EE report slams 'unyielding' employers

Cape Town - The Commission for Employment Equity has warned the "generally resistant" private sector that government will wield a bigger stick to rectify the slow pace of workplace transformation.

Releasing the 10th annual employment equity report on Thursday, chairperson Mpho Nkeli said whites continue to dominate nearly every occupational level.

"Their domination, mainly at the middle-to-upper occupational levels, is further perpetuated by employers, as most of the people who were recruited and promoted at these occupational levels during the reporting period were white."

None of the 74 companies reviewed for the report complied fully with the Employment Equity Act. Nkeli also pointed out that if the private sector was committed to transformation it would not be recruiting and training more whites than any other population group.

She said that the act had to be changed to strengthen implementation and enforcement or employment equity.

"In relation to the broad-based black economic empowerment code, although companies are receiving good ratings, they continue to perform poorly on employment equity. These empowerment ratings send a misleading message of transformation," she said.

Employers with 150 or more employees are required to submit employment equity reports annually, while employers with fewer than 150 employees are supposed to do so every two years.

According to the report, white females continue to benefit the most from affirmative action measures. Black and Coloured females and disabled people appear to have benefited least from these measures. Employers, the report showed, have a tendency to recruit and promote more males than females.

"The disproportionate representation of the various groups in the different occupational levels has impacted negatively on training as well," Nkeli said.

"As whites dominate the high-earning occupational levels, employers tend to provide them with more training opportunities at these levels. The disproportionate representation of training opportunities for the black group impacts negatively on employment equity."

In another finding, the report states the employment of people with disabilities continues to hover below the 1% mark since 2000.

Remuneration disparity on the basis of race and gender also continues.

"Notwithstanding the fact that whites, in the main, control the middle-to-upper occupational levels in the workforce, salt has been added to the wound by some employers admitting that race and gender played a role in determining some of the salaries at their workplaces.

"Discussions with employers on the principle of 'equal pay for work of equal value' made them highlight the immediate need for steps to correct any discrepancies," reads the report.

  - Fin24.com