might be causing these variations in rates?
In your opinion, is this something that would be worth exploring in
future reports?
Answer. We did not have the purview to explore this issue in depth,
as you note. However, we did recommend that FEMA might wish to consider
the issue with regard to determining whether some offices had best
practices that could be used more broadly across the organization. We
suggested that policy and enforcement of norms of behavior might differ
in offices with higher and lower rates of civil rights violations.
However, we also noted that it would be important to consider
demographic and employee characteristic differences of the offices that
might be predictive of prevalence, to rule out the hypothesis that
simple demographic or employment characteristics account for the
variation across offices. This is something that we think would be
worth pursuing, but our study, including our follow-up, are not best
suited to pursue these questions.
Question 5. Dr. Sims, the RAND report describes findings from a
survey fielded in 2019; to what extent is RAND or the Homeland Security
Operational Analysis Center [HSOAC] planning on conducting follow-up to
see if anything has changed in the past 2 years? Are you aware of
actions that FEMA has taken because of your report?
Answer. In response to our findings, FEMA published the Culture
Improvement Action Plan, designed to ``increase employee awareness of
RAND survey results; provide transparent communication of workforce
culture objectives, programs, and improvements and associated
implementation time lines; [and] demonstrate continued leadership
commitment to [FEMA's] core values.''\27\ The action plan included 3-,
6-, and 12-month implementation plans for increasing: (1) Engagement
and advocacy, (2) training and education, (3) messaging and
communications, (4) employee resources, (5) performance and
accountability, and (6) monitoring and assessment. Together, these
efforts were intended to ``ensure FEMA remains a safe workplace free of
harassment and discrimination.''\28\
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\27\ FEMA, Culture Improvement Action Plan, December 2020, p. 1,
https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_culture-
improvement-action-plan_2020.pdf.
\28\ FEMA, 2020, p. 14.
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In addition, to understand whether efforts to reduce prevalence are
succeeding, FEMA asked HSOAC researchers to repeat the workforce survey
2 years after the first survey had been administered. We have fielded
this second survey and are in the course of analyzing the results in
order to complete that study prior to public release.
Question 6a. Your testimony states that the RAND Corporation
estimated that 29 percent of FEMA employees experienced a sex- or race/
ethnicity-based civil rights violation in the past year, with many of
these employees reportedly experiencing both types of violations.
What are some examples of such violations that occur most commonly
within the FEMA workforce and how do these violations affect employee
morale?
Question 6b. In response to RAND's report, FEMA issued a Culture
Action Improvement Plan. What are your thoughts on this plan? Has this
plan provided sufficient initiatives or plans on how the agency should
prevent and/or mitigate these types of violations?
Answer. We used behaviorally-based survey measures to estimate the
percentage of FEMA employees who had experienced at least one civil
rights violation in the preceding year. These measures first documented
inappropriate workplace behaviors, and then, where applicable, we
followed these initial screening questions with questions to assess
additional legal requirements necessary for these experiences to rise
to the level of a civil rights violation, such as questions that assess
persistence or whether most people would consider the behavior
offensive--this last being the ``reasonable person'' standard. For
exemplars as to what types of behaviors civil rights violations
included, in Table 1 and Table 2 we provide the top 5 most frequently
chosen example behaviors for gender-based/sexual behaviors and race/
ethnicity-based behaviors, respectively.\29\
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\29\ In the full report, see Table 3.2 for additional gender-based/
sexual inappropriate workplace behaviors, Table 6.1 for additional
racial/ethnic harassment inappropriate workplace behaviors, and Table
6.3 for racial/ethnic discrimination inappropriate workplace behaviors.
Note that Table 2 in this document does not show racial/ethnic
discrimination inappropriate workplace behaviors because none of them
were endorsed as frequently as the harassment behaviors.

