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Manitoba Civil Service Commission

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1.5.0 Employment Equity

Policy

The Government of Manitoba is committed to an Employment Equity Policy that achieves a civil service workforce reflective of the citizens it serves at all levels of four designated groups: women, Aboriginal persons, persons with a disability and visible minorities. Employment Equity seeks to remove discriminatory barriers and ensure equality of treatment within the civil service.

Questions And Answers

  1. What does Employment Equity mean?
  2. Who are the groups designated for Employment Equity?
  3. How are designated group employees identified?
  4. What is the business case for Employment Equity?
  5. Who is accountable for the Employment Equity Policy?
  6. How should a manager balance the corporate priorities of Employment Equity, Workforce Adjustment and French Language Services?
  7. How is employees' declaration data maintained confidential?

Questions And Answers

1. What does Employment Equity mean?

Employment Equity applies the principle of diversity and equity to all aspects of managing human resources. Employment Equity is both process and results. It is the process of building an organization that values diversity and equity. Employment equity seeks equality of results that are measured by the equitable representation, distribution and retention of designated groups in the civil service. Employment Equity is the logical, progress step evolving from the past Affirmative Action Policy.

2. Who are the groups designated for Employment Equity?

The Employment Equity Policy designates four groups:

  • Woman
  • Aboriginal - (Persons of North American Aboriginal ancestry including First Nation, (status and non-status Indians), Inuit and Metis).
  • Person with a Disability - (Persons who have a long-term or recurring impairment and consider themselves to be disadvantaged in employment by reasons of that impairment, or believe an employer or potential employer is likely to consider them to be disadvantaged in employment by reasons of that impairment, and persons whose functional limitations owing to their impairment have been accommodated in their current job or workplace.)
  • Visible Minority - (Persons other than Aboriginal people, who because of their race or colour, are a visible minority). Examples of Visible Minority include Black (e.g. African, Haitian, Jamaican, Somali), South Asian (e.g. East Indian, Pakistani, Punjabi, Sri Lankan), South East Asian (e.g. Cambodian, Indonesian, Laotian, Vietnamese) Arab / West Asian (e.g. Armenian, Egyptian, Iranian, Lebanese, Moroccan) Chinese, Filipino, Latin American, Japanese, Korean.

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3. How are members of the designated groups identified?

There are two ways to identify individuals from designated groups:

  • by voluntary declaration during the staffing process or throughout employment.
  • by conducting department-wide workforce surveys on a periodic basis to improve the rate of declaration by designated group employees.

4. What is the business case for Employment Equity?

Employment Equity promotes excellence in public service in several ways:

  • It contributes to more creative and innovative client service to the diverse public we serve. Designated groups constitute nearly two-thirds of Manitoba's population. A civil service that reflects the public we serve is better able to design, market and deliver effective and responsive programs.
  • It effectively uses Manitoba's available human resources and invests in Manitoba's future labour force. Designated groups are the fastest growing segment of Manitoba's labour force.
  • Reasonable accommodation in the social treatment of all people is a value of significance to the citizens of manitoba. employment Equity is tangible evidence that government takes this value seriously.

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5. Who is accountable for this Policy?

Deputy Ministers are accountable for the results of the departments they head. Deputy Ministers provide periodic reports to the "Deputy Ministers' Advisory Committee on Human Resources" on Diversity and Employment Equity. Managers are responsible for implementing the government's Employment Equity Policy.  Valuing Diversity: An Equity Approach outlines specific responsibilities in greater detail.

6. How should a manager balance the corporate priorities of Employment Equity, Workforce Adjustment and French Language Services?

Employment Equity and Workforce Adjustment
Managing reductions effectively and managing equity are not mutually exclusive but they require careful examination of an employee's qualifications in terms of the organization's needs at the time of lay-off. In staffing, managers must first consider persons on the Re-employment List. Each appointment is an opportunity to change the profile of the civil service.

Employment Equity and French Language Services
Employment Equity and French Language Services are both important and are not mutually exclusive. French Languages Services (FLS) and Employment Equity both reflect government's commitment to serve the diverse clients that make up Manitoba's population. Employment Equity is a factor in all staffing actions. Competency in the French language, which is an essential criteria for designated bilingual positions, can be recruited from all parts of Manitoba's diverse labour force.

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7.  How is employees' declaration data maintained confidential?

Personal declaration data may only be used to advance government's employment equity goals.  The Human Resources Director is responsible for ensuring employees' declaration data is kept confidential.  Employees must give prior consent to their names being published on any lists related to employment equity.

Managers and Human Resources have access to statistical reports on designated group representation, distribution and retention by division, by department and government wide.

Comment Boxes

Affirmative Action See Affirmative Action Policy (1984) in Reference Section.
Designated groups Defined in Employment Equity Policy 1.5
Diversity Defined in Overview 0.2
Equity Defined in Overview 0.2
Declaration Defined in Employment Equity in Staffing Policy 2.1.3

Authority

Policy Effective: February 11, 2004

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