OFCCP retired the formal Equal Opportunity Survey in 2006, but the data it collected never stopped being relevant. Federal contractors still face regular requests for the same workforce breakdowns during compliance reviews, and the reporting obligations around pay equity have grown since. For HR teams at federal contractors, treating the underlying data request as a permanent standard, rather than a retired form, keeps you ready the day an OFCCP scheduling letter arrives. That letter typically gives you 30 days to respond, which is not enough time to build the data from scratch if you haven't been tracking it.
What the Original EO Survey Asked The original survey pulled workforce demographic data, applicant flow, hires, promotions, terminations, and compensation by EEO-1 job category and by race, ethnicity, and sex. Contractors above certain thresholds submitted the survey annually.
OFCCP used the data to identify statistical anomalies and schedule compliance reviews. A contractor whose pay data looked disparate on its face usually saw a scheduling letter within 12 months of filing.
Why the Data Still Matters OFCCP still requests the same categories of information through compliance review scheduling letters. The agency also shares workforce data with the EEOC for parallel investigations. EEO-1 Component 2, the aggregate pay data filing that briefly returned in 2019 and 2020, collected much of the same information.
What's the Difference Between the EO Survey and EEO-1 Reporting? The EO Survey was OFCCP's contractor-specific instrument. The EEO-1 survey is the EEOC's annual workforce demographics report filed by all covered employers. Both collect similar categories but serve different agencies.
What to Track Today Track applicant flow data, hire decisions, promotion decisions, terminations, and pay by EEO-1 job group and by race, ethnicity, sex, disability status, and veteran status. Store the data in a format you can query quickly, because OFCCP and plaintiffs' counsel both like to run regressions.
Run an annual internal adverse impact analysis. If a protected group's selection rate falls below 80 percent of the highest group's rate on any decision, document your business justification. The 80 percent rule is OFCCP's trigger for deeper review.
Staying Ready for the Next Equal Opportunity Survey Request OFCCP does not need to formally reissue the EO Survey to pull the same data from you. Compliance reviews already collect it. Build an annual internal workflow that pulls every data element the historical survey required, runs the statistical analyses OFCCP would run, and flags any disparities for HR and legal review.
Maintain the workforce analytics dashboard year-round, paired with your affirmative action plan and applicant files . Review the OFCCP's current scheduling letter requirements each time they update. Contractors who wait for the letter to arrive lose the window to explain disparities, because by then OFCCP has already built its initial theory.
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