The development of an Employment Equity plan (EE) must be an inclusive process that involves consultation with all stakeholders in the workplace, says the Department of Labour.
Deputy Director from the department’s EE Directorate, Niresh Singh, said the plan should go a step further and be informed by an analysis of the workforce, analysis of policies, procedures and practice of an organisation.
He said workplace activism is critical in the development of an inclusive EE plan.
Singh was speaking at Velmore Hotel and Conference Centre, west of Pretoria, during the Department of Labour’s EE workshop that was tailored for national and provincial departments.
The workshop was one of four that will be hosted by the department this week as part of national roadshows to advocate for employment equity compliance in the workplaces in Gauteng.
The department uses the workshops to create awareness on compliance with the Employment Equity Act, publicise and help prepare the employers with the requirements needed to be used when submitting their online 2017 EE reports to the department.
The workshops are held under the theme: “Real transformation makes business sense”.
Singh told the workshop delegates that an EE plan implementation should have a start and an end date.
He also implored that a communication plan was imperative for a collective buy-in.
He emphasised that the development of the plan should consider amongst others the national and provincial economically active population ratios, have a duration, spell out objectives and be in line with EE legislative framework.
"Employment equity must be used as a monitoring and evaluation tool to inform future implementation strategies and the preparation of successive plans," Singh said.
The national workshops started on 11 July 2017 in Kimberley. Workshops have since been held in Rustenburg, Nelspruit, Thohoyandou, Polokwane, Bloemfontein, Richards Bay, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and George.
The workshops are targeting: human resources executives and practitioners, EE Forum members, assigned senior EE managers/transformation managers, academics and trade unions among others.
The department will on Wednesday host an EE workshop in Ekurhuleni at The Lakes Hotel & Conference Centre, 1 Country Lane Lakefield, Benoni for all stakeholders.
The last remaining Gauteng Province workshops are planned as follows:
- Vaal (08 September) at Lord’s Signature Hotel, 53 Raymond Street – Risiville in Vereeniging for all stakeholders.
- Ekurhuleni (08 September) at Emperors Palace, 64 Jones Road, Kempton Park targeting only municipalities.
Meanwhile, the EE online and manual reporting season opened on 01 September 2017.
The manual reporting closes on 01 October 2017, and the online reporting season closes in January 2018. – SAnews.gov.za
