Complete AAP News - January '96
New Products
New Windows Version of The Complete AAP
The Complete AAP Version 6.0 for Windows began shipping in September of last year. By now most of our users have been informed of the new release. If you did not get an upgrade notice, more than likely we do not have the correct name and address of the primary contact for your company. Many times we get an Order Form with only the name of the buyer who purchased the software.
Users who have already upgraded are enjoying the many new features and enhancements such as the new Windows interface with a convenient tool bar, appealing report graphics including pie charts and bar graphs, improved importing function that allows you to import work force data from many different word processing, spreadsheet, and database programs, as well as ASCII text files. For more information and special upgrade prices, contact us by phone or E-mail.
The release of the Windows version of the Employment Tracker should follow soon. Many new features that have been requested by our users will be incorporated into the new program, including faster and greater report writing capabilities. We will keep you posted on the Employment Tracker for Windows progress.
New Services
Yocom & McKee, Inc. has a new web site on the Internet. HR professionals looking for affirmative action software can download a free demonstration program and obtain additional information about our software and services. Current users have instant access to software updates, user forums, affirmative action news and other information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Questions can be directed to our technical staff via the web site, or the user can view questions and answers submitted by other users. Feel free to visit our web site as often as you like. Our internet address is: http://www.yocom-mckee.com/complete/.
Glass Ceiling Commision Report
Twelve recommendations aimed at enhancing enforcement of existing anti-discrimination laws and continued use of affirmative action as a "tool" to eliminate barriers that keep women and minorities from attaining upper-level positions were recently approved by the Glass Ceiling Commission. In a report A Solid Investment: Making Full Use of The Nation's Human Capital, the Commission stated that such actions are necessary to help shatter the glass ceiling, referring to the invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from moving up the corporate ladder.
The Commission is urging public disclosure of race, gender and ethnicity information of top-level company officials stating such action "is an effective incentive for other companies to develop diversity programs." This could be done by allowing public access to the EEO-1 Report filed each year by federal government contractors and other employers with 100 or more employees.
Other recommendations for businesses were to include diversity in all strategic business plans and to hold managers accountable for affirmative action progress. In addition, businesses are requested to educate their employees about the "Strengths and challenges" of a diverse workforce and to adopt work and family-friendly policies. Recommendations for the federal government include revising anti-discrimination regulations to reflect changes brought about by the passage of new laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is asked to take a closer look at company "practices that often hinder the advancement of minorities and women into executive positions" during an OFCCP audit. According to the report, such practices include:
- How employees are rated for management potential, and its effect on minorities and women;
- Extent and type of training provided to those conducting performance evaluations;
- The race, ethnic origin, and gender composition of management committees involved in assessing future managers;
- The impact of workplace practices that result in unequal opportunities, such as whether workers who need parental leave are tracked into dead-end positions; and
- How corporate mergers or downsizing actions have affected minorities and women both at the executive level and in the pipeline.
The Commission further recommended that government agencies like OFCCP break out workforce information by race and gender to better ascertain where minority women stand in the company. Currently, we do a utilization analysis of minorities and women separately which could cover up a deficiency of minority women in management positions.
Established under the 1991 Civil Rights Act, the Glass Ceiling Commission was charged with conducting a study and making recommendations to help eliminate the "Glass Ceiling". In an earlier fact-finding report, the Commission found that 97 percent of senior managers in Fortune 1000 industrial and Fortune 500 companies are white males.
Recent OFCCP Actions
An Arkansas company that provides security guard services has agreed to pay $34,000 to 24 qualified female applicants and to offer jobs to 23 qualified female applicants amounting to almost $237,000 in annual salaries under a settlement agreement reach with OFCCP. During a routine compliance review, OFCCP alleged it discovered female applicants were denied employment as security guards because of their gender.
A Minnesota envelope manufacturer allegedly placed women in lower paying jobs compared to men hired at the same time and blocked women from promotions and bonus opportunities according to a class-action sexual discrimination lawsuit filed against the company. In addition, the lawsuit alleges that women in the bindery department were subjected to hostile and unfair working conditions and that one female employee was fired because she complained of sexual harassment. The company settled the lawsuit by agreeing to pay $620,000 to 24 current and former female employees, and to set a goal of hiring 10 women to management or higher-production jobs during the next 3 years. Two EEO Coordinators will also be hired by the company to help implement an anti-sexual harassment training program and a program to achieve the goal of promoting women.
Questions & Answers
I am running the DOS version of The Complete AAP or The Employment Tracker and my computer locks up or I get an "out of memory" error. I use to run these programs without any problems and my computer now has 8 megabytes of memory.
Unlike Windows programs, many DOS programs primarily utilize only conventional memory. Even though your machine has 8 or more megabytes of memory, it still has a total of only 640K conventional memory. More and more of this conventional memory is being used up by device drivers (e.g. drivers for sound cards and CD ROMs) and programs that are always running in the background. Installing a network driver on your computer can also use up a lot of conventional memory. The Complete AAP and The Employment Tracker both require a minimum of 475K available conventional memory.
To check the amount of available conventional memory you have on your machine, type MEM from the C:\ DOS prompt. You will get a series of numbers. One set of numbers should be labeled "bytes available to MS-DOS" or "largest executable program size" depending upon the version of MS DOS you are running. If that number is less than 475K, you will need to free up more conventional memory by unloading some drivers or programs that reside in memory, or you may be able to load these drivers and programs into "upper memory" freeing up conventional memory. See your DOS manual for more details.
