White Paper Explores Impact of Workforce Regulations on Federal Contractors

Words: Doug AblesAnnouncing in 2010 that it would increase enforcement efforts, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) appears to be in hot pursuit of workforce diversity compliance among federal contractors and their subs. So writes construction-industry recruiting expert and BirdDog VP of Marketing Doug Mitchell in a newly released white paper.

“Frankly, many contractors need a wake-up call,” said Mitchell of his motivation to write the paper. “I’d much rather they get it from a white paper than a compliance officer.”

According to Mitchell, industry recruiting firm BirdDog receives weekly contact from construction firms caught off guard by the workforce diversity requirements of their state and federal contracts. It was the commonality of confusion among contractors that inspired Mitchell to gather up insight from every corner of the industry and put it together in one place, easily accessible to contractors across the nation.

In addition to the team at BirdDog, Mitchell taps a federal road & bridge contractor with OFCCP audit experience, a state Department of Transportation compliance officer and the OFCCP audit experts at consulting firm HudsonMann to round out the paper. Together, they read between the lines of agency documents to help federal contractors understand where the agency is focused, as well as the risks of failing to provide a fully documented good-faith recruitment effort.

“A company’s compliance effort only counts if it is defensible,” writes Mitchell. “In other words, a contractor can be following the rules to a tee, but if he can’t prove it, the company is at risk.”

The paper explores methods for maintaining quality documentation of all hiring, recruiting and promoting behavior inside a federal contracting firm. Among the tools described is BirdDog’s Candidate Acquisition Management System (CAMS), which assists contractors not only in their efforts to achieve compliance with affirmative action and equal opportunity employment mandates, but helps them archive that effort, as well.

“Good record-keeping is the closest thing to bulletproofing yourself,” says Neil Dickinson, managing partner of HudsonMann. “It’s no longer those who discriminate that get into trouble. It’s those who look like they are discriminating simply because they don’t have proof to the contrary.”

The white paper, “Ten Thousand Shades of Gray — The Impact of Workforce Regulations on Federal Contractors” is available for free download at bit.ly/diversity-white-paper.
About: Featured
OSHA’s Top 10 Violations of the Year

In the construction and general industry fields, there are quite a number of dangers within the various work environments. This, of course, makes perfect sense when you consider the number of variables one must deal with daily. It is only logical when you

By: Justus Everett
About: Featured
Read More
Lightweight Concrete Masonry Block: Building Efficient Buildings Efficiently

In the construction industry, masonry is a labor-intensive trade. Each day, masons handle thousands of concrete masonry unit (CMU) that form a building’s structure. Because normal weight (NWT) CMU weigh about 50 pounds (lbs), repetitive lifting can strain

By: Jody Wall
About: Featured
Read More
Cultural Heritage Meets Modern Architectural Design: The Alain Ducasse Restaurant, AlUla

For Craft Group’s Alain Ducasse restaurant project in AlUla, we fostered a collaborative effort between the design team and local craftsmen and ensured that the masonry work reflected the area's cultural heritage while meeting modern construction standard

Read More
MASONRY STRONG Podcast, Episode 12 Recap: Paul Cantarella Jr., President at Cantarella & Son, Inc.

On this episode of the MASONRY STRONG Podcast, Paul Cantarella Jr. joins the show to talk about his career and passion for the masonry industry, how his journey started, the building of his family's company, and his life outside of work as well. Childhoo

By: Justin Stengel
About: Featured
Read More