Question description

 

While planning for expansion, CapraTek is also concerned about its hiring and promotion practices at existing facilities. Management has asked for an analysis of the workforce in its flagship manufacturing facility. As the Recruiting Director for CapraTek's major manufacturing facility you are concerned about the company's hiring posture relative to women and minorities. Your manufacturing plant in a nearby major city especially worries you. You recently checked the latest statistics for the SMSA the plant is in and found the following:

• Females in the labor force: 35%
• Blacks in the labor force: 10%
• Hispanics in the labor force: 5%
• All other groups are 0%

To address your concerns you first looked at the selection statistics for the past 12 months. Note: This plant hires mostly unskilled laborers and then trains them. Here is what you found:

Hiring Statistics

Â	Total	Females	Blacks	Hispanics
Number applied	80	20	10	5
Number hired	20	6	3	1

Next you looked at your existing work force and found the following:

• Total: 450
• Females: 50
• Blacks: 22
• Hispanics: 20

Finally, you looked at how protected classes are being moved up in the plant. While workers are hired as unskilled laborers, that is not the whole story. There are two higher paying options open to them: they can become skilled machine operators (by passing an in-depth company run training program) and from there they can become line supervisors (this pays even more than the skilled jobs). You are concerned about how that program works also; the statistics are as follows:

Positions Within the Company

Â	Total	Females	Blacks	Hispanics
Unskilled workers	350	45	20	15
Skilled operators	50	1	2	3
Line supervisors	25	2	1	1

Note: The above totals do not add up to 450 or the work force totals because there are other jobs in the plant not used in this analysis.

REQUIREMENTS

Using what you know about CapraTek's hiring and promotion practices, prepare a report for top management addressing the following:

• Analyze the data for evidence of adverse impact using the 4/5ths rule. Consider the applicant flow.
• Analyze the data for evidence of adverse impact of employee utilization based on the relevant labor market for the State of Michigan.
• Analyze the data for evidence of adverse impact on any protected class concentrated in lower-paying jobs.
• Assess CapraTek's hiring and promotion practices to support its growth strategy.