The Governor issued an executive order Friday requiring all state agencies to improve their hiring practices. The move follows recent reports showing qualified minority candidates have been less likely to be interviewed than whites.
Brad Anderson, a spokesperson for the Governor, says Culver wants to make sure hiring and promotion practices in Iowa are fair and the workforce is diverse. One report commissioned by the state claimed that minority applicants for state jobs, over the past three years, were about one-third less likely to be interviewed.
"It’s no secret that there have been some challenges over the past several years related to minority hiring and promoting," Anderson says, "and what the Governor says is we’ve spent time identifying these problems…now it’s time for action." The executive order requires state agencies to submit a summary of their hiring practices, requires all state employees to take diversity training once a year, and creates a Diversity Council.
Anderson says the Diversity Council will review state agency’s hiring practices and report if any improvements are needed to the Governor. Culver’s order also requires each agency to develop a recruitment and retention plan. In recent years, the state has settled discrimination lawsuits with at least eight people – costing taxpayers nearly $500,000.