A note on legal requirements: Federal, state, and local requirements around demographic data collection, affirmative action planning, and government-contractor reporting change over time — sometimes significantly. This article explains what Greenhouse Recruiting's tools do; it is not a summary of your organization's current legal obligations. Before relying on any specific requirement, threshold, or deadline, confirm your obligations with the EEOC, the OFCCP, or your own legal counsel.
The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) is the federal agency primarily tasked with enforcing federal laws that prevent employment discrimination based on a candidate's race, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status. The OFCCP (Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs) is the federal agency within the U.S. Department of Labor primarily tasked with enforcing nondiscrimination and equal opportunity requirements for companies that hold contracts with the federal government.
Most companies and organizations are covered by federal nondiscrimination laws, and while the rules apply to firings, promotions, harassment, training, wages, and benefits, Greenhouse Recruiting is mostly concerned with how they intersect with the hiring process. Many companies proactively track and analyze their hiring data to help demonstrate compliance with applicable nondiscrimination laws.
EEOC questionnaire
Note: The questions included in the EEOC questionnaire cannot be edited.
The EEOC questionnaire is a set of federally-aligned questions about race, gender, veteran status, and disability status. Because acceptable question wording is a compliance-sensitive area that changes when the underlying federal guidance changes, Greenhouse keeps this question set fixed and updates it centrally rather than allowing per-organization edits. This avoids a scenario where an individual account is using outdated or noncompliant wording without realizing it.
Greenhouse does its best to keep the demographic questionnaire's categories (i.e., race, gender) current with applicable federal regulations, but you should confirm requirements with your own legal counsel. Categories that are no longer required or permitted at the federal level are automatically disabled, but can be re-enabled by customers who need them to satisfy state or local requirements.
The EEOC questionnaire is enabled on a per job post basis and will appear for candidates when they fill out an application through your organization's job board.
Additionally, for candidates who entered your system without applying through a job post (for example, referrals, prospecting, or candidates associated with a confidential job), Greenhouse Recruiting also has functionality to email the EEOC questionnaire to candidates.
EEOC report
Candidate responses collected from the EEOC questionnaire are anonymized and compiled in Greenhouse Recruiting's EEOC Report. This report is only accessible by users with Site Admin level permissions with the additional user-specific permission Can see EEOC and demographic reports.
Demographic data and government contractors
Federal contractors and subcontractors above certain size and contract-value thresholds may be subject to additional recordkeeping, reporting, or planning obligations tied to their government contracts. These thresholds and requirements are set by federal regulation and change periodically. If your organization holds government contracts, we recommend confirming your current obligations with OFCCP or your legal counsel rather than relying on this article for the current rule.
Collecting demographic data to promote company diversity
The EEOC questionnaire and reporting functionality are intended primarily for Greenhouse customers who are government contractors or federal entities with a corresponding legal basis for collecting this data. We recommend only using these specific features if your organization fits that criteria.
If you don't fit that criteria and are using the EEOC report to gather demographic data without a clear legal basis or governance process around it, that could represent a risk to your organization. Speak with your legal counsel to understand the benefits and risks of collecting and reviewing this type of information in your specific circumstances.
If you'd like to collect and review demographic data for general diversity, equity, and inclusion purposes — outside of the government-contractor context above — Greenhouse Recruiting offers custom demographic questions and DE&I reports in Pro subscription tiers, which are more configurable than the fixed EEOC questionnaire.
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