Archived - Step 3 – Creating an Employment Equity Plan

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Table of Contents

Introduction

The creation of your organization’s employment equity plan brings together all elements completed in earlier steps. Your organization will use the information gathered and the recommendations (if applicable) developed in earlier stages of the employment equity process to develop a sustainable employment equity plan.

An employment equity plan gives your organization a systematic and structured approach to removing barriers and implementing positive policies, practices and special measures that will remove gaps in the representation of the four designated groups.

This plan is intended to be a “living document,” meaning that it needs to be monitored and updated. For example, if after a year your organization reaches its numerical goals for hiring and promoting visible minorities but is far behind its goals for another group, it may adjust its plan to focus more on the groups that continue to be under-represented.

Your organization’s employment equity plan must include:

  • measures for removing all barriers identified in your employment systems review;
  • positive policies and practices to ensure that all employees, including designated group members, can work in a positive and equitable workplace;
  • special measures targeted to increase the representation of under-represented designated groups;
  • short-term hiring and promotion goals to eliminate under-representation;
  • long-term representation goals that commit your organization to achieving full representation;
  • clear time frames and accountability measures; and
  • a system for monitoring and revising your employment equity plan over time.

This introductory section provides background and summary information on creating an employment equity plan, including:

  • a summary of the legislative framework, including requirements under the Employment Equity Act, the Employment Equity Regulations and the Federal Contractors Program Requirements;
  • a series of key points to remember;
  • a list of the tools and templates included in this guide; and
  • a summary of the basic methodology.

Legislative Framework

As an organization implementing employment equity in your workplace, you are required to create an employment equity plan under the Employment Equity Act, the Employment Equity Regulations and the Federal Contractors Program Requirements.

The Employment Equity Act

The creation and implementation of an employment equity plan is referenced in sections 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15 of the Act.

Section 10 of the Act requires organizations to:

  • prepare an employment equity plan that includes positive policies and practices, short-term measures to eliminate barriers, short-term goals and long-term goals, and a timetable for implementation;
  • establish positive policies and practices related to hiring, training, promoting and retaining designated group members, and reasonable accommodations to be instituted in one to three years; and
  • specify measures that will be taken in the next one to three years to eliminate employment barriers that were identified in the employment systems review.

Section 11 of the Act requires organizations to:

  • ensure that the employment equity plan would, if implemented, lead to reasonable progress toward implementing employment equity.

Section 12 of the Act requires organizations to:

  • make all reasonable efforts to implement an employment equity plan; and
  • monitor the implementation of the employment equity plan on a regular basis to assess whether reasonable progress toward implementing employment equity is being made.

Section 13 of the Act requires organizations to:

  • review their plan at least once every three years and make adjustments as necessary.

Section 15 of the Act requires organizations to:

  • consult and collaborate with employee representatives and bargaining agents in preparing, implementing and revising an employment equity plan.

Employment Equity Regulations

Section 11 of the Regulations requires your organization to establish and maintain records related to its employment equity plan and the steps it has taken to monitor the implementation of its plan.

Federal Contractors Program Requirements

As an organization covered under the Federal Contractors Program, you are required to adhere to requirements 7 through 10 in developing your employment equity plan:

  1. Establishing short-term and long-term goals
  2. Adopting measures to remove barriers
  3. Adopting special measures, positive policies and practices, and reasonable accommodation measures
  4. Adopting monitoring procedures

Key Points to Remember

A continued focus on communication, consultation and record keeping is crucial to creating an employment equity plan. Routinely consulting with employees, management, employee representatives and bargaining agents will ensure a transparent process and further demonstrate your organization’s commitment and accountability. Documenting your organization’s efforts to create a solid and sustainable employment equity plan will also contribute to transparency and accountability.

Communication

Your organization is required to maintain constant communication with employees, management, employee representatives and bargaining agents in developing and implementing its employment equity plan. These individuals can play a significant role in setting goals and creating positive policies, practices and measures.

