Factor Weights
REQUIRED STEPS
Assign Factor Weights to Internal and External Availability
Factor Weights represent the percentage of incumbents to a Job Group that come from external hires verses internal promotions. By default, factor weights for all Job Groups are set to 100% external and 0% internal. You need to change this ratio to correctly reflect your organization’s past hiring and promotion practices.
Availability is separated into two factors.
External availability, known as Factor 1, is determined by the Recruitment Areas for Job Group and census codes assigned to jobs. Internal availability, known as Factor 2, is determined by the feeder jobs assigned to the Job Group. For each Job Group, determine what percentage of new entrants into the group will likely result from external hires, and what percentage will likely result from internal promotions.
Select a job group from the Job Group drop down list. Enter the percentage of expected hires to this group into the first box under Weight for Factor 1. Then press TAB on your keyboard, and the Factor 2 weight will be applied automatically to total 100%. Click [Save] to save the changes, then repeat for all Job Groups.
Apply Quick Weights
BALANCEaap has calculated and displays the percentage of hires versus promotions from your personnel action data in the secondary header of the Factor Weights table. If your activity during this period was typical for your company, click [Apply Weights] next to the Quick Weights percentage.
A pop-up window will appear. Choose either to apply the calculated weights to the current Job Group, or to all Job Groups; thenR click Apply. The promotion percentage will be assigned to the Factor 2 weight, and the Factor 1 weight will be applied to add up to 100%.
Run the Factor 2 Check
When you are done applying weights, select [Check Factor 2] from the table header to ensure there is consistency between Job Group feeders and those weights. If applied properly, a message will indicate: There are currently no groups that fail the factor 2 check.
A Job Group should not have weight applied for Factor 2 when it contains no feeders; likewise, if a Job Group has feeders, it should indicate some Factor 2 weight. If the system locates these inconsistencies, a menu displays, allowing them to be corrected. The Factor 2 Check will also review the Availability at the Sub Plans level and will indicate the needed corrections where necessary.
Correct Job Groups with Weights but no Feeders
Check the box next to one or more Job Groups. Click [Remove Weight From Selected Job Groups] to clear this issue.
Correct Job Groups with Feeders but no Weights
First, check the box next to one or more Job Groups. Then select one of these global options:
[Remove Feeders From Selected Job Groups] [Add Weights to Selected Job Groups] For those Job Groups with weights, the weight entry may be edited, using the numerical field to the right of the Job Group record.
Once any issues are corrected, a message indicates a successful Factor 2 check.
Review Availability Numbers
Once your weights are assigned, the factor weights screen provides a great deal of information regarding your employment and availability.
Raw Statistics
The Raw Statistics section of the page displays the external and internal availability calculations.
The external raw data is derived from the recruitment area of the Job Group, and the occupational census codes assigned to the jobs in this group. To see the full calculation of the raw external statistics, see the Requisite Skills Calculations report.
The internal raw data is derived from the feeder jobs assigned to the Job Group, and the race and gender of the employees who are currently in those jobs. To see the full calculation of the raw internal statistics, see the Feeder Job Calculations report.
Weighted Statistics
The Weighted Statistics section displays the adjusted external and internal availability calculations after the weight is applied to each. If you multiply the raw statistic value by the weight, you get the weighted statistic.
Availability
This is the final availability value, which is used to determine your goals. Add the weighted Factor 1 and Factor 2 values to get this final availability percentage.
Employment
The employment value is calculated directly from your roster. It is the percentage of minorities and females currently residing in the Job Group. This value, also known as Incumbency, will be compared to your availability percentage to determine if a goal will be set for the group.
If this value is highlighted in red, your availability exceeds your incumbency by an amount greater than your Utilization Rule allows.
Stat Value
BALANCEaap will use a statistical analysis to determine if your availability exceeds your incumbency by a statistically significant amount. If this value is highlighted in red, the results are statistically significant, meaning your differences are not likely due to chance.
Shortfall
The shortfall is the calculation of whole persons needed in order to not have a goal for that class. For example, a shortfall of 3 women for the group would indicate that if 3 more women were employed in the group, you would no longer have a goal for that group.
MASTER PLAN SETTINGS
Cascade to Sub plans
Most settings in this section can be carried down to the sub plans by selecting the Cascade to Sub Plans option.
