How to Move Your
COMPLIANCE-BASED
EMPLOYMENT EQUITY PROGRAM
to a Strategic Priority
MAKE YOUR PROGRAM MORE EFFECTIVE WITH
FREELY AVAILABLE TOOLS
By Zakeana Reid
While many Canadian organizations
are actively seeking
ways to increase their diversity
and inclusion (D&I),
those covered by the Employment Equity
Act seem stuck working towards compliance,
consequently neglecting the bigger
picture of becoming an inclusive employer.
Likely, if your organization falls under
the Act, you already have many programs
and policies to support D&I. There is great
value in what you have already implemented,
but you may be missing vital elements
that can transform what you have into an
approach that will have a real strategic impact
on your organization. These elements
include:
■■ Getting D&I onto the leaders’ radar as
a business value to the organization
■■ Communicating with all levels of your
staff about the impact of diversity
and inclusion, not just equity and
compliance
■■ Understanding the complete
demographics of your organization so
that you can include everyone and see
where you have gaps that need to be
addressed
■■ Researching best practices to take your
compliance-based program and move it
to a proactive, strategic D&I program
GETTING DIVERSITY AND
INCLUSION ON THE LEADERS’
RADAR
In the report prepared by Deloitte Australia
and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and
Human Rights Commission, Waiter, is
that inclusion in my soup? A new recipe
to improve business performance, the authors
found that focusing on both D&I
will increase employee engagement to positively
impact business outcomes.
Until leaders in your organization understand
the business impact of D&I, they
will likely remain focused on the compliance
aspect of your employment equity
program. The benefit of complying with
the Employment Equity Act is that it helps
organizations increase representation by
decreasing barriers and implementing special
accommodations. However, it divides
teams into “them” versus “us,” rather than
empowering disadvantaged groups, or improving
feelings of inclusion within your
organization.
Having leaders’ commit to implementing
D&I as part of the organizational
strategy is critical if you want to advance
your program from mere compliance.
There are tools available to help you have
that conversation with leaders. Review
the toolkit Locking in Your Leadership,
which is available on the Canadian Centre
for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI) website,
ccdi.ca. There are also tools to help
you conduct a comprehensive inclusivity
survey.
COMMUNICATION
If you have been relying solely on the
tools provided through the Government
of Canada website, you may not be having
the impact with your organizational
leaders that you could. The templates provided
are generic and have little more than
the bare minimum that you must communicate
to your staff. Additionally, they are
difficult to find.
To help build interest and understanding
among your staff, look for ways to
make the language more inclusive. While
it is important that your employees understand
what employment equity is, it is
just as important that you communicate
that D&I of all employees is the end goal,
not simply compliance with a government
mandate.
Use a variety of methods to communicate
your D&I messages to your staff and
ensure you are doing the following:
■■ Targeting different audiences –
leadership/management, unionized
staff, front-line staff and professionals
20 ❚ MARCH 2017 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
/ccdi.ca
