A Guide for Employees’ Representatives: Playing your part in employment equity
The goal of this document is to explain employees’ representatives’ role, duties, and responsibilities. It offers guidance on how employees’ representatives can contribute to the implementation of employment equity in their workplace.
On this page
- What is an employees' representative? What employment equity role do they play?
- Which organizations should have an employees' representative?
- How can employees' representatives contribute to the employment equity process in their workplace?
- How should self-identification data be collected from employees?
- How can employees' representatives support the workforce analysis?
- What can employees' representatives do to help identify barriers in the workplace?
- What works to improve employment equity in the workplace?
- What are some effective communication strategies that employees' representatives can use to better collaborate on employment equity?
- Building a collaborative and trusting relationship with your employer and colleagues
- Gathering useful feedback from your colleagues
- Turning conversations into concrete actions
- What to do if there is no employees' representative in your workplace?
- What to do if you need help collaborating with your employer?
- Thank you for your contribution to employment equity!
- Appendix
- Summary of key legal roles and obligations
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A Guide for Employees’ Representatives: Playing your part in employment equity [PDF - 1,458 KB]
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What is an employees’ representative? What employment equity role do they play?
An employees' representative is a person or a group of people chosen by employees to represent them on employment equity issues. Their role is to support the employer in fulfilling the employer's obligations to advance equality in the workplace under the Employment Equity Act (EEA). An employees' representative helps ensure employment equity efforts reflect employees' lived experiences by sharing their perspectives, concerns, and observed barriers.
Although employers retain main legal responsibility for complying with the EEA, employees’ representatives play a meaningful advisory role by providing employee perspectives through a collaborative process. Ultimate decision-making authority and accountability rest with the employer.
Which organizations should have an employees’ representative?
The EEA applies to federally regulated employers in both the public and private sector. As a result, each employer subject to the EEA should have an employees' representative. In a unionized workplace, bargaining agents are employees' representatives.
Consult Equi'Vision for a searchable list of federally regulated private-sector employers subject to the EEA.
This document recognizes the significant efforts already made by both employees' representatives and employers to implement employment equity. Employment equity is not a fixed destination but an ongoing process that requires sustained commitment to achieve and maintain progress.
How can employees’ representatives contribute to the employment equity process in their workplace?
The employer is responsible for fulfilling these seven key steps to comply with the EEA, and employees’ representatives can play a role across many of them. Please consult more details on employees’ representatives’ roles and obligations in the Appendix.
- Data collection: The employer has the legal obligation to collect information on their workforce. Data on Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities and member of visible minorities must rely on voluntary self-identification. Employees' representatives can help in this process. Self-identification must be kept confidential and only be used to meet obligations under the EEA.
- Workforce analysis: The employer finds in which occupations the representation of these groups is smaller than in the labour market. The employer should share the results with employees' representatives and invite discussion.
- Employment Systems Review (ESR): The employer conducts an Employment Systems Review (ESR) to review their practices to see if there are employment barriers in these areas of representation. During the ESR, the employer should collaborate with employees' representatives.
- Employment Equity (EE) Plan: The employer acts to remove the barriers identified in the ESR and correct the underrepresentation by creating, implementing, and sustaining an Employment Equity (EE) Plan. The employer must consult and collaborate with employees' representatives.
- Communication to employees: The employer informs their employees about employment equity. Employees' representatives must be consulted about how they can facilitate that communication.
- Employment equity report: The employer reports on employment equity each year. The employer is required to share the final report with employees' representatives.
- Monitoring: The employer monitors the EE plan after it has been implemented.
How should self-identification data be collected from employees?
Self-identification data is information people voluntarily choose to share about their own identity, such as gender, Indigenous identity, disability status, or racial background. It is provided by the individual, rather than being observed or assigned by others. The Workplace Equity Division developed with Behavioural Insights Team Canada (BIT) self-identification resources for employers. The resources include a new workforce survey template, guidance and tools for conducting self-identification campaigns, as well as guidance for supporting employee resource groups.
