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Strategic Business Partnership

This guarantees your employment equity compliance, builds your internal capacity and ensures your ongoing compliance with all of your obligations as a federal contractor or a federally regulated employer. Our partnership gives you access to the best in class expertise and experience in the employment equity/diversity space from Consultants and thought leaders who shaped employment equity in Canada.

Start Up Activities

EMC begins our relationship by asking for an orientation to your business and its strategic priorities and whether you anticipate any issues that would impact the compliance project. Our Consultants explain the compliance requirements and assessment factors, collaboratively identify the Project’s critical success factors and assess the demands a successful engagement will place on your company.

We clarify roles and allocate responsibilities: secure your Workplace Equity Information Management System (WEIMS) account: establish the project management structure and finalize the work plan: agree on how we develop internal capacity to ensure your ongoing compliance: and, explore how we can integrate employment equity into your company’s D&I strategy and program.

Communication & Engagement Strategy

Communication and engagement are key to organizational commitment and readiness for change. EMC collaboratively designs a communication, information sharing and employee engagement strategy and plan to maximize management, bargaining agent and employee participation in all compliance activities, starting with the employment equity self-identification survey. We draft communication materials and templates and work with your communications team and Project Lead.

Data Management

The employment equity self–identification questionnaire requires employees to provide sensitive personal information. We provide a Data Management policy that establishes the protocols to ensure that the collection, use, retention, access to, dissemination, transmission and storage of employee employment equity self-identification data are carried out in a manner that maintains the confidentiality of employment equity data and protects the privacy of respondents.

Collection of Workforce Information

EMC ensures that the collection of workforce information is executed in compliance with all the requirements and assessment factors established by the regulatory agencies.

Our Consultants provide the employment equity self-identification questionnaire and design the survey - online and/or paper, ensuring its availability in both official languages, and in alternate formats to employees who require accommodation. We collaboratively develop a survey administration strategy that is supported by the communication and engagement strategy. We administer the survey, and monitor online survey responses in real time to enable follow up of non-respondents. We ensure that our clients achieve and maintain, the required - at minimum an 80 percent return and response rate.

To ensure the integrity of your workforce information and its ongoing maintenance, EMC works with your designated Data Custodian to establish systems to keep your workforce data up-to-date. EMC codes the positions in your workforce using the most recent National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes and the 14 Employment Equity Occupational Groups (EEOG) as defined by ESDC and Statistics Canada. We merge your HRIS with the survey response database and import to the Workplace Equity Information Management System (WEIMS) to establish a reliable employment equity database.

Workforce Analysis

Both LEEP and FCP employers conduct an analysis of their workforce to determine the degree of under-representation of designated groups in each occupational group.

WEIMS generates workforce analysis Summary and Detailed reports that identify any patterns of underrepresentation (and concentration) of the designated groups in each occupational group (EEOG), compared to their external availability. We advise the composition of their workforce and the distribution of designated group talent among the EEOGs, is the result of employment decisions and the operation of employment policies and practices over time.

EMC Consultants complete a Workforce Analysis (WFA) Narrative to provide a detailed analysis of prevalence and severity of underrepresentation of the designated groups. Our analysis shows the gaps in representation and so, the scope of employment equity challenges to achieve full representation. The WFA informs the goal setting process for both federally regulated employers and FCP employers. The WFA informs the mandated employment systems review (ESR) that federally regulated employers must conduct and report to CHRC. The ESR findings and recommendations inform the qualitative measures of the 3-year employment equity plan.

Short-Term & Long-Term Numerical Goals

We establish short-term and long-term numerical goals to increase the representation of the designated groups in the occupational groups in which they are underrepresented.

Short-term goals: cover a period of three years whereas long-term goals are usually for a period of seven years. Using the ESDC mandated process, our Consultants establish 3-year short-term numerical goals that are sufficient to ensure reasonable progress towards closing each underrepresentation gap. Factors that are considered in establishing short-term goals include - the degree of underrepresentation, the anticipated growth or reduction of the workforce, and the anticipated turnover during the 3-year period covered by the goals.

