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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:

It includes guidance and tools for:

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

  1. consider themselves to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment, or
  2. 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):

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

  1. 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
  2. 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:

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:

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:

Employers must also establish and maintain the following records:

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:

Significant gaps

Significant gaps in representation exist when:

 

Flow data analysis

Employers should complete a flow data analysis for each designated group in each occupational group to compare:

Clustering analysis

Employers should also complete a clustering analysis if:

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:

Further guidance

Further guidance on the workforce analysis is provided here.

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