Vice director ties new DLA Strategic Plan to EEO efforts

FORT BELVOIR, Va. -

Equal employment opportunity and diversity teams have a big role in helping the Defense Logistics Agency build a workforce that can achieve goals in the new 2025-2030 Strategic Plan, the agency's deputy director said Sept. 11.

"You're ultimately a force multiplier when it comes to fostering an environment where people can thrive and succeed," Brad Bunn told members of DLA's EEO community during their annual training symposium in Orlando, Florida.

The EEO team is a safe haven for employees to go to when they feel unsafe or threatened in the workplace and a bellwether for leaders on issues like recruitment and retention, he said. It also knows whether DLA has the right mix of diversity as it seeks new talent.

"Part of advancing and promoting people relies on you being transparent with leaders about whether we need to make course corrections to help us stay on the right path and be a workforce that people want to be a part of," he added.

Bunn noted that DLA's new strategic plan is renewing the agency's focus on effectiveness and building more resilience in supply chains and capabilities so the agency can overcome contested logistics challenges, especially in the Pacific. He said the war between Russia and Ukraine shows that logistics is a key enabler.

"We also know it's a key vulnerability as we apply lessons from what's playing out in Europe to a potential conflict in the Indo-Pacific region. There's serious concern among our national leaders that we be prepared for a potential conflict or crisis in that part of the world," he continued, adding that supplying U.S. and allied troops there poses different challenges than in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The plan also introduces a new set of DLA values: respect, trust, service, excellence and innovation. Framing the values in light of equal opportunity and diversity, Bunn said disputes and complaints elevated to the EEO team often result from trust issues, whether they're between employees and supervisors, between coworkers, or the workforce as a whole and leadership.

"The nation relies on us to be ready to be our best on the nation's worst day. We need mutual respect and trust in our workplace to limit distractions that cause interpersonal conflicts," Bunn continued. "We need a workplace that's free of issues like harassment and discriminatory behavior."

The three-day event also focused on telework as a reasonable accommodation and processes for the DLA Reasonable Accommodation Program. The team is still working through an influx of RA requests stemming from a post-pandemic, agencywide telework policy that took effect in January.

Bunn acknowledged bottlenecks in the RA process, particularly when compiling information that supports decisions for granting or denying an employee's request, but said he believes the team has exceeded goals to treat employees with dignity and respect.

"I also realize that it's not one single community working this. It takes the expertise of our EEO professionals, including our disability program coordinators, our legal counsel, our human resources partners and our line managers interacting with employees, as well as senior officials who are adjudicating these requests," he said.

The approval process is currently centralized for all DLA Headquarters and major subordinate command requests to ensure legal, policy and regulatory requirements are applied consistently. Bunn asked the team to continually assess that approach as they build a long-term strategy for handling RAs.

Additional topics included the Defense Department-funded Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program that provides assistive technology to make the work environment more accessible to employees with visual, hearing, dexterity, cognitive and communication impairments.

Jennifer Walton, head of leadership education and developmental training at the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, spoke about leading and aligning organizational cultures. And Napoleon Walker from DLA Human Resources' Leadership Development Branch described how practicing emotional intelligence can help employees understand themselves and others and become more effective.

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