Racial and Gender Diversity in State DOTs and Transit Agencies (2007)

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39 General Findings The initial universe for the web survey was 52 state agen- cies. Five were invited to participate in the pretest and 47 were targeted for the final web survey. However, some state trans- portation departments had recently changed their web pages and email addresses. Despite extensive efforts, we could not obtain correct email addresses for seven agencies in time to include them in the survey. In addition, one potential respondent answered our email by notifying us that he/she preferred not to answer a web survey. Thus, our universe for the finalized survey was reduced to 39 agencies. Twenty-nine of the 39 agencies responded to our survey, leading to a 74% response rate. In six cases (21%), a person other than the person to whom the email was originally sent answered the survey. It appears that these respondents worked in the offices in charge of racial and gender diversity issues, but these respondents did not have enough knowledge about the frequency of data collection, job classification targets, or utilization and availability data, needed to process and complete EEO forms. In only in one case did both the EEO officer and the EEO director answer the entire questionnaire. When we present the analysis on a case by case basis, we will discuss the consis- tency of both responses and the real knowledge that some directors could have about the topic. Analysis by Variables Equal Employment Opportunity Reporting Our entire sample answered that they collect information on the number of women and minorities employed at their agencies. However, only 62% of respondents were respon- sible for collecting this information for their respective agencies. When asked about specific policies for hiring women, 89% of the respondents declared that their agencies have goals or targets for the percentage of women it seeks to employ. How- ever, only 72% stated that these goals or targets were for a particular job classification. When analyzing job classifica- tions, we found that more than 67% of the state transporta- tion agencies that have targets for particular job classifications have a clear policy of hiring women in high skill jobs (officials and managers, 67%; professionals, 72%; and technicians, 78%). For mid-skill laborers it seems that there are few clear policies for hiring women (sales workers, 5%; and adminis- trative support workers, 44%). But when we examine low-skill laborers, more than 44% of the agencies have goals for hiring women (craft workers, 61%; operatives, 44%; laborers and helpers, 61%; and service workers, 56%). When asked about specific policies for minority hiring, 78% of the respondents declared that their agencies have goals or targets for the percentage of minorities it seeks to employ. However, only 67% of them stated that these goals or targets were for a particular job classification. When analyzing A P P E N D I X D Survey Findings How often does your agency collect this information? How often does your agency update this information? Frequency % Frequency % Weekly 3 11.11 Weekly 3 11.11 Biweekly 1 3.70 Biweekly 2 7.41 Monthly 9 33.33 Monthly 10 37.04 Quarterly 5 18.52 Quarterly 5 18.52 Semi-annually 1 3.70 Semi-annually 1 3.70 Annually 3 11.11 Annually 3 11.11 Other 5 18.52 Other 3 11.11 Total 27 100.00 Total 27 100.00

40 job classifications, we found that more than 71% of the state transportation agencies that have targets for particular job classifications have a clear policy of hiring minorities in high skill jobs (officials and managers, 72%; professionals, 86%; and technicians, 86%). For mid-skill laborers it seems that there are few clear policies to hire women (sales workers, 14%; and administrative support workers, 50%). Finally, when we consider low skill laborers, there are different policies for dif- ferent job categories (craft workers, 71%; operatives, 36%; laborers and helpers, 64%; and service workers, 50%). It appears that the information that state transportation agencies have on minorities is accurate because 89% of the respondents stated that employees self report their minority and/or ethnic classification. The most frequent classification for reporting minority/ ethnic identity used by state agencies is a classification similar to the Census, but it includes Hispanic as a separate category. The percentage of respondents who are responsible for reporting data is higher than the percentage of respondents who are responsible for collecting data, 74% vs. 62%. This means that even when the respondents are not the ones who collect or supervise the collection of data directly, almost all of them are in charge of reporting this data, given their posi- tion in their agencies. Availability It is important to note that 15% of the agencies do not col- lect data about the availability of employees by race and/or ethnicity in their geographic market. Without this informa- tion, even if they have targets on minority issues, they are not going to be able to provide an adequate solution due to lack of information. How does your agency collect availability data? Utilization Twenty agencies answered the question: “Does your agency complete a government EEO form?” Twenty percent of the agencies that responded to this question indicated that they do not complete these forms, while 80% answered that they did. Of these 20 agencies, eight complete Form 164 (EEO-4); eight agencies complete FHWA-1392, and six agen- cies complete other forms. Some of these agencies complete more than one form. All of these 20 respondents answered that their agencies prepared an affirmative action plan. However, the frequency shows that different state agencies renew these plans on dif- ferent schedules. Sixty-five percent update it annually. Other states make substantial changes after each Census, while 15% update their plans as needed and 10% update biannually or more frequently. Five percent update monthly and another 5% quarterly. Perceptions Not all of the respondents are extremely confident in the accuracy of their agencies EEO reports. Fifty-eight percent are extremely confident and 42 percent are somewhat confident. When they compare their reporting process to the reporting processes of other transportation agencies, 26 percent think that they perform better and 74 percent think that they per- form similarly to other agencies. Directors of human rights in state departments of trans- portation perceive that there is a disparity between the per- centages of available female and minority employees qualified to work in their agencies and the current percentage of females and minorities employed by their agencies. Fifty-nine percent of the respondents answered that they believe that there is a disparity in the case of females, whereas 68% believe that there is disparity in the case of minorities. Do you think there is a disparity between the percentage of available female employees qualified to work in your agency Does your agency use the following minority/ethnic classification? Frequency % Census classification 5 23.81 Office of Management and Budget classification 2 9.52 Other classification (includes Hispanic) 14 66.67 Total 21 100.00 10.0% 5.0% 20.0% 15.0% 50.0% State Dept. of Labor Other State Employ. Agency Bureau of Labor Stat Census Bureau

