Editor's note: The following is a contributed piece by Sean Cooper, director of partner management at SyncStream Solutions.
There's just one day left until the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) cutoff for EEO-1 reporting.
If you’re an employer with 100 or more employees, or a government-contracted business with more than 50 employees and a contract worth at least $50,000, here are three tips for meeting meeting the June 1 deadline.
- Register for EEOC credentials. If you don’t have accurate credentials for the EEOC website, you’ll be unable to file the requisite documentation. Seems like simple advice, but often, employers that haven’t previously filed with the EEOC don’t realize they have to register for credentials, even if they’re enlisting the help of a solution provider or advisor for other aspects of the process. Once registered, these credentials will be used for subsequent reporting years, so file them somewhere safe.
- Appoint a contact person. Consult with your president, CEO or business advisory team to designate a single point of contact to handle all communications and EEOC inquiries. Depending on the type and size of your business, this person can be the owner, head of HR or an outside advisor. Whoever it is needs to be registered with the EEOC and have the credentials to complete the EEO-1 submission process.
- Leverage experts when needed. A third party cannot file on an employer’s behalf, but you can outsource some of the back-end work, such as gathering required data, ensuring auditability of the data and drafting the actual report.
For example, the EEO-1 requires employers to collect and report the gender and ethnicity of each employee, which must be self-identified. When you’re dealing with hundreds or thousands of employees, this can be a cumbersome process. Many employers outsource data collection to a solution provider that can mass email or text employees for them to confirm or enter their gender and ethnicity. These solutions can send employees a specific survey that records responses in real-time and formats the data as required by the EEOC. The chain of communication with employees is documented and can be used as confirmation in the case of any EEOC audits.
No time to waste
If you were prepared to submit all your documentation before the EEOC extended it's original March 31 reporting deadline, you may assume EEO-1 reporting was already handled. But this is a good time to double check that you received confirmation through the EEOC’s website that all the necessary information was actually submitted before it’s too late. The portal for EEO-1 submissions will close on June 1. That means if you miss the deadline, you’ll have to contact the EEOC directly to find out how (and if) you can submit.
The EEOC takes penalties very seriously, with some companies paying millions of dollars in fines. For future reporting, keep in mind that good, clean data and punctual submission are the best ways to prevent penalties.
