HR Policy Shares With OFCCP Our Members' Experience Surveying Employees on Personal Matters

This week, HR Policy wrote a letter to OFCCP Director Patricia Shiu responding to recent remarks by one of her regional directors that, according to our letter, were "completely devoid of workplace realities and the issues that employers confront when dealing with their employees regarding highly sensitive and personal matters."  In a recent speech seeking to bolster the OFCCP's proposed disability affirmative action rules, OFCCP Baltimore-Washington District Office Director Tom G. Wells downplayed the problems federal contractors would have getting applicants and employees to disclose their disability status, saying employers could obtain sufficient responses by educating applicants and employees on the company's business necessity to comply with federal affirmative action laws.  Drawing from our recent regional meetings on the issue (see separate story), we pointed out that "the reluctance of individuals with disabilities to disclose their status—which seems to be the lynchpin of the [OFCCP proposal] cannot be underestimated."  Our letter points out that our member companies have considerable experience in employee surveys—a common component of the HR function—and they have found that "employees invariably respond negatively to any surveys asking personal questions, with concerns that the company will use the information against them, even if it is presented as being confidential."  More significantly, we pointed out:

As we have done repeatedly, we offered to meet with Director Shiu to share with her what we are hearing from our members.