41 and the current percentage of females employed by your agency? • The data that are available could be used more by the top managers to help eliminate court cases and solve daily managerial decisions. • Having clear guidelines of what should be reported and how to establish required goals. • Being more precise with our data and where and how we get that data. • Reduction in the amount of information that is reported. • We need better resources, a better computing system, and equipment. We need better training on making the reports more accurate. We need to benchmark against best prac- tices of those agencies that do a good job. The reports have to be used and be given the priority of constant analysis. • There could be more requirements for biannual reviews of EEO updates. The state requires an annual plan, but does not provide more specific training about affirmative action planning or action-oriented goals to strive for on a bi- annual or quarterly basis. • Report more frequently. Some of the respondents also reported a lack of time or resources to accomplish this task, suggesting that the agency ought “to hire someone else to do the job” or “uncertainty” about what to do. Others expressed enthusiasm for this task: • Think any process can be improved. No process is perfect. Always be looking for new ideas and innovative ways to evaluate the department’s affirmative action plan. • It’s constantly changing. As improvements are detected or noted, action is taken. Case Analysis One third of the respondents answered that they were not the person responsible for collecting information on the number of women and minorities employed by their agency. Half of these respondents, however, exited the survey after responding to only a few questions. This may be because they felt the survey was completely related to these topics. The following paragraphs show how respondent charac- teristics could affect their responses. We controlled for education and the amount of time one worked for a trans- portation agency. In addition, we looked into the behavior of states that do not complete any forms by exploring their responses on data availability, utilization, and their compre- hension of equal employment opportunity. Education When controlling for education, results show that people with high school diplomas have different perceptions about 9.1% 59.1% 31.8% I don’t know Yes No Do you think there is a disparity between the percentage of available minority employees qualified to work in your agency and the current percentage of minorities employed by your agency? Eighty-four percent of the respondents state that they communicate with people in other state or federal agencies who do work similar to theirs, and 63% answered that they have attended an affirmative action training seminar. Eighty- four percent believe that their agency’s EEO reporting processes could be improved. This result shows that training and communication are not enough to improve EEO report- ing processes. Some respondents stated that they need more compromise from their agencies, better training, clearer guidelines, and more specific requirements for EEO reports. Their direct comments included the following: • There should be greater awareness on Human Resource’s personnel (in which we rely for data) of the importance of timely and accurate submission of data. However, despite efforts, this requires a change in mentality, which is not easily achieved. 4.5% 68.2% 27.3% I don’t know Yes No

