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In easier terms affirmative action is known to be the equal opportunity measures that Federal contractors and subcontractors are legally required to adopt to prevent discrimination against employees or applicants on the basis of color, religion, sex or national origin (Wisped 2013). Below I’ll introduce some ideas of how affirmative action is used in the workplace, through affirmative action plans, promotion within the workplace, and affirmative action with private companies. Affirmative action began in the United States as a tool to address the persistent discrimination against African Americans in 1960 (Wisped 2013).
During that time most Americans who were not considered in the highest social class, males, and from European decent, where passed over for employment opportunities and advancements in the work place. When President John P. Kennedy mandated affirmative action into the workplace for the Federal Government and sub-contractors he ensured that all applicants are employed, and that employees are treated fairly during employment without regard to their race, creed, color or national origin (Wisped 2013).
Affirmative action attempts to compensate for past discriminatory practices by requiring federal contractors to engage in “good faith efforts” to expand outreach and recruitment of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities University of Virginia 2013). Many companies today have Affirmative Action Plans that they use to recruit future employees. Federal affirmative action regulations require that government contractors develop a written affirmative action plan. An Affirmative Action Plan is a written document containing information and analyses of a federal contractor’s workforce, where it is comprised into four sections.
The four sections consist of utilization analysis, the workforce analysis, the goal and timetables, and the narrative (University of Virginia 2012). The University of Virginia reports that the first three sections include employee data, national census data and availability data. The University of Virginia also states that this data is used to analyze the demographics of the workforce in relation to the demographics of qualified and available individuals in the relevant labor pool. This affects many companies with recruitment by making them look at individuals that are women, minorities, and are from various backgrounds.
The purpose of using affirmative action in an organization’s recruitment practices is to increase the amount of qualified candidates from various diverse groups. Examples of owe the majority of government employers accomplish this practice is through broadening their advertising of open and available positions to outreach and attract women and minorities, as well as sponsoring job fairs, and business conferences at historically black colleges and universities (Scott 2013). With promotion in the workplace; affirmative action plays an important role.
It helps individuals that may have been overlooked in the past because of the color of their skin, gender, sexual orientation, or religion have an equal opportunity to obtain those promotions, and earn equal merit increases. Many companies use an applicant flowchart; this is an example of affirmative action in the workplace. A flowchart occurs within the human resources department were an applicant log reveals the race, sex, ethnicity or national origin, and veteran or disability status age of people who apply for jobs with the company (Mayhem 2013).
It is reported that this information isn’t used to make hiring decisions; however it is filed and maintained separately from other employment records. An applicant log could also contain the recruitment source or where the applicant learned of open positions (Mayhem 2013). Companies that are required to have written affirmative action plans must be able to produce copies of their applicant flow log upon request by the Department of Labors Office of Contract Compliance Programs (Mayhem 2013). Affirmative action in private companies falls under the Executive Order 11246, which is a law that the U. S.
Department of Labor enforces (Mayhem 2013). President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the executive order in 1 965 to strengthen private employers’ accountability and to hold government contractors to a higher standard for equal employment opportunity (Mayhem 2013). Whether affirmative action is mandatory or laundry for private companies it is comprised of four primary elements: record keeping commitment, analysis and outreach. When a private company sells more than $50,000 in products or services to the federal government and employs at least 50 workers, it must develop a written affirmative action plan (Mayhem 2013).
Record keeping for private companies that are government contractors must maintain applicant and employment records that reflect their recruiting activities, the number and characteristics of applicants and employees, and the organization’s employment practices, such as hires, transfers, promotions, compensation decisions and ruminations (Mayhem 2013). Affirmative action is a positive to have in the workplace for all federal government jobs as well as it is needed for privately funded jobs.
In conclusion, it is my belief that there are more pros than there are cons when it comes to affirmative action in the workplace. Some of the pros that believe are that with the use of affirmative action it continues to allow minorities to have an equal opportunity at employment, promotions, and merit increases instead of being passed over based on past discrimination. It creates more of a diverse work environment, and breaks stereotypes. As well it gives minorities a boost to succeed who may have started off with a disadvantage.
However, there is one con that I believe of affirmative action is that minorities may feel that they need affirmative action to succeed in the workplace. A minority may feel that they do not need to be highly qualified for the position as they feel that due to affirmative action they are guaranteed the position without having to work as hard as the next person that IS not affected by affirmative action in the workplace. With affirmative action in the workplace it allows minorities like myself to be able o be considered for employment regardless of my race, origin, creed and color.