EEOC Focuses on Today’s Gender Pay Gap Problem

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has already hosted two dozen events in their focused efforts to address the gender pay gap in America. Fortunately for employees who work in federal government, there is a higher level of equal pay in federal jobs versus private sector jobs.  

As reported by Washington Post columnist Joe Davidson, it is the General Schedule that takes the most credit for keeping down gender-based pay disputes.  

“The General Schedule ensures that the vast majority of federal employees — regardless of gender, age, race or other personal characteristics — are rewarded solely based on their performance, knowledge and experience,” said Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union.  

According to the data provided by the U.S. General Accountability Office, women who work in federal government jobs make 11 cents less than their male colleagues. The EEOC is concerned also with the wage gap that exists for women of color and women with disabilities.  

Read the Washington Post article

Image: Rawich / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

4 Ways to Better Communicate Fairness and Equal Treatment in the Office

One of the greatest challenges for human resources is promoting equal treatment of employees, especially when so many fear that managers show favoritism when it comes to promotions and raises.  

From Entrepreneur Magazine, there are a few ways that you can try to effectively communicate the organization’s policy for equal and fair treatment of all employees.  

It is essential that an employee understand the process for pay raises, rewards, or advancement in the organization. Also, employees should have a fair process for being heard when they disagree with their own progress and/or the advancement of their colleagues.   

• Reaffirm that everyone will receive an equal opportunity to be recognized for good work
• Communicate how/when promotions are handled fairly
• Add transparency to the pay structure and how employees are rewarded
• Provide a fair appeals or complaint process  

Read the Entrepreneur Magazine article  

Image: cjansuebsri / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How Small Businesses Can Effectively Handle a Payroll Crisis

The American Bankruptcy Institute reported more than 43,456 small businesses filing for bankruptcy protection in 2008 at the onset of the recession. Even to date, small and mid-sized businesses may encounter significant money problems. From INC Magazine, there are a few strategic tips that will help HR and employers effectively handle the situation with employees. 

• Let employees know well in advance, and not just right before pay cuts happen.
• Advise employees of upcoming restructuring and/or possible changes in ownership.
• If you struggle with paying employees, be sure to explore financing options before deciding to conduct massive layoffs or close completely.
• Avoid staggering the payroll, because it is a tricky state-specific issue, and should be avoided.  

Not paying employees at payroll time can have big consequences, both with the IRS and the Department of Labor. The U.S. DOL specifically requires an employer to pay covered non-exempt employees the full minimum wage, along with any accrued overtime for the given pay period.  

Also, once you’ve cleared this hurdle, you should be planning on how to prevent the situation from reoccurring in the near future. Once you’re in the clear, how will you restructure your company’s operations? How can you get the business back on track during difficult financial times until the economy and business can improve?  

Read the INC Magazine article

Image: worradmu / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When New Jobs Are Born: DHS Faces Challenges in Defining a Brand-New Role

The American workforce changes quickly. With each new year, we find new career paths arise from the evolving needs of different organizations. So what happens when a new job is born? Writing effective job descriptions is a strategic part of HR programs that can impact performance assessments, recruiting strategies, and appraisals over the years.  

Defining the Cyber Workforce

Recently, the Department of Homeland Security encountered the obstacle of defining a new job function within their organization. In the past three years, the DHS sought to hire 1,000 new IT employees focused in cybersecurity, but have fallen short. Cybersecurity is a focused expertise that has grown in more recent years, and now the challenge remains in defining what the role is, what a competitive salary would be, and what are the most critical competencies. All of these elements of an effective job description will be important for a company’s leadership team as they examine the actual impact that hiring has on their bottom line.  

“That’s really the issue,” said Nancy Kichak, associate director of strategic human resource policy at the Office of Personnel Management at the Executive Leadership Conference last fall. “Despite the fact that we all use the terminology cybersecurity, just what does it mean? And how do you definite it, and how do you identify these special skills that the cyber work force has?” Kichak said the government is still determining whether it can hire cyber professionals under the current pay structure and what job positions comprise the cybersecurity work force.  

Beginning this month and wrapping up in October, DHS is hoping that an in-depth cybersecurity survey will provide answers to these questions. The agency is also looking to outside focus groups among human resource managers to determine how to approach a new job function.  

Read the full article in the Federal Times

  

Image provided by jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net