Page 4 - KZN Business Sense Vol.2 No.5

Employment Equity in the Workplace
Rachel Manzie,
HR Service Line elimination of unfair
Leader, DRG
Outsourcing
A employment experienced by
guide to
planning,
preparing
and
monitoring
employment
equity in the
A workplace
t this time each year there
appears to be a ‘season’
for Employment Equity.
HR consultants and companies
alike are bombarded with
questions regarding employment
equity. Why is there this seasonal
approach to employment equity?
For those companies that embrace
the true meaning and objectives
of employment equity, it is not
a once a year seasonal event
but a 365 day commitment and
process of achieving equity and
transformation in the workplace.
The degree of success in
achieving employment equity in
the workplace is determined by
employers firstly asking themselves,
“WHY are they participating in
the process?” The most common
reasons quoted are: they are scared
of the Department of Labour
(DOL) fines associated with non-
compliance, they need to submit
employment equity reports in order
to obtain a BBBEE certificate, or
this is another government return
that needs to be submitted on an
annual basis. All of these reasons
are not the motivating factors that
employers should be using for
compliance with the Employment
Equity Act. The only valid reason
is that a company wants to achieve
true transformation within their
organisation.
What is Employment Equity?
The Employment Equity Act
was first gazetted in 1998 and
was further amended in August
2013 effective 1st August 2014.
The overall purpose of the
Act is to achieve equity in the
workplace by promoting equal
opportunity and fair treatment
Courtesy of “Interaction Institute for Social Change | Artist: Angus Maguire.”
4
in employment through
discrimination and implementing
affirmative action measures to
redress the disadvantages in
designated groups.
There is a misconception that
employment equity means treating
people equally, which is not the
intention of the act. Employment
equity is around recognising
people’s differences and
accommodating those differences
by implementing affirmative action
measures to allow them to have fair
opportunities.
Who has to comply with the
requirements of the Employment
Equity Act?
Any employer that is deemed to be
a designated employer is required
to comply with all aspects of the
Act. A designated employer is any
employer that employs more than
50 employees or who employs less
than 50 people but has an annual
turnover greater than their industry include the following steps:
sector, which is as follows:
■■ Agriculture (R 6 million)
■■ Mining and Quarrying
(R 22.5 million)
■■ Manufacturing (R 30 million)
■■ Electricity, Gas and Water
(R 30 million)
■■ Construction (R 15 million)
■■ Retail and Motor Trade and
Repair Services (R 45 million)
■■ Wholesale Trade, Commercial
Agents and Allied Services
(R 75 million)
■■ Catering, Accommodation and
other Trade (R 15 million)
■■ Transport, Storage and
Communication (R 30 million)
■■ Finance and Business Services
(R 30 million)
■■ Community, Special and
Personal Services (R 15 million)
Who is a Designated Group?
The Act provides protection to
designated groups. A designated
group is Black people, women and
people with disabilities who–
■■ are citizens of the Republic of
South Africa by birth or
descent; or
■■ became citizens of the Republic
of South Africa by naturali-
sation before 27 April 1994;
■■ after 26 April 1994 and who
would have been entitled to
acquire citizenship by
naturalisation prior to that
date but who were precluded by
apartheid policies
How should Employers comply
with the Act?
As with any implementation
process employers should
commence with a project plan
for implementing employment
equity. This should comprise of the
following three phases:
■■ Preparation
■■ Implementation
■■ Monitoring
PREPARATION PHASE
This is a critical phase in which
all stakeholders should be involved, completed the organisation is ready
including commitment from top
management. Employers should
1. Assign an employment equity
manager – This should be a senior
permanent employee within the
organisation
2. Raise awareness of employment
equity within the organisation
3. Ensure that each employee
has the opportunity to complete
the Department of Labour EEA1
form, which enables employees
to confirm their race, gender and
disability status
4. The employer should establish
an employment equity committee
via a nomination process, which
is representative of all race,
gender and disability groups at all
organisational levels within the
organisation
5. Train the employment equity
committee in the legislation and
their role within the process
6. In consultation with the
employment equity committee
conduct a qualitative analysis of
employment policies, procedures
and practices to ensure that they
are not discriminative in any way.