Input from these individuals could help your organization establish innovative and creative:

  • measures to eliminate barriers;
  • short-term hiring and promotion goals;
  • positive policies and practices as well as special measures;
  • long-term goals; and
  • monitoring procedures.

Consultation

As in previous tasks completed in the employment equity process, your organization must consult with employees, managers, employee representatives and bargaining agents throughout the creation of your formalized employment equity plan. Input from these individuals is vital to ensuring that all goals and measures set out in the plan are achievable and sustainable.

Record Keeping

Record keeping plays a significant role in the creation of your organization’s employment equity plan. Throughout this process, you will be asked to consult past records (for example, the results of your organization’s workforce analysis and employment systems review) and to create new records of your intentions related to goals, measures and monitoring procedures.

Your completed plan is perhaps the most important record your organization is asked to create and modify over time. It contains a thorough overview of your organization’s current and future plans to create and maintain an equitable workforce where no individual is denied opportunities for reasons unrelated to ability.

Tools and Templates

This guide provides your organization with a number of tools and templates that will help you complete your employment equity plan.

Tools

  • Basic Goals Tool and Explanation (Appendix 3A)
  • Employment Equity Action Plan: measures to remove barriers (Appendix 3B)
  • Employment Equity Action Plan: special measures, positive policies and practices and reasonable accommodation measures (Appendix 3F)

Templates

  • Sample Employment Equity Policy (Appendix 3C)
  • Sample Anti-Harassment Policy (Appendix 3D)
  • Sample Accommodation Policy and Sample Accommodation Request Form (Appendix 3E)
  • Employment Equity Plan Template (Appendix 3G)

Summary of Methodology

Creating an employment equity plan requires significant links between the results of your organization’s workforce analysis and employment systems review. Your organization will use the results of both forms of analysis to develop a plan for addressing the under-representation of designated groups in your workforce.

The results of your workforce analysis will be used to establish short-term hiring and promotion goals that, if achieved, will result in reasonable progress toward closing gaps in the representation of the four designated groups. Your organization can achieve these numerical goals by removing all barriers uncovered by the employment systems review and by instituting positive policies, practices and special measures.

The results of your employment systems review will be used to establish an action plan that includes measures for eliminating all barriers identified in the review. Creating positive policies will enhance the workplace for all employees, with particular positive impacts for the designated groups, and special measures will ensure that gaps are reduced in a timely manner.

Timelines are required for achieving all measures. Record each measure and timeline in your employment equity plan.

The result will be a written plan that must be reviewed at least once during the three-year life of the plan and adjusted as required. The plan is just one more step in an employment equity process that is consistent with the basic tenets of any good problem-identification or problem-resolution strategy.

Note: The key standard established by the Employment Equity Act is that your employment equity plan, if implemented with reasonable efforts, will lead to reasonable progress toward removing gaps in the representation of the four designated groups

Upon completion of Step 3: Creating an Employment Equity Plan, you will have:

  • established numerical goals to correct areas of under-representation identified in your workforce analysis;
  • created an action plan containing measures for removing barriers;
  • established positive policies and practices as well as special measures;
  • established monitoring and revision procedures; and
  • formalized your organization’s employment equity plan by recording all goals and measures to be achieved in the short and long term and the process by which they will be monitored and revised.

Creating an Employment Equity Plan: A–F Task Outline

Task A: Review results of the workforce analysis and employment systems review

Review the results of your organization’s workforce analysis and employment systems review. The purpose of this task is to recall areas of under-representation that must be addressed and barriers that must be removed, to ensure they are covered in the plan.

Task B: Establish recruitment and promotion goals in the short term

Establish short-term goals of one to three years to close gaps in the representation of designated groups identified in your workforce analysis. These short-term numerical goals must be sufficient to ensure that reasonable progress will be made in closing the gaps over three years.

Task C: Create an action plan for removing barriers in the short term and implementing positive policies and practices, special measures, and accommodation

Develop measures and an action plan for removing barriers and achieving short-term hiring and promotion goals. This includes measures for eliminating employment barriers identified in your employment systems review, creating and implementing positive policies and practices, creating special measures to accelerate the closure of gaps in representation, and creating and implementing reasonable accommodation measures.