These tools can be used by employees' representatives to support self-identification (Step 1)
How can employees’ representatives support the workforce analysis?
Employers conduct workforce analyses to identify the underrepresentation of designated groups compared to the labour market. Employers should share the results of the workforce analysis with employees' representatives.
Employees' representatives can also access their employer's employment equity data on Equi'Vision, a data visualization tool which provides easily comparable data on representation rates and pay gaps of federally regulated private-sector employers with 100 or more employees, including federal crown corporations and other federal organizations (consult the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) document How to Use Equi'Vision for Employment Equity).
Employees' representatives can use the workforce analysis or Equi'Vision to identify representation or pay gaps that may need to be addressed (Step 2).
What can employees’ representatives do to help identify barriers in the workplace?
Employees' representatives can choose to collect information about employment barriers observed by employees, although this is not required under the EEA. This can be done:
- Informally: casual conversations or coffee chats about system-level barriers employees face; and/or
- Formally: employee surveys, committees, webinars, office hours, and anonymous suggestion boxes.
These activities are not mandatory, but employers and employees' representatives may find them useful.
Employees' representatives collecting information about employment barriers observed by fellow employees can support employers during the Employment Systems Review (ESR) (Step 3).
What works to improve employment equity in the workplace?
There is evidence on what approaches to employment equity are effective. The Workplace Equity Division developed with BIT the guide How to Improve Workplace Equity to help employers focus on initiatives that have been shown to work, or that show strong promise. For example, redesigning recruitment and hiring practices to reduce bias and making the pathway for career progression more transparent.
This guide can be used by employees' representatives as a reference to support employers during the ESR (Step 3) in identifying employment barriers, as well as identifying measures for the employment equity plan (Step 4) to address these employment barriers and correct underrepresentation.
What are some effective communication strategies that employees’ representatives can use to better collaborate on employment equity?
When engaging with your employer and colleagues about employment equity, good communication is important. Talking about employment equity can raise questions or misconceptions (consult the ESDC document The Employment Equity Act Explained). The points below highlight a few things you can do to improve communication with both employers and employees and create a collaborative working relationship.
These strategies are especially helpful to employees' representatives when communicating with employees about employment equity (Step 5). Clear, respectful communication also supports all steps of the process, because strong working relationships are essential for buy-in.
Building a collaborative and trusting relationship with your employer and colleagues
| Examples of what to do | Examples of what you might say |
|---|---|
| Frame the employment equity goals as a shared goal using inclusive language | "Together, we can achieve a workplace that is more equal and where everyone has a fair chance at succeeding." |
| Frame the employment barriers as a system-level problem and not as a problem that is the fault of individuals. | "Our equity data suggests that some of our hiring practices might be unintentionally creating barriers for some groups of people." |
| Use success stories from other companies to improve employment equity. | "Other private-sector employers implemented this policy to reduce employment barriers that were holding some employees back. This could help us too." |
| Ask open-ended questions and reflect back what you are hearing. Listen to the real issue at hand. | "What do you think we can do to improve our employment equity plan?" "What I am hearing from you is that we should prioritize…" |
| Show appreciation for the work done so far. | "I appreciate all the work you have done on this. I can feel that we are moving the needle in the right direction." |
Gathering useful feedback from your colleagues
| Examples of what to do | Examples of what you might say |
|---|---|
| Be clear and transparent about how feedback will be handled, what confidentiality looks like, and what representatives can and cannot do with the information. | "If you share something with us, we don't pass along names, only the themes we are hearing." |
| Share that other employees are also helping to identify employment barriers to show that speaking up is common and accepted (if true). | "A lot of people across different teams have already shared input with us on employment barriers they have noticed." |
| Highlight that the activity is low effort. | "You don't need to write a detailed report. Even a few sentences about something you've noticed would be helpful." |
| Provide updates on feedback and progress, even if they are small. | "Here's what we heard most often and this is how our employer is using this information." |
Turning conversations into concrete actions
| Examples of what to do | Examples of what you might say |
|---|---|
| Break down big goals into small measurable goals. | "How about we pilot test this initiative for three months and monitor progress?" |
| Provide options for next steps and leave the final decision with the employer. | "I think an employee survey or an informal webinar would be most helpful. Which one is most feasible for you?" |
| Provide short, concise summaries of the priority concerns from employees. | "The top three employment barriers I have heard from employees are…" |
| Use calendar invitations and reminders for regular check-ins that are planned at the end of each meeting. | "How about we meet again three months from today to monitor our progress? I can send a calendar invitation." |
| Provide regular updates on work in progress to employees, even if the task is not yet completed. | "We are addressing this issue through three action items. We have completed the first action item, and we are currently working on the second and third action items." |
What to do if there is no employees’ representative in your workplace?
