Chapter 8 Notes

Chapter 8 Notes: Preparation for Staffing and Recruiting TEMINOLOGY Affirmative action – is a process in which employer identifies underutilization of protected groups, determine availability in the relevant labor market, and set hiring goals. Disparate impact – using selection standards or decision rules that appear to be neutral, but have an adverse effect on members of protected groups. Unintentional discrimination. Disparate treatment – using selection standards or decision rules that explicitly treat protected group members differently than other applicants or employees. Intentional discrimination. 4/5ths Rule (Also known as the 80% Rule) – stating that a prima facie case of disparate treatment discrimination is established when the selection rate for protected groups is less than 80% of the selection rate for the highest group. Prima Facie – proof legally sufficient to establish a case Diversity – differences among people in regard to race, ethnicity, age, gender, culture, and other factors; also the principle that organizations respect and appreciate such differences. Diversity includes a mix of productive, motivated, and committed workers. Job Posting – publicizing a notice of job-openings in the organization Recruiting – the process of generating a sufficiently large group of qualified applicants in order to select the best-qualified individuals for the available job Reliability – the stability, consistency, and dependability of the results of a selection measure. Validity – the degree to which a test actually measures the quality it is designed to measure.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AFFIRMATIVE ACTION GUIDELINES SHOULD BE 1) Revised annually. 2) Contain annual percentage goal based on availability of workforce. 3) An annual numerical goal must be set. This is based on the application of the annual percentage goal to the number of anticipated openings for that year.

EFFECTIVE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PLANS CONTAIN 1. Written affirmative action policy statement 2. Senior official to direct the program 3. Wide communication of EEO/AA policies 4. Expanded recruitment of qualified underrepresented group members 5. Redesign of jobs to eliminate underrepresented group barriers 6. Development of job-related selection practices 7. Training programs for supervisors 8. Career counseling for underrepresented group member employees THREE REASONS TO ADOPT AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAM 1. A government contractor (private sector) 2. Lost a discrimination case or entered into a consent degree (private sector) 3. Attempting to implement a voluntary program (public sector) VOLUNTARY AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAM 1. The plan doesn’t violate the interests of nonprotected employees 2. The plan doesn’t require the discharge of any nonprotected employees and their replacement with minority group employees 3. The plan does not create an absolute bar to the advancement of nonprotected group employees. 4. The plan is a temporary measure, not intended to maintain a protected group balance but simply to eliminate a manifest protected group imbalance. NEW AFFIRMATIVE ACTION OBLIGATIONS The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) revised the Affirmative Action regulations effective December 13, 2000. These apply to any federal contractor with more than 50 employees and more than $50,000 in annual federal contracts. (Executive Order 11246) New Workforce Analysis Requirements (now a two-factor test vs. former eight-factor test) Organizations are allowed to continue the former eight-factor test if they choose.) Availability Analysis of women and minorities in each of the job contractor’s job groups. Now only required to look at external availability and internal availability of women and minorities. Job Groups – employers with less than 150 employees may use the job groups designated in the EEO-1 reporting rather than being required to create particular job groups tailored to their own organization. Examples of common groups are Professional, Technical/Paraprofessional, Clerical, Executive, Skilled Craft, and Services.

Definition of Applicant – a broader definition of job applicant requires employers to maintain ethnicity, race, and gender data on all applicants (when possible) regardless if they possess the minimum qualifications for the job. NEW TWO FACTOR ANALYSIS A streamline approach to measuring workforce availability 1) Percentage of minorities and women with requisite skills in the reasonable recruitment area 2) Percentage of minorities and women among those promotable or transferable within the establishment OLD EIGHT FACTOR ANALYSIS The employer's affirmative action plan must contain a utilization analysis with regard to minorities, in which the contractor must consider all of the following eight factors: 1) Minority population of the labor area surrounding the facility. 2) Size of the minority unemployment force in the area. 3) Percentage of the minority workforce as compared with the total area workforce. 4) General availability of minorities in the area having the requisite skills. 5) Availability of minorities having requisite skills in an area in which the contractor can "reasonably recruit". 6) Availability of promotable and transferable minorities/women within the employer's organization. 7) Existence of training institutions which train workers in the requisite skills. 8) Degree of training that the contractor is able to offer to make jobs available to minorities. The wording of the eight-factor analysis for women is basically the same, except that in one of the factors, the guidelines advise employers to consider the availability of women in the labor or recruitment area "seeking employment". If underutilization is found, the employer must take action to correct the problem, and must set specific goals and timetables that are "significant, measurable," and "reasonably" attainable by means of applying "every good faith effort" to make the affirmative action program work.

