The employer's obligation to conduct an analysis

Section 19 of the Employment Equity Amendment Act, No 47 of 2013 (EEAA), requires designated employers to conduct an analysis of its workforce profile in order to identify employment barriers that adversely affect people from designated groups. The purpose of the analysis is to identify the degree of under-representation of designated groups within the various occupational levels of the employer's workforce. The EEAA has slightly changed the section by removing the reference to ‘occupational categories’.

This section must be read with Regulation 8 which sets out the duties of a designated employer in relation to collecting information and conducting an analysis of its workforce. For the most part, the regulations dealing with conducting an analysis have remained the same.

However, a new template for reporting on the analysis has been introduced, the so-called EEA12.

Form EEA12

This form consists of nine pages and covers headings such as:

• Employer details
• Qualitative analysis

This section requires employers to identify barriers that exist in terms of its policies, procedures and/or practices. It then requires the employer to describe the affirmative action measures to be implemented to address the identified barriers.

• Quantitative analysis

Snapshot of workforce profile

This part of the form requires the employer to report on the total number of employees, including employees with disabilities, within each occupational level.

Analysis of workforce profile by occupational level

Under this sub-heading, the employer is required to conduct an analysis separately for each occupational level, race and gender intersection.

Regulation 8 also refers to the EEA1, EEA8 and EEA9 forms. The EEA1 form is used to obtain information from employees to assist employers in conducting their analysis. The EEA8 form provides information relating to the demographic profile of the national and regional economically active population. Form EEA9 provides information relating to the various occupational levels.

Employers would be well advised to ensure that their workforce analysis is conducted in terms of the new regulations to ensure compliance with their various duties.