The year is coming to an end and while many changes affected the regulatory landscape in 2024, 2025 is sure to see more change as a new Administration enters the chat. With that in mind, our Board of Directors took over the DE Talk podcast this month to share their OFCCP compliance journeys over the past year and what they expect to come in the next twelve months. See a snippet the conversation below and then listen to the full episode for even more thought-provoking content.
Dana Deason:
Let’s transition to thinking about 2025, or if you have any technology impacts that you’ve considered in 2024 that will continue on in 2025 – I would be interested to hear about that.
Chris Liakos:
One of the things you mentioned as we transitioned in my head, I think when I looked back at last year was compensation and the new scheduling letter were really the big, for me, the big things to focus on early in 2024. And I think those are still important. So don’t get me wrong, compensation in particular, overall pay transparency, but I do think AI is kind of dominating the space right now, at least it is for me, kind of how these things are coming out. We talk about some of those predictive analytics and algorithmic hiring considerations and where this is being used or not being used yet. I mean, even the scheduling letter did kind of push us into this space automatically because it was asking specific questions that they hadn’t asked before, at least not in a scheduling, not upfront around what systems are you using, what technology are you using that could be AI, what’s a bot versus what’s some of the other older technologies versus actual AI. So, it sort of forced – at least in audits – forced companies to really think through what do we have, what are we disposing? You’ve got to talk to your different organizations and find out what they’re using. And I don’t think that’s going away, and at least in my space, I don’t know what others think. It’s grown exponentially in the last just few months even as far as where that’s coming into the space.
Diego Gonzales:
Yeah, I agree. Chris, and I think looking into 2025 and some of the chatter that’s occurring right now, speculation of new administrative priorities without having a crystal ball, it’s really hard to guess, but we can look to the past and we see even from the EEOC kind of a party-neutral framework and guidance around AI regulations and how the impact from an AI perspective would be looked at. Commissioner Sonderling who’s presented to DE conferences and groups has been very much out front in this and saying, look, it still has to be a fair process. So, looking at that technology, how it evolves and ensuring that it is fair and equitable, there still needs to be some framework in place for contractors to be able to evaluate. In one area where I’m focusing into 2025 is continuing to develop guidance for recruiters and the talent space around requisition management and clear qualifications to be able to defend hiring outcomes, in particular. And I think all of that is going to stay the same. So, without guessing what’s going to change, it’s ‘let’s try to focus on things that we have relative assurance that will stay the same’. That’s being able to defend your selection outcomes. Absolutely.
Chris Liakos:
Yeah, I think that’s a critical point. Can I piggyback on what Diego just said too? I spend a significant amount of my time with recruiting just because it’s such a huge area. One, we at EY hire between 10 and 20,000 people per year, and our applicant flow is in the millions each year, and that’s just a lot of opportunity to make sure you really, really understand how we’re defining an applicant. These are basic things that we’ve been doing for, but it becomes more relevant and more particular now where you consider any kind of technology acting on your behalf, potentially doing some of those selections, some of those scanning for you, how you define an applicant, how are you defining dispositions, how do I know looking back at all that data at the end of the year, what we did. And so, if nothing else, no matter what technology we’re talking about moving to, if it’s an assessment-based opportunity or AI-based opportunity, it still goes back to some of the fundamentals. And Chair Burrows mentioned this at NILG last year. The laws still stay the same. You still have to be accountable to your process. You have to be accountable to all the data. You still got to produce things to show that you’re not being discriminatory in any way. So, the more time you can spend between recruiting and compliance, the much better you’re going to be in the long run, especially as we go into, as Diego said, just this unknown where we’re going over the next year.
Julie O’Hara-Harvey:
And I just want to add to that, thinking about 2025, I’ve been to several webinars and there’s been a lot of talk and chatter around partial rollbacks of aggressive DEI mandates and also simplified reporting requirements and increased focus on voluntary compliance over punitive. So, there’s some chatter about that out there. Enforcement wise, the trend that is forecasted that I’ve been hearing is that there’s going to possibly be a shift from mandatory quotas to demonstrated good faith efforts or more collaborative audit approaches and more emphasis on corrective action plans over financial penalties.
Dana Deason:
So, are your companies doing anything differently in light of that?
Listen to episode six to hear how our hosts are preparing for potential regulatory changes in 2025, as well as their favorite industry resources and organizations, and what they are starting, stopping, and continuing in the New Year! Never miss an episode – sign up for email notifications or text alerts to be the first to know when a new one is available. We’ll be back in January with another great conversation!
