Wal- Mart has relied heavily on a word- of- mouth approach to hire new truck dri

Question

Wal- Mart has relied heavily on a word- of- mouth approach to hire new truck drivers. Rather than advertise for applicants, current drivers are asked to distribute “ 1- 800 cards” to people they think might be potential applicants. Those people then call Wal- Mart headquarters. If they meet minimum qualifications, their names are relayed to local transportation offices. Committees composed of current drivers are used to screen these applicants and to conduct initial interviews. Wal- Mart policy specifies that each screening committee be “ 50% diverse,” but many committees have no African American representation. Subsequent interviews are conducted by HR and general managers. Candidates are selected by managers according to their own personal criteria. From January 2000 through September 2005, African Americans comprised 4– 6 percent of Wal- Mart drivers. Of the 4,135 drivers hired during this period, 8.4 percent were African American. African Americans were 10.2 percent of the applicants for employment as truck drivers at Wal- Mart during this period. Approximately 15 percent of U. S. truck drivers are African Americans. Are Wal- Mart’s recruiting and hiring practices for truck drivers racially discriminatory?

Explanation / Answer

The recruiting and hiring practices for truck drivers is racially discriminatory. Instead of giving opportunity for all the potential candidates, Wal-Mart is trying to hire the candidates who are related to the existing ones by the distribution of 1-800 cards through the current drivers. The percentage of African American drivers is very less which shows the discriminatory mentality towards the African Americans and there is very few chances of expanding their percentage through the card system. More over the committees to screen the applicants are also composed of current drivers with no African American representation. The managers are also allowed to recruit based on their personal preference and hence there is only rare chance for recruiting African American truck drivers. All these factors along with the employment data shows that the recruiting and hiring practices for truck drivers in Wal-Mart are racially discriminatory.

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