If your workplace does not have an employees’ representative, employees should work toward selecting one (or a group of people). While the representative must be chosen by employees, the EEA does not dictate how they are selected, how long they serve, or how they engage with colleagues, which allows for some flexibility. For example, multiple people could hold the title of ‘employees’ representative and share the work!
What to do if you need help collaborating with your employer?
If you need help fulfilling your duties as an employee representative, you can seek guidance on your role by contacting the Workplace Equity Division . While employees' representatives cannot formally file a complaint under the EEA, employers are subject to compliance audits by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and you may contact the Commission if you have questions.
Thank you for your contributions to employment equity!
Employees' representatives play a vital role in supporting meaningful, collaborative progress on employment equity. By sharing employee perspectives and working constructively with employers, you help ensure employment equity efforts are informed, effective, and responsive to real workplace experiences.
For additional help, consult our Tools and Resources page or contact us by email.
Appendix
Under the EEA, the employees' representatives can play many different roles in supporting the employer to improve employment equity. Below is a high-level description of these roles.
Summary of key legal roles and obligations
| Role | Description |
|---|---|
| Consultation (subsection 15(1) of the EEA) |
"Every employer shall consult with its employees' representatives by inviting the representatives to provide their views concerning (a) the assistance that the representatives could provide to the employer to facilitate the implementation of employment equity in its workplace and the communication to its employees of matters relating to employment equity; and (b) the preparation, implementation and revision of the employer's employment equity plan." In other words, employers must invite employee representatives to share their views on how they can help implement employment equity and communicate about it with employees. Employers must also consult representatives when creating, putting into action, and updating the employment equity plan. Note: If the employees' representative is a bargaining agent, they are legally required to take part in the consultation process (subsection 15(2)). |
| Collaboration (Section 15(3)) |
"Every employer and its employees' representatives shall collaborate in the preparation, implementation and revision of the employer's employment equity plan." |
| Address adverse impacts of seniority rights (Section 8(3)) | Seniority rights are generally not considered employment barriers under the EEA, unless they are found to be discriminatory under the Canadian Human Rights Act. However, if an Employment Systems Review (ESR) finds that seniority rights in a collective agreement are negatively affecting the employment opportunities of designated groups, the employer and employees' representatives must consult each other to reduce these negative effects to the minimum. |
| Copies of reports - private sector (Section 18(9)) | "An employer shall, on filing a report with the Minister under this section, provide its employees' representatives with a copy of the report." This report should include a description of the consultations between the employer and the employees' representatives during the reporting period (paragraph 18(6)(b)). |
| Copies of reports - public sector (Section 21(8)) | Employees' representatives working in the public sector have a right to transparency regarding the employer's progress. Employers must send a copy of the employment equity report "as soon as possible" after submitting the report to Parliament. This report should also include a description of the consultations between the employer and the employees' representatives during the reporting period (paragraphs 21(2)(c), 21(4)(c), and 21(6)(f)). |
Note: Consultation and collaboration do not constitute co-management (see Section 15(4)). Ultimately, it is the employer's responsibility to implement employment equity. For more information, please consult the ESDC website for the Ongoing task: meet your communication, consultation, and recordkeeping requirements for employers.