Happy New Year to each of you. I thought I would launch the New Year by giving you an update on some ongoing efforts and projects that we hope will help begin to address areas of concern that were flagged in the OIG Morale Study as well as the FEVS Survey. Shortly after I took over as Acting General Counsel, I directed every senior level manager in OGC to think through and provide me with recommendations as to steps we can take – both short term and more long view – to address the areas where OGC has room for growth and improvement. Having received many creative suggestions, including those contained in the study report itself, I hope to begin an ongoing, constructive dialogue involving every member of OGC to assess these ideas, to generate additional recommendations, and to implement them. In the meantime, some of the initial suggestions seemed so clearly beneficial that we have already begun to put them in place. These first steps are summarized below. We welcome any thoughts or ideas you may have on any of these topics or other steps we can take within OGC to improve morale and professional satisfaction. Management Training and Reviews • Within the next 12 months, every manager in OGC will be assessed by his or her staff and peers through a 360 Review conducted by OPM. Half of OGC managers will complete the review process this year (starting on January 25), the remainder will be assessed in approximately January of next year, and our goal is that the 360 review process will then repeat on a two-year cycle. An essential part of the process will be ensuring that we have breadth and depth in the survey process, meaning that surveys — which are conducted through OPM and are anonymous — will be sent not only to direct reports, but to other staff outside of the reporting chain (for example, a staff attorney on a different team for a team leader survey), as well as peers, colleagues in other divisions with whom the manager words, non-OGC etc. Your participation in this process, if you receive a survey, is crucial to the success of the 360 Review program, so thank you in advance for taking the time to complete them! (If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to reach out to me or Adav Noti). • We have prioritized sending new managers/supervisors to OPM’s intensive leadership training program, including making that opportunity available to staff serving in supervisory roles on an acting basis. We have at least two supervisory attorneys attending during this next quarter, and will push for money in the budget to continue this effort. • The Enforcement Division recently participated in an off-site management training, the focus of which was identifying areas of improvement as highlighted in the OIG Morale Study and are working on initiatives that came out of that session. Staff professional development opportunities and training • We have restarted the AUSA detail program, which provides an opportunity for federal government attorneys to prosecute general misdemeanor or misdemeanor domestic violence cases in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on a six month detail. We plan to offer this opportunity on a regular basis and will solicit expressions of interest as each detail rotation comes up. • We continue to explore ways in which we can give staff opportunities for professional growth within the agency. We recently were happy to grant a request for a litigation attorney to serve on a detail to the policy division, and also posted a detail opportunity for an attorney to serve as special counsel to the Associate General Counsel for Enforcement. In addition, through both posted openings and transfers, several employees have moved to different divisions within OGC • • recently. We are open to any ideas that might fall into this category, but we can’t say yes if you don’t ask, so please come talk to me if there is an opportunity you would like to explore. Each division is exploring training opportunities that fit the particular needs of that division. For example, the enforcement division recently held a writing training for all enforcement staff, to which all OGC staff were also invited. We have undertaken particular efforts in furtherance of ensuring an equitable distribution of work within each division. Diversity in hiring and promotion • Starting in the fall, we undertook a focused effort to expand the diversity of the pool of applicants that apply for FEC positions, by looking beyond USAJOBS to other methods of publicizing openings. • We have reached out to Howard Law School and set up an ongoing externship opportunity for any Howard Law School students interested in interning in OGC either over the summer or during the law school year. We have also reached out to other local law schools to ensure that there is a broader pool of applicants that apply for the FEC’s summer internship program beyond the few schools that have traditionally participated in recent years. • We are working with the EEOC to schedule (in late January or early February) EEO training for all OGC managers/supervisors, with a focus on hiring, maintaining and promoting a more diverse work force. • Similarly, we have been working with the FEC’s EEO office to provide OGC managers and supervisors with quarterly EEO training on differing topics in furtherance of these same goals. The EEO office has informed us that they hope to get that program off the ground shortly. Other Misc. Efforts • We have advocated for meeting OGC’s hiring needs across divisions, including bringing on board new attorneys where needed, as well as ensuring that all possible acting positions are posted for permanent hires. Over the past year, we have secured approval to make permanent appointments to multiple positions that had been filled on an acting basis for several years. • We are strenuously advocating for the agency to reimburse attorneys’ mandatory bar dues. We also continue to press the Commission to obtain iPhones for all OGC attorneys that desire them. • We are in the process of setting up a means of anonymous communication, to provide OGC staff with a way to submit questions/complaints/concerns directly to the General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel for Admin in those instances where anonymity is preferred by the sender. We hope to have that off the ground in the near future. • Consistent with some brown bag lunches that have been organized in the past, I plan to launch a brown bag lunch and learn program, where interested OGC staff can get together over BYOL to discuss a topic of interest or listen to an invited speaker. I will send a separate email on this subject and will be soliciting a committee of volunteers that might be interested in running this program and identifying topics of interest. • Finally, on a more silly and frivolous note, the Jeans and Sneakers Holiday Break was well received, so look for more chances to dress down. Finally, I assure you that OGC Management doesn’t see improving morale as a one-off, “check-the-box” project. We’re committed to investing the resources and effort needed to make lasting changes, and the above list is only the beginning. I think we are off to a good start in 2017, and I look forward to working with each of you to continue to make improvements to make OGC a better place to work. I plan on attending the next set of meetings for each OGC division in the near future, so I can answer any questions you may have about these efforts or any other topic you wish to discuss. Lisa