Affirmative Action, Employer Branding, and Age Discrimination

Introduction to Affirmative Action

Affirmative action is a concept that dates back to President John F. Kennedy, when it began as an Executive Order. President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925, which included a provision requiring government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure the equal treatment of all job applicants regardless of sex, religion, race, national origin, or color (Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, 2023). The order was issued to demonstrate the government's commitment to ensuring equal opportunity for all qualified applicants. Moreover, it sought to demonstrate the government's positive action in fostering efforts toward the achievement of true equal opportunity for all. Executive Order 10925 later became Executive Order 11246, which ensures that companies working with the government have a mechanism for taking action against hiring discrimination. Prohibiting hiring discrimination and promoting equal opportunity for all has therefore been the basis for affirmative action. Affirmative action seeks to ensure that qualified underrepresented groups — including minorities — have equal opportunity to be hired (Oyinlade, 2014).

Given its objective, affirmative action refers to specific actions in job recruitment, hiring, and promotions that seek to eliminate discrimination and its effects. It is essentially a set of specific actions that an employer carries out in good faith to ensure that all applicants and employees have equal employment opportunities (Green, 2004). These actions and good-faith efforts include training programs, outreach initiatives, and established procedures. These procedures and actions should be included in the written personnel policies of the company. Written affirmative action plans must be implemented and reviewed annually to ensure equal employment opportunity for all.

Throughout the years, affirmative action has evolved and diverged into three distinct paths. First, affirmative action arises in the context of government contractors, where it is undertaken as a requirement for receiving a federal government contract. This context is the premise upon which President Kennedy established affirmative action under Executive Order 10925. The second context is court-imposed relief, which occurs when a court orders affirmative action as a solution to address past discrimination by an employer. The third context is voluntary affirmative action, which is undertaken at the discretion of an employer (Appel et al., 2005).

Building an Affirmative Action Plan

According to the Department of Administration (2021), affirmative action is critical in current human resource practices for several reasons. First, it helps to increase the utilization of minorities, people with disabilities, and women across job categories and equal employment opportunity classifications. Second, it helps to address and change employment practices that hinder equal employment opportunity through analysis of specific practices and implementation of corrective measures. Third, affirmative action strengthens accountability and assessment by allocating major responsibilities to management. Finally, it enhances support for equal employment opportunity and workforce diversity — support that is evident in the training affirmative action provides on issues relating to fair employment practices.

An affirmative action plan refers to a written document or program specifying the steps a company has carried out — and will carry out — to ensure equal employment opportunity (Department of Administration, 2021). The document details steps for ensuring that qualified people are not discriminated against in employment decisions on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, or sex. Creating an affirmative action plan involves a review of employment data from previous years. Such data is used as a basis for what the employer will do over the next year with regard to equal employment opportunity. When analyzing employment data, a company utilizes the required regulatory statistics. Using a summary of the results, the company formulates an affirmative action plan in compliance with federal requirements. If an employer is covered by federal affirmative action obligations, he or she may be required to establish certain policies.

The process of establishing an affirmative action plan incorporates three major elements. The first is reasonable self-analysis, which involves determining whether existing or probable employment practices are discriminatory toward certain groups or fail to address previous employment discrimination. Reasonable self-analysis determines whether employment practices restrict, exclude, or promote discriminatory treatment of certain groups. When conducting the self-analysis, the employer also seeks to determine why employment practices could be discriminatory or have an adverse impact on certain groups (Legal Information Institute, 2021). Reasonable self-analysis helps to create a problems and barriers identification statement, which stipulates conditions or situations that should be changed or corrected. The statement also specifies personnel or management policies and actions that could be contributing to those conditions (Department of Administration, 2021). This statement serves as the premise for creating an action statement that details steps to remedy the identified problems and barriers.

The second element is reasonable basis, which is determined based on the results of the self-analysis. A reasonable basis for an affirmative action plan is established if one or more employment practices are deemed to have an adverse effect on employment opportunities for certain groups. Such a basis is also established if employment practices fail to correct the effects of past discrimination or contribute to disparate treatment of certain groups. However, reasonable basis can exist without a prior violation of relevant employment laws such as Title VII.

