Practical Aspects of Monitoring Equality of Employment Opportunity in a Large Organisation

Abstract

Based on both principled and pragmatic arguments, this paper presents a flexible and consistent approach to monitoring equality of employment opportunity on a multidimensional basis within a large organisation. Emphasis is given to the examination of flows into and through an organisation, as opposed to compositional analyses which are an insensitive barometer to change. The applicability of loglinear methods is outlined and consideration is given to problems associated with empty cells in contingency tables and assessing the goodness of fit of models derived from this type of analysis. A novel application of survival analysis to examine differentials in the waiting times for promotion experienced by different subgroups is introduced. A brief overview is given of the types of computing systems and software which will facilitate monitoring in a large organisation.

Legislating For Fair Employment: The Fair Employment (Northern Ireland) Bill, 1988

“…Similarly, the Civil Service's own implementation of mechanisms for assessing the equality of personnel movement within its own employment structure has proved exceedingly complex (Stevenson, Mallon and Hepper, 1988). This procedure could prove quite difficult to realise on technical grounds.…”

“…A relatively simple preliminary exercise undertaken by the current Fair Employment Agency and the Northern Ireland Civil Service to construct' labour availability estimates' for the province as a whole has developed into an enormous and complex undertaking. Similarly, the Civil Service's own implementation of mechanisms for assessing the equality of personnel movement within its own employment structure has proved exceedingly complex (Stevenson, Mallon and Hepper, 1988). It is doubtful whether private employers could be reasonably expected to implement valid monitoring mechanisms of internal promotions.…”