While the country grapples with the merits and methods of affirmative action, a Spokane-based nonprofit organization is helping companies comply with the equal-employment regulations that exist today.


Almost 15 years ago, Associated Industries of the Inland Northwest developed software and a consulting service that enables companies to track their success in employing women and minorities. The software, called Aprysta, simplifies a complex process of collecting data and comparing it with various work-force population groups, says Bill Sweigert, the organizations director of consulting services. The softwares rich body of information and the affirmative-action plans it produces not only help companies document diversity efforts and meet government requirements, but also can help protect them against discrimination suits, he says.


Associated Industries affirmative-action services can find specific holes, Sweigert says. Maybe a company has minorities in lower positions not opting for management training. Maybe a company needs to specifically recruit women for a particular job.


A federal requirement


Founded here in 1910 under a different name, Associated Industries is a consortium of 460 businesses that have an average of 50 employees each. The organization offers its members a range of services, including human-resource consulting and medical insurance. While most of Associated Industries member businesses have operations in the Spokane-Coeur dAlene area, its affirmative-action services have allowed it to attract member companies based in other parts of the U.S.


Affirmative action refers to policies or programs that seek to ensure equal opportunity, such as in employment and education. Federal regulations pertaining to affirmative action are enforced by two divisions of the U.S. Department of Labor: the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.


Certain employers are required to maintain records and produce statistics evaluating their work forces by race, gender, and other characteristics, but contrary to popular belief, the regulations dont require those companies to meet quotas.


In general, all depository financial institutions and every nonconstruction contractor or subcontractor that has 50 or more employees and is engaged in government contracts worth $50,000 or more a year must comply with the regulations, meaning they must have that type of employment data on hand. Businesses with government contracts worth between $10,000 and $50,000 a year, regardless of the number of people they employ, must complete whats called a mini-affirmative-action plan, which is much less extensive than the regular plan.


You have to have this information ready at a moments notice, ready for an audit by the government, Sweigert says.


Businesses must make good faith efforts to employ and promote members of protected classes, such as women and minorities, and, to prove that theyre making such efforts, they must develop affirmative-action plans. They then must review and renew those plans at least once a year.


Thats where a service like Associated Industries comes in. With the help of its software, the organization pieces those plans together, and for client businesses provides the documentation that supports them.


The service and its clients


Associated Industries dozens of affirmative-action clients include Spokane-based WestCoast Hospitality Corp. and Mexico City-based Grupo Bimbo, an international baked-goods maker with a large division operating in the U.S., Sweigert says.


During the first year of service, which involves plugging information about the companies employees into the software program, Associated Industries charges clients between $3,000 and $5,000, he says. Thereafter, the annual cost of leasing and licensing the software drops to less than $900.


When you see how much is involved, it really hurts your brain, Sweigert says.


The first step in developing an affirmative-action plan is completed by the clients. They pull together human resource information that includes the gender and minority status of their employees, and each employees job title, salary, and rank, among other information.


From that point on, Associated Industries and its software do most of the work in completing the plans. It compares each piece of data with information about the work-force population from which the company hires, which usually is taken from the U.S. Census, Sweigert says. A paint manufacturer, for example, might need to compare the number of Hispanic chemists it employs with the number of Hispanic chemists in the population from which the company hires such employees.


For many companies, connecting the dots of that comparison isnt a straight line. Associated Industries affirmative-action clients employ an average of 500 people, Sweigert says, and often those businesses have operations in more than one part of the U.S. Also, Associated Industries clients might hire their executive staffs from a nationwide pool, but their laborers from the local community.


Not only is this sort of analysis done with current employee data, but affirmative-action regulations require companies to examine the makeup of their job applicants, the people theyve hired, and the people theyve fired.


Aprysta automates this process because, in part, it contains lots of work-force information from the Census.


A lot of people who look into doing this themselves, when they find out whats involved say, Why would I want to do this myself? Sweigert says.


Once all the required data is compiled, Associated Industries consultants at the organizations offices look for patterns in hiring and promotion. Are women being passed over for promotions? Are black employees concentrated in one or two departments? The businesses then can assess why such patterns appear, Sweigert says. Perhaps a company has a reputation for not being a safe place for minorities to work. Maybe a language barrier prevents groups of employees from receiving additional training.


Using that analysis, the companies then set goals for having a more diverse representation of job candidates in their workplace.


To reach those goals, they might have managers attend more diversity-related job fairs, offer scholarships to female students, or launch public-relations campaigns to change the communitys perceptions of them, Sweigert says. A government audit, should one occur, would examine whether those steps were taken and whether goals were closer to being met, he says.


While companies often are overwhelmed by all the number crunching, Sweigert says they usually have an honest commitment to the goals behind the regulations.


They want to do the human side of the work, they want to diversify their work force, he says. The statistical side is just required by the government.


If the government chooses to audit a company and finds that its affirmative-action records are poor or that they show a company has a homogenous work force, no fines or other penalties can be imposed. Having a record of making a good-faith effort to diversify, however, can save a business thousands of dollars in lawsuits, Sweigert says.


The affirmative-action documentation can limit liabilities, he says. This information is hugely helpful to an employer accused of discrimination.


Over the years, though, Sweigert says he never has seen a client that has used the software not improve the diversity of its staff.


People in times before were taught to expect discrimination, he says. Year after year, after 25 years watching this, Ive always seen it change for the better.


Should someone file suit against an employer who uses Aprysta, though, we can trace everything we do right back to the governments numbers, Sweigert says.