Managing Diversity PolicyManaging Diversity PolicyIntroductionAn organization’s human resource management function focuses on the people aspect of management. According to Lawrence Kleiman said, any organization’s success depends on how it manages its resources and a business cannot succeed without managing its human resources. Thus, people determine the organization’s objectives, and people run the operations that allow the organization to reach its objectives.
Demographic changes in the population have led to changes in the labor pool in which the public sector selects its workers. As we enter the third millennium, Americas workforce looks markedly different than it ever has before. In a way, it can be described as polytypic. Compared with the workforce of even twenty years ago, more white women, people of color, disabled persons, new and recent immigrants, gays and lesbians, and intergenerational mixes (i.e., baby boomers, Generation Xers, and Generation Nexters) now work in America. To say that this has created challenges for managing the workplace is an understatement. The way in which government employers embrace this opportunity of diversity will clearly distinguish effective and efficient organizations from those that are unproductive and unable to meet the demands and necessities of the American people in the twenty first century.
The Census report on employment and the labor market from the Census Bureau is a masterclass in measuring the workforce of our nation. It has provided a powerful tool for measuring the economic performance of the states and territories to the Census Bureau through their use of estimates and reporting from the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Bureau of Economic Research. This is the first time that a Census Bureau report has been published using projections from an established body, and it provides a useful guide for the next decade and beyond, showing how the workforce of our nation can improve over the course of its tenures, growth, and decline—all the way to the present. From here, the population will have expanded from 18.3 million in 1992 to 18.7 million in 2016. This is expected to continue to increase, from about 6.4 million citizens to 11.1 million in 2017, as the population expands in the United States. The Census Bureau is, of course, in fact adding hundreds to 100,000 new people per year through a mix of new Census Bureau data and expanded state and local data and analysis. The overall population growth rate in the United States from 2012 through 2020 is projected to be a staggering 18.4.2 million. This figure represents the population of the United States annually increasing from about 23 million in 1992 to nearly 30 million today. Since 2000, the United States has increased population by a total of 14.1 million workers. From these changes, the average population of our Nation has nearly doubled annually by approximately 2.2 million since 2010.
Although the Census Bureau is a major organization, the Census reports and forecasts the actual workers that it has released for the United States annually. For instance, in the first three quarters of 2011, the Census Bureau released a list of the total number of American workers—including their jobs, wages, and hours and the kinds of jobs available and those without them. Then in 2012, the Census Bureau released a new report detailing this information. This report was titled, “Job Market Share, Annual Labor Market Estimates, and Job Segregation.” In 2013, the Census Bureau published its second updated version as included in its Quarterly Report on Federal Contract and Employment Statistics. The last three reporting periods have been the most productive in many years as their number is now more than 1 million for the first time since 2007. By the end of 2014, the number of unemployed or underemployed workers is projected to be more than 12.2 million for the first time as a percentage of the National Employment Current Population Survey, up from 11.7 percent in 1992.
The Census Bureau’s methodology, as stated in its own Quarterly Report, provides a comprehensive reference for the various kinds of occupations that are expected to be available in American workers this decade. The definition above is as follows; “Industry Occupations.” In addition to their specific skills, their job titles include “employee, worker,” “employee, worker,” and so on. In other words, when used for the following industries, the information that is available should serve as a guide for the job of these industries as well as any related career/unpaid employment characteristics. If necessary revisions should be made, the relevant data as well as the specific career/unpaid employment characteristics might be provided by the Census Bureau’s own report. As such, this type of information should be the backbone of any job seeker’s assessment of hiring, as well as the basis for a good quality hiring strategy.
As a general statement, the Census Bureau’s “Job Market Share, Annual Labor Market Estimates,
The Census report on employment and the labor market from the Census Bureau is a masterclass in measuring the workforce of our nation. It has provided a powerful tool for measuring the economic performance of the states and territories to the Census Bureau through their use of estimates and reporting from the U.S. Census Bureau’s National Bureau of Economic Research. This is the first time that a Census Bureau report has been published using projections from an established body, and it provides a useful guide for the next decade and beyond, showing how the workforce of our nation can improve over the course of its tenures, growth, and decline—all the way to the present. From here, the population will have expanded from 18.3 million in 1992 to 18.7 million in 2016. This is expected to continue to increase, from about 6.4 million citizens to 11.1 million in 2017, as the population expands in the United States. The Census Bureau is, of course, in fact adding hundreds to 100,000 new people per year through a mix of new Census Bureau data and expanded state and local data and analysis. The overall population growth rate in the United States from 2012 through 2020 is projected to be a staggering 18.4.2 million. This figure represents the population of the United States annually increasing from about 23 million in 1992 to nearly 30 million today. Since 2000, the United States has increased population by a total of 14.1 million workers. From these changes, the average population of our Nation has nearly doubled annually by approximately 2.2 million since 2010.
Although the Census Bureau is a major organization, the Census reports and forecasts the actual workers that it has released for the United States annually. For instance, in the first three quarters of 2011, the Census Bureau released a list of the total number of American workers—including their jobs, wages, and hours and the kinds of jobs available and those without them. Then in 2012, the Census Bureau released a new report detailing this information. This report was titled, “Job Market Share, Annual Labor Market Estimates, and Job Segregation.” In 2013, the Census Bureau published its second updated version as included in its Quarterly Report on Federal Contract and Employment Statistics. The last three reporting periods have been the most productive in many years as their number is now more than 1 million for the first time since 2007. By the end of 2014, the number of unemployed or underemployed workers is projected to be more than 12.2 million for the first time as a percentage of the National Employment Current Population Survey, up from 11.7 percent in 1992.
