Report Urges CFPB to Improve Workplace Diversity Policies

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of Inspector General (CFPB OIG) has issued a report urging the agency to do a better job in overcoming its problems with its personnel practices.

The report is based on reports leaked to the media in 2013 by CFPB employees that alleged the agency was troubled with racial disparities in job performance ratings and the assignment of responsibilities, gender and age discrimination and inappropriate remarks aimed at foreign-born employees. Last year, the House Financial Services subcommittee held three hearings to investigate these claims.

In its report, the CFPB OIG stated that while the agency has “taken steps to foster a diverse and inclusive workforce since it began operations in July 2011,” there were still four key areas where improvement was needed.

“First, diversity and inclusion training is not mandatory for CFPB employees, supervisors, and senior managers,” the OIG report stated. “Second, data quality issues exist in the CFPB's tracking spreadsheets for EEO complaints and negotiated grievances, and certain data related to performance management are not analyzed for trends that could be indicative of potential diversity and inclusion issues.

“Third,” the report continued, “the CFPB's diversity and inclusion strategic plan has not been finalized, and opportunities exist for the CFPB to strengthen supervisors' and senior managers' accountability for implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives and human resources—related policies. Finally, the CFPB would benefit from a formal succession planning process to help ensure that it will have a sufficient and diverse pool of candidates for its senior management positions.”