When I enter The Complete AAP or The Employment Tracker, I get the error message "Maximum # of Users on System". I cannot access the program and no one else is currently using the program.
This situation may be caused by someone turning off the computer while the program is running, power surges, or otherwise abnormally terminating the program.
To correct the problem, when entering The Complete AAP, a box with the Title and version number will appear. Pressing the F10 key will reset the number of users. On the Employment Tracker, when the Title and version number box appears hold down the Shift key and press the F10 key.
I'm using the new Windows version of The Complete AAP and would like to combine some of my job groups without going to each job and reassigning the job group code. Likewise, I would like to combine some of my jobs and departments without going to each employee's record and reassigning the job or department code.
The latest version of The Complete AAP has a global replace feature that makes combining these codes an easy one-step process. If you wish to combine job groups, go to the Job Group Edit screen and delete one of the job groups you wish to combine. The program will automatically scan all jobs you have entered or imported and prompt you to reassign all the affected jobs to another job group.
To combine one or more departments, delete one of the departments you wish to combine from the Departments Edit screen. The program will tell you how may employees have the deleted department code and allow you to reassigned them to a new department. The same procedure would be followed when combining jobs.
Surviving an OFCCP Audit
There are three phases to a typical OFCCP compliance review; the Desk Audit, the Onsite Visit, and the Conciliation and Exit Interview. Following are a few tips a contractor can use to facilitate a prompt and successful conclusion to each phase of the audit:
Desk Audit
- Compile and submit all the requested data within 30 days of receipt of the initial audit letter. Call the OFCCP Compliance Officer (CO) for clarification or if data requested appears unreasonable.
- Notify CO and request an extension if unable to submit all requested data within 30 days. OFCCP uses a "reasonable effort" criteria for granting extensions.
- Gather I-9's and any Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) documentation for review.
- Be available to answer the CO's questions regarding job groups, organization's structure, support data, etc.
- Make sure Impact Ratio Analyses (IRA's) have been completed for last year's hires, promotions, and terminations.
- Anticipate questions and areas of concern (e.g. lack of qualified female or minority applicants or white males hired at a disproportionate rate when compared to females and minorities.)
- Consider conducting a Job Area Acceptance Range (JAAR) analysis to uncover departments that are over or under-concentrated with females or minorities. OFCCP routinely completes a JAAR analysis during the Desk Audit.
- Maintain documentation of any recent "good faith" affirmative action efforts (e.g. community organizations contacted for referrals, goals progress meetings held with managers, job description reviews.)
Onsite Preparation
- Find out CEO's availability to meet with CO.
- Reserve a conference room or office in which the CO can work during the onsite.
- Ensure the HR Manager and EEO Coordinator have a clear schedule during the onsite.
- Determine the availability of personnel files and applications that may be requested by CO for the current and prior year. Review any files prior to submitting to CO.
- Gather copies of employee handbook, collective bargaining agreements, application form, subcontract and purchase order forms, and job descriptions. Be prepared to produce employment activity logs.
- Prepare to produce information needed for salary analysis. Determine reasons for any known pay disparities.
Onsite
- Schedule meeting with CEO and HR personnel to meet with CO at entrance conference.
- Arrange for person to conduct a tour of facility. Pre-determine tour route.
- Provide a private work space for CO to conduct interviews and review materials. Do not allow CO to remove any original documents.
Exit Conference
- Ensure availability of CEO and other HR personnel.
- Be prepared to take remedial action for any violations and concerns raised by CO as soon as possible.
- Brief CEO on the violations found by OFCCP and any remedies that have been made.
- Ensure CEO's understanding of violations and remedies.
- Have CEO and legal counsel, if necessary, review any Conciliation Agreements or documents before signing.
- Do not agree to any on-going reporting requirements that are unreasonable or too difficult to accomplish.
Survey of Preferred Racial Terms
The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its intial findings of a survey of 60,000 households conducted to determine preferences for use of racial and ethnic terms when collecting data for a variety of programs, including affirmative action. "Hispanic " and "black" are still the most preferred terms over other racial or ethnic designations. The survey also found that 1.5 percent of the household surveyed preferred a "multiracial" identification when the choice was offered.
Current racial and ethnic categories used by federal government agencies have drawn criticism as being outdated. The five main categories used on most forms are: white, black, American Indian, Aleut, or Eskimo; Asian or Pacific Islander; and other.
Some of the initial findings of the survey include:
- Most Hispanics (57.9%) prefer the term "Hispanic." Only 12.3 percent preferred "of Spanish origin" or "Latino."
- Most whites (61.7%) prefer "white." Only 16.5 percent preferred the term "Caucasian."
- A slight majority of blacks (44.2%) prefer "black," while 40.2 percent prefer "African American" or "Afro-American."
- A vast majority (53.3%) of those identifying themselves as American Indian or Alaskan Native prefer "American Indian" or "Alaska Native". However, 37.4 percent prefer the term "Native American."
The initial findings of the survey would not suggest a great need to change the current racial and ethnic designations.
The Complete AAP News is published by Yocom & McKee, Inc. to inform users of The Complete AAP and Employment Tracker software of changes in affirmative action laws and regulations, review current activities at the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), and share tips and new information about the software.
