Employment Equity implementation suffers because employers do not respect own plans - Department of Labour
South African employers were not adhering to their own employment equity (EE) plans, this according to Tshililo Siobo, Department of Labour EE Assistant Director.
Siobo said this was posing a challenge if employers do not respect their own crafted plans, let alone respect EE legislation. He said it was becoming hard for employers to transform.
"It will take donkey years for the South African workplaces to transform, if we move at the current rate," he said.
Siobo was addressing a Department of Labour EE Workshop held under the theme: “Transformation - makes business sense”. The workshop aimed at creating awareness on compliance with the Employment Equity legislation was held today at the Southern Sun Hotel, Pretoria.
According to the 16th Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) Report, White group at Top Management Level is (68.9 percent) which is more than six times their Economic Active Population (EAP). This is also the case with the Indian group at 8,6 percent as they have a representation of three times more than their EAP. The opposite is true for the African at 14,3 percent and Coloured groups at 4,7 percent - as they are under-represented in relation to their EAP.
The skewed demographic representation also plays itself in other levels of management structures where the White group dominates other racial groups.
The objectives of the stakeholder workshops are:
- To publicise the department’s Code of Good Practice on Employment of Persons with Disabilities;
- To gather public comment on the Draft Amended Code of Good Practice on the Preparation of EE Plans
- To publicise the 2016 EE Online Reporting
- To publicise the 16th Annual Report and the 2015 EE Public Register
- To present current Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) cases on Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value
The Department of Labour started the EE roadshows on 15 August in Mbombela (Nelspruit), and more workshops have since been held in Rustenburg in North West; Kimberley in Northern Cape; Polokwane in Limpopo; Bloemfontein in Free State; Pietermaritzburg and Durban in KwaZulu-Natal; East London and Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape; George and Cape Town in the Western Cape.
The EE workshops are open to human resource executives and practitioners; assigned senior EE managers/transformation managers; EE Forum members; academics; trade unions and employees.
Employers (companies, government departments, non-governmental organisations, academic institutions etc.) are as per the EE Act obliged to submit annually to the Department of Labour their employment equity reports in regard to demographic profiles, gender representation and EE plans on how to address discrimination and inequality in the workplace.
The last EE workshop for 2016 will be held tomorrow at the Birchwood Hotel, 14 View Point Road in Boksburg. The workshop will start at 9:00.
Meanwhile, the EE Online and Manual reporting season on EE plans opened on 1 September 2016. The manual reporting season closes on 03 October 2016, while the online reporting season closes on 15 January 2017.
Enquiries:
Mokgadi Pela
Acting Departmental Spokesperson
Email: 082 808 2168