Task D: Establish representation goals for the long term

Long-term goals are goals that will be achieved after the three years of the plan. Long-term goals indicate your organization’s objectives with respect to achieving full representation of under-represented designated groups in your workforce over time. Long-term goals may be numerical, non-numerical or both.

Task E: Establish monitoring and revision procedures

Like all corporate plans, your organization’s employment equity plan is a living document that must be continuously monitored, evaluated and revised. The plan must be reviewed and revised at least once every three years.

Task F: Write your organization’s official employment equity plan

An employment equity plan must include an introduction outlining the steps your organization has taken to communicate with employees, a section identifying those accountable for employment equity within your organization, and your workforce profile.

The plan must have a results table detailing how your employment equity plan will address problem areas identified in both your workforce analysis and your employment systems review.

Lastly, your plan must include a detailed description of the monitoring system your organization will put in place to monitor progress as well as review and revise the plan.

Task A: Review Results of the Workforce Analysis and Employment Systems Review

To ensure that your organization’s employment equity plan will close gaps in the representation of designated groups and eliminate barriers, you must first review the results of both your workforce analysis and your employment systems review.

Upon completion of Task A, you will have:

  • reviewed the results of your organization’s workforce analysis and employment systems review to prepare for creating an employment equity plan.

To review the results of your organization’s workforce analysis, consult the results table in your workforce analysis summary report. This table provides the scope your action plan is required to cover, as it identifies all the gaps to be addressed.

The same is required for the review of the results of your employment systems review. You must take note of the recommendations made in the employment systems review. If your organization chooses not to incorporate certain recommendations into your employment equity plan, a justification is required. While developing the plan, it may well be possible to identify more effective measures for dealing with barriers or implementing special measures.

Note: Your plan must respond to all identified gaps and barriers.

Task B: Establish Recruitment and Promotion Goals in the Short Term

To correct issues of under-representation identified in your workforce analysis, your organization must establish short-term hiring and promotion goals. These goals should cover a period of one to three years.

Upon completion of Task B, you will have:

  • established recruitment and promotion goals for the short term (one to three years) to correct areas of under-representation;
  • established time lines for the achievement of recruitment and promotion goals; and
  • assigned an individual responsible for the realization of each goal.

When establishing numerical hiring and promotion goals, it is important to keep in mind that you are not being asked to implement quotas. Quotas are explicitly prohibited from being made mandatory under Subsection 33(2) of the Employment Equity Act. These goals are related to your organization’s own gaps in representation and are calculated in a way that is appropriate and attainable for your workforce. These goals are similar to all other performance goals in your organization and serve as key measures of the success of your employment equity plan. As such, they provide the same quality of performance indicators most organizations establish for their lines of business.

Employment equity is also not about hiring or promoting unqualified candidates or having your organization suffer undue hardship. Rather, it is about taking the necessary steps to ensure that designated group members are hired, promoted and retained equitably.

You may choose to use either absolute numbers or percentages in creating your goals. Typically, absolute numbers are used in instances where there are small gaps in representation, and percentage goals are used where there are large gaps. Percentage goals are better at automatically reflecting changes in your level of staffing actions in any given year.

Organizations must aim to achieve rates of hiring and promotion of designated group members that are at a minimum on par with availability, as identified in the workforce analysis. As such, hiring goals must not be lower than the relevant external availability figure. However, it is often necessary to set goals above availability in order to make reasonable progress toward closing the gaps. How much greater than availability will depend on a number of factors as set out in Section 10(2) of the Employment Equity Act, which states that employers shall consider the following in establishing numerical goals:

  • the degree of under-representation of designated group members in each occupational group in your workforce;
  • the availability of qualified persons in designated groups within your workforce and in the larger Canadian workforce;
  • the anticipated growth or reduction of your workforce during the period to which your goals apply; and
  • the anticipated turnover of employees within your workforce during the period to which your goals apply.

