OBJECTIVE 2 ENTRY B1
Objective 2 Entry B
Katie Boone
McDanielCollege
Objective 2 Entry B
To illustrate my competency in data collection, evaluation and summary, I have chosen to submit the artifact “EEOP Short Form.” This is an example of a professional document that I created while employed at the County of Adams. With it, I demonstrate my ability to effectively collect, evaluate and summarize data.
The County of Adams is a federal contractor with contracts above certain designated limits. According to the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), all federal contractors who are receiving grants above $25,000 must create and maintain on file an Equal Employment Opportunity Plan (EEOP). Federal contractors who are receiving grants above $500,000 must also file their EEOP with the OJP; however, since the County of Adams does not have grants above $500,000, they are not required to file their EEOP. The highest federal contract awarded by the OJP to the County of Adams is $114,000, therefore creating the document and keeping it on file fulfills the requirements.
In order to be eligible to receive grant funding from the Office of Justice Programs, the County must demonstrate that it is an equal opportunity employer. As such, the County is required to create an EEOP. This is similar to an Affirmative Action Plan, which the County is exempt from creating as it is a government entity. The EEOP requires the collection of data regarding the County’s current workforce demographics, the external county demographics, and what the measurements of utilization are between the two. The Office of Justice Programs (2012) states:
An Equal Employment Opportunity Plan (EEOP) is a comprehensive document that analyzes a recipient's relevant labor market data, as well as the recipient's employment practices, to identify possible barriers to the participation of women and minorities in all levels of a recipient's workforce. Its purpose is to ensure the opportunity for full and equal participation of men and women in the workplace, regardless of race, color, or national origin. (para. 1).
This plan was not in place when I started with the County of Adams. However, the County had been receiving federal funding for years. Creating the EEOP became a priority for the HR Director, and therefore a priority for me as my position was responsible for compliance. To begin creating the document, I had to begin collecting data.
The majority of the data required for the EEOP was already saved in the ADP payroll database. However, each position had to be classified into categories provided in the EEOP instructions. These classifications are: (1) Officials and Managers, (2) Professionals, (3) Technicians, (4) Protective Services: Sworn, (5) Protective Services: Non-sworn, (6) Administrative Support, (7) Skilled Craft, and (8) Service Maintenance. Each classification list shows sample jobs to assist in classifying the employees – it is a very basic coding process. There are over 500 employees at the County of Adams, so to classify every person I created a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet contained their gender, race/ethnicity, position, salary level, position classification and date of hire. The date of termination was included where applicable, as well as any promotion dates or demotion dates. The EEOP requires you to examine the demographics of promotions, demotions, corrective actions, interviewees, hires and terminations in addition to current workforce.
There was no system in place to collect data on some of these categories and no way to backfill data. Babbie (2007) states that “Although missing data present problems at all stages of analysis, they’re especially troublesome in index construction” (p. 163). This was the case for the EEOP – the lack of data meant that there was no way I could analyze that particular factor for the EEOP and I had to omit a section of the index. To correct this issue for future plans, I implemented an EEO disclosure with the current application process, based on a basic coding scale using gender and race/ethnicity categories.
For the information that I did have, I used the spreadsheet that I created to sort the data into the appropriate index categories and gathered the numbers that were available. I used a two-step analysis, as the EEOP is structured to look at men vs. women. The first step was a univariate analysis – separating out the men from the women. From there, I was able to see the frequency distribution of the two attributes. From this point, each variable was separated into subgroups based on their job categories. All of this data was saved and transferred to another spreadsheet, where the numbers pulled from the US Census Bureau Report for AdamsCounty were also saved. Ratios were examined based on the demographics of the County and the demographics of the employees, and results were generated showing where some categories were under-utilized. The significantly under-utilized categories were those that showed a percent of under-utilization above ten percent. There were only a few categories where there under-utilization was an issue, and those were Officials/Administrators, Professionals, and Protective Services: Sworn. The class under-utilized in these categories was white males. After completing this analysis, a narrative was written.
The narrative evaluating the under-utilization in the County describes where there is under-utilization and provides an action plan to address this. Methods are described to show how the under-utilization will be corrected, such as targeted recruiting efforts for white males at local colleges. Also, dissemination of the EEOP report is described because a requirement of the EEOP is that it be available to the public at any time.
My competency in data collection and evaluation allowed me to effectively complete this project for the County of Adams. I was confident in the collection methods that I used as well as the final evaluation techniques. The varied data required in this document showed that I was able to manage a broad scope of data and analyze it concisely.
References
Babbie, E. (2007). The practice of social research. (11th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson
Wadsworth.
Office of Justice Programs. (2012). Equal employment opportunity plan. Retrieved from
Werner, J. & DeSimone, R. (2006). Human resource development. (4th ed.). Mason, OH:
Thomson South-Western.