September 06, 2017

Those of you running companies with 100 or more employees know about EEO-1 pay data reporting. This includes any of you operating federal offices with 50 or more employees. As you've done for a while, you need to report to the EEOC every September 30 to provide details on employee pay.

This last year, no doubt you heard from the EEOC that this year's reporting would move to March 31, 2018 to reflect new informational changes.

While this means the new snapshot period of reporting pay data is now between October 1 and December 31, 2017, you may have trouble compiling the new data before next March.

Unfortunately, these new reporting requirements have become problematic for many companies because of the new detailed demands.

Here's a look at what those details are and the best way to approach gathering them.

Bringing New Burdens to Companies Like Yours

The EEOC is aware of these new data burdens, and they've recently asked the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the White House to give more time. With this request, OIRA is currently reviewing what these new burdens are for companies.

They're even considering delaying the deadline to give businesses more time to figure out what kind of information they need to provide.

So what more do you have to provide to the new EEO-1, assuming the deadline goes forth on March 31?

New Information for Full and Part-Time Employees

One of the most significant pieces of information you're required to provide is more information on race and ethnicity in the headcount of your workers. While headcount was a standard process in the past, you'll have to give not only data on race, but also gender for each category of employee.

This is going to encompass twelve different pay bands and numerous job groups.

In addition, you'll need more information on how many hours each employee worked. Because this involves determination by gender, race, and ethnicity, you can see how much time it's going to take.

The current argument is that a lot of the above data being asked for isn't really necessary and only adds extra stress. As a result, you're starting to see a lot of lobbying to get the new requirements either cancelled or delayed to allow business preparation.

So what happens if it still goes forward? You'll want to do a few things to get yourself organized.

Putting Together All Job Categories

It pays to review all the job classifications the EEO-1 normally collects. Take some time to prepare for the new requirements by gathering all job titles and placing them in the appropriate categories.

Federal contractors should especially do this to adhere to compliance rules typically collected in the EEO-1. With the new required data, you'll have this ready to go to provide more details.

Also take time to work with all your departments to gather the necessary data on hours worked. No doubt this is going to take extra time, so you'll have to work directly with them to assure proper data collection.

You may need to use digital methods to collect this data since paper-based systems are only going to bring errors and possible lost documents.

What Kind of Data Reporting Systems Should You Use?

Using cloud storage is a good idea for these new EEO-1 data requirements. Real-time transit to the cloud is the best way to assure all hours clocked in from your employees go to a safe database.

Put security measures in place to prevent data thieves, including assigning cloud access to only authorized personnel.

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