Where potential discriminatory
areas are identified affirmative
action measures should be put in
place to eliminate the identified
discrimination or potential
discrimination.
7. Conduct a quantitative analysis,
which involves creating a workforce
profile and analysing the number
of employees in each race, gender
and disability group at each
organisation level and comparing
the workforce profile with the
Economic Active Population (EAP)
figures.
What are EAP Figures and how
should they be used?
The most recent EAP figures are
released by Statistics South Africa
and relate to the percentage of
people from the ages of 15 to
64 who are either employed or
unemployed and who are seeking
employment. The EAP figures
are displayed by race and gender
and employers can choose to use
national figures or provincial
figures depending on the
footprint of their business. As
part of the quantitative analysis it All designated employers are
is critical that employers compare
their workplace figures with the
EAP figures as they will assist an
organisation in determining the
degree of under -representation
of the designated groups. The
information obtained from this
analysis will then provide data
on which to base the goals and
targets for their equity plan. It
is vital that the outcome of the
analysis ‘talks’ to the content of
an organisation’s equity plan.
IMPLEMENTATION PHASE
Once the above analysis is
to move onto the next phase. In
consultation with the employment
equity committee the organisation
is required by the Act to develop an Employers should keep records of
employment equity plan.
What is an Employment Equity
Plan?
The employment equity plan
should address the barriers
to fair employment practices
identified during consultation
and the remedial measures to be
implemented during the length of
the plan to remove such barriers.
The plan should include the
following:
■■ The duration of the plan (one –
five years)
■■ Objectives that the employer
aims to achieve for each year of
the plan
■■ Details of the affirmative action Penalties?
measures to be implemented.
Where the outcome of the
analysis shows that the
designated groups are under-
represented numerical targets
for each year of the plan should
be included as well as numerical
goals for what the employer
wishes to achieve at the end
of the employment equity plan.
Employers should note that these
are not quotas but targets to be
achieved after the
implementation of affirmative
action measures
■■ A timetable and strategies to be
implemented for each year of
the plan
■■ Procedures that will be used
to monitor and evaluate the
implementation of the plan
■■ A dispute procedure that will be
applied if disputes arise around
the EE plan
■■ Details of people who are
responsible for implementing
the plan
Completion of Employment
Equity Reports
In consultation with the
employment equity committee,
the employer, after following the
above process should have the
required information to enable
them to submit their employment
equity reports to the DOL.
required to submit an EEA2 and
EEA4 form on an annual basis.
Employers are actively encouraged
to submit these reports on line
via the DOL website. The online
system for 2016 reporting opened
on the 1st September 2016 and will
close on 15th January 2017.
MONITORING AND
IMPLEMENTATION PHASE
This is a key area of the Act
and one in which employers
often fail to implement and is
the reason why employment
equity should not be viewed
as a ‘seasonal’ event. After the
submission of employment equity
reports and the development
of the employment equity plan.
the progress made in achieving
their equity plans and continue
to meet with their employment
equity committees on a regular
basis to provide feedback on the
progress of the equity plan and
to discuss any other employment
equity related issues.
In assessing an employer’s
compliance with the Act,
one aspect that the DOL will
review is the extent to which an
employer has made progress in
implementing their plan and that
they have taken reasonable efforts
towards its implementation.
What are the Fines and
Since the amendments to the
Employment Equity Act came
into force in August 2014 the
fines relating to non -compliance
have increased by 200% and
employers can be liable to fines of
greater than R1, 500,000 or 2% of
the employer’s annual turnover.
Employers therefore need to be
mindful that the consequences
of non-compliance will be of
considerable financial loss, which
in some cases maybe crippling for
an organisation.
The moral of this article is that
the process of implementing
true employment equity within
the workplace should not be left
to chance. Employers should
embrace the Act in the true spirit
in which it was intended to create
transformation in the workplace
that will benefit and contribute to
creating a harmonious productive
workplace in South Africa. n
DRG Outsourcing (Pty) Ltd
Tel: +27 (0) 31 - 767 0625
Fax: +27 (0) 31 - 767 3280
david@drg.co.za
www.drg.co.za