- Establish a policy, including criteria, procedures, and individual responsibilities, that delineates the equal employment opportunity aspects of the terms and conditions of employment.
- Monitor compensation practices and performance appraisal systems for discrimination.
- Ensure that employee compensation is linked to performance and skills.
- Support family-friendly policies, including day care, elder care, and employee assistance programs.
- Support work-friendly policies, including flexible hours, alternate work schedules, work at home, job sharing, part-time job opportunities, liberal leave.
- Establish and enforce a zero-tolerance harassment policy.
- Establish and enforce an anti-discrimination policy.
- Provide guidance and training for managers and employees in support of both policies.
- Proactively support reasonable accommodation in the workplace:
- For persons with disabilities,
- For religion, and
- For pregnancy and other family-life issues.
- Eliminate practices which exclude or present barriers to minorities, women, persons with disabilities, older persons, or any individuals.
- Assist interested employees with retirement planning.
- Link management pay to the contribution they make to ensuring a "discrimination free" work environment.
Many of the recommendations here are drawn from the EEOC Commission Task Force Report entitled Best Practices for Public Sector Employers. This report presents a broad overview of the practices through which corporate America has been addressing its obligations to equal employment opportunity and workplace diversity. Although this report was issued in 1997, many of the insights it contains are still applicable today.