EO Survey Eliminated for Federal Contractors

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports that the EO survey required detailed information on hiring activities, compensation practices, and worker tenure – much of the same information already required by EEO-1 reports. In a comment to the OFCCP’s January proposal to eliminate the survey, SHRM said, “The collection of much of the same information in another format, therefore, poses a substantial and unreasonable burden on contractors, and is contrary to the purpose of the Paperwork Reduction Act.”

According to OFCCP officials, 62% of responses to its proposal were in favor of ending the survey, SHRM reports.

The final rule doing away with the survey appears in the Federal Register for September 8 and states, “The OFCCP has concluded that the EO Survey misdirects valuable enforcement resources and fails to provide value to either OFCCP enforcement or contractor compliance. This rule revision allows OFCCP to better direct its resources for the benefit of victims of discrimination, the government, contractors, and taxpayers.”

OFCCP had estimated the survey took about 21 hours for respondents to complete and cost contractors an average of $6 million every year for data tracking and filing. The agency said it will continue to develop effective data collection methods and ensure contractors are complying with federal nondiscrimination rules and regulations.