Small Business Glossary and Definitions

An Affirmative Action Plan is a personnel management tool with procedures, policies and practices intended to guarantee equal employment opportunity. Its basic idea is that an employer’s workforce usually should mirror the demographics of its available labor pool, including gender, race and ethnicity.

It includes a diagnostic element with several quantitative analyses intended to judge the workforce’s demographics and compare them to the available labor pool. It should have specific, practical steps to be taken if certain groups are not sufficiently represented in the workforce compared to the available labor pool. The plan also should include internal reporting and auditing systems to measure progress.