Introduction
As a federal contractor, MEGAQUIPMENT is bound by a number of laws and regulations regarding the protection of women, the minorities, people with disabilities as well as individuals recognized as veterans under the US laws (Leiter & Leiter, 2012). With these regards, the company’s hiring and recruitment process is required to abide to these laws in order to ensure that none of the applicants to various job positions are discriminated. The purpose of this news release is to provide a detailed description of the best recruitment practices for females and American military veterans as the most targeted groups during the company’s recruitment procedure.
Techniques to be used in recruiting women employees at MEGAQUIPMENT
Under the Executive Order 11246, the American laws requires all federal contractors and subcontractors to develop a comprehensive affirmative action plan (AAP) as a guideline to direct the equal employment of individuals based in gender, minority groups and the people with disabilities (Department of Labor, 2013). In this case, hiring female employees are an important aspect of the affirmative action for MegaEquipment.
The company seeks to comply with the laws while at the same time building a strong workforce and meeting the corporate social responsibilities as an equal employer. Under the AAP [41 CFR 60-1.12 and 60-2.17(d)], a federal contractor should develop and submit a detailed AAP plan that is relatively in consistent with the one recommend by the OFCCP (Felsberg, 2005).
To meet these requirements, MegaEquipment has decided to borrow a detailed AAP plan a company that has used this plan before with positive outcomes. In this case, the company has decided to make sure that at least 31% of its employees in a number of selected workplaces are females. First, a job group profile and a job group analysis will be developed. Under these plans, the administration is the highest organ of the organization and involves office work.
The maximum possible number of administration employees is 12. In this case, the company seeks to ensure that at least 34% of the employees are females. Secondly, the accounts section, design and sales are largely office work-oriented workplaces. Each has a total of 24 slots and the company has decided to ensure that at least 30% are females. Thirdly, installation, assembly and engineering sections involve a lot of masculine work. The company has decided to ensure that at least 26% of the employees are females.
The AAP for hiring military veterans
Under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 as well Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act 1973, federal contractors are required to have AAP that protects military veterans from discrimination during employment (Department of Labor, 2012). In this case, MegaEquipment has decided to adopt and use the same AAP borrowed from the company, which has shown positive outcomes when used in hiring. According to this plan, the company will ensure that at least 12% of the total employees hired in the executive and managerial levels are veterans. In addition, the engineering and assembly sections will ensure that at least 18% of the positions are preserved for the American military veterans.
Examination of the possible outcomes of using the sample AAP
The company from which the AAP was borrowed allowed us to examine some of its employees to determine their reactions towards the plan. We examined six women and 8 veterans working for the organization. In general, it was realized that women felt that their gender did not hinder them from obtaining employment in an engineering company. In addition, they felt that they were well represented in the organization. On the other hand, the veterans reported that they were proud to be former American soldiers. They felt that the company and the government recognized their previous roles in serving the nation. They felt that they were well represented in the company.
All employers (regardless of their size or federal contractor/subcontractor status) should be required to implement and keep up-to-date affirmative action plans;
In general, companies that are covered by the affirmative action regulations in the USA are required to maintain and updated AAP when they are direct contractors or subcontractors in projects funded by the federal government. However, it is important for other organizations to ensure that they have plans to avoid discrimination of individuals based on gender, physical disabilities, race, ethnicity, nationality, previous employment (police and military veterans in particular) and other aspects.
Under the new affirmative action requirements 41 C.F.R. §§ 60-300 and 60-741, companies are measured against a certain benchmark goal for hiring people with disabilities as well as military veterans. According to the department of labor, at least 7% of the individuals employed in these companies should be set aside for the people with disabilities and military veterans. The purpose of these regulations is to ensure that there are equal chances for employment for these individuals, who have previously been discriminated in various fields and sectors.
It is also important for corporations of any kind to ensure that their workforce is comprised of at least some percentage of individuals from other minority groups, including women, youths and those form minority ethnic groups such as blacks, Asians, Native Americans and Hispanics (Leuchovius, 2012). However, the companies should ensure that they use the E-verify system to ensure that each of the individuals hired meet the requirements for employment to avoid violating employment rules and hiring illegal foreigners and other prohibited groups under the US laws (Cranford, 1998).
References
Cranford, M. (1998). Drug Testing and the Right to Privacy: Arguing the Ethics of Workplace Drug Testing. Journal of Business Ethics, 17(16), 1805.
Department of Labor. (2012). The Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act. Web.
Department of Labor. (2013). Sample affirmative action program (AAP). Web.
Felsberg, E. J. (2005). Affirmative action overview for federal contractors. Employment Relations Today, 32(2), 101-105.
Leiter, S., & Leiter, W. M. (2012). Affirmative Action in Antidiscrimination Law and Policy: An Overview and Synthesis. Washington, DC: Sunny Press.
Leuchovius, D. (2012). The Rehabilitation Act and ADA Connection. Web.