As we will see, you have to establish positive policies and special measures that provide a reasonable expectation that these goals will be achieved.

Designating Responsibility for the Achievement of Goals

Designating responsibility for the achievement of goals is a significant measure for increasing the likelihood that gaps in representation are closed. The responsible individuals could include managers or human resources officials. Goals established and the time frame in which these goals are to be achieved must be communicated to each individual selected to oversee the hiring and promotion of designated groups that are under-represented in their areas of concern. Again, this is consistent with the standard practices of good management.

Recording Goals

The Basic Goals Tool in Appendix 3A, allows your organization to anticipate the representation of designated group members in your workforce by projecting annual hires and terminations over a three year period. This tool is an Excel table that automatically calculates hiring goals as percentages. You will also find instructions on how use this tool in Appendix 3A.

Task C: Create an Action Plan for Removing Barriers in the Short Term and Implementing Positive Policies and Practices, Special Measures, and Accommodation

Establishing a three year employment equity action plan is required to support the numerical goals set in the previous task. Your organization’s short-term action plan must include:

  1. measures for eliminating all employment barriers identified in your employment systems review;
  2. positive policies and practices;
  3. special measures to accelerate the closure of gaps in representation; and
  4. reasonable accommodation measures to ensure the full participation of all designated groups in your workplace.

Upon completion of Task C, you will have:

  • established measures for removing barriers identified in your employment systems review;
  • established special measures, positive policies and practices, and reasonable accommodation measures;
  • established a time frame for achieving each measure, special measure, positive policy and practice, and accommodation measure; and
  • assigned an individual responsible for achieving each measure, special measure, positive policy or practice, and accommodation measure.

1. Establish Measures for Eliminating Employment Barriers

Your organization’s employment equity plan must include measures for removing the barriers identified in your employment systems review. In many cases, the recommendations (if any were made) in your employment systems review will be the most appropriate to adopt. Barriers are generally defined as policies and practices that have an adverse impact on one or more designated groups and are not required for the safe and efficient operation of the business. They must be removed as quickly as possible. For example, barriers such as invalid tests and standards must—and can—be removed immediately.

However, some measures for eliminating barriers, such as the development and implementation of more structured human resources practices, may take time to implement. Still others may be a function of the organization’s current status and may be retained with the addition of supplemental initiatives to overcome their negative impacts. For example, word-of-mouth recruitment is often a very effective approach for employers, and its negative impact is the result of current levels of under-representation.

In the final analysis, however, your organization must ensure that its practices over the three years of the plan are capable of permitting it to meet the short term hiring and promotion goals.

Measures that will be taken to remove barriers are to be recorded in a table found in Appendix 3B. Each measure is to be paired with an individual responsible for implementing the measure, and the time frame for the removal of the barrier.

2. Create and Implement Positive Policies and Practices

Positive policies and practices are measures that, although not explicitly targeted at designated group members, create an environment that supports a diverse workforce and the removal of barriers.

There are many types of positive policies and practices that your organization may implement, for example:

  • Mandatory
    • an anti-harassment policy; 
    • an accommodation policy;
    • an employment equity policy;
  • regular accessibility reviews;
  • flexible work arrangements;
  • expanded paid leave policies (illness, family care, maternity, paternal leave);
  • unpaid leave/sabbaticals;
  • a daycare program;
  • sensitivity and cross-cultural training;
  • an employee assistance program;
  • a career development program;
  • an education/training/mentoring program; and/or
  • a workplace violence prevention policy.

These are just some of the policies and practices you might implement. Be creative and innovative in adopting positive policies and practices to promote and encourage a more representative workforce.

Developing Positive Policies

When developing positive policies, it is important to be clear and concise.

All positive policies should include:

  • a clear policy statement;
  • a definition of the issue at hand (for example, a definition of harassment);
  • an assignment of responsibility and accountability;
  • procedures to follow, where appropriate;
  • a structure of actions involved; and
  • a system for monitoring and revision.

