This is the fifth of your nine requirements under the Employment Equity Act. Implementing and monitoring your employment equity progress is an ongoing process.
Implement and measure the results of the employment equity plan
This requirement comes down to a few basic actions that employers can build from:
- Monitor the implementation of its your employment equity plan on a regular basis to assess whether reasonable progress has been made
- Hold managers accountable for the achievement of employment equity goals and the implementation of the employment equity plan
- Ensure that you keep consulting with employee representatives as you monitor the impact of your employment equity plan
- Consider creating an employment equity committee. Over the years the Commission has learned that the more effective the employment equity plans are supported by an employment equity committee within your organization that:
- meets quarterly
- includes representatives from the designated groups, senior management and employee representatives
- regularly prepares activity and performance reports which are available to employees and management
Measure reasonable progress
What follows is a final set of tips and best practices to must ensure that your employment equity plan will bring about what is referred to as “reasonable progress” towards implementing employment equity in your workplace.
The minimum standards of reasonable progress are:
- the achievement of appropriate representation of designated group members or the movement towards this goal at an appropriate rate of progress
- in cases where the improvement in overall representation is evolving slowly, the hiring rate should not be lower than the labour market availability rate and the rate of promotion should not be lower than the designated group's representation in a specific occupational group
- the short-term numerical goals will result in a reduction in the representation gaps, which may entail hiring above the rate of labour market availability
- the employment equity plan contains measures that are likely to ensure progress in overall representation
When it comes to demonstrating reasonable effort, minimum standards include:
- The degree to which various components of the plan have been implemented according to schedule.
- An indication of on-going senior-level support for employment equity programming.
- An indication that the organization has sought input from the union in making a collaborative effort to implement the employment equity plan.
- The establishment of clear lines of responsibility and an accountability mechanism for implementation.
- The dedication of adequate financial and human resources to facilitate implementation of each element of the plan.
- The establishment of regular review mechanisms to ensure that time frames are adhered to, and goals are met. These mechanisms should ensure the participation of employee representatives.
Collect other human rights data
As already mentioned, appropriate data collection plays an important role in creating strong employment equity practices and inclusive workplaces. This includes human rights data. It can help to monitor discrimination, to identify and remove systemic barriers, to prevent disadvantages, and to promote equality.
To collect human rights data, federally regulated organizations should also collect data relating to grievances or complaints about discrimination and/or harassment. Here are other possible measures and data sources you can consider using:
- percentage of managers in your organization who are trained on the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Employment Equity Act
- the number of employees who have received specialized employment equity training sessions on:
- unconscious bias
- hiring strategies for Indigenous people, and people with disabilities
- managing a diverse workforce
- understanding and accommodating cultural differences
- mentoring Indigenous, Black and other racialized employees, along with other members of r designated groups, for management positions
- survey on the level of employment equity awareness of staff (awareness of employment equity purpose and of the organization’s employment equity objectives)
- data systems related to discrimination, harassment, failure to accommodate, and accessibility grievances or complaints
- data system to capture employment equity data
- in-depth interviews, qualitative surveys and/or focus group reports containing information on perceptions of fairness, discrimination, harassment, accommodation, accessibility, access to training and opportunities for promotion
- documentation related to implementation of employment equity requirements
- documentation related to implementation of the employment equity plan and individual action steps in the plan
- evaluations of the effectiveness of implementation of action plans, policies and processes
- workforce surveys measuring employee satisfaction, engagement, and morale
- communication items demonstrating the visibility of employment equity advocates and designated group members in senior leadership positions
- promotion/championship of employment equity by the senior leadership
- performance agreements showing inclusion of employment equity responsibilities in work objectives of managers and supervisors
- performance assessments showing achievement of employment equity objectives as an element in the rating of individual managers
- performance bonus being tied to the implementation of specific measures from the employment equity plan and results achieved in terms of increasing representation where needed
Measure your performance and ensure continuous improvement
Several types of systems can be used to monitor employment equity progress. An organization’s approach will be determined by the size of the organization and its employment equity program, as well as its existing methods of performance measurement and goals. Examples of systems include:
Developing your performance measurement framework
Some organizations may choose to design an employment equity performance measurement framework. Based on the trends, the organization sets specific employment equity goals. In order to assess these goals, it establishes a structure to collect objective information. In this context, a performance measurement framework should include strategic outcomes, expected results, performance indicators and associated targets, data sources and data collection frequency, as well as the actual data collected for each indicator related to employment equity. Other organizations may choose to add employment equity outcomes to their overall performance measurement framework.
Existing scorecard or dashboard
Other organizations may prefer to develop a dashboard or use an existing scorecard to monitor progress. Scorecards or dashboards are now widely used in organizations. Dashboards monitor and measure processes. The common understanding of a dashboard is that it gives a real-time update as employment equity progress happens. A scorecard, on the other hand, charts progress toward objectives. It displays periodic snapshots of performance associated with an organization's objectives and plans. It measures business activity at a summary level against predefined targets to see if performance is within acceptable ranges. No matter which approach your organization is using to capture its business performance, employment equity data, indicators or targets can easily be anchored to it.
Senior leadership driving the monitoring system
In order to be successful, the monitoring system should be seen as a strategic process coming from senior leaders of the organization. It helps secure the resources (human and financial) to implement the monitoring system and gives credibility to the trends and best practices highlighted in the process.
Promising practices from federally regulated organizations
Over the course of many years, the Commission has audited many employers and identified activities that although not required can be very effective at promoting equality in the workplace, including adequate representation of the members of the designated groups. Here are some examples:
Adding overall employment equity results to scorecard
One organization, who had been using a scorecard approach for monitoring its business performance, added one specific measure on its employment equity program. It added the overall employment equity results of all four designated groups from its workforce analysis to be able to compare them with availability. With this approach, each year, that organization can determine whether or not the organization made progress with respect to the representation of the designated group members in its workforce.
Adding action items from the employment equity plan to the Integrated human resources plan
An organization is incorporating action items it has identified on its employment equity plan into its integrated human resources plan. The integrated plan is discussed with senior leadership and shared with all employees.
Creating competency profiles
Several organizations have introduced competency profiles as a means to focus their learning approach on a strategic, operational and motivational level. The competency profiles define the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors that employees use in performing their work and their role in the employment equity continuous improvement process.
Using a self-analysis matrix
Some organizations are using a self-analysis matrix to compare their results in terms of employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and society impact against pre-established key performance results.
Include learning objectives as part of your performance appraisal process
Consider adding anti-discrimination and employment equity training to individual learning plans.
Create inclusive job posters
Many federally regulated organizations have created jobs with employment equity responsibilities included. These posters often include a diversity statement, as well as a statement about the organization’s willingness to accommodate. This helps to put applicants at ease and lends credibility to an organization’s diversity initiatives.
Seeking informed consent
When collecting data, an organization informs employees, stakeholders and the broader public about why the data is being collected, and how it may potentially be used.