1. Introduction
The South African Government published an Amendment Bill, for discussion purposes in June 2023. Many organizations and HR leaders described the bill as “a draconic change in Employment Equity compliance. Much between huge debates and criticism, Solidarity negotiated and signed an agreement with government addressing some of the main principles of the proposed Amendments. Most leaders argue that this agreement will serve as a basis / template for the final Amendment Bill.
2. Summary of the EE amendments, and potential impact on your business
2.1 Objectives of the proposed Changes to Employment Equity
The objective is to enhance workplace diversity, promote inclusivity, and drive equitable representation across all sectors, in a stronger attempt to transform the South African Workforce.
2.2 Sectorial Target MODEL
The DOEL is planning introduce sector-specific targets that companies will have to meet, to achieve compliance. These targets will reflect not only industries, race, and gender, but also be linked to Provincial and National geographics. Example, if your Agri related business is based in Cape Town, the Agri Sector targets as part of the Western Cape targets, will be applicable. By implication, you can expect that your targets for Coloured people, if compared to the target for Coloured people in Gauteng, will be different. The primary focus remains on the Economically Active Population (EAP) statistics, excluding unemployed people.
2.3 Analyzing Your current state of transformation
Remember that your Employment Equity Plan, supported by your annual EEA2 submissions, must remain the driving force of transformation in your business. However, you will have to align your EE plan with these changes and sectoral targets. Your starting point is obviously to conduct a detail evaluation and comprehensive analysis of your current workforce, and perform GAP analysis against the prelim targets via the proposed Amendments. Do not wait and be caught unexpectedly, start with the groundwork now. Evaluate your designated groups and identify areas for improvement. There are no quick fix solutions, without being grossly unfair, you need time to achieve transformation.
2.4 Implementing Strategies to Achieve Sectoral Targets
The Amendments make a clear statement that no one’s employment may be terminated because of transformation projects, and race should not be the sole criteria for future employment and promotions. Issues and requirements such as the inherent requirements of the job, the pool of suitably qualified individuals, their qualifications, skills, experience, capacity for growth, the rate of turnover and natural attrition in the workplace. The same is valid for recruitment and promotional trends within your business. This is certainly not an easy task.
How BEE Analyst can assist
BEE Analyst can assist you, or lead the process, to navigate through the intricacies and complexities of the proposed employment equity changes. It will certainly be a daunting task with many pitfalls. Besides the risk of being non-compliant, you can potentially also face penalties and fines from DOEL. Be pro-active, start now, do not wait. Get BEE Analyst to assist you! We offer professional guidance and have specialized tools to assist you throughout your EE compliance process. We will assist you from reviewing your current EE plan, followed by a detail analysis of your current EE profile, demonstrate your current state of diversity (GAP analysis), and achieve EE compliance meeting the proposed amendments.
Read more about our HR Consulting Services on https://hrconsultsa.co.za/
Contact: Jaco Jacobs
Office: 012 997 0037
E-mail: consult@beeanalyst.co.za
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