2007 Report on Accomplishments

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Secretary's Message

Dear DOL Colleagues:

In the past few years, the Department of Labor has become synonymous with high performance, results, and accountability in the federal government. We are doing more and doing better for America's workers. And we are being more responsible stewards of taxpayers' dollars.

These achievements are a credit to everyone who has worked so hard for America's workers. It could not happen without the leadership of our Senior Executive Service team. That is why the theme for this year's conference is From Excellent to Extraordinary: the Role of Leadership at DOL. Your efforts are being recognized and lauded as the Department's success has led the way in the government-wide implementation of the President's Management Agenda.

This year marks the sixth-annual Senior Executive Service Leadership Training Conference that I have had the pleasure of hosting. I urge everyone to take advantage of this opportunity to confer on goals, best practices and improvement strategies so that the Department can do an even better job of fulfilling its mission. This is a rare time when Senior Executive Service staff from all over the country come together and everyone should take time to strengthen the teamwork which is so essential to our continued success.

Your work makes a difference every single day in fulfilling the Department's vital mission to protect and promote the health, safety, retirement security and competitiveness of our nation's workforce. I am so pleased to be part of the Department of Labor, and to recognize the many outstanding professionals of our Senior Executive Service team.

Thank you for your great work and dedication. I hope you will find the conference informative and inspiring!

Sincerely,

Elaine L. Chao

Statement from the Acting Deputy Secretary

Since January of this year, it has been my privilege to serve as the Acting Deputy Secretary of Labor. Complemented by my experience over the last several years as Solicitor of Labor, my new role has only reinforced what I already knew: the employees of the Department of Labor form an extraordinary team — and the role of leadership is central to our successes.

Since her confirmation by the United States Senate in January 2001, Secretary Elaine L. Chao has been dedicated to carrying out the Department’s mission of promoting and protecting the health, safety, retirement security, and competitiveness of the nation’s workforce. And while serving America’s workers, Secretary Chao quietly just achieved a Departmental milestone: surpassing the length of service of Secretary W. Willard Wirtz, placing her fifth in tenure of all the 24 Labor Secretaries that have served our nation. In fact, she is the longest-serving Secretary of Labor since Secretary James P. Mitchell, who served as President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Labor Secretary from 1953 to 1961.

Under Secretary Chao’s leadership, and thanks to your diligent efforts, DOL has made tremendous progress to improve DOL’s effectiveness and accountability to the American public. In December 2006, DOL was honored with the President’s Quality Award for excellence in Expanded Electronic Government, which complements three previous Presidential honors DOL received for management excellence. The Program Assessment Rating Tool, or PART, continues to guide our efforts to improve the performance of our programs. PART assessments have not only been useful to informing the public and policy makers of our programs’ strengths and weaknesses – they also have provided our program managers a systematic method of selfassessment and roadmap for greater effectiveness.

While pleased with these accomplishments, we continue to focus on the future of DOL. Several years ago, we revived DOL’s Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program, which is designed to attract, train, and develop the future leaders of DOL. The most recent class is currently completing its developmental assignments and will be ready to serve when called.

Thanks to you, DOL is on the right track, and these are just a few of the results that you have helped achieve.

Sincerely,

Howard M. Radzely