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

RECRUITMENT

METHODS OF RECRUITING

1. Job posting (required in most public sector positions)

2. Word of mouth
3. Advertising (mass media-newspaper, radio or television)
4. Internet

RECRUITMENT SOURCES

Internal Sources

1. Promotions
2. Transfers or job rotation
3. Demotions (consider when downsizing)

External Sources

1. Advertising
2. Walk-ins
3. Employment agencies
4. Schools
5. Colleges and Universities
6. Employee referral
7. 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…

• 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.