Inside Human Resources Blog

Specific baseline objectives help defend a discrimination charge

2008-08-12T11:54:56-04:00

While sitting with a client reviewing resumes and pre-employment test results, the manager turned to me and said, "this guy looks pretty good." After glancing at the resume, I pointed out that his highest completed level of education was high school. The manager responded, " but that's okay as long as he has the experience."

"But I thought you said a '4-year degree' was required," challenging him.

"Yes, but..."

I can't tell you how many times I hear the "yes, but..." from managers. The 4-year degree requirement is not really a requirement at all but a preference. This seemingly innocuous difference can have grave ramifications if a business is ever put in the position of defending a discrimination charge, according to a recent ruling, Makky v. Chertoff, in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

A recent post on the PA Labor and Employment Blog offers an excellent piece of advice:

When a position requires a baseline objective qualification, like a license or degree, make sure it is expressly stated in all hiring materials including: (1) job advertisements; (2) position descriptions; and (3) application materials. Notably, if the degree or license it is merely the company's "preference" for someone in the position, it is important to consider whether making the "preference" appear as a "qualification" may lead to problems in the future. For example, suppose that Company X states that a sales position requires a Bachelor's Degree. When Company X interviews its two top choices, however, the female candidate who possess a Bachelor's Degree has the personality of dry toast, while the male candidate who has waitered all his life and does not have a Bachelor's Degree has a dynamic sales personality and will surely do well with Company X. If Company X believes that the male applicant is better suited for the position than the female applicant, should the Bachelor's Degree have been a required qualification in the first place? Probably not. Accordingly, it is important to have a process in place to review your company's job advertisements and position descriptions before posting for openings. While certain baseline objective qualifications can often be beneficial in refuting a prima facie discrimination claim, turning a mere "preference" into a "qualification" can have the opposite result because it may be used as evidence of a discriminatory motive.

New! Free Generation IQ Test

2008-07-09T00:42:20-04:00

Generation IQ Quiz

Subscribe to the Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 blog

2008-02-23T15:33:55-05:00

The "Inside Human Resources Blog" is moving to the Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 blog.

As many of you know, I've published the second edition of my Perfect Labor Storm book in the fall of 2007. I first coined the phrase "Perfect Labor Storm" in 2000 and like a "bad penny" I kept writing and writing......and writing about impending worker shortages and how workforce trends will change the way employers do business.

A milestone date was 2008. Back in 2000 this year seemed far away. But now it's here and everyday I receive dozens of emails and alerts warning me about trends that are changing the ways employers will do business.

I've therefore decided to focus on updating the Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 blog. I hope you will take a few minutes to visit the blog and subscribe by email or RSS feed to Perfect Labor Storm updates.

Thank you for subscribing and reading the Inside Human Resources blog and please join me on the Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 blog.

More Sorry Stats about Stealing and other Criminal Activities

2007-12-12T22:09:09-05:00

The following Perfect Labor Storm stat just arrived in my inbox:

The U.S Department of Justice reports that 1 in every 32 adults has a criminal record, so the typical company of 500 employees would, on average, have at least 15 convicted criminals on their payroll.

This follows on the heels about my last post about teen attitudes related to theft, cheating, and lying.

38 percent of teens believe cheating is ok

2007-12-11T23:25:45-05:00

I'm often asked why anyone would ever admit they stole, cheated or hit someone in anger. The answer is simple: they believe this is acceptable behavior and their peers agree.

The latest (Dec 2007)Junior Achievement/Deloitte Teen Ethics Survey confirms why honesty and integrity tests are a good pre-employment tool for employers who want to weed out candidates who might cheat, steal, fight or just not show up for worl. The findings should be frightening to anyone who is counting on the next generation of workers to drive their organization ahead.

Harris Interactive did the actual survey of American teens ages 13-18, and here are a few of the findings:

• 71 percent of teens say they feel fully prepared to make ethical decisions when they enter the workforce.

• 38 percent of that group believes it is sometimes necessary to cheat, plagiarize, lie or even behave violently in order to succeed. In fact, some 23 percent of all teens surveyed think violence toward another person is acceptable on some level. Of those who think so, the justifications for violence include settling an argument (27 percent) and revenge (20 percent).