42 availability and utilization issues, as well as on EEO reports than do respondents with other levels of education. For example, in response to the question, “Do you think there is a disparity between the percentage of available female employees qualified to work in your agency and the current percentage of females employed by your agency?” all respondents with a high school education answered “no,” whereas just 33% of respondents with some college educa- tion, 40% with a college degree, 0% with some graduate school, and 38% with a graduate degree answered “no” to the same question. Similarly, to the question, “Do you think there is a dispar- ity between the percentage of available minority employees qualified to work in your agency and the current percentage of minorities employed by your agency?” all respondents with a high school diploma answered “no,” whereas 33% of respondents with some college education, 40% with a college degree, 0% with some graduate school, and 25% with a grad- uate degree answered “no” to the same question. In the same vein, to the question, “How confident are you in the accuracy of your agency’s EEO reports?” all respon- dents with a high school education answered “somewhat confident,” whereas 0% of respondents with some college education, 60% with a college education, 50% with some graduate school, and 38% with a graduate degree answered “somewhat confident” to the same question. Likewise, to the question, “Do you think your agency’s EEO reporting process could be improved?” all respondents with a high school diploma answered “no,” whereas 0% of respondents with some college education, 40% with a college degree, and 0% for both those with some graduate school and with a graduate degree answered “no” to the same question. Answers to these questions are interesting because it seems that respondents with more education believe that the process can be improved, while those with a high school education do not. States That Do Not Complete Any Forms With respect to equal employment opportunity reporting, 75% of the respondents were responsible for collecting infor- mation on the number of women and minorities employed at their agencies and 25% were not. These agencies update their information frequently: 25% weekly, 50% monthly, and 25% quarterly. When asked about specific policies for hiring women, 75% of the respondents declared that their agencies have goals or targets for the percentage of women they seek to em- ploy. However, only 50% of them stated that these goals or targets were for a particular job classification. When analyz- ing job classifications, we found that more than 50% of the state transportation agencies that have targets for particular job classifications have clear policies for hiring women in high-skill jobs (officials and managers, 50%; professionals, 100%; and technicians, 100%). For mid-skill laborers it seems that the agencies do not have clear policies for hiring women (sales workers, 0%; and administrative support workers, 50%). But when we review the numbers on low skill-laborers more than 50% of the agencies have goals for hiring women, except for operatives (craft workers, 100%; operatives, 0%; laborers and helpers, 50%; and service work- ers, 100%). When asking about specific policies for minority hiring, 50% of the respondents declared that their agencies have goals or targets for the percentage of minorities it seeks to em- ploy. The same percentage stated that these goals or targets were for particular job classifications. When we analyzed job classifications, we found that more than 50% of the state transportation agencies that have targets for particular job classifications have clear policies for hiring minorities in high-skill jobs (officials and managers, 50%; professionals, 100%; and technicians, 100%). For mid-skill laborers, it seems that agencies do not have clear policies for hiring minorities (sales workers, 0%; and administrative support workers, 50%). Finally, when we examine low-skill laborers, there are different policies based on job categories (craft workers, 100%; operatives, 0%; laborers and helpers, 50%; and service workers, 100%). It looks like the information on minority hiring that state transportation agencies have is correct since 100% of the respondents stated that employees self report their minority and/or ethnic classification. The most frequent classification for reporting minority/ ethnic identity used by state agencies is a classification similar to the Census, but it includes Hispanic as a separate category. The percentage of respondents who are responsible for reporting data is higher than the percentage of the respon- dents who are responsible for collecting data, 100% vs. 75%. This means that even when the respondents are not the peo- ple who collect or supervise the collection of data directly, all of them are in charge of reporting this data, given their posi- tions in their agencies. It is important to note that all these agencies collect data about the availability of employees by race and/or ethnicity in their geographic market. All of the respondents answered that their agencies prepare affirmative action plans. However, the frequency shows us

43 that different state agencies renew these plans on different schedules. Twenty-five percent update their plans quarterly, and 75% do so annually. Directors of human rights at state departments of trans- portation that do not complete any EEO form do not perceive a disparity between the percentage of available female em- ployees qualified to work in their agencies and the percentage of females currently employed by their agencies. Zero percent responded that they believe that there is a disparity in the case of females, whereas 33% believe that there is disparity in the case of minorities employed. This result is interesting, because in the overall sample, more than half of the inter- viewees believed that there were disparities for both females and minorities. Do you think there is a disparity between the percentage of available female employees qualified to work in your agency and the current percentage of females employed by your agency? All the respondents are confident in the accuracy of their agency’s EEO reports; 50% are extremely confident and 50% are somewhat confident. When they compare their reporting processes to the reporting processes of other transportation agencies, 100% think that they perform similarly, which dif- fers from the overall sample where 25% believed that they performed better. Summary Respondents in the survey who provided EEO reports were not uniformly confident (responding that they were “extremely confident”) that the data they provided was accu- rate. A sizeable minority of the respondents indicated that they themselves were not the ones responsible for data col- lection. Although many reported that there was a disparity between availability and utilization of women and minorities, there were many differences across agencies in how racial or ethnic categories were defined. Respondents confirmed what was found in the administrative data review: that availability and utilization data were not universally collected by state departments of transportation. 33.3% 66.7% I don’t know No 33.3% 33.3% 33.3% I don’t know Yes No Do you think there is a disparity between the percentage of available minority employees qualified to work in your agency and the current percentage of minorities employed by your agency?