Profile of employers subject to the Act

The following table shows the number of employers subject to the Employment Equity Act and the number of employees in each sector, including those who have been or are being audited. It also shows the Commission’s focus on auditing larger employers, where the potential impact for progress in the employment of designated groups is greatest. The banking sector, where 77% of employers have been audited, averages some 9,000 employees per organization. Conversely, the transportation sector, where 27% of employers have been audited, averages about 600 employees per enterprise.

Figure 16    Employers and Employees by Sector subject to the Employment Equity Act, Audited or Under Audit      

Private Sector
(as of December 31, 2005)

Communications

Transportation

Other

Federal Public Service
(as of March 31, 2006)

Seperate Federal Agencies
(as of March 31, 2006)

768,922

Employers and employees currently under the Act

Figure 17 shows that 41% of the 610 employers currently under the Act have been audited or are under audit, up slightly since last year, but down from the previous five years. This percentage decline since 2004 is due to two reasons. First, there has been an increase in new employers reporting under the Act. Second, employers who are no longer under the Act, but had been the subject of an audit, have been removed from the list of employers currently under the Act. The percentage of the workforce audited or under audit has remained about the same, at 77%, for the past five years.

Figure 17    Percentage of Employers and Employees under the Employment Equity Act Covered by Audits

Since 1998, 221 employers have been found in compliance with the requirements of the Act. The Commission found 16 employers in compliance during the course of the year. Efforts were also focused on assessing progress of employers who had been previously audited. As a result, there are 37 employers who are in the progress assessment phase. No directions were issued over the past number of years, all enforcement action having been taken in the earlier years of the program, the most recent prior to 2003.

The Commission is participating in the five-year review process being conducted by a Parliamentary Committee into the effectiveness of the Employment Equity Act. This review gives the Commission an opportunity to report on its achievements to date. The Commission will make a formal submission to the Parliamentary Committee in 2007.

Public Information

The Commission’s website has become an increasingly important source of information for its stakeholders and the public. In 2006, the Commission welcomed 1,127,599 visitors on its website, more than triple the number that visited in 2004. Changes made to the site in 2005 and 2006 have allowed visitors to better target their inquiries and more easily find the information they are looking for, resulting in fewer telephone and e-mail inquiries, and fewer requests for printed copies of publications. An inquiries questionnaire was added to help potential complainants understand the Commission’s mandate and jurisdiction and direct them to provide enough information so that questions about jurisdiction can be answered promptly. New pages about complaint statistics and where to find information about case law have been added to the site to respond to frequent requests for this information. Integral to supporting employers’ efforts to prevent discrimination, the Commission will be focusing increased attention on improving its website for the end user.