Program Guidance – Fair Inclusion of Women and 

Minorities in the Workforce

Section 342(c)(2) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 

of 2010 requires contractors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to ensure, to 

the maximum extent possible, the fair inclusion of women and minorities in the 

workforce of the contractor and, as applicable, subcontractors. To this end, solicitations 

for FDIC contract awards over $100,000, will contain a provision for prospective 

contractors to certify that it is committed to equal opportunity in employment and 

contracting, and that it has made and will continue to make or will make during the 

course of the contract, a good faith effort to ensure the fair inclusion of women and 

minorities in its workforce and in the workforce of applicable subcontractors. (Provision 

7.3.2-53 – Certification Regarding Fair Inclusion of Women and Minorities.)

The Importance of the Inclusion of Women and Minorities to Business

The hiring of women and minorities is a strategic business imperative. Here are some of 

the key business benefits:

Serving a Diverse Population

As women and minorities become decision makers, both in business-to-business and 

business-to-consumer, it becomes vital to have people who can represent those 

markets on your teams.

Work Force Utilization

Employers will get the maximum productivity out of all of your employees.

Employer of Choice

To stay competitive, it is important to get the best talent. Women and minorities look for 

employers where they can be successful and, as a result, it is vital to be the employer of 

choice.

Creativity & Innovation

To come up with new solutions requires different points of view. Including women and 

minorities on your teams will help to create new ideas to keep your business 

competitive.

Good Faith Effort to Include Women and Minorities in the Workforce

FDIC has defined “good faith effort” as actions by the contractor intended to identify 

and, if present, remove barriers to women and minorities within its workforce or expand 

employment opportunities for women and minorities within its workforce. Efforts to 

remove such barriers or expand employment opportunities may include, but are not 

limited to, recruiting women and minorities, providing job-related training, or other 

activity that could lead to those results.
FDIC contractors must certify to its commitment to ensuring equal opportunity in 

employment and contracting upon award of a contract over $100,000 and annually 

during the contract period if more than 12 months.

Evidence of a Contractor’s Good Faith Effort

The FDIC, through the Contracting Officer, may request a copy of a contractor’s plan 

and evidence of completed actions to demonstrate good faith effort. This information 

may include, but is not limited to:

1. The total number of the contractor’s employees, and the number of minority and 

women employees by race, ethnicity, and gender (e.g., EEO-1 report);

2. A list of subcontract awards under the contract that includes: dollar amount, date of 

award, and subcontractor’s minority and/or gender ownership status;

3. Information similar to that required in item 1 above with respect to each 

subcontractor with a subcontract value that exceeds $100,000; and/or

4. The contractor’s plan to ensure that minorities and women have appropriate 

opportunities to enter and advance within its workforce, including outreach efforts.

Barrier Identification and Elimination

Barrier identification and elimination is the process by which an employer can uncover, 

examine and remove barriers to equal participation at all levels of the workforce. A 

barrier can be a policy, principle or practice that limits or tends to limit employment 

opportunities for members of a particular race, national origin or gender group. Barrier 

removal is vital to assuring equal opportunity to employment; thus, an employer should 

work to create a barrier-free work environment where qualified applicants and 

employees have the freedom to compete and participate to the fullest extent possible, at 

all levels within the workforce. The use of barrier analysis will assist vendors in 

recruiting, hiring, developing, and retaining a high-performing workforce that draws upon 

the greatest talent pool.

An example of a barrier might be that a company only hires people through word of 

mouth. That would mean that if a highly qualified minority or woman candidate were not 

connected socially or professionally with current employees, they would be unlikely to 

have an opportunity to apply for a position. Barriers like this can be overcome with some 

of the strategies in the next section.