TABLE 1.--ESTIMATED PERCENTAGE OF FEMA EMPLOYEES WHO HAD EXPERIENCED GENDER-BASED/SEXUAL (SEXIST) INAPPROPRIATE
WORKPLACE BEHAVIORS IN THE PRECEDING YEAR, BY GENDER
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type of Behavior Men Women Overall
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hostile work environment sexual harassment behavior:
Repeatedly tell sexual jokes that made you 4.4 (3.8-5.2) 7.6 (6.8-8.5) 6.0 (5.5-6.6)
uncomfortable, angry, or upset..................
Hostile work environment gender-based (sexist)
harassment behavior:
Made you uncomfortable, angry, or upset by 5.0 (4.4-5.8) 14.5 (13.4-15.6) 9.8 (9.1-10.5)
ignoring or excluding you because [you are a man/
you are a woman/of your gender].................
Made you uncomfortable, angry, or upset by making 3.3 (2.8-3.9) 10.5 (9.6-11.5) 6.9 (6.3-7.5)
sexist comments about your gender...............
Gender discrimination:
Make it harder for you to get a promotion or a 6.4 (5.6-7.4) 9.7 (8.8-10.7) 8.1 (7.4-8.8)
new position because [you are a man/you are a
woman/of your gender]...........................
Assign you to either an undesirable or 4.6 (3.8-5.6) 9.6 (8.7-10.7) 7.1 (6.5-7.8)
unimportant task because [you are a man/you are
a woman/of your gender].........................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: The 95-percent confidence interval for each estimate is indicated in parentheses.

TABLE 2.--ESTIMATED PERCENTAGE OF FEMA EMPLOYEES WHO HAD EXPERIENCED EACH RACIAL/ETHNIC HARASSMENT BEHAVIOR IN THE PRECEDING YEAR, BY RACE/ETHNICITY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unknown Race/
Someone from Work White African American Hispanic Other Ethnicity Overall
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Made you uncomfortable, angry, or upset by 6.2 (5.4-7.0) 15.1 (13.3-17.1) 11.6 (10.0-13.3) 10.2 (7.2-14.3) 7.8 (5.4-11.2) 9.3 (8.6-10.0)
showing you a lack of respect because of
your race/ethnicity........................
Made you uncomfortable, angry, or upset by 7.1 (6.3-8.0) 9.8 (8.3-11.5) 10.0 (8.5-11.8) 12.0 (8.7-16.3) 7.6 (5.1-11.1) 8.4 (7.7-9.1)
telling racial/ethnic jokes................
Made you uncomfortable, angry, or upset by 5.0 (4.3-5.8) 8.5 (7.1-10.3) 9.1 (7.7-10.7) 13.1 (9.5-17.8) 6.6 (4.4-9.8) 6.8 (6.2-7.5)
insulting your racial/ethnic group.........
Used a racial/ethnic term that made you 6.0 (5.2-6.8) 6.7 (5.5-8.1) 5.8 (4.7-7.1) 8.6 (5.7-12.8) 5.0 (3.0-8.3) 6.2 (5.6-6.8)
uncomfortable, angry, or upset.............
Made you uncomfortable, angry, or upset by 3.4 (2.8-4.1) 7.5 (6.3-8.9) 11.2 (9.6-13.0) 9.6 (6.5-13.9) 4.4 (2.7-7.3) 5.8 (5.2-6.3)
making a comment about the way people in
your racial/ethnic group talk..............
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: The 95-percent confidence interval for each estimate is indicated in parentheses.

We did not assess morale in our study. However, for an employee
categorized as having experienced harassment or discrimination in the
preceding year, the survey included an item that asked whether they had
taken ``a sick day or any other type of leave'' as a consequence of the
situation. The survey also included an item asking whether the
upsetting situation made them want to quit. Although neither item
assesses morale directly, they provide a very basic indication of
potential productivity and retention issues. Many victims indicated
having used at least 1 leave day as a result of the situation, varying
from 16.4 percent of racial/ethnic harassment victims to 39.9 percent
of racial/ethnic discrimination victims. In addition, about one-third
of employees who had experienced harassment (28.6 to 31.3 percent)
indicated that the situation made them ``want to quit.'' Employees who
had experienced discrimination were twice as likely to want to leave
their positions; nearly two-thirds indicated that the situation made
them ``want to quit'' (57.8 to 65.3 percent).\30\
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\30\ See Farris et al., 2020, pp. 77-78, for more in-depth
description.