• 24 percent of all teens surveyed think cheating on a test is acceptable on some level, and more than half of those teens (54 percent) say their personal desire to succeed is the rationale.

• Of the teens who think plagiarism is acceptable on some level, 37 percent think a personal desire to succeed is justification, and that number climbs to 51 percent among the students who feel an overwhelming pressure to succeed.

• 27 percent of all teens surveyed said it’s not fair for an employer to suspend or fire employees for unethical behavior outside of their jobs.

• 57 percent of all teens surveyed believe it is not fair for employers to make hiring or firing decisions based on material they have posted to the Internet, and another 19 percent weren’t sure if it was fair or not.

• 47 percent of teens said it was acceptable on some level to illegally download music without paying for it, but only 5 percent said it was acceptable to steal something from a store.

US Competes Around the World for Workers

2007-12-02T15:43:35-05:00

Name this country.

A shortage of skilled workers, declining demand and the rising cost of finance, are key hurdles for businesses today.

About 38% of businesses say a skilled labor shortage is becoming a critical constraint. This <Name this country>’s companies say the shortage has caused negative impact to their business. Many blame the education system for the lack of skilled labor. Other reasons include poor people management, uncompetitive salary levels and an increasing number of career opportunities in the labor market, where demand has outstripped supply.

The survey identified a quantitative shortage in output from schools and a mismatch between employer demand and supply from the educational system. Meanwhile, the shortage of skilled managers, engineers and technicians also hinders plans to achieve higher value-added activities such as R&D and international expansion.

The most important skills required are in business decision-making (95%), planning (82%) and financial management (75%).

<Name this country> now needs graduates who can think, make decisions, do research, analyze problems and find solutions to the problems. Yet the <Name this country>’s education system isn't producing this.

Source: Grant Thornton International, according to the company's recent survey of 7,200 businesses in 32 countries.

Answer: Thailand

Business Author warns, If you think hiring is tough now, just wait

2007-11-15T23:12:45-05:00

When Ira Wolfe asked local business leaders Tuesday how many of them have had difficulty filling a key position, about half of them raised their hands.

Exactly, Wolfe said, and it's going to get worse.

For more of this story, click on or type the URL below:

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2007/11/14/news/news470.txt#blogform

It can't be true: India Worker Shortages

2007-11-14T11:06:00-05:00

Call centers are symbols of India's economic boom. With Anglicized names and feigned Western accents, Indians handle credit card problems and troubleshoot computers, collect debts and conduct customer satisfaction surveys. Over the past decade or so, relatively high salaries in the call center sector have attracted thousands of applicants across the country. But now the boom is going bust because India's college graduates and young job seekers just don't want to be bothered with the business anymore.

Young people say it is no longer worthwhile going through sleepless nights serving customers halfway around the world. They have better job opportunities in other fields.

More about worker shortages in India and The Perfect Labor Storm

Oil isn't the only thing in short supply

2007-11-13T11:02:00-05:00

In the next three or four years, there's expected to be a 30 to 40 percent shortage of technical and professional oil workers in the United States, according to Damon Beyer of Katzenbach Partners, a Houston-based management consultancy that specializes in the energy sector.

Over a quarter of the industry's highly skilled employees - petroleum engineers, process engineers, geologists, geophysicists and the like - are eligible for retirement in two years, said Beyer.

"It's a real issue," said Beyer. "Success in attracting new people into the work force is limited."

Worldwide, the industry's "people deficit" is expected to reach up to 15 percent by 2010, according to Pritesh Patel, an associate director at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Continue reading about oil worker shortages and The Perfect Labor Storm 2.0

Shortage of workers stalls business expansion

2007-11-12T10:59:00-05:00

"Workforce issues are the number one economic development issue in Oklahomaquot; says Terry Watson, with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. "And it is an issue for which there is no single solution."

One recent survey reported that 39 percent of Oklahoma employers who wanted to expand but were unable to do so because they could not find the workers the companies needed, Watson said.

Studies conducted by the department, as well as other research, indicates state employers will need more workers than Oklahoma's population growth is expected to produce.

"The state that solves this problem first is probably going to win," Watson said.