Question: You run a small consulting business that serves a relatively diverse community and have 24 employees in professional positions. You are not subject to Executive Order 11246. You are concerned that, of the employees in professional positions, your workplace has only one African American, no other employees of color, and three women. At this time, your upper-level management-the top six executives and yourself-are all white males. On the other hand, you have 15 support staff (secretaries and other clerical workers), of whom 14 are women and 11 are either African American or Latino.
You would very much like to better represent the community in which you do business and you believe a diverse workforce has significant business benefits. You therefore decide to institute a program that will increase the numbers of minorities and women in professional positions as soon as possible. Is this permissible? Do you have all the relevant facts you will need to answer this question? What steps will you undertake in your plan to increase these proportions and what pitfalls must you avoid?