Implementing affirmative action programs and complying with OFCCP requirements are intensely practical matters for those charged with these responsibilities. It may seem that abstract questions about the Rule of Law are far afield from such practical concerns. However, the most important requirement that OFCCP enforces relates to an abstract law: “The contractor will not discriminate against any employee or applic...

It is a well-known political axiom – and unfortunate reality – that women continue to earn, on average, 79 cents for every dollar earned by men. As federal efforts to address equal pay issues continue to stall, states and localities have stepped into the breach to take meaningful action to try to address pay disparities. One of the tools they have recently relied upon is prohibiting employers from asking applicants ab...

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for 2018 Wishing you all the joys of the holiday season and happiness throughout the coming year! We sincerely thank all...

Many of us working in the affirmative action field had expected that 2017 might be a year of significant change at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). Instead, the year was striking for the number of things that did not change in regard to OFCCP. No Head of OFCCP Chosen Until November 2017 While it often takes some time for sub-cabinet positions in the federal gove...

The man in front of me in the breakfast order line at the food court, in one of the busiest airports in the country, wanted a “full” cup of coffee. He kept raising his voice, yelling at the woman to “fill his cup to the top.” His words peppered with angry comments about her not giving him his “money’s worth.” His voice was loud; his attitude hostile; his words caustic. Despite ho...

Global design firm IDEO is known for its innovation. In fact, many clients approach the firm specifically because they want to learn its secrets. In a research initiative meant to get at the heart at what makes innovative companies tick, IDEO studied its 26-year archive of projects that focused on clients’ internal team dynamics, as well as external sources focused on innovation (including Fast Company‘s annual...

David Conley found himself on a team of experts who were attempting to design satellite superstructures, a challenge not specifically covered while earning his college degree in nuclear engineering. As he succinctly put it: “What the hell do I know about satellite super structures?” So, when the team shared the key problems that were holding back progress, Conley turned to something he knew rather well: a met...

Western leaders have been conditioned for generations to believe that the way to advance is to claim as much as possible, to take more than you give. Many leaders make personal gain the objective of business life, and almost any means to achieve it is fair game. Hard work, perseverance, passion, and talent are valuable, of course. However, in the human dynamics of business, taking what you can, even if it’s from o...

I still have the email. It's been years since a highly placed corporate boss, who had the reputation and approach that things were never quite good enough, sent it to me. He was long on critique and revisions; short on acknowledgement and appreciation. Anyone else reading his message would deem it ordinary. No flowery words, no glowing adjectives, no verbose flattery or deliberate feel-good rhetoric. It was written i...

Both job seekers and recruiters know that over the course of the last few years, the job market has gone from a buyer’s market to a seller’s one. The talent shortage is intensifying. Employers are finding it more and more difficult to fill open positions with top candidates. Time-to-fill rates are getting higher. Line managers are putting more pressure on recruiters to get the talent the company needs to reach i...