There’s a big challenge that all construction companies are facing: the current labor shortage.
The construction industry was hit hard during the pandemic and lost an estimated 975,000 jobs. Trying to recoup those workers is hard enough. Add in compliance requirements, and if you don’t have a plan for meeting these requirements, you could find yourself way behind the competition when it comes to shoring up your workforce.
The Symptom:
Federal contractors, sub-contractors and federally-assisted construction contractors must have a well-thought out, consistent and documented hiring process to avoid areas of non-compliance during an OFCCP audit.
Maintaining Compliance with Hiring
When you bid for federal jobs – and win the contract – your journey to federal compliance begins. That means you must adhere to all the hiring requirements set by the federal government under the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and report on them when required.
Some of the different types of compliance federal contractors must adhere to includes:
- Executive Order 11246: The Executive Order prohibits federal contractors and federally‐assisted construction contractors and subcontractors, who do over $10,000 in Government business in one year from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. The Executive Order also requires Government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure that equal opportunity is provided in all aspects of their employment. Additionally, Executive Order 11246 prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from, under certain circumstances, taking adverse employment actions against applicants and employees for asking about, discussing, or sharing information about their pay or the pay of their co‐workers.
- VEVRAA. VEVRAA or the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act applies to companies that do business with the federal government—specifically federal contractors or subcontractors with a contract amount of $150,000 or more and 50 or more employees. It exists to prohibit employment discrimination against protected veterans. VEVRAA also establishes a hiring benchmark, indicating that 6.4% of the total workforce should be veterans. (This hiring benchmark is evaluated each year and a new one is established.)
- Section 503. This law requires employers to take affirmative action to recruit, hire, promote, and retain individuals with disabilities. It also prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment against these individuals. They are required to track progress toward attaining a workforce that consists of at least seven percent of people with disabilities.
- AAP. A federal contractor or subcontractor with a federal contract exceeding $50,000 with 50 or more employees must also maintain an Affirmative Action Program (AAP). An AAP not only prohibits discrimination in any employment-related activity based on an employee’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin and disability – but federal contractors must also take affirmative action to recruit qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities and veterans.
- EEO. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws are set by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC sets several requirements and guidelines for hiring including having an EEO tagline in all job ads (“Equal Opportunity Employer, including disabled and veterans.”) The EEOC also requires EEO employers to make good faith recruiting efforts to hire individuals with disabilities, minorities and veterans.
- Completing E-Verify. E-Verify is a web-based system that allows enrolled employers to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States. Employers with federal contracts or subcontracts that contain the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify clause are required to enroll in E-Verify. Certain states and employers also mandate the use of E-Verify.
The Solution:
Invest in an applicant tracking system that will automatically track recruiting efforts and implement best practices.
Applicant Tracking System
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) helps federal contractors and subcontractors maintain compliance at every step of the hiring process.
- An ATS can automatically post to numerous local and national job boards, including niche job boards. This will help you meet your underutilization goals for women and minorities or benchmarked goals for veterans and individuals with disabilities. By creating a diverse applicant pool, you are meeting your due diligence obligations for targeted, meaningful outreach, as well. Automatic job posts with a nationwide reach will also help you fill the gaps left by the industry’s shrinking labor pool.
- Look for an applicant tracking system that can help you document your referral outreach groups, communications, candidate referrals and adjustments.
- Job posts will also automatically include EEO taglines, so you never have to worry about forgetting to add them yourself.
- An ATS automatically screens candidates. This creates an objective and systematic approach to qualifying or disqualifying based on the minimum requirements of the job. Outcomes can be automatically dispositioned accordingly.
- An ATS allows your applicants to upload their own information, helping to ensure the information is accurate (essential for OFCCP reporting).
- A strong solution should help you measure your efforts and effectiveness along the way such as applicant pool diversity by job class along with adverse impact based on recruitment stages.
- The right applicant tracking system can produce applicant logs, documenting all applicants for a job along with steps taken, final disposition, source and other key metrics defined in executive order 11246.
While these tools are invaluable for maintaining compliance, an ATS, like Arcoro’s, can also help with hiring outside the scope of federal contracts.
- Email templates and bulk messaging allow you to stay in contact with candidates, keeping them interested in the position. In addition, it makes it easy to follow up with past candidates when a new position opens up.
- The simple application process means candidates never have to create a profile or remember a login.
- Resume parsing (automatically filling in the required forms based on uploaded resumes) means the entire application process only takes about three minutes. And a confirmation receipt is automatically sent to applicants.
- Mobile access means your applicants can apply on any device from any location increasing accessibility.
Contact us today for a free demo.
Do you find your hiring process slowed by the challenges of compliance? Symptoms like this demand a solution like an ATS. Don’t wait.
This is part of a series of blogs from Bryan May, Vice-President of Business Development. In the series, Bryan outlines challenges that can slow speed to productivity in the construction industry and offers powerful solutions.
