The economy is creating chaos, and the rapid changes in workplace laws don’t help—Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, changes in FMLA and COBRA, 1-9’s, E-Verify, ADAAA—the list goes on and on. Where should you be focusing?
With all that is happening, it is easy to get distracted, even overwhelmed, says Kurt Ronn, the president and founder of HRworks, a national talent evaluation and recruitment firm. With a nod to our sister publication Affirmative Action Solutions, we’ll present Ronn’s tips for staying focused when recruiting and hiring.
In the area of talent acquisition, Ronn says, there is a lot of conversation about compensation, but buzz doesn’t necessarily mean big dollars. Historically, Ronn says, the big settlements and judgments are in failure-to-hire cases. Moreover, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ (OFCCP) recent “make whole” remedies are almost exclusively from failure-to-hire cases, he adds.
So where to focus first? Your talent acquisition policies and practices, Ronn advises.
Systemic Discrimination and the OFCCP
Although former Deputy Assistant secretary Charles E. James is no longer head of the OFCCP, his legacy, the “systemic methodology” that resulted in $300 million in make-whole remedies, is alive and well, says Ronn.
Systemic discrimination means a “pattern or practice, policy and/or class cases where the alleged discrimination has a broad impact on an industry, profession, company, or geographic location.”
In other words, the OFCCP focus is not going to be on situations in which a single employee is discriminated against (although that doesn’t mean you can ignore such cases) but rather on cases in which the discrimination is widespread, continual, and a routine of doing business.
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With the OFCCP focus shifting to systemic discrimination, contractors’ focus needs to shift that way as well, says Ronn. He asks: What exposures do you have? What might a hiring practices audit (yours or the government’s) reveal about your company’s practices?
To avoid legal challenges related to talent acquisition, Ronn suggests that employers stay focused on three things: process, adverse impact by stage, and execution.
Start with process
A well-documented recruitment and hiring process is important to a good audit outcome. Do an audit, says Ronn, to review your recruitment and hiring process for compliance. Document your current process and design or redesign practices to minimize risk and maximize diversity.
This economic climate is a particularly good time for this audit, because it is easier to change process when business is slow rather than change it when hiring is going full speed, Ronn says. Be very critical and push for process change now, he advises.
The reward will be smoother processes, better performance with less variance, and reduced risk.
Adverse Impact by Stage
Next, Ronn says, consider adverse impact by stage. You should consider involving your legal counsel, as that might protect the data that result from the audit from discovery.
In any event, it is imperative that adverse impact analysis is completed stage by stage. Depending on your situation, you might want to consider the following stages:
- Job design/Job description
- Job announcement/Advertising copy
- Candidate sourcing
- Selection process
- Initial winnowing and testing
- Interviewing
- Final selection
- Compensation
Applicant Tracking Systems
Most federal contractors have an electronic applicant tracking system (ATS) that helps track, manage, and report on candidate flow, Ronn notes. The ATS does a nice job of collecting data and creating electronic records. Take advantage of it to analyze the data, looking for adverse impact at each individual hiring stage.
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Be proactive, and dig deep to identify the root cause of any significant anomalies you find, Ronn advises. Maybe a test, assessment tool, education requirement, or specific recruitment practice, such as poor management or evaluation of candidates in the ATS, is causing the increased risk.
Validate, remove, or replace tools that negatively affect your yield, and be ready to defend your selection process, Ronn says.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, we’ll look at Ronn’s tips for evaluating execution, and we’ll introduce an extraordinary audit checklist system—designed to help you root out discrimination (or the appearance of it) before the feds do.
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