The Labour Program has developed examples of an employment equity policy (Appendix 3C), an anti-harassment policy (Appendix 3D), and an accommodation policy (Appendix 3E). In order to be found in compliance, an organization must have at least a minimum these three policies, although it may choose to draft its own versions.

3. Create and Implement Special Measures

If your organization has areas of significant under-representation, special measures are required to speed up the closure of gaps and to specifically target and encourage the recruitment, promotion and retention of designated group members. Special measures may also be required where it will take time to remove an identified barrier. These initiatives are aimed explicitly at attracting, promoting and retaining members of the designated groups to address the ongoing effects of under-representation.

Section 2 of the Employment Equity Act states that employment equity means more than treating people in the same way—it also requires special measures and the accommodation of differences. Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms permits special programs, as do all federal, provincial and territorial human rights Acts.

Examples of special measures include targeted:

  • outreach and recruitment;
  • advertising;
  • education and training programs;
  • job rotation;
  • accelerated/modified career development programs;
  • mentoring programs;
  • sponsored trade school training; and
  • co-op placement.

Note: The fact that these measures are explicitly targeted at one or more designated groups makes them “special measures.” Normally, such measures are used until the gap has been closed.

Other special measures could include:

  • establishing support networks for members of designated groups in the workplace;
  • providing development opportunities for members of designated groups; and
  • reserving apprenticeship openings for members of designated groups.

Your organization is encouraged to be creative and innovative in creating special measures to ensure that goals are achieved and gaps are reduced. It is crucial that special measures are targeted at areas of under-representation and are clearly designed to support the goals your organization has established.

4. Create and Implement Reasonable Accommodation Measures

Reasonable accommodation involves adopting new initiatives or adjusting current policies to eliminate barriers to the full participation of all designated group employees and prospective employees. Accommodations are not reserved for persons with disabilities; they may also be made to accommodate employees’ family status or religious adherence. It is important to note that these policies are not intended to cause your organization undue hardship.

Undue hardship implies that some hardship in providing accommodation must be expected. To determine when it becomes “undue,” the employer considers cost and health and safety.

Examples of accommodation include:

  • modifying facilities (entrances, exits, common use areas, washrooms, meeting and training spaces, etc.);
  • modifying job functions;
  • modifying work stations;
  • modifying working hours to accommodate appointments;
  • developing return-to-work programs;
  • providing technical aids;
  • developing an alcoholism policy;
  • developing a policy on religious observance;
  • recognizing religious holidays for leave; and
  • providing a prayer or quiet room.

An accommodation policy must have clearly outlined procedures that provide guidelines for managers and supervisors who provide accommodation and for employees requesting it. It should also respond to all the prohibited grounds of discrimination covered in the human rights act that applies to your province or territory of operation. You will find an example of an accommodation policy and procedures in Appendix 3E.

Note: Accommodation should only be applied when a barrier is deemed to be valid. If the barrier is not valid, it must be removed, as mentioned in the Employment Systems Review Policies and Practices Diagnostic Tool.

Recording Special Measures, Positive Policies and Practices and Reasonable Accommodation Measures

Just as you recorded your short-term numerical goals in a table, you must do the same for the Special Measures, Positive Policies and Practices and Reasonable Accommodation Measures to be implemented.

In order to complete the suggested table, identify the Employment Equity Occupational Group that the policy or practice is affecting negatively, record the barrier that was identified in your employment systems review, and then record the measures that you have established, the time frame in which you expect to reach that goal, and the manager responsible.

To complete the Employment Equity Action Plan: Special Measures, Positive Policies and Practices and Reasonable Accommodation Measures, list the objective to be achieved; the actions to be taken; the individual to be responsible for taking action; and the time frame for completion.

You will find a blank table for your use in Appendix 3F.

Task D: Establish Representation Goals for the Long Term

Establishing long-term representation goals is crucial for increasing the likelihood that gaps in the representation of designated groups remain closed and that no new gaps will be identified. The purpose of long-term goal setting is to enable your organization to set aside immediate operational requirements and consider the broader picture. Long-term representation goals will help your organization to establish employment-equity-related objectives for a period of more than three years. These goals may be numerical, non-numerical or both, depending on the needs of your organization.

