The Employment Equity Amendments has been passed into law on the 17th of May 2022 and is awaiting signature from the President, with an effective implementation date of 1 September 2023.
The Employment Equity Act amendments bring about change to the classification of a “Designated Employer” and the need for an Employment Equity Compliance Certificate.
Furthermore, the Minister, through consultation with the Commission for Employment Equity (CEE) now has overriding power on the setting and regulation of sectoral targets, similar to the B-BBEE Act. The Employment Equity Act however has a far greater affect, as it is enforceable by law.
The main purpose of the Employment Equity Act, since 1998, has been to provide equal opportunity and fair working environments for all races and genders. Until now, employers have had direct control over transformation within their business, however, with the amendments that will change.
As employers, and more so designated employers, the amendments to the Employment Equity Act can be daunting and rightly so. The focus and spotlight the amendments place on designated employers will be intensified as well as enforced more than ever before. Thus requiring a much more strategic approach to the implementation and monitoring of Employment Equity.
No longer will only reporting to the DoEL suffice or be used as a measure to prove compliance with the Act. Employers will be required to develop a measurable strategy to achieve sectoral targets over the 5-year duration period. This must be done in the form of a comprehensive Employment Equity Plan with much more scrutiny placed on the reasons why an organisation has not achieved their targets.
Designated employers who are faced with the challenge in finding suitably qualified candidates to fill vacancies or who do not have opportunities for job creation, will need to place larger emphasis on their current workforce by ensuring that their Employment Equity Plan is centred around the upskilling of their employees. In this regard, they should be utilizing governments funding opportunities, such as:
- Training plans aligned to critical skills identified by their SETA (Sectoral Education and Training Authorities);
- Tax rebates offered through SARS for occupationally-directed qualifications and Learnerships
Well-drafted Training Plans may assist employers to:
- Create pools of suitably qualified people within their sector;
- Ensure that existing employees are retained whilst providing opportunities for promotions and replacement of those employees; and
- Establish succession plans to cover natural attrition.
Employers should be aware that the monitoring and enforcement of the newly amended Employment Equity Act will be more stringent and the reasons for not achieving objectives and targets will not suffice as they have so easily in the past.
All designated employers will need to shift their mindset in how they approach Employment Equity in the future, requiring a much more strategic approach to Training and Development.
For Employment Equity and Skills Development assistance, contact Leann Meyer, B-BBEE, EE and SD Product Manager at leannvj@labournet.com or 082 720 4452.
LabourNet also offers the service of an Outsourced Training Manager for both clients and non-client at no charge, who would assist you with finding suitable training service providers, arranging training programmes, and ensuring that certificates are issued. The fee of the training will be the same as if you directly engaged with the relevant Training Provider. We have numerous associate service providers in a wide variety of functional courses (not limited to HR courses). Contact Michelle Ting Chong, Training Product Manager, for further information at mtingchong@labournet.com or 064 939 2395.