WASHINGTON – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) launched a new initiative to reimagine hiring practices to advance equal employment opportunity. The goal of the initiative is to identify innovative and evidence-based practices that will help workers access good jobs and help employers utilize the talent across America’s workforce. The agencies will host a virtual roundtable on January 19 to kick off this initiative.

The Hiring Initiative to Reimagine Equity (HIRE) is a multi-year collaborative effort that will engage a broad array of stakeholders in expanding access to good jobs for workers from underrepresented communities and help address key hiring and recruitment challenges. The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underserved communities, the growing recognition of systemic inequality, and calls for racial justice have brought national attention to the unfinished business of equal opportunity. HIRE will identify strategies to remove hiring barriers that limit opportunity along the lines of race, color, ethnicity, gender, LGBTQ+ status, religion, disability, age and veteran status. Many employers have recognized that they have an important role to play by strengthening their diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts in their workplaces. As our nation recovers from the pandemic, HIRE reflects the agencies’ commitment to building an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

The first in a series of roundtables, “Building on Dr. King’s Legacy: Launch of HIRE, a Hiring Initiative to Reimagine Equity,” will focus on strategies for advancing racial equity and will bring together employers and worker organizations to explore how we can work together to promote recruitment and hiring practices that advance racial equity and create pathways to good jobs for workers from underserved communities.