The NCUA increasedits minority hiring in 2015 to 35% of new hires overall, up from31% in 2014, the regulator said Thursday.

Minority new hires in the senior staff category equaled 25% for2015, with 50% of those being women. Additionally, minoritiesrepresented 13.2% of all senior staff. They also represented 14.7%of all managers and 75% of all new manager staff hires in 2015.

“Greater diversity among our new hires, particularly at thesenior staff level, is good news, but we know our job isn'tfinished,” NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz said. “We recognize that[the] NCUA still needs to do more. Beginning this year, the agencywill launch several initiatives to promote greater diversity andinclusion. These efforts are part of our strategic goals, and wewill be promoting them within both the agency and the credit unionsystem.”

The numbers were released in conjunction with a congressionalreport that was required by the Dodd-Frank Act. They originatedfrom the NCUA's Officeof Minority and Women Inclusion.

The report noted that while the NCUA's new hires were morediverse, an analysis of overall workforce data from 2012 to 2015revealed there has not been a significant increase in the diversityof the NCUA's workforce overall.

Consequently, the regulator said it is making significant andaggressive adjustments to the agency's long-term diversity andinclusion strategy to increase diversity at all levels of theworkforce and foster inclusion in order to leverage and retain itsemployees.

That strategy will include efforts to review and refine itsinitiatives to recruit, retain and promote women andminorities.

These initiatives will include: Chartering employee resourcegroups to support the retention of diverse employees, establishingan employee mentoring program, developing an intentionallyinclusive leadership culture, providing manager and employeetraining on unconscious bias, and amending the charter of theagency's Diversity Advisory Council to include greater seniorexecutive representation.

New OMWI Director Monica Davy said broadening the OMWI's strategic focus in twoparticular areas will allow the NCUA to be even more successful inthe years to come as it builds a business case for diversity andintentional inclusion.

As part of the NCUA's action plan to increase the understandingof the business case for diversity, the agency said it plans tohire a diversity communications specialist; develop a diversity andinclusion communications strategy; strengthen diversity training toinclude the diversity business case; publish a quarterly diversitynewsletter with strategic messages promoting its business case; andexpand the diversity message to include all forms of diversity –not just minorities and women.

Davy addressed training on unconscious bias in her comments inthe report.

“My hope is that by the end of the year, every person within[the] NCUA – from the leadership team to every hiring official –will understand what unconscious bias is and will be equipped tocheck his or her bias before making decisions or interacting witheach other,” she said. “Such a level of awareness will allowleaders to be more inclusive, thereby creating a more inclusiveculture at [the] NCUA and helping us to retain our diversetalent.”

As part of its action plan to incorporate unconscious biasawareness and training, the agency said it will: Hold a three-hourunconscious bias seminar for the senior leadership team; hold atwo-hour unconscious bias training class for the examinerworkforce, including managers; publish articles on unconscious biasin the agency's new diversity newsletter; and develop anunconscious bias toolkit for leaders and managers.

The NCUA's efforts to create more diversity among its suppliersalso continued last year. In 2015, the NCUA awarded $7.3 million,or 22.5%, of its $32.5 million in contracts to minority- andwomen-owned businesses. This was the third consecutive year duringwhich the agency surpassed the 20% mark in its supplier diversitylevels. The NCUA made $9.2 million or 25.5% of its $36 million incontract payments to minority- and women-owned businesses in2015.

“A diverse supplier base is a sound business policy andallows [the] NCUA to use its resources more effectively andefficiently,” Matz said.