Employment equity involves a range of strategies and initiatives designed to promote diversity, prevent discrimination, and ensure the equitable representation of designated groups in the workplace. Let us use our hypothetical company ACME.
Here are a few examples of what employment equity might look like in practice :
- Recruitment: ACME might implement targeted recruitment strategies to attract candidates from designated groups. This could involve advertising job vacancies in media outlets that reach these groups or partner with organisations that work with these communities.
- Selection: ACME could ensure that its selection processes are fair and unbiased. This might involve training hiring managers on unconscious bias or implementing a standardised interview process to ensure all candidates are assessed on the same criteria.
- Development: ACME might implement mentorship or development programs specifically for employees from designated groups. These programs could provide these employees with the skills and experiences they need to advance within the organisation.
- Retention: ACME could implement strategies to retain employees from designated groups. This might involve creating a more inclusive workplace culture or offering flexible working arrangements to accommodate different needs and lifestyles.
- Promotion: ACME could ensure that employees from designated groups have equal opportunities for promotion. This might involve implementing transparent promotion criteria or offering leadership training to employees from these groups.