OFCCP Compliance Review - Compensation

If your company is going through an OFCCP compliance review expect a rough road.  If you haven’t already experienced this you’ll be in for a surprise when the OFCCP asks for more compensation data including bonuses, compensation, part time hours worked and overtime. These will be just some of the data you’ll be asked to deliver. If this makes you uncomfortable get ready for a rough ride. 

It’s likely the initial review of your compensation data (Paragraph 11) by the OFCCP is going to fail…giving them the green light to ask for all of your data.  It’s believed the OFCCP is using a 2or2 test (2% or $2K difference in pay) they’ve devised that generally fails most companies. We’ve noticed the letter they send requesting the additional data is a canned letter asking for this data on all your positions. It really would be a lot easier if they were to just come out and ask you to explain the findings that alerted them. Never less they will likely come back to you and ask for at least 16 points of compensation related data. Drive carefully, there’s a rough road ahead.

AAP Hints:

Good Faith Efforts - Understate and Over Perform 

When writing good faith efforts for the narrative portion of the Affirmative Action Program, commit to action items you know you will complete.  If there’s any doubt about completing any good faith efforts don’t list them in the AAP.  You can always over perform during the AAP year and present your extra efforts to the OFCCP if and when you get audited. 

How We Can Help You Save Money

(A) Take the total number of managers (or supervisors) in your office, team, division, or department:.

(B) Estimate the average hourly pay for those managers.

(C) Assume those managers grapple with preventable managerial problems for an hour each day, so the total daily cost is:

(A) x (B) = $_____________

Take that amount and multiply it by 22 for 22 working days per month and you'll get the total monthly cost.

Now multiply that amount by 12 for the total annual cost.

Compare that figure - or even half of it - with the cost of guidance from Sanders Wade Rodarte and you can see why the right advice at the right time can make a huge difference.

It's simple:

Preventing problems saves money.

And we don't just prevent problems. We develop people.

See how we can help you.

(602) 788-1717

info@swrci.com

November 2011 Workshops

November 17: Leading with Honor

The most important element of effective leadership is trust. Trust draws from the deep wells of integrity and competence and determines results. If people trust you, they don't sue you. When people trust you, they are more accepting of your decisions. When they have faith in your ability, they can rely upon your direction for they know you just don't "talk a good game." Unfortunately, in these trying and sometimes chaotic economic times, leaders can inadvertently squander trust and add to the already sizable amount of stress in the workplace. Leading with Honor explores a special type of leadership that applies solid values to work and employee problems. Using a series of "real world" case examples, class participants will detect challenges and craft solutions for confronting poor performers and saboteurs, encouraging initiative, fostering positive attitudes, strengthening teams, and building trust.

Price: $139

To register for Leading with Honor, click here.

October 2011 Workshops

Here are two open enrollment workshops that Sanders Wade Rodarte Consulting Inc. partner Michael Wade will be conducting in Phoenix:

October 12: A Coaching Session for Supervisors

This casual consulting session will be limited to 12 participants from a variety of organizations. It is designed so you can discuss management and employee relations questions on: dealing with difficult employees, motivation, communication, discipline, delegation, change management, dealing with upper management, and managing your time.

Price: $50

To register for A Coaching Session for Supervisors, click here.

October 26: Harassment Prevention

Attend a no-nonsense workshop that, through the active use of case examples, gives clear guidance on how to head off and discourage harassment. This fast-paced class addresses the full range of harassment types and shows the specific danger zones. It gives participants the information that is needed to gain control of what can seem to be an unpredictable and hyper-sensitive subject.

Price: $99

To register for Harassment Prevention, click here.

Manage Your Applicant Pool to Minimize Your Risk of Adverse Impact (Discrimination) Findings

When you peel back the adverse impact analysis process, the one conducted on the applicant/selection data as part of your Affirmative Action Program obligations, you’ll see it’s strictly a numbers game.  If you stand back far enough you’ll see that if you reduce the applicant pool numbers you can minimize the statistical significance of the applicant/selection data, and with that you’re playing the game at an advanced level.  Some years ago there was a survey of companies that were audited by the OFCCP and the findings showed that around 90% of the contentious issues between the OFCCP and the audited companies revolved around the applicant/selection data.  If you look further at the cases where there were legal challenges you’ll also see that applicant/selection analysis is at the core of the majority of the cases. And if you look even deeper you’ll see that the most vulnerable positions in the challenges are the entry level jobs. These are the positions where there are limited minimum qualifications and large volumes of applicants. It’s no secret the OFCCP knows this and they target these areas in an audit. The higher the applicant pool numbers the more likely you can conclude statistical significance.

It isn’t rocket science to minimize the applicant pool. Here are six things you can do immediately:

1.   Review your positions and focus your attention on your entry level positions.

2.   Use legitimate minimum job qualification requirements to limit the pool.

3.   Target specific application form sections that you must have completed and consistently use and document the practice to weed out applicants who skimp on completing the application form (You may also just eliminate those applicants who don’t follow directions).

4.   Limit the time an opening is posted; if you don’t get qualified applicants start over by reposting the position.

5.   If you have a large group of applicants don’t review all of them, take a random sample and make that your applicant pool.

6.   If your departments select the applicants for further processing, such as interviews, make sure they take a sample diverse group to review; don’t review the entire group.

Bottom line; limit your applicant pool and you will minimize the chance and value of any statistical significance findings in adverse impact.  One final point to keep in mind, one of the four internet applicant rules says that an applicant has to be considered to be included in the applicant pool;  so this can’t be any clearer, don’t consider all the applicants.

(Contact me if you need assistance with your applicant analysis or AAP. Lou Rodarte at lou@swrci.com)

A Chance to Surface Issues and Questions in an Informal Setting

We are exploring the possibility of having informal sessions for clients and seminar attendees. The sessions will be 1 1/2 to two hours long and will cover a variety of employee relations topics, such as motivation, dealing with difficult employees, communication, time management, managing change, and decision making. The attendee-driven sessions will respond to questions raised by the audience. In order to permit individual attention, there will be a maximum of 12 participants per session. The sessions will be facilitated by Michael Wade.

Also under consideration are similar sessions focusing on key virtues - courage, loyalty, fairness, respect, honesty, pursuit of excellence, and caring - that are vital for a successful professional and personal life.

If you would like to be notified of when and where these sessions will be held, e-mail info@swrci.com or call 602-788-1717.