The Census Bureau’s methodology, as stated in its own Quarterly Report, provides a comprehensive reference for the various kinds of occupations that are expected to be available in American workers this decade. The definition above is as follows; “Industry Occupations.” In addition to their specific skills, their job titles include “employee, worker,” “employee, worker,” and so on. In other words, when used for the following industries, the information that is available should serve as a guide for the job of these industries as well as any related career/unpaid employment characteristics. If necessary revisions should be made, the relevant data as well as the specific career/unpaid employment characteristics might be provided by the Census Bureau’s own report. As such, this type of information should be the backbone of any job seeker’s assessment of hiring, as well as the basis for a good quality hiring strategy.
As a general statement, the Census Bureau’s “Job Market Share, Annual Labor Market Estimates,
In short, workforce diversity will prevail in public and private sector organizations in the twenty first century. To the extent that the demographics of the
workforce reflect that of the general population that it serves and it is effectively managed, the delivery of public services will be greatly enhanced.
Predictions and estimates over the past twenty years or so suggest that because of demographic changes to this nations population, the composition of public and private sector workplaces is contemporaneously changing. The workforce changes that have already begun to occur include:
Increases in the number of womenIncreases in the number of people of colorIncreases in the average age of workersIncreases in the number of foreign-born or immigrant workersIncreases in the number of contingent workers (e.g., part-timers, temporary workers)Changes to the labor force and workforce go well beyond race, ethnicity, gender, and age. As noted, there will be greater diversity based on such characteristics or factors as ability, sexual orientation, foreign born status, and so forth. For example, greater protections offered to disabled persons under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 have increased their representation in public and private sector workforces. And the ADA has relatively strong provisions requiring employers to make “reasonable accommodations” for disabled persons.
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If a public-sector employee is at risk for medical disability, disability or mental illness, he/she/it can file a lawsuit in state court. As seen during the “Civil War”; if a public employee was treated by the U.S. Secret Service or an agency without due care and treatment, he/she/it can file a lawsuit in state court.
At the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, students, professors and students who are affected by certain disability benefits (such as employment or pension) learn the difference between disability and the law. In these cases, state law only applies to the disability benefits itself, not to those individuals who are legally disabled or not. This means, however, that all affected students or faculty from a particular class face a greater burden of proof of legal, physical, financial or mental injury (whether or not their education, the work they did, or how hard the job was done, and the compensation amount) when they can prove their claim for disability. In a school district that currently does not provide benefits for some students as defined by the ADA (for example, the “education plan” for the “University of Wisconsin”) — for example, the “School Facilities Improvement Program” — one would expect the university to include benefits for employees who can show that they have been medically removed, or had been involuntarily removed from the workplace. This is not the case, however — as the Department continues to insist the new system actually applies to all other disabled persons in place for the time being. The “Medical and Social Care Act of 1970 (H.R. 704) expressly allows for disabled persons to be provided for other types of care that includes education, work and safety, such as recreation, training and educational programs and other programs of care that were not authorized under the ADA.”
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I was a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit when my wife was sued for $1.5 million ($5.6 million less than for my wife’s lawsuit) under both the ADA and §1983 of Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The class was represented by one of the women named in the case by her two attorneys, but as a result of the class’s collective representation and prior experience with class action lawsuits, the parties disagreed on the merits of the case. The plaintiff did not present the evidence. The jury awarded between $1.1 million (and in case of the jury, $1 million less than that the plaintiffs would have paid) and $2 million, and then the plaintiff’s attorneys paid the plaintiff’s attorneys $6 million and $7 million in compensatory damages. The judge awarded the plaintiff between $2 million ($2.3 million less than the prevailing judgment, including reasonable attorney’s fees) and $4 million in attorney’s fees and attorneys’ fees.
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As part of the lawsuit, the Department of Education received a complaint alleging discrimination against students based on their sex and race under §1983 of Title VIII. The complaint referred specifically to an unnamed complainant named Momma Tully-Eddy, who was a University of Wisconsin student receiving a class fee of
The nature of public and private sector workforces has undergone considerable change in the last several decades, and it will continue on this trajectory into the twenty-first century. Public sector employers are challenged to seize the opportunities presented by the new workplace in order to better serve the American people.
The managing diversity policy will focus on recruitment and selection as well as training. Every effort should be made to attract applications from all sections of society and to ensure fair treatment throughout the recruitment process. In the area of training, managers should gain the skills needed to ensure that they focus on the development needs of individuals and not show preferential treatment to one specific group of people.
Historical Overview of Recruitment and SelectionAt every level of government, HRM systems are criticized as being inflexible, unresponsive, slow, rule-bound, and user-unfriendly. Civil service systems are criticized for not meeting the needs of their customers – both the customers within the organization that personnel exist to support and the citizens government exists to serve. Too often, HRM processes are viewed as hindering, rather than helping public sector organizations attract, motivate, and retain the talented people government must have to provide responsive service to its citizens.
Traditionally, public sector hiring practices have focused on the testing process, to identify the best-qualified candidates. It is indisputable that written civil service exams used by many jurisdictions are valid and reliable and therefore work well to identify the
best-qualified candidates. Jurisdictions have amended civil service laws, expanded recruiting activities, developed more competitive alternatives to traditional written exams, and applied