DIVERSITY BENEFITS OF DIVERSITY 1. 2. 3. 4.

Broader competencies Better decisions based on different perspectives Better services to diverse populations Increased ability to recruit excellent talent from the entire labor pool

RECRUITMENT METHODS OF RECRUITING 1. 2. 3. 4.

Job posting (required in most public sector positions) Word of mouth Advertising (mass media-newspaper, radio or television) Internet

RECRUITMENT SOURCES Internal Sources 1. Promotions 2. Transfers or job rotation 3. Demotions (consider when downsizing) External Sources 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Advertising Walk-ins Employment agencies Schools Colleges and Universities Employee referral Former employees

The following is an excerpt from a May 2000 SHRM White Paper on Diversity by Cornelius Groves and Associates. Diversity is about intelligent management of people - all people. Diversity is about encouraging and enabling all employees to draw fully on their talents and skills for the benefit of the business. Diversity is an approach to business that... • •

1. Regards human differences in the workplace as contributing to the success of the business, and 2. Optimizes the willingness and ability of all employees to contribute to that success.

Worldwide demographic trends have an impact on businesses. Current trends tell us that… •

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1. Workforce growth in industrialized nations such as the U.S. is very low, while workforce growth in developing nations is quite high. This means (1) that some of the excess workers in developing nations will migrate to industrialized nations such as the U.S., and (2) that markets for goods and services will continue to burgeon throughout the developing regions. 2. Here in the United States, the demand for well educated "knowledge workers" is high . . . and is getting ever higher due to sweeping technological advances in many fields. 3. In worldwide terms, the proportion of U.S. high school and college graduates is dropping while that of developing nations is rising rapidly. By the year 2000, three-fifth of the world's college students will be from developing nations. A related trend is that the academic performance of American high school students is declining relative to that of youth abroad. (W.B. Johnson, "Global Workforce 2000," Harvard Business Review, March-April 1991.) 4. If we look at trends within the U.S., we see that native whites have a low birthrate while minorities and immigrants have a high birthrate. Consequently, by 2005 native white males (both well and poorly educated) will make up only 38% of the American workforce, not the current 42.5%. Personal Communication from H. Fullerton, Labor Force Projections Unit, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, DC.)

Diversity is not the same thing as Affirmative Action, though it addresses similar social concerns and has been nurtured by many of the same advocates. Diversity is different in two significant ways. First, Affirmative Action sprang into being because of ethical considerations grounded in a vision of the "level playing field." Attaining EO/AA goals has required legislation and litigation. In contrast, diversity arises from an informed awareness of factors contributing

to productivity from the mailroom to the boardroom. Diversity is not mandated. It requires no help from legislators and lawyers. Second, Affirmative Action compels employers to identify and count people on the basis of gender and heredity: Asian male, white female, etc. Granted, there may be a reason for doing things that way. But this is a narrow approach to the richly textured variety of human beings! Diversity avoids this narrow view. The manager or owner committed to diversity says, "People differ in dozens of ways, and in their differences lie a wide variety of talents and perspectives. The broader the range of talents and the wider the sweep of perspectives among my employees, the better the opportunity for this business to succeed." The goal of diversity is not to count people but to benefit from the best mix of people. The goal of diversity is to attract people with an array of talents, experiences, and perspectives, and then to empower them to give everything they've got in order to attain business objectives.