Employment Equity Regulations – Workforce Analysis – IPG-112
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Subject
Workforce analysis under the Legislated Employment Equity Program (LEEP).
Issue
This guideline clarifies how employers should analyze their workforce when implementing employment equity, in compliance with:
- the Employment Equity Act (the Act), and
- the Employment Equity Regulations (the Regulations)
It includes guidance and tools for:
- calculating representation and pay gaps
- the flow data analysis
- the clustering analysis, and
- the summary of the workforce analysis results
Background
LEEP covers federally regulated private-sector employers, including Crown corporations and other federal organizations that are subject to the Act.
Employers must analyze their workforce to determine any underrepresentation of members of designated groups.
Employers must base this analysis on the workforce information collected and then use it for their employment systems review.
Definitions
Designated groups
Designated groups are “women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities.”
Women
The Act does not define Women. Guidance is available for collecting data on women (see Collection of Workforce Information).
Aboriginal peoples
Aboriginal peoples are “persons who are Indians, Inuit or Métis.” Indigenous peoples’ and ‘First Nations’ are more commonly used than ‘Aboriginal peoples’ and ‘Indians.’
Persons with disabilities
Persons with disabilities are “persons who have a long-term or recurring physical, mental, sensory, psychiatric or learning impairment and who
- consider themselves to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment, or
- believe that a employer or potential employer is likely to consider them to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment,
and includes persons whose functional limitations owing to their impairment have been accommodated in their current job or workplace.”
Members of visible minorities
Members of visible minorities are “persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.”
Employment Equity Occupational Groups
There are 14 Employment Equity Occupational Groups (EEOGs):
- Senior Managers
- Middle and Other Managers
- Professionals
- Semi-Professionals and Technicians
- Supervisors
- Supervisors: Crafts and Trades
- Administrative and Senior Clerical Personnel
- Skilled Sales and Service Personnel
- Skilled Crafts and Trades Workers
- Clerical Personnel
- Intermediate Sales and Service Personnel
- Semi-Skilled Manual Workers
- Other Sales and Service Personnel
- Other Manual Workers
Canadian workforce
The Canadian workforce refers to “all persons in Canada of working age who are willing and able to work”. It can also refer to parts of that population “identifiable by qualification, eligibility or geography and from which the employer may reasonably be expected to draw employees”. The Minister of Labour provides information on the Canadian workforce to employers. It is based on data from Statistics Canada and is only updated when new data is available.
Employee
Employee means a “person who is employed by the employer, but does not include a person employed on a temporary or casual basis for fewer than 12 weeks in a calendar year.”
Hired
Hired means an employee has been “engaged by the employer.”
Promoted
Promoted means an employee has “permanently moved from one position or job in the employer’s organization to another position or job that
- has a higher salary or higher salary range than the salary or salary range of the position or job previously held by the employee, and
- ranks higher in the organizational hierarchy of the employer.”
Terminated
Terminated means “retired, resigned, laid off, dismissed or otherwise having ceased to be an employee, but does not include laid off temporarily or absent by reason of illness, injury or a labour dispute.”
Flow data analysis
A flow data analysis focuses on occupational movement: hires, promotions and terminations. It seeks to determine if members of designated groups are over- or underrepresented in these movements.
Clustering analysis
A clustering analysis determines if designated group members are in a disproportionately high ratio in:
- an Employment Equity Occupational Group (EEOG), or
- lower salary quartiles of an EEOG
Attainment rate
The attainment rate, expressed as a percentage, refers to the extent to which representation of designated groups in the employers’ workforce approaches, meets or exceeds their representation in the Canadian workforce.
Policy
Employers must analyze their workforce, based on the workforce information collected and relevant information in other employment records, to determine for each Employment Equity Occupational Group:
- the number of persons who are women
- the number of persons who are Aboriginal peoples
- the number of persons who are persons with disabilities
- the number of persons who are members of visible minorities
- the degree of underrepresentation of members of each designated group by comparing their representation within the employer’s workforce with their representation:
- in the Canadian workforce as a whole, or
- in parts of the Canadian workforce that are identifiable by qualification, eligibility or geography, and from which the employer may reasonably be expected to draw employees
- the number of hires, promotions and terminations of designated group members
To determine the underrepresentation of members of designated groups, employers must also use labour market information provided or determined to be relevant by the Minister of Labour.
Employers must prepare a summary of the results of their workforce analysis and use it when preparing their employment equity plan.
Employers must also report salary, including the distribution of employees in salary ranges and any pay gaps.
In addition, employers must establish and maintain the following records on each employee:
- designated group membership, if any
- occupational group classification
- salary and salary increases
- salary, excluding bonus pay and overtime pay
- period over which the salary is paid
- number of hours worked and paid
- bonus pay
- overtime pay
- number of overtime hours worked and paid
- promotions
Employers must also establish and maintain the following records:
- any other information used in the workforce analysis
- a summary of the results of the workforce analysis
Interpretations
Calculating gaps
When employers use the Labour Program Workplace Equity Information Management System (WEIMS), it calculates automatically all representation and pay gaps, using default values for the representation of members of designated groups in the Canadian workforce.
Employers who do not use WEIMS should:
- establish the availability of members of designated groups in the Canadian workforce based on relevant labour market information found in the 2016 Employment Equity Data Report and Open Government Portal
- ensure that they have identified all significant gaps in the representation of each of the designated groups in each of the occupational groups
- document and record this information for the purpose of a possible compliance audit by the Canadian Human Rights Commission
Significant gaps
Significant gaps in representation exist when:
- there is a gap of 3 employees or more for 1 designated group in one EEOG and the attainment rate for this designated group in this EEOG is below 80%
- there is a gap for 1 designated group in more than 2 EEOGs
- there is a gap for all 4 designated groups in the same EEOG
Flow data analysis
Employers should complete a flow data analysis for each designated group in each occupational group to compare:
- the shares of hires of designated group members with their representation in the Canadian workforce
- the shares of promotions of designated group members with their representation in the employer’s workforce
- the shares of terminations of designated group members with their representation in the employer’s workforce
- the promotion rate of the designated group members with that of non-designated group members
- the termination rate of the designated group members with that of the non-designated group members
Clustering analysis
Employers should also complete a clustering analysis if:
- a representation or pay gap exists for a designated group in an EEOG, and
- this EEOG has at least 20 members of the designated group
Clustering occurs when the ratio of members of a designated group found in an EEOG or in lower salary quartiles (quartiles 1 or 2) of an EEOG is higher than the ratio of the employees who are not members of a designated group. Clustering might be evidence of occupational segregation or employment barriers related to salary, which the employment systems review will determine.
Summary of the results
In their summary of the results of their workforce analysis, employers should include a:
- brief profile of their organization
- description of the methodology used to do the workforce analysis, including an explanation of why the default values in WEIMS were changed, if applicable
- summary report tables identifying all representation gaps by EEOG and designated group
- written description of the representation gaps identified in the summary report tables
- list of significant gaps, which will be the focus of the employment systems review
- description of the methodology and results of clustering and/or flow data analyses, if applicable
- conclusion
Further guidance
Further guidance on the workforce analysis is provided here.