Federal workplace diversity analysis is a process by which agencies in the Federal Government evaluate the current workforce to identify triggers that lead to barriers to diversity. Through annual reports produced by every agency organization to stay MD-715 compliant, gaps are identified in the diversity of the current workforce.
The goal of these exercises is to determine if the workforce is appropriately diverse in terms of race and gender based on a number of factors. The standardization of reporting to match MD-715 requirements ensures all agencies have similar data sets with which to work, but challenges remain. Reporting alone doesn’t uncover why those gaps exist or how to address them. This is where more comprehensive workplace diversity analysis is needed.
Federal Definition of Workforce Diversity Analysis
Management Directive 715 (MD-715) is guidance provided by EEOC to agencies in the Federal Government for how to maintain programs for equal employment opportunity under Section 717 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The goal of the policy guidance is to provide a map for building EEO programs and involves preparation of MD-715 compliant reports every year. These reports are submitted as hard copies to EEOC by all agencies and subordinate reporting components.
History of the Reporting Currently Required
As outlined by the EEOC, the goal of MD-715 is to identify low participation rates (triggers) that may act as barriers to equal opportunity. Upon identifying these triggers, agencies are tasked with investigating further to pinpoint the factor or number of factors that might result in such a barrier. The guidance is somewhat open-ended in how to investigate as there are so many factors that could influence equal opportunity in an agency.
Investigations are made into recruiting methods, merit promotion processes, and the interview process by which new staff is hired. Each of these barriers must be reported as part of the MD-715 process, though if they are interrelated, they can be reported as a single barrier and addressed comprehensively.
The Value of These Efforts
The role of workforce diversity analysis is to identify when the workforce doesn’t properly represent the population available to fill certain positions. At the surface level, agencies can see quickly when a gap exists and know that there may be a potential barrier. After investigating the barrier, the agencies can determine if a corrective action needs to be taken.
MD-715 reporting is only the first step. It doesn’t provide the insights needed to address the problems, especially if there is any nuance. If one organization has a team of 125 employees, of which 115 are white males, it’s easy to see the gap, but what if the disparity isn’t so great? How then do you factor in things like location, the available population based on job experience demographics, and the current recruiting and hiring processes?
And it can go deeper still. Even in the first example, in which 92% of the team is white male, MD-715 reporting doesn’t identify what stages in the HR pipeline are the most significant triggers creating these barriers. Is it recruiting? Hiring? Internal promotions?
Decision makers want to not only identify the diversity gaps identified in their reporting, but to understand the causes of these gaps so they can be patched and prevented in the future. More advanced diversity analysis that uses MD-715 data is needed to make this possible.
How Diversity Analysis Can Transform an Organization
There are several challenges faced by agencies when working with MD-715 report data. Most often, HR specialists spend the majority of their time gathering data and preparing reports and very little time performing in-depth analysis of that data.
EconSys MD-715 Diversity Analysis is designed to streamline the first step of creating the data analysis required and extend the second, giving HR teams more time to investigate potential barriers and quickly analyze workforce, hiring and performance data to understand disparities. Learn more in our eBook, How to Shift from data Gathering to Data Driven Decisions in MD-715 Reporting.