We consider the following in establishing long-term goals - the effects of the short-term goals and the expected impact of employment equity initiatives.

Consultation & Collaboration Mechanisms| LEEP Governance Structure

We assist our LEEP clients to establish the mandated employment equity program governance structure that consists of management and employee representatives. We facilitate the initial Employment Equity Committee meeting(s) and provide coaching to the senior management group when requested to ensure the effectiveness of the consultation and collaboration meetings.

Employment Systems Review (ESR)

The ESR identifies employment barriers that explain the underrepresentation of the designated groups in the employer’s workforce. The results of the ESR are used to establish qualitative goals and develop evidence-based strategies and initiatives to achieve full representation of underrepresented designated groups.

We conduct the employment systems review (ESR) for LEEP clients as a Statutory Requirement and for FCP employers who wish to strengthen their EDI strategies.

The Employment Equity Plan

EMC Consultants collaboratively develop an employment equity plan that specifies the measures and initiatives to achieve its short-term numerical goals by increasing the representation of the underrepresented groups. The plan will include a governance structure, accountability framework and mechanisms, a time frame, a performance indicator and responsibility center for each measure: and a mid-point review of performance to plan.
Our Consultants will establish monitoring mechanisms and provide the consulting support required to successfully manage and implement the plan.

The employment equity plan is a statutory requirement for LEEP employers and is a best practice for our FCP clients.

Reasonable Progress & Reasonable Efforts

Whereas our LEEP clients are engaged primarily in exception reporting, FCP employers must report regularly to ESDC on the progress they have made and the efforts demonstrated in achieving their short-term numerical goals. ESDC describes this FCP compliance requirement in this way:
 The contractor has made reasonable progress by meeting its short-term goals by 80 per cent or more …. or a fully representative workforce has been achieved.
 Where short-term goals were not met by at least 80 percent the contractor can demonstrate that reasonable efforts to meet these goals were made.

We speak to this fully and more directly in our discussion of FCP compliance.

Pay Equity Compliance

We ensure that LEEP employers comply with the new Federal Pay Equity Legislation and establish pay equity plans in 2021. EMC will review and update your plan every five years.

We offer pay equity compliance solutions to our provincially regulated FCP clients who must comply with provincial pay equity legislation.

Submissions to the Regulatory Agencies

We prepare all reports required by the regulatory agencies.

FCP employers: - We prepare the initial or First Year Compliance Assessment and all Subsequent Compliance Assessments for FCP clients.

LEEP employers: - EMC Consultants complete Annual Employment Equity Reports that are due by June 1 of the calendar year, and Undertakings Reports. Undertakings arise from a CHRC audit that identifies a LEEP employer’s non-compliance with any of the Statutory Requirements established by the Employment Equity Act. EMC Consultants have satisfactorily completed undertakings arising from each Statutory Requirement including Consultation and Collaboration: Collection of Workforce Information: the Workforce Analysis; the Employment Systems Review and the Employment Equity Plan.

Consulting Support

We build internal capacity and offer our clients any consulting support they require to achieve their employment equity goals and to meet all ongoing compliance requirements. We do an organizational impact assessment to identify the resources and competencies necessary to implement and sustain an employment equity program. Our consulting support is totally client centered. Interventions can range from data maintenance, strengthening your HR policy infrastructure, the employment systems review and the co-management of the employment equity/diversity program.

Relationship Management

EMC manages your relationship with the regulatory agencies on all matters relating to the compliance file on behalf of our clients.

Get Started Today!

If you are a FCP or LEEP employer and you need to comply, we shall help you get started. Schedule a no-obligation initial consultation with Mr. Keith Jeffers and he will assess your compliance readiness and tell you how EMC can help you to comply.

Get Started