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As you note, FEMA published the Culture Improvement Action Plan,
designed to ``increase employee awareness of RAND survey results;
provide transparent communication of workforce culture objectives,
programs, and improvements and associated implementation time lines;
[and] demonstrate continued leadership commitment to [FEMA's] core
values.''\31\ The action plan included 3-, 6-, and 12-month
implementation plans for increasing: (1) Engagement and advocacy, (2)
training and education, (3) messaging and communications, (4) employee
resources, (5) performance and accountability, and (6) monitoring and
assessment.
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\31\ FEMA, 2020, p. 1.
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We did not assess this plan systematically and so cannot speak to
specifics of its implementation. That said, as we noted in our report,
a comprehensive and holistic set of interventions that incentivize
professional and respectful workplace behavior can help leaders ensure
that the FEMA work environment is one in which individual tendencies
toward negative behavior are suppressed. Certainly, as described, the
intent of the plan appears to be to develop such a comprehensive and
holistic set of interventions with an emphasis on transparency.
I would note that the evidence base for exactly what
recommendations to implement when you have a high rate of civil rights
violations in an organization tends to be sparse. This means that
specific and detailed recommendations are hard to come by in the
literature, so interventions that appear reasonable and are paired with
reasonable plans to assess how well they are working are key. To the
extent that FEMA's plans both seem reasonable and include a measurement
component to make sure they are working rather than just providing
liability protection, they are on the right track. If implementation of
some aspects is less successful, trying something different should not
be perceived as failure but rather FEMA being in the forefront of
transparent efforts to alleviate its challenges.
Question 7. The RAND report states that, ``for each type of
discrimination, 35 percent or more indicated that they were subject to
retaliation.'' However, the report is unclear as to whether an
evaluation of how supervisors handle these issues is a part of the
performance review cycle. Since the publication of this report, do you
know if FEMA has updated their performance evaluations to include this
criteria?
Answer. We do not have this information. A representative from FEMA
would likely be able to speak to that issue.
Question From Honorable Diana Harshbarger for Carra S. Sims
Question. In your view, would awarding FEMA contracts to
contractors physically located near disaster sites produce favorable
outcomes both by expediting the process of getting boots on the ground
and by providing work to residents affected by the disaster? Should
FEMA consider updating their contracting processes to prioritize
contractors located near the disaster site?
Answer. Our study did not speak to these issues, so this is not a
question we would be able to answer.
Question From Honorable Peter Meijer for Carra S. Sims
Question. Given the challenges the FEMA workforce has faced over
the past few years, such as staff shortages and burn-out, what is the
most critical step FEMA should take to ensure it can respond adequately
to hurricanes and wildfires in 2022? Could you tell us, to your own
knowledge, if FEMA has implemented this action?
Answer. Our study deals with harassment and discrimination rather
than staffing or burn-out, although harassment and discrimination
definitely have an impact on employee well-being and can affect
retention. Given the scope of our study, and suggestions of challenges
FEMA faces in the domains of employee climate for harassment,
perceptions surrounding employees' reporting of civil rights
violations, and subsequent retaliation, we recommended that FEMA ensure
that leaders at all levels know what to do with a report and have the
tools at hand to take action (including a familiarity and comfort with
lower levels of sanctions, such as talking with the offender about
appropriate behavior). We also suggested that FEMA track interventions
to achieve these aims in order to determine whether they worked and
increase transparency surrounding these issues.
FEMA has put a plan in place--the Culture Improvement Action Plan--
to help implement changes,\32\ but the scope of our follow-on survey
does not include assessing that plan or its implementation. However,
the public release of the plan itself does speak to an increase in
transparency. For further details on the success of the implementation,
I would recommend that you speak to FEMA.
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\32\ See FEMA, 2020.
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