Fairness in the workplace

By Raymond D. Fowler, PhD
APA Chief Executive Officer

Most of us spend more of our time working than anything else, so quality of the workplace is a major factor in our health and well-being. As the person responsible for the conditions of employment of our nearly 500 employees, the quality and fairness of our workplace is very important to me. Creating a healthy work environment not only fulfills our responsibilities to the people who work hard to make APA successful, it also makes for a more efficient and cost-effective Central Office.

As part of this effort to create a healthy workplace, APA offers its employees good health and mental health-care benefits, flexible schedules and a voice in Central Office decision-making. APA is also committed to having a discrimination free workforce. The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area is rich in ethnic diversity, and for years we have worked to ensure that the city?s diversity is represented in our workforce and that all staff have equal access to promotions, salary raises and opportunities for advancement. We?ve always believed we were achieving that goal, but we have not always had the appropriate data to demonstrate it.

Recruitment, compensation and promotion

Over the past two years, APA has succeeded in developing a sophisticated, fact-based program to ensure employees are treated fairly in recruitment, compensation and promotion. We believe that approach could serve as a model for other employers. We believed we were doing the right thing; now we have detailed data to back that up.

As part of APA?s employment plan, we annually review employee demographics to be sure our workforce reflects the pools of available candidates. During this review, we look at who is applying to APA, where we are attracting applicants from and the selection ratio to assure fairness to all. We try to determine if there are employment barriers in our outreach efforts, screening and hiring processes, and then set goals to correct any deficiencies.

About two years ago, we upgraded our computer system, which enabled us to collect more detailed data about the APA workforce and job applicants. We made this improvement when we received a large Federal contract which required APA to meet very strict employment guidelines. However, what began as a requirement soon became an opportunity to develop a model equal employment program.

With the new data in place, APA voluntarily hired one of the best-known plaintiff?s employment lawyers to put our hiring practices, our personnel policies and our compensation system to the toughest test. Her audit revealed that APA was in excellent health from an equal opportunity perspective. At our request, she recommended ways APA could revise its procedures to make our employment practices a model .

As a result of this audit, APA made three important changes. First, we appointed an Equal Opportunity Employment (EEO) Officer and established new hiring procedures that provide significant input in the hiring process for the EEO Officer. Second, we hired a training manager and developed a more comprehensive staff development program. Third, we retained an independent compensation consultant to review our salary patterns to find and evaluate any apparent inequities by race or gender.

APA?s employment philosophy is to hire good people, then prepare them to assume more responsibility. Internal candidates are given first priority for jobs. Managers who turn down internal and external candidates must specify business-related reasons, which are then documented in a database. There is an appeals process should a manager disagree with the decision of the EEO officer.

As a final step to our ensuring fairness, we hired an industrial/organizational psychologist who specializes in compensation system analysis to study the fairness of APA?s salaries. The compensation system was analyzed across the entire APA workforce using multiple regression. Our consultant concluded that there is no discrimination for race and gender in APA salaries.

One issue that we are continuing to study is how, if at all, salary inequities in the external marketplace may inadvertently affect the starting salaries of new employees. APA has asked our compensation consultant to work with us to evaluate and develop strategies for anticipating and eliminating the subtle ripple effect of any unfair salary differentials our employees might bring with them from prior employers. We don?t want to continue inequities from other people?s systems.

A model to be proud of

APA?s Board of Directors and Council of Representatives have insisted that APA have a discrimination-free workforce, with equity and fairness in hiring, advancement and compensation. With the help of APA?s management staff and excellent consultants, I believe APA?s comprehensive program to monitor and ensure fairness in our workplace provides a model of which all members can be proud.