This paper will focus on the laws and ethics that the agency implements so that they may hire a workforce that is diverse. The introduction briefly explains about the ethics and laws that the agency puts in place to achieve this task. An analysis of three court laws and decisions that affect the management of the personnel in the agency will be given. The system’s goals and the practices based on diverse workforce recruitment will follow. There will be an evaluation of the approaches that the agency has put in place about the ethics and training programs made available to the current and the new employees with the weaknesses and strengths of the approaches outlined. There are recommendations for actions that the agency can put in place to improve the process of hiring a diverse workforce. The thesis statement directing this paper argues that, there is strength in diversity for a given population since their different talents and perspectives which can help any given setting overcome great challenges, therefore, there is need for an agency to hire a diverse workforce.
Introduction
Diversity is affecting the world through the advances in technology and the beginning of a global economy which brings the world’s people together. Agencies hence need to find a way of increasing efficiencies in their hiring processes so that there is guarantee of consistency and compliance to the recruitment and process of selection for the best candidate for a job. Federal agencies have to compete so that they can hire the best talent for the sake of achieving their statutory mission. For success to be achieved and competitive advantage to be maintained, the main resource which is the workforce skills has to be utilized. This therefore means that there is need for the agency to hire a diverse work force.
Laws Affecting the Agency.
There are various laws that affect the Agency. The Administrative law is a law body that permits the formation of public regulatory agencies and it has all the statues, decisions by the courts and the regulations that govern the agencies. One of the laws is the Administrative Procedure Act (Lubbers, 2009) which governs the practices and the procedures ahead of the federal agencies. The federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids any employment based on gender, race, origin, color or religion. This law is applicable to any employer with a work force of more than fifteen laborers. Another law that may affect the agency is the Executive Order 11246 which forbids federal contractors, federal sub-contractors, construction contractors and sub-contractors who are assisted by the federal agency and have contracts that exceed ten thousand dollars against employment discrimination on race, religion, color, and race or nationality basis. This law also obliges these contractors to take positive actions to make sure that equal opportunity is made available in all employment aspects. Another law is the Section504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which forbids any participation exclusion, refutation of benefits or discrimination from federally assisted programs on the basis of disability (Lubbers, 2009).
Personnel Recruitment and Hiring Practices.
The mission that can govern the diverse workforce hiring plan can be a mission of diversity that can build a workforce that is diverse creating a workplace that is suitable to deliver quality services to all communities. The vision of the agency is to lead and create a workforce that is highly performing by managing diversity and motivating the employees to accomplish high results in delivering quality service. The goals that the agency has set so that it can achieve the stated vision and mission are; a diverse workforce where the agency is to build a workforce that is highly performing which reflects all the society segments, a wide-ranging workplace where the agency is to cultivate a work environment that is flexible, comprehensive and united, excellent public service where first-rated and culturally aware public service relations through efficient leadership and accountability is provided (Lubbers et.al, 2009).
There are different objectives, strategies and measures to implement the goals that have been set by the agency. The goal on the agency building a workforce that is highly performing and which reflects all the society segments has a main objective of eliminating the barriers to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) in all the occupational levels. The strategies that would implement this objective would include; identifying the barriers of EEO like, disability status, carrier experience, separation or veteran status (American Bar Association, 2007). The establishment of baseline metrics and a system for reporting would enable the personnel management office identify these barriers and eliminate these barriers from the recruitment process. The personnel management of the agency may carry out an impact analysis in the process of selection and leadership (Carrell et.al, 2001). The agency may also utilize the special hiring authorities like the Schedule A for disabled people. The development of strategic partnerships with educational institutions and affinity organizations whose main focus is low participation rated groups is required for the agency to undertake the recruitment outreach. The measures taken for this goal is appropriate delivery of timely and accurate analysis reports on the diverse workforce to annual reports that are to be given to the external agencies. The objective of achieving diversity in the widest context of the entire workforce can be achieved by laid down strategies to guarantee that the disabled, minority, women and the veterans are targeted by the employment outreach programs.
There is need to have a job analysis and development of a candidate selection criteria. Here the duties, appropriate skills, level of knowledge requirements for the job will be stated. There follows the job description with the staff description and all the necessary application forms can be included in this section (Carrell et.al, 2001).
Ethics and Diversity Training
The existence of the Affirmative Action (AA) is to guarantee an employment opportunity that is equal to all by ensuring that the federal contractors abide to the law and take affirmative actions that hinder employment practices discrimination. The good faith efforts focused made towards accomplishing the goals on affirmative action and ensuring discrimination and harassment free working environment prove to be useful (Carrell et.al, 2001). The proper balancing and issuing of salary among the internal employees is an important consideration that the agency has to put in place when they set up new workforces starting salaries. If there is no equity in the salary, the morale and motivation of the employees would tend to lower. The strategies should consider the existing employees where the salary given to that employee should be in line with the experience in that particular field (Carrell et.al, 2001). The hiring limitations to that the personnel management seems to experience is the difficulties in evaluating factors like shortage of qualified applicants, many rejected job vacancies and rate of turnover for a position.
Recommendations for Recruiting and Training a Diverse Workforce.
The agency should select the most suitable candidate for a job position on qualification basis without being prejudice. Establishment of equal salary rates is required for the motivation of the workforce. The training that the agency provides should have effective educational information for better performance of the hired workforce in the agency.
In conclusion, diverse workforces linked to high performance in any organization. A diverse workforce, will deliver better services. Owing to this claim, it is then logic to say that there is need for an agency to hire a diverse workforce.
References
American Bar Association., Regulatory Practice. Patel, V., & Rana, G. (2007). Personnel management. Jaipur, India: Oxford Book Co.
Carrell, M. R., Elbert, N. F., & Hatfield, R. D. (2001). Human resource management: Global strategies for managing a diverse workforce. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall.
Lubbers, J. S., & American Bar Association. (2006). A guide to federal agency rulemaking. Chicago: American Bar Association.
Lubbers, J. S., & American Bar Association. (2009). Developments in administrative law and regulatory practice, 2007-2008. Chicago, Ill: Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory practice.