Employer of Choice: Grocery Store Website Analysis

Once reasonable basis is established, the third critical element is reasonable action. Reasonable action may include goals and timetables as well as other suitable employment tools to promote equal employment opportunity. Goals are narrowly customized objectives for hiring and promoting groups protected under equal employment opportunity categories, and they seek to remedy the lasting effects of previous discrimination. As part of the plan, goals can be used as flexible targets to guide affirmative action steps. However, they should not be used to discriminate against or prohibit people from employment opportunities through reverse discrimination (Department of Administration, 2021). Timetables help to ensure that specified actions are implemented in a timely manner. Affirmative action goals must be specific, measurable, and timely in order to be effective in promoting equal employment opportunity.

When creating an affirmative action plan, a company should develop and publish a policy on equal employment opportunity. Such a policy should specify that the employer does not discriminate against protected groups and should stipulate actions intended to enhance the representation of these groups while protecting the majority. Potential actions to improve the representation of protected groups include providing training programs to internal stakeholders, especially those in key decision-making positions. An important part of implementation is assigning responsibility to designated individuals within the company. These individuals should be mandated with implementing the plan and conducting regular reviews to address any challenges, ensuring that the affirmative action plan remains current and compliant with relevant laws.

Being an employer of choice is an important success factor in today's highly competitive business environment, particularly in the retail trade sector. A company that is deemed an employer of choice is highly sought after by job seekers because of its stellar reputation (Grones, 2020). Companies build their reputation as employers of choice by providing rewarding working environments characterized by positive employee experiences. As a grocery chain, building such a reputation is critical in a highly competitive market. Workers in the retail trade sector have a wide range of choices of occupation, industry, work arrangement, and employer locale. Attracting and retaining top talent in this sector is therefore increasingly difficult. Three grocery stores listed in Fortune Magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2016 — Nugget Markets, Wegmans Food Market, and Whole Foods Market — have established stellar reputations, in part because of the recruitment sections on their websites. Each of these companies has incorporated being an employer of choice as one of their key goals.

Nugget Markets has adopted a presentation-type website design — one of the most commonly used types among grocery store food websites. Using this design, Nugget Markets places greater emphasis on food presentation and includes mouth-watering photographs of its menu items, along with an option for users to place orders online. On its main page, Nugget Markets is advertised as one of the top 100 best companies to work for, and an apply button is strategically placed below its food photographs. Upon clicking the apply button, the user is redirected to a page that includes a picture referencing its Forbes listing. This page also includes a list of locations that are currently hiring, making it easier for the user to identify an ideal employment locale. The use of a presentation-style design and colorful pictures appeals to multiple age groups. Nugget Markets' career page provides insights into its work culture as a family-oriented workplace that supports a healthy work/life balance and lists employee benefits such as payment for unused sick days (Chopra & Chopra, 2018). However, the website could be improved by including details on career prospects and growth opportunities for potential employees.

Wegmans Food Market adopts a similar website design, as its home page is dominated by food presentations and colorful pictures. The website has different tabs for different categories of food items on its menu. Unlike Nugget Markets' website, Wegmans places most of its page links at the bottom; however, the link to the careers page is prominently positioned at the top. Upon clicking the careers button, the user is redirected to a page that begins with a search bar, proximity settings, and location filters. Featured career areas are listed below the search bar, organized by category, job position, location, and availability. Similar to Nugget Markets, this page also includes a reference to the company's Forbes listing and an advertisement as an employer of choice. Users can create accounts to track saved jobs or receive alerts for new job opportunities, and they can easily view recently viewed jobs, featured jobs, and saved jobs. While this website makes job searching convenient, it requires the user to enter a keyword — a potential barrier for users who are unsure what to look for. Therefore, instead of requiring a keyword, the search bar could include a drop-down menu of job categories to make it easier for users to browse available positions.

Unlike Nugget Markets and Wegmans, Whole Foods Market does not use a colorful, presentation-type website. Whole Foods utilizes a store shopping website design layout in which users can find a store, browse recipes, or order online. Its main page features only one colorful food photograph at the top, followed by a list of upcoming in-store events. Specialty food items are listed near the bottom of the main page. While the Whole Foods careers page includes a search bar, it only requires the user to enter a job title and location — a simpler approach than Wegmans'. The page also includes a culture and benefits button at the top, and an overview of stores, offices, facilities, and distribution centers is provided below the search bar. Each segment redirects the user to a page where they can learn more about the working environment. Whole Foods' career page also features a video and testimonials from employees regarding the work environment and culture, which enables potential employees to get a sense of what it is like to work there. Unlike Nugget Markets and Wegmans, Whole Foods' career page does not include a reference to its Forbes listing. A unique feature is a segment detailing the company's hiring process and a careers blog. However, the website does not include details on career growth opportunities and prospects.