Wednesday, March 25, 2009

COME ON DOWN! YOU'RE THE NEXT CONTESTANT ON. . . .

Well, if only OFCCP audits were as much fun as one of my all-time favorite game shows. Nanny and I would keep our own score at home, frequently winning the Showcase Showdown over whatever contestant the network could throw at us!

But I digress. It is probably cruel to liken a compliance review letter to winning a contestant call-out. For those of you subject to Executive Order 11246 (and you know who you are!), the Office of Federal Contractor Compliance recently issued its list of supply and service contractors who are being considered for a compliance audit in the upcoming year. Unfortunately, you probably will not find out if you made the list until your establishment receives a letter from the regional OFCCP office notifying you that you have been selected for an audit.

If you receive one of the Corporate Scheduling Announcement Letters, you generally will have 30 days to submit your current Affirmative Action Plan to the OFCCP office listed in the letter. If you have been subjected to an audit within the last two years, if you have a Functional Affirmative Action Plan agreement with the OFCCP, or if you meet a few other criteria specified by the OFCCP here, then you may be excused from an evaluation.

Should you be doing anything? Not unless you receive one of the letters--besides, of course, ensuring that your plan is up to date. You may want to alert the chief officers at your various establishments (including corporate headquarters), and anyone identified as your EEO Coordinator, to be on the lookout for one of the CSALs.

I'll stay on 89 cents, Bob.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Time flies. . . .

but I probably won't complete that familiar phrase with its familiar ending.

It has been almost a month since the last blog post. My apologies. Sometimes things come up outside of work that demand your attention, so those less time-sensitive tasks that you would pick up here and there (such as maintaining the blog) tend to suffer.

The world around me has been moving at a frenetic pace, one where I find that I'm hanging on by the ever-whitening tips of my fingers. That makes work a nice outlet. It makes it an even better one when I know that I come to work not just with co-workers, but friends and confidants who have concern for me.

This environment is not one unique to Hunter, Smith & Davis. My clients are geniuses at promoting these types of relationships. They've managed to maintain enough caution that, in most situations, the line doesn't get blurred. Doing so helps diffuse problems when it comes time to counsel, discipline, evaluate, etc.

So in these difficult times, these uncertain times, knowing that friends are both inside and outside the office can bring some comfort (and boost morale at the office). Think about ways you can engender a feeling of camaraderie at your workplace--you may find yourself pleasantly surprised at the benefits that come with it!