A colleague of mine, Neil Lappely, head of Lappley & Associates & an expert in compensation strategy / executive compensation / incentive pay / salesforce compensation / market pricing / board of director pay, asked me the following about DEI strategy.

Wed, Aug 24, 7:11 AM

Hi Chuck,

Hope you are enjoying the last part of summer.

I ran across the attached Harvard Business Review article: To Drive Diversity Efforts Don’t Tiptoe Around Legal Risks.  Thought of you and have a question.  When does a goal turn into a quota?  I am in the position of suggesting to clients that to help drive DDEI efforts that measures ought to be involved in pay decisions – incentives and salary adjustment decisions.  Am I trading on a problem? Any inputs?

 

Neil
Neil Lappley
Lappley & Associates, Ltd.
790 Moreland Blvd., Suite 301
Waukesha, WI 53188
(847) 921-2812
nlappley@lappley.com

 

Here’s my response:

In my opinion, a goal turns into a quota when management places some sort of dogmatic emphasis on achieving that target or goal thereby eliminating other similarly qualified candidates or incumbents from employment decisions. This is a broad statement though & has to be assessed on a situation by situation basis.

Based on our current technology & understanding of DEI statistics, I don’t think you can create an algorithm or formula & dogmatically apply that to every situation in a black & white manner. In other words, the law leans towards having an “interactive discussion” with candidates or employees concerning DEI & pay equity, or a or a conscientious analysis of those decisions prior to making them.

A key issue for an employer to resolve is when to engage in either this discussion or the analysis. Obviously & based on current law, employers need to engage employees or candidates before the final decision is made, but whether or not they make a conditional or provisional offer or decision before making a final offer or decision is another key issue. That decision should be done on a case by case basis & probably using a mix of objective, as well as subjective, criteria. That mix of criteria is a whole other level of analysis though.

Hope this helps.

Chuck