Dear Berkshire: What outreach activities does an OFCCP auditor look at?

The following content was developed as part of our new blog column, “Dear Berkshire.” Instead of trying to anticipate the challenges you're facing at work, we’re going straight to the source. Every several weeks, one of our expert consultants will answer a specific question about compliance, regulatory changes, and affirmative action -- submitted by HR professionals like you!

Q: What type of outreach activities does an OFCCP auditor look for during an audit?

A: Items 8 and 12 on the scheduling letter require contractors to document appropriate outreach and positive recruitment activities for Individuals with Disabilities and Protected Veterans. Under VEVRAA specifically, contractors are required to post with the local Employment Service Delivery System (ESDS); the compliance officer would expect to see some type of outreach to these ESDS job centers at the bare minimum, but Berkshire recommends contractors cast a much wider net. 

Fortunately, OFCCP provides a resource of specific outreach sources contractors can use for outreach to Individuals with a Disability and Veterans at their Resources for Federal Contractors Section 503 and VEVRAA page, here. Dig into the results of your 503 AAP: are you meeting the benchmark for IWD Utilization? If not, your compliance officer will look for specific outreach to employment placement services, job fairs, organizations or community groups that target Individuals with a Disability.  Similarly, if the results of your VEVRAA AAP indicate you are not meeting the hiring benchmark for Veterans, your compliance officer will expect to see job postings with veteran organizations, participation in job fairs, or partnerships with veteran employment agencies.  You can review a table of outreach sources for positive recruitment on page 57 of the Supply and Service Technical Assistance Guide.  

It isn’t enough to keep a running list of where you’re posting jobs or participating in job fairs. Contractors are also required to assess whether each activity and the totality of your efforts were effective! Evaluating outreach efforts is where many contractors fall short.  You should include the criteria you used to make the assessment as well as your determination of effectiveness. If you determine your efforts are not effective, you should also provide details on how you will identify and implement alternate options. Remember: you can’t evaluate what you don’t know, so if folks aren’t providing their referral source (or you aren’t asking), you won’t be able to determine how effective the source is.    

Your outreach efforts shouldn’t just be about Individuals with a Disability and Protected Veterans. Item 7 of the Scheduling letter requires documentation of any action-oriented programs that specifically support your Placement Goal efforts to increase utilization of minorities and women in the areas where those groups are underutilized. If your EO 11246 AAP (Minority and Women) has a goal to increase representation of women in your Technicians job group, for instance, the compliance officer would expect to see outreach to groups that specifically target women technicians. The compliance officer may expect to see local religious organizations, colleges and universities, or cultural centers to underscore minority recruitment efforts where those populations are underutilized. Keep in mind that goals in your Minority and Women AAP do not mean you should be filling a position with a particular person; your burden is to engage in outreach and positive recruitment to beef up those applicant pools with qualified individuals.  

Finally, don’t forget your record keeping requirements: Under Section 503 and VEVRAA, you should be holding on to your outreach activities and assessments for 3 years, and under EO 11246  you should be keeping those records for 1 or 2 years depending on the contract terms. See below for links to recordkeeping resources. Your compliance officer may request to see this information to determine if you are making appropriate changes to correct shortfalls year-over-year. You can view recordkeeping requirement documentation at these links:  

E.O 11246 Recordkeeping Guide 

Section 503 Recordkeeping Guide  

VEVRAA Recordkeeping Guide 

Sage Advice: Keep up your Outreach and Assessment throughout the year!!! If you wait until your audit scheduling letter comes, you will find that you simply do not have the time to dig through emails, review your calendar, or wait for a third party to give you a report so you can create your documentation from scratch.  You can see the current audit scheduling letter and review the full list of required items here.  

Berkshire has a full library of resources to assist our clients in a compliance audit, including a template for outreach assessment and evaluation. These are available to all of our clients, not just those on the CSAL. Reach out to your plan consultant for more information on these resources.  

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