Valerie Hoffman Quoted in Workforce Management
"Diversity: The Obama Effect"

Valerie Hoffman was quoted in the February 9, 2009 issue of Workforce Management in the article, "Diversity: The Obama Effect." The article discussed how with President Obama's presidency comes a new set of challenges, the most game-changing of which will be how his position raises the bar in defining diversity. Experts believe there will be more focus on multicultural as well as socioeconomic diversity within the workplace. The article noted that before companies can even think about working on more sophisticated diversity initiatives, they will have to address a slew of new challenges that are expected under Obama's administration. These include increased criticism of affirmative action policies by opponents as well as greater enforcement of affirmative action policies by the government.

The article also discussed how experts predict that under the Obama administration, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) will have more support from the Office of the Solicitor General, which tries OFCCP cases. According to Valerie, "I believe that the solicitor’s office will be supporting more of the OFCCP’s demands. It means that employers will need to spend additional energy ensuring that they can defend a failure-to-hire case and that their applicant tracking systems are accurate"