Assigning Factor Weights
In a master plan, if you have set plans to use an EEO Code job group structure on the Plan Code screen, you will have the ability to also assign factor weights to EEO Job Groups so that they may be assigned consistently across sub plans. On the Factor Weights screen, click the EEO Job Group Weights tab to show these weights.
For each job group, the weight for factor 1 and factor 2 will be displayed and may be edited. The last column will display the “Quick Weights”, the ratio of promotions to hires currently represented in the master plan for this EEO category. This percentage can be used to approximate the weight that should be used for factor 2, internal availability.
Click Save to submit the changes. All weights in the sub plans will be overwritten with the changes made.
Importing Factor Weights
When importing weights from another plan, upon clicking Import, you will be given two options if the plan you are importing from is a master plan.
Apply Corresponding Sub Plan Settings – If your plan codes match, the settings will be imported into each sub plan to correspond to the settings in the source sub plans. If there are any plan codes in the current master plan that are not present in the source master plan, settings for those sub plans will be set to match the master plan. Apply Master Plan Settings – Your sub plan settings will be set to match the settings in the master plan. If the plan you are importing from is not a master plan, the sub plans settings will be set to match the master plan.
Best Utilization Tool Rule
When running the Best Utilization Rule tool from a master plan, it can be run for the current master plan, across all sub plans (showing how each utilization rule performs collectively at the sub plan level), or for each separate plan (showing how each rule performs within the confines of each individual sub plan).
OPTIONAL STEPS
Show People
To review your availability values by number of people, instead of by percentage, click Show People. The percentages will be converted by multiplying them by the number of people in the roster. This view can be easier to visualize than percentage numbers.
Import Factor Weights
Click Import if you wish to import settings from another plan. You can import both factor weights and utilization rules for one or all of your job groups. Select these options: select the Company, Establishment, and Plan from the drop down lists, then click Import Data.
Options
External Availability Source
You have the option to choose an External Availability Source from the 2000 Census Data and Occupation Codes or the EEO 2006-2010 ACS Tabulation Data and 2010 Occupation Codes.
If you choose the EEO 2006-2010 option and your Occupations Codes are in the 2000 Census Data format, you will be prompted to choose how you want to fill in missing Occupation Codes. You can utilize the 2010 Occupations Crosswalk to update your 2000 Occupation Codes by matching with a new 2010 code. Or, you can allow the system to automatically assign the new 2010 Occupation Codes that match your current job titles. You can then choose to translate recruitment areas for all or any selected region types, or to not translate recruitment areas.
Statistics Settings
There are two different statistical analyses BALANCEaap can use to determine the utilization significance. The preferred method is to calculate the standard deviation. For smaller groups, however, the Exact Binomial test is more accurate. By default, job groups containing less than 30 records will use the Exact Binomial test.
Standard Deviation calculations of 2.0 or greater, or Exact Binomial test results of .05 or lower, are typically considered statistically significant. These values should not be changed unless advised by a statistician or attorney.
An approaching significance threshold is set to provide a warning when adverse impact for a group is near the significance point. The reports will indicate groups approaching significance.
To make changes to any of these values, enter the desired value into the field, and click Save at the bottom of the page.
Quick Weights Options
By default, BALANCEaap will use new hires and promotions data in your plan to calculate the percentage of external hires versus internal entrants to job groups. To include transfers in this calculation, select this option.
Utilization Rule Settings
Your chosen utilization rule can be changed from this page by clicking Change Rule under the Weighted Statistics columns. You can change the rule for all job groups by selecting a new Default Rule for This Plan. You can also change the rule for only the current Job Group by selecting a new rule under Rule for This Job Group.
Click Determine Best Utilization Rule to open the Best Utilization Rule Report screen. This report performs the incumbency vs. availability analysis using each utilization rule to determine which rule will produce the least amount of placement goals.
Select the checkboxes for the rules you would like to be considered for the analysis. Click and drag the listed rules into the preferred order you would like the analysis results to be considered and displayed. Choose to view the report in HTML or PDF format, or if you would like to export the report to Excel, Word or PDF. Once the appropriate settings have been selected, click Run Report. The report will display the number of protected classes that would be considered underutilized by job group based on the rules and settings selected, and state which rule will produce the fewest number of placement goals.
Though it is advised to use the same rule for each group, you can change the rule for only the current group if desired. To always use the plan’s default rule, select "USE DEFAULT" from the Rule for This Job Group drop down list. To select a specific rule for this group only, select the desired rule from the drop down list.
Be sure to click Save to save your changes.