Upon completion of Task D, you will have:

  • established long-term numerical and non-numerical representation goals to close gaps in your workplace and increase the likelihood that gaps remain closed;
  • established a time frame for the achievement of each goal; and
  • assigned an individual responsible for the realization of each goal.

Long-Term Numerical Goals

The focus of long-term numerical goals is to address gaps that may require more than three years to close. For example, a long-term numerical goal could be to achieve full representation of all designated groups in all management positions within five years.

Long-Term Non-Numerical Goals

Long-term action plan initiatives are meant to be larger efforts to eliminate specific barriers in the workplace. For example, long-term non-numerical goals could include completing building modifications to improve access for, and accommodation of, persons with disabilities or establishing an on-site daycare facility. Another qualitative goal could be to organize, over time, training and information sessions to eliminate cultural and attitudinal barriers.

Recording Long-Term Goals

Your organization’s long-term action plan may be recorded using the Employment Equity Action Plan: Measures to Remove Barriers, and the Employment Equity Action Plan: Special Measures, Positive Policies and Practices, Reasonable Accommodation Measures in Appendices 3B and 3F.

Task E: Establish Monitoring and Revision Procedures

To ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of your organization’s employment equity plan, you must create and implement monitoring and revision procedures.

Monitoring is the regular evaluation of your organization’s employment equity plan to assess whether reasonable progress toward implementing employment equity is being made. Your organization is required to update numerical goals and make any changes that are necessary upon review. An employment equity plan must be reviewed at least once in the period during which short-term numerical goals are established (i.e., once every three years).

Upon completion of Task E, you will have:

  • created a monitoring system to evaluate your organization’s employment equity plan regularly.

Continuous monitoring of your employment equity plan will help your organization to:

  • follow up on the responsibilities and accountabilities of individuals and groups to ensure that they are implementing the various components of the plan; demonstrate that you are making reasonable efforts to implement your plan; ensure that reasonable progress is being made in implementing the activities set out in the plan and in reaching goals; identify activities that work and those that do not (some activities will generate immediate results and others will not) and take corrective action; outline new or better ways to achieve results; establish new or higher numerical goals as circumstances require (changes in occupational groups, number of employees, growth or reduction of units, or the release of new census data may all require changes in employment equity goals); and set out new or expanded responsibilities and accountabilities.

A good monitoring system measures the extent to which the key activities set out in your employment equity plan are being implemented and tracks progress in achieving the organization’s short- and long-term goals with measurement at appropriate intervals. It helps ensure that the activities are undertaken within the time frame set out in your plan and evaluates whether the time frames themselves are realistic and achievable. The information obtained in the monitoring process is used to review the effectiveness of the plan and provide direction in revising it.

Changes in the representation of designated groups provide an indication over time of how successful various activities aimed at increasing representation have been. If your organization is not meeting its short-term numerical goals, it must examine the action plan closely to determine why its measures are not effective and make necessary adjustments or replace them with more appropriate measures.

Creating a Monitoring System

To create a successful and efficient monitoring system, your organization must describe:

  • who will be responsible for monitoring the employment equity plan;
  • how often monitoring will take place;
  • what type of consultations with employees will take place regarding the monitoring of the employment equity plan;
  • to whom the results of the monitoring process will be reported; and
  • how the results of the monitoring process will be reported to employees.

It is expected that if a goal or measure is not being achieved, the plan will be revised to include additional new and/or modified measures and activities.

To facilitate monitoring, all statistics and documents related to employment equity must be retained for two years after the period covered by your employment equity plan.

Task F: Write Your Organization’s Official Employment Equity Plan

Your organization’s employment equity plan must include a thorough summary of the efforts that have been undertaken to implement employment equity to the point of finalizing the plan. It must also include a thorough summary of the concrete steps you will take to implement your plan, including monitoring and revising its contents regularly to ensure that progress is sustainable.

