Employee attitudes towards employment equity.
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Date
2011
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Abstract
The implementation of Employment Equity involves the Government’s Labour
Department, employers, employees, trade unions, shareholders and customers. The
Labour Department insists that a designated employer must prepare and implement an
Employment Equity Plan which will achieve reasonable progress towards Employment
Equity in that employer’s workforce. The focus of this study was to establish the impact
of the implementation of Employment Equity and Affirmative Action in the workplace.
This study focused on employees’ perceptions and attitudes towards the
implementation of Employment Equity and Affirmative Action.
The main variables addressed by this study included staff turnover, training &
development, impact of Employment Equity Forums, staff morale and attitudes towards
the call to end Affirmative Action. The objectives of this study were to establish the
impact of Employment Equity on the following key business variables: promotions and
career paths, employee retention, employee turnover, employee morale and employee
working relationships. The study followed a quantitative approach with a web-based
questionnaire which was constructed using an online questionnaire which was
distributed to the respondents electronically. A non-probability sampling method was
utilized to achieve set objectives. According to the findings, most employees have not
benefited from the implementation of Employment Equity and Affirmative Action. This
results to different views between previously disadvantaged groups, especially Africans
and White males. The results showed that Whites are calling for an end to the
implementation of Affirmative Action policies while Africans feel that Affirmative Action
should carry on for a little longer. The implementation of Employment Equity and
Affirmative Action negatively affects Whites’ morale at work and results to poor working
relationships amongst different race groups. It is also observed from the findings that
Employment Equity and Affirmative Action is not directly linked to job hopping, contrary
to the general perception.
It is witnessed from the study that those who have benefitted from Employment Equity
and Affirmative Action were very supportive of it. In order to improve the effectiveness of
Employment Equity organisations need to: provide training and development for
appointees, develop career paths for individuals, and introduce Equity forums where
employees can discuss challenges faced by Affirmative Action appointees. However,
the principle of fairness has to be a part of all Equity practices.
Description
Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.
Keywords
Discrimination in employment--Law and legislation--South Africa., Labour laws and legislation--South Africa., Affirmative action programmes--South Africa., Theses--Business administration.