Getting Started

As a contractor with the FDIC, you may understand why inclusion of women and 

minorities in the workplace are important, but also wonder how to get started with the 

process. Here are a few different areas where you can focus your efforts to have the 

greatest impact:
 Broadening outreach activities to target recruitment of minorities and women

 Developing and implementing strategies to retain employees - Creating an Inclusive 

Workplace

Broadening Outreach Activities to Target Recruitment of Women and 

Minorities

The landscape of the US workforce is changing, and women and minorities comprise an 

ever-growing proportion of the US talent pool. As a result, whether your organization 

has 50 people or 500 people, to get the best people to work, it is important to have a 

strategy that ensures effective outreach to qualified women and minorities. Strategies 

you can use include:

 Forming relationships with diverse organizations such as the National Black MBA 

Association, Hispanic Bar Association, Women in IT, Asian American Chamber of 

Commerce, and with educational institutions with significant populations of women 

and minority students.

 Highlighting on your website, in social media and in your marketing materials that 

you are an equal opportunity employer and that you value diversity.

 Expanding your job postings to the widest range of potential applicants, including 

places where you might reach qualified women and minorities.

 Attending job and career fairs that reach qualified women and minority candidates.

 Training interview and hiring panels on methodologies to recognize and eliminate 

bias in the interview and selection process to ensure that women and minorities 

have an opportunity to compete on a level playing field.

Developing and Implementing Strategies to Retain Employees -

Creating an Inclusive Workplace

The objective of inclusion is to create an environment where every employee, including 

women and minorities, has an equitable opportunity to achieve personal success and 

contribute to the organization’s success. As an organization becomes more inclusive of 

employees with different backgrounds, it becomes vital to ensure that they are able to 

become a part of the mainstream. The following strategies are ones that can be taken to 

retain employees.

1. Providing career development opportunities to give employees an opportunity to 

grow within the company and to stay marketable in their field.

2. Providing mentoring and coaching programs to engage and provide informal 

guidance and feedback to employees to help guide them and serve as a resource.
3. Supporting employee resource groups to facilitate employee engagement, 

networking, and personal development.

4. Supporting career/work life balance with flexible work schedules, tele-work, wellness 

programs, etc.

5. Promoting an inclusive work environment by ensuring employees have an 

opportunity to contribute directly to the organization, and effectively communicating 

the company’s diversity and inclusion policy to all employees.

Applicability to Subcontractors

The Fair Inclusion Clause (7.6.4-04) applies to applicable subcontractors. 

Subcontractors with contract awards over $100,000 must also make good faith efforts to 

include women and minorities in their workforces. Prime contractors are responsible for 

affirming that their applicable subcontractors have made a good faith effort to ensure, to 

the maximum extent possible, the fair inclusion of women and minorities in their 

workforces. Subcontractors can follow the same or similar diversity and inclusion 

strategies as identified above to demonstrate their good faith.

Technical Assistance with Adhering to the Fair Inclusion Clause

The FDIC has developed a collaborative process to review and assess whether 

contractors are responsive to the Fair Inclusion Clause. First, the process allows for 

reviewing and verifying the contractor’s certification response and communicating with 

the contractor. This involves ensuring there is a positive response to the question and 

reviewing available documentation depicting the contractor’s workforce and the existing 

representation of women and minorities; e.g., the EEO-1 Report. Second, if there is a 

negative response to the question and/or available documentation about the 

contractor’s workforce is inconclusive, the FDIC may open discussions, through the 

Contracting Officer, for contractors to present information or otherwise clarify its good 

faith efforts and to resolve any questions or outstanding issues. The FDIC is committed 

to assisting its contractors in meeting the requirements of the Fair Inclusion Clause and 

realizes its primary interest is in the performance of the contract. After exhaustive 

unsuccessful attempts to assist a contractor in making good faith efforts to include 

women and minorities in its workforce however, the FDIC may make a recommendation 

to take appropriate action, including but not limited to, making a referral to the Office of 

Federal Contract Compliance Programs of the Department of Labor or terminating the 

contract.

The FDIC’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion can be called upon to share 

experience, advice and assistance to help the success of a contractor’s diversity and 

inclusion efforts. Feel free to contact OMWI for advice or assistance.