Upon completion of Task F, you will have:

  • formalized your organization’s employment equity plan by recording your action plan and the monitoring and revision procedures that will be implemented.

An employment equity plan must include:

  1. an introduction;
  2. a description of your organization’s action plan; and
  3. a description of your organization’s monitoring and revision procedures.

You will find detailed instructions for the completion of each of these elements below.

For an employment equity plan template, see Appendix 3G.

1. Introduction

The introduction of your organization’s employment equity plan is an overview of your organization’s workforce profile, actions taken to communicate with various individuals throughout the creation of your employment equity plan, and measures put in place to ensure accountability.

Workforce Profile

Record your workforce profile. The information required is:

  • the number of employees covered under your organization’s plan and their status (i.e., number of full-time, part-time and temporary workers); and
  • a description of anticipated changes in the workforce (i.e., significant expansions and reductions).

Communication

Describe in detail consultations that took place and communications that were circulated in the process of creating your organization’s employment equity plan.

Your organization likely consulted with employees, management, employee representatives, bargaining agents and other individuals on a number of occasions. Describe actions that were taken to announce:

  • your organization’s intent to implement employment equity;
  • the senior official accountable for employment equity;
  • the workforce survey;
  • the commencement of the workforce analysis and employment systems review; and
  • the results of the workforce analysis and employment systems review.

Your organization will have communicated with these actors in various scenarios throughout the implementation process. It is important to note all of these occurrences to substantiate your efforts to communicate.

Accountability

Describe how accountability was maintained throughout the creation of your employment equity plan. In this section, identify the individuals responsible for various tasks undertaken in this step.

Identify:

  • who prepared the employment equity plan;
  • who approved/endorsed the employment equity plan; and
  • who is responsible for the plan’s implementation and the achievement of the goals.

Also identify:

  • when the employment equity plan was completed; and
  • when the employment equity plan was approved.

2. Description of Your Organization’s Action Plan

In this section, you are required to describe:

  • measures to be taken in the short term to eliminate employment barriers identified in your employment systems review;
  • positive policies and practices to be instituted in the short term for hiring, promoting and retaining designated group members and for accommodating them in the workplace;
  • short-term numerical goals for hiring and promoting designated group members and measures that will be taken to achieve those goals; and
  • the timetable for the implementation of the previously mentioned positive policies, practices and measures.

Discuss how your organization’s long- and short-term numerical and non-numerical goals will address areas of under-representation identified in your workforce analysis and eliminate barriers identified in your employment systems review.

Providing a review of results will add to your organization’s efforts to document the employment equity process appropriately as well as add meaning to the planned goals and measures.

  • Addressing under-representation by removing barriers and achieving numerical goals in the short term
    Attach the tables completed from Appendices 3A, 3B and 3F (the Basic Goals Tool, the Employment Equity Action Plan: measures to remove barriers, and the Employment Equity Action Plan: special measures, positive policies and practices and accommodation measures).
  • Eliminating barriers and increasing representation through a long-term action plan
    Attach the tables completed in Appendix 3B (Employment Equity Action Plan: measures to remove barriers) and Appendix 3F (Employment Equity Action Plan: special measures, positive policies and practices and accommodation measures).

3. Description of Your Organization’s Monitoring and Revision Procedures

In this section of your organization’s employment equity plan, you must provide a detailed description of the measures to be put in place to monitor and revise the plan. This must include the names and contact information of those responsible for monitoring the employment equity plan, how often a review will take place, what types of consultations with employees will take place regarding the monitoring of the plan, to whom the results of the monitoring process will be reported, and how the results of the monitoring process will be reported to employees.

Again, you may wish to consult the employment equity plan template in Appendix 3G.

Moving Forward

Once your employment equity plan is complete, you will move on to the fourth and final step of this process: retaining compliance by successfully implementing your employment equity plan, revising it as required and sustaining your employment equity program.

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Date Modified:
2012-02-27