Abstract
This chapter reviews how the passage of United States federal Equal Employment Opportunity laws between 1960 and 2000 related to race, gender, age, and national origin led to increased diversity of the labor force in gender, race, and ethnicity, an increase which is ongoing. Data from the U.S. Departments of Labor and Census indicate these laws substantially increased the percentage of Black, Hispanic and Asian and female workers. Between 2003 and 2013, the percentage of the labor force that is women, Black, Hispanic and Asian continued to increase, with the largest gains being of Hispanic and Asian employees. The chapter demonstrates how utilizing diversity improves the research and practice of HRD. This increasing diversity requires practitioners to rethink the methods they use to deliver training and development programs. Further, researchers should examine how the increased diversity impacts all areas of HRD, such as training, mentoring, and work-life balance.
TopHrd, Increased Diversity, And Eeo Legislation
Overview of Relationship of EEO and HRD
During the last 40 years, there has been significant growth in the percentage of employees who are Black, Hispanic, Asian, and women. In addition there is a continued shift in the age composition of the labor force due to the aging of the large Baby Boomer generation. The labor force will continue to change significantly in the coming decades.
These demographic changes in the composition of the labor force will require organizations to tailor their HRD strategies to meet the needs of the diverse employees who will enter employment. It is critical that organizations manage diversity in a way that is deliberate and planned, and that the programs have CEO support to be successful (Ng, 2008). CEO’s who use transformational or transactional leadership have been found to be successful in implementing diversity programs (Ng & Sears, 2012).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Generation Y: People born between 1980 and 2000.
Latchkey Child: Young child who has a house key who lets herself into her family’s home after school and who stays at home alone for several hours after school until her parents return home from work.
Generation X: People born between 1965 and 1980.
Disability: Within the Americans with Disabilities Act, it is defined as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of life’s major activities (e.g., walking, seeing).
Reliability: A state of being that exists when an instrument (e.g., test) score is stable (e.g., each time a person takes a test, the score is the same; or if two supervisors rate an employee, they agree on the quality of the employee’s work).
Age Discrimination in Employment Act: Law that bans discrimination in employment against people who are over the age of 40, on the basis that they are older than other workers.
Availability: Number or percentage of people in a demographic group who are qualified & interested in a position.
Presidential Executive Orders: Decree written by the U.S. President ordering the branches of the Federal Government to do something. Does not require permission or approval of Congress or the Supreme Court. Can be withdrawn by any time by any U.S. President.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC): Department of the federal government that enforces most diversity-related laws.
Disparate Treatment: Intentionally treating an individual differently because of demographics.
Equal Pay Act: Law that bans discrimination in compensation and benefits by gender.
Flex-Time: Allowing employees to set their own work schedules, within limits, such as working from 6:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. or from 12:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.
Equal Employment Opportunity: Fair treatment without regard to demographic characteristics. EEO does not require quotas (i.e., that specific numbers of people per demographic group be hired).
Hostile Environment: Type of workplace harassment, such as bullying, that makes it difficult to perform the duties of a job.
Utilization: Number or percentage of people in a demographic group who were selected for a position.
Human Resource Development (HRD): Training and development activities in an organization conducted to increase the knowledge, skills, and abilities of employees.
Work-Life Balance: A state of being wherein an employee successfully balances time and emotional demands between personal life and professional life.
Mentoring: One-on-one, long term training and development with the goal of preparing an employee for higher-level positions.
Title VII CRA 1964: Law that bans discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, gender, and national origin.
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures: Documents produced by the U.S. Department of Labor which define discrimination, validity, and reliability.
Demographics: The innate characteristics of a person, such as race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, or age.
Researcher: A person whose primary tasks are to teach and conduct research at the university level.
Quid Pro Quo: Literally, this for that. A type of sexual harassment that requires submission to sexual advances as a condition of employment.
Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale: Type of performance appraisal that lists specific work behaviors (e.g., smile at customers) and which can require a supervisor to indicate how frequently an employee performed the behavior during a year.
Career Path: The workplace experiences and occupations a person holds from the first job until retirement.
Practitioner: A person whose primary tasks are to deliver HRD to corporate employees.
U.S. Department of Labor: Department of the federal government that oversees workforce issues, and which includes the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Andragogy: Training methods or teaching methods. Often used to define teaching methods that are used with adults.
U.S. Department of Census: Department of the federal government that gathers population statistics, and which shares some data with the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Baby Boom Generation: People born between 1945 and 1964.
Pedagogy: Training methods or teaching methods. Often used to define teaching methods that are used with children.
Job-Sharing: Allowing two highly-skilled employees to share one full-time job, with each employee working part time.
Disparate Impact: Unintentionally discriminating against a group because of use of a facially neutral device (e.g., a math test, on its face, looks like it is fair to all demographic groups).
Telecommuting: Allowing employees to work at home via the use of technology such as cell phones and the internet.
Labor Force Participation Rate: Percentage of all people who are working or looking for work.
4/5 Rule: Guideline that shows whether disparate impact exists. Demonstrates whether a less preferred group was selected at least 80% as often as the most preferred group was selected.
Validity: A state of being that exists when an instrument (e.g., test) represents or predicts something. For example, a math test contains math questions; or a math test predicts job performance.
Diversity: State of being that exists when a group contains people from more than one demographic group.