How to: Transform an organisation using Employment Equity affirmative action.
Affirmative action measures are measures designed to ensure that “suitably qualified” people from designated groups have equal employment opportunities and are equitably represented in all occupational levels in the workforce of a designated employer.
Affirmative action measures must include:
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Measures to identify and eliminate employment barriers, including unfair discrimination, which adversely affect people from designated groups.
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Measures designed to promote diversity in the workplace based on equal dignity and respect of all people.
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Making reasonable accommodation for people from designated groups in order to ensure that they enjoy equal opportunities and are equitably represented in the workforce of a designated employer.
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Retain and develop people from designated groups and implement appropriate training measures, including measures in terms of the Skills Development Act, No 97 of 1998.
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Ensure equitable representation of suitably qualified people from designated groups in all occupational categories and levels in the workforce. These measures include preferential treatment and numerical goals but exclude quotas based on the National and or Provincial Economic Active Population below
National economically active population by race and gender
National organisations must aim to attain and comply with and set numerical goals to achieve the national economically active population ratio (NEAP) in the organisation.
National EAP 2019-2020
Provincial EAP by Population Group/Race and Gender.
National organisations must aim to attain and comply with, and set numerical goals to achieve the provincial economically active population ratio (PEAP) ratio in the organisation.
EAP 2017 -2018
Transform the organisation.
Since moving onto the new electronic system the Department of Labour has been relying on its system to flag organisation that don’t improve their employee profile numbers and flag the system for an inspection if the numbers stagnate from one year to the next or are moving away from the National economic active population ratio.
Achieving transformation
In order to achieve transformation, the organisation have to remove all barriers to employment, effectively making it easier from people from the designated group to obtain employment with the organisation.
The organisation must also accommodate employees from the designated groups in order to increase the number of employees from the designated group, in practice, this is not always possible. However, the organisation must keep records of all reasonable accommodations made for employees from the designated group.
In order to achieve the ratio required by the Department of Labour, the organisation must replace employees leaving the organisation with employees from the designated group. The Act requires the organisation to do everything in its power to attract and retain employees from the designated group.
