Sex Segregation in the Workplace Trends, Explanations, Remedies (1984) / Chapter Skim
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15 Job Integration Strategies: Today's Programs and Tomorrow's Needs
15 Job Integration Strategies: Today's Programs and Tomorrow's Needs
Pages 267-291
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From page 267... ...
Primarily in response to federal equal employment opportunity (EEO) enforcement activities and pressure from women desiring expanded opportunities, some of these firms have successfully increased the number of women in nontraditional jobs, i.e., jobs predominately held by men.
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From page 268... ...
The postpioneer era began in 1978 when the company and the federal government signed an affirmative action agreement. This second phase of job integration within the firm has been characterized by the hiring of a relatively large number of white women into entry-level jobs previously reserved for men and a reassessment of company training programs.
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From page 269... ...
The consent decrees resulting from court settlements of discrimination complaints and the federal affirmative action guidelines for employers (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1974; 41 Code of Federal Regulations § 60-2, 1979)
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From page 270... ...
Second, the perceptions of managers and workers about the effectiveness of federal equal employment policy in reducing job segregation within companies is often much more optimistic than analyses of economic impact based on national data. For example, managers report that goals and timetables are critical management tools for achieving greater job integration.
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From page 271... ...
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for affirmative action (BarnhillHayes, 1979~. In the Barnhill-Hayes survey the majority of executive respondents said that affirmative action had not resulted in a decline in employee productivity.
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From page 272... ...
Women already employed by a company in traditional female clerical and factory jobs are an important source of candidates for nontraditional jobs in the skilled trades and management. Internal intervention programs for white- and blue-collar jobs require opening access systems to women, which may include establishing job posting procedures or changing seniority systems (Roos ant]
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From page 273... ...
Changes in seniority systems, however, remain an important intervention strategy to reduce occupational segregation by race or sex. Opening career opportunities in management to current office workers may involve less formal procedures than changing seniority systems established through collective bargaining agreements, but it is nonetheless reported to "take a lot of effort and a close critical look at the company's inner workings." Lee personnel director of a major bank outlined the following internal mechanisms in use at the bank to facilitate the upgrading of office workers: a computerized skills data bank; identification of employees with sat8 Seniority systems are often complex and extensive changes may yield only limited results.
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From page 274... ...
Among conventional training programs, the evidence suggests that special skills training for women in bluecoliar jobs and substantive information training for all employees, especially managers, on EEO laws and related company policies are most important in integrating women into nontraditional jobs. At the management level, women do not need special training programs but instead need access to existing training for men.
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From page 275... ...
Such programs may benefit women in some companies, but they do not appear to be a high priority among intervention strategies. ,~ ~ O PROBLEMS: PROMOTING WOMEN TO HIGHLY SKILLED AND EXECUTIVE all t;~;o obligations and the basic respon- LEVEL POSITIONS sibility of line managers.
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From page 276... ...
Looking to the future, we believe that the promotion problems of both women and men will be compounded by the growing number of women in entry-level nontraditional jobs, the low advancement opportunities in some job progression lines, the limited number of higher-level jobs, and low turnover. Successful job integration efforts ultimately mean finding solutions to two related questions: How can the newly integrated entry-level positions be kept from resegregating and becoming new female "ghettos"?
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From page 277... ...
Advancement opportunities were further limited for women by a recession, during which hiring stopped and layoffs were threatened. The result may be a bottleneck where women newly hired in nontraditional jobs find themselves stuck in jobs that increasingly become traditional for women.
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From page 278... ...
Companies must establish that any tests Hey use are both job related and free of racial, ethnic, or sex bias (Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, 29 CFR §1607, 1970; U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1974~.
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From page 279... ...
Second, program interventions implemented under corporate affirmative action plans, such as those discussed above, are major organizational changes that require sound management to be effective. Business Conditions Two studies that compared national data on industries and occupations have shown that rates of job integration are positively associated with growth in total industry employment and female participation in the work force.
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From page 280... ...
analysis of the results of the AT&T consent decree showed that the southwestern and western regions of the company accounted for 38 to 50 percent of the new openings in each of five major nontraditional occupational categories between 1973 and 1979. These two regions alone accounted for more than half the new female entrants to a nontraditional job that had been particularly difficult to integrate, and they reported more successfuT recruitment of Hispanic workers and managers than any other region.
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From page 281... ...
S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1974; Stead, 1978; Gordon and Strober, 1975; Meyer and Lee, 1978; Shaeffer and Lynton, 1979; McLane, 1980~.
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From page 282... ...
Failure to enlist the support offoremen and other managers directly responsible for business operations has undoubtedly slowed the progress of job integration. There is a fine balance, however, between line responsibility and centralized management and control, as demonstrated by the AT&T case.
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From page 283... ...
In 1980 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission developed a policy recognizing and encouraging the efforts of unions in the area of equal employment opportunity policy.
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From page 284... ...
2. Most of the successful corporate intervention strategies for increasing job integration have been in the areas of recruit
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From page 285... ...
Lack of leadership at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S.
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From page 286... ...
The Commission should reaffirm and implement its 1980 policy statement that recognizes and encourages the voluntary efforts of unions in the area of equal employment opportunity. Unions should be brought into negotiations that affect collective bargaining agreements, and women members should be included on committees that de1 velop or implement agreements at the national and local levels.
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From page 287... ...
To adequately represent women, unions must undertake internal affirmative actions such as increased support for leadership training for women members, developing EEO training for union officers, appointing and hiring women in staff positions, encouraging women to run for union office, and requesting and analyzing EEO compliance data now available through recent court decisions. Collective bargaining between management and labor should include the following subjects with specific concern for their impact on women and minority workers: job posting and bidding procedures, seniority systems, grievance procedures, job redesign, introduction of technological changes, job evaluation and comparable worth, and nontraditional job training.
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From page 288... ...
Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Publications Division, Cornell University. Brown, Charles 1981 "The Impact of Federal Equal Opportunity Policies: What We Do and Do Not Know." Rockefeller Foundation Conference on Equal Employment Opportunity.
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From page 289... ...
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Malveaux, Julianne 1982 "Recent Trends in Occupational Segregation by Race and Sex." National Research Council,
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From page 290... ...
Norton, Eleanor Holmes 1981 "Affirmative Action and Labor Force Trends." Rockefeller Foundation Conference on Equal Employment Opportunity. New York: Rockefeller Foundation.
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From page 291... ...
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 1980 "Title VII and Collective Bargaining: Proposal and Resolution to Encourage Voluntary Efforts." Washington, D.C.: U.S.
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