Principles & Policies for Managing Human Resources
2.1.3. Employment Equity In Staffing
POLICY STATEMENT
The Manitoba government recognizes that a diverse Public Service allows us to better represent and serve the citizens of our province. The use of employment equity as part of staffing activities supports equitable employment practices and promotes representation of designated groups at all levels within departments, organizations, and across government.
INTENT
To ensure that employment equity is applied appropriately as part of staffing activities in the Manitoba government.
APPLICATION
Employment equity is a factor in direct appointments and competitive appointments. Appointments from priority placement lists are the only exception to the application of this Policy.
PRACTICES
Consideration is given to employment equity during each stage of the staffing process:
Opportunity Analysis
When preparing to staff a position, departments/organizations, in consultation with Human Resources, determine an employment equity strategy that is consistent with the department diversity and inclusion plan and with the corporate diversity and inclusion strategy. The employment equity strategy must be documented in a way that clearly describes how employment equity is being factored into the selection process including which designated groups are being given consideration for employment equity purposes, and the rationale for selecting that approach. The rationale should tie-in with specific department/organization diversity and inclusion goals, and be supported by statistical data indicating representation of the four designated employment equity groups.
Representation is determined by comparing a variety of current employment statistical data provided by the Public Service Commission against current established government representation benchmarks (see “Representation” under Definitions for more information).
Where representation is low for a particular designated group, use of Preference or Designated competitions is encouraged to increase representation for that group. At minimum, employment equity is a factor in the selection process. See 2.1.1 Selection Criteria for more information.
Selection criteria and job advertisements must be barrier-free and state that employment equity is a factor in selection. Outreach recruitment is conducted to attract applications from appropriate designated groups, particularly where representation is low. See 2.2.3 Barrier-Free Recruitment and 2.2.2 Outreach Recruitment for more information.
Assessment
Minimum Standard
Employment equity is included as a selection criterion, and assigned a weight equal to the highest weighted essential criterion. Candidates are given opportunities to self-declare at several stages of the competition, including at the time of their initial application, and at the interview.
During rating, the “meets” value on the rating scale shall be given to a candidate who has self-declared as a member of a designated group that is being given consideration as part of the competition. A candidate who declares as being from more than one designated group (for example, an Aboriginal woman with a disability) is not awarded additional consideration. For the purpose of being recognized for consideration during a competition, self-declarations must be received by the selection board prior to the completion of the rating and ranking process, and candidates cannot be given consideration for declarations made in previous competitions or at other times in their employment history.
Preference
The application of preference gives priority for appointment to persons from one or more designated groups. If an individual within a particular designated group meets all of the essential criteria, they will be selected. If there are no candidates from the designated group(s) who meet all of the essential criteria, then candidates who have not self-declared may be considered.
Candidates are expected to self-declare at the time of their initial application, as the declaration may be used to determine eligibility for further consideration.
It is generally expected that candidates who have declared as being from applicable designated groups will be assessed first, and in those cases, employment equity would not be used as a selection criterion because it would have already been considered at the screening phase.
Designated
This type of competition restricts application eligibility to candidates who have declared as being members of the applicable designated group(s). If there are no candidates from the designated group(s) that meet all of the essential criteria, then the department would re-advertise or conduct further outreach.
Candidates must self-declare at the time of application in order to be eligible for further consideration.
Employment equity would not be used as a selection criterion during assessment because it would have already been considered at the screening phase.
Selection
In competitions, employment equity is factored into the assessment of candidates prior to determining their ranking.
Where employment equity is a factor in selection, the candidate with the highest rating after all methods of assessment (excluding reference checks) have been considered (and consideration of seniority where candidates are relatively equal) receives top ranking. Employment equity is not to be used again as a determining factor at this stage.
In preference or designated competitions, provided they have met all of the essential selection criteria, the candidate having declared as a member of the applicable designated group(s) with the highest rating after all methods of assessment (excluding reference checks) have been considered (and consideration of seniority where declared equity candidates are relatively equal) receives top ranking.
In preference competitions where no candidate having declared as a member of the applicable designated group(s) has met all of the essential selection criteria, all other candidates would then be considered with employment equity applied as a factor in selection. See 2.4.1 Rating and Ranking for more information.
DEFINITIONS
Designated Group: the following groups for Employment Equity:
- WOMAN
- ABORIGINAL (Persons of North American Aboriginal ancestry including First
Nation, (status and non-status Indians), Inuit and Métis)
- PERSON WITH A DISABILITY Persons who have a long-term or recurring impairment and:
- whose functional limitations owing to their impairment have been accommodated in their job or workplace and/or;
- believe an employer or potential employer is likely to consider them to be disadvantaged in employment by reasons of that impairment or;
- consider themselves to be disadvantaged in employment by reasons of that impairment.
- VISIBLE MINORITY Persons other than Aboriginal people, who because of their race or colour are a visible minority. Examples of visible minorities 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 and Korean.
Priority Placement Lists: Refers to listings where there is a legislated or collective agreement obligation to consider Manitoba government employees for appointment to vacant positions before proceeding with other staffing methods. Examples include the re-employment list, employment availability list, or listing of employees requiring accommodation in an alternate position through the supportive employment program.
Representation: Representation is based on the government's demographic statistics. The goal is to achieve representation at all levels of the organization that reflects the population served.
A variety of statistical data needs to be reviewed when making the determination that sufficient representation does/does not exist. These statistics should not be examined in isolation but, rather, as a whole, to determine trends and establish an appropriate strategy.
At minimum, the following categories of statistical data should be referenced to support the chosen employment equity strategy:
- Government-wide representation across all levels
- Department-wide representation across all levels
Representation data for the applicable classification across government and for classifications across government that would be considered as promotional opportunities (career pathing) can be considered if applicable.
Additional representation statistics provided by the HR Service Centre (for example, a grouping of classifications, or for a particular branch or geographic location) may also be included to further support the rationale.
A strong rationale must be established when determining that a designated group is sufficiently represented in situations where that group will not be given consideration for employment equity.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Public Service Commission
- Ensure consistent and appropriate application of Employment Equity throughout the staffing process.
- Monitor application of the policy through the staffing audit process.
- Departments
- Develop employment equity strategies for staffing that are aligned with their department's diversity and inclusion plan as well as the corporate Manitoba government diversity and inclusion strategy.
RELATED POLICIES or GUIDELINES
1.5.0 Diversity and Inclusion Policy
1.5.2 Accessible Employment
2.4.1 Rating and Ranking
OTHER RESOURCES (if required)
Integrated Staffing Documents
AUTHORITY
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Manitoba Human Rights Code 9(1), 11, 14(1)
The Public Service Act 13 (2)(3)
The Public Service Act Regulations 23
Affirmative Action Policy Cabinet Order, Government of Manitoba, 1983
GEMA 7:01
Public Service Commission Board Minutes CSC 14-96/97-14, CSC 5-97/98-13, CSC 29-03/04-1, CSC 26-04/05-06, CSC 14-15/16-6
Cabinet Minute #16, of February 11, 2004
Owner: |
Public Service Commission |
Additional information: |
Public Service Commission |
Effective date: May 11, 2006
Revised date: October 15, 2015
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