JUL 2021, Vol 18, Issue 7

New Filing Deadline for 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 Component 1 Data Collection

The deadline to submit and certify 2019 and the 2020 EEO-1 Component 1 data has been changed. The new filing deadline is now Monday, August 23, 2021. After delaying the opening of the 2019 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection because of the COVID-19 public health emergency, the EEOC announced the opening of the 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection on April 26, 2021. For additional information filers should visit https://EEOCdata.org/eeo1. The EEOC will also be opening the 2020 EEO-5 data collection on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. The 2020 EEO-3 data collection is scheduled to open in August. The 2021 EEO-4 data collection is scheduled to open in October.

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Affirmative Action Compliance Review

There is no question that it is important to be prepared for an affirmative action compliance review by the federal government. However, it is becoming increasingly important to be prepared for requests of affirmative action information by state and local units of government. Here are some of the most important action steps that can be taken in that regard.

• Ensure there is effective communication between sales representatives, human resources representatives, and management about state and local government contracts – The most critical thing that an organization can do in regard to dealing with state and local affirmative action requirements is to ensure there is communication between all parties who may be required to provide this information. Sales representatives need to understand the importance of informing HR representatives about pending and current contracts; HR representatives need to ensure that management is aware of the significance of these affirmative action requirements; management needs to facilitate communication between all involved.
• Provide state and local units of government with what they request – State and local units of government are likely to have particular requirements that apply within their specific jurisdictions. Organizations should be prepared to provide state and local units of government with exactly what they require. Organizations should also be prepared to limit the information provided to the set of data and other information the relevant unit of government has an explicit right to request. For example, if a local unit of government’s ordinances ask for data on employees living or working within that jurisdiction, organizations should provide only information for this set of employees and not on employees living in other geographical areas.
• Understand the affirmative action information that a state or local unit of government is allowed to request – State and local units of government are bound by their relevant statutes, ordinances, and administrative codes. They cannot ask for information outside of the limits of what is found in these documents. Organizations should make an effort to understand what they are required to provide to the state and local units of government. When these units of government request information that appears to be beyond the requirements that have been properly established, organizations should consider challenging the relevant unit of government on what is being requested.

With the increase in the scope of information being requested by state and local units of government, this is a good time for organizations to consider how they can effectively respond to these requests and make sure that you have your current year AAP in addition to the previous two years’ AAPs. Make sure that any AAPs from prior years are shredded or destroyed along with the supporting documentation.

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Employee Engagement and Stay Interviews

As leadership teams are chasing their tails to keep employees safe and well, the rest of your organization is experiencing challenges as they try to achieve revenue targets in markets that have gone soft or maybe completely disappeared.

Organizations are working fast to pivot in many cases with employees working longer hours to make up for the shortfalls. The mood in many companies does not lend itself to employee engagement being top of mind, but it needs to be a priority in 2021. Human beings are designed to interact and connect, so without engaging with each other, we are basically asking them to do the opposite of what they are naturally hardwired to do. What organizations need to be focused on for the balance of 2021 is bringing their employee engagement program to the forefront. When was the last time you celebrated the birthdays for the month? Hosted a virtual happy hour? Sent your staff a Independence Day themed decoration for use in the office? Used your team chat to share a corny Dad joke or two? All these ideas and more are some of the ways your team can work to re-engage with your staff. We are still uncomfortable gathering large groups of people in a room to throw a party, but we can certainly find small ways to remind them that they are the foundation of your company, and you care about them!

Another area to focus on is retaining our top talent. As many of us have found out over the past several months is that it is extremely difficult to recruit talent for our organizations. As a result, it’s more important than ever to retain the talent we have, and would recommend conducting stay interviews. Don’t wait until someone has given their notice of leaving to conduct an exit interview, spend time now with your employees to find out why they stay or what would make them leave.

Here are a few tips for conducting stay interviews:

• Wait to interview new hires until they’ve had some time to get to know the job. But don’t wait too long—new hires are often more vulnerable to turnover because they have less invested in the organization. Consider conducting these interviews more than once in the first year of tenure with the organization, and annually thereafter.
• Let employees know in advance the intent behind these meetings. If they’re aware that you’re looking for their honest input, they’ll have the chance to give thoughtful answers and insights.
• Keep the discussion completely separate from performance reviews or other types of meetings. (This is about the employee’s needs, not about the employee’s performance.)
• Use the opportunity to express how much you value the employee. This is a great time to communicate the organization’s appreciation for their work.
• Ask questions from both sides of the topic. Ask about what makes the job one they want to keep, and also ask about what frustrations they have with the role or the organization.
• Be sure to have methods in place to actually follow up on the information obtained during these interviews. The only thing worse than not even asking what employees need is to ask and then completely ignore the answers. When making changes as a result of the information gained in these interviews, be sure to communicate about it—employees need to know their concerns were heard and are being addressed.
• Pay attention to company culture before you begin. If your organization does not have a culture of openness and trust, employees may view these interviews warily, and they may not be as forthcoming. If this is a concern, consider working on incrementally improving the company culture and sticking with more anonymous means of soliciting feedback until you’re more confident that the opportunity to give feedback openly will be welcomed. That said, stay interviews can help to build trust, as long as the organization is transparent and sincerely acts upon the feedback given to show the employees their input is valued.

Stay interviews can help the organization gain valuable insights into what things employees’ value (and thus should be kept because they’re influencing retention) and what will make employees leave.

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Delaware Anti-Sexual Harassment Law Training Requirements

The Delaware law that specifically addresses prohibition against sexual harassment under the Delaware Discrimination in Employment Act (DDEA), requires anti-sexual harassment training requirements for employers, with 50 or more employees in the state, every two years.The law went into effect on January 1, 2019 and now is the time to conduct the mandatory interactive training.

HR Strategies, LLC is available to present interactive training programs consistent with Delaware’s training requirements. We can provide the training in-person or virtually.Contact HR Strategies to schedule your organization’s required training or schedule new employees for a class.

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Contact HR Strategies staff at 302.376.8595 or info@hrstrategies.org if you would like support or would like to learn more about the items in this newsletter. Please contact us if you would like to be added to our Monthly Strategies mailing list or if you would like for us to add someone to our mailing list.

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Have a safe and enjoyable Independence Day!