Does your company have an equality plan? Do you know if you are legally obliged to have an equality plan for your company?
From Nextport we are going to help you by showing you what a company equality plan is and who should have one. And to guide you on how to draw up an equality plan for your company to help you comply with your legal obligations.
What is an equality plan for the company?
It is a manual comprising an ordered set of measures aimed at achieving equal treatment and equal opportunities for women and men in all areas of the company.
This plan should be designed after carrying out a personalised assessment or diagnosis of the situation. Evaluating all areas of the situation, situations or issues that may involve discrimination on the grounds of sex.
The equality plan for the company is not merely informative. It should be used as an action guide to implement the necessary changes to guarantee equality between women and men in the company.. And in each one of its areas.
Who is obliged to have a company equality plan?
From 7 March 2022 all companies with between 50 and 100 employees. Currently these companies must have their equality plans approved.
This was already required by law for larger companies in the past. The deadline for companies with between 151 and 250 employees was 7 March 2020. And exactly one year later for companies with between 101 and 150 employees.
In other words, if your company currently employs more than 50 people, you are obliged to have an equality plan. Do you still not have an equality plan for your company? Then you should do so as soon as possible in order to comply with the current equality legislation.
Does your company have less than 50 employees?
Therefore, you are not obliged to have an equality plan, unless otherwise provided for in the applicable collective agreement.
In addition, this obligation applies to any company that has been ordered by the labour authority in a sanctioning procedure to replace the accessory sanctions with the drawing up and implementation of such a plan.
However, like any other company, you have been obliged to keep a pay register for almost a year now.
But you can voluntarily have an equality plan for the company. If your brand values include equality and non-discrimination, it is advisable to have one. Bear in mind that you could find yourself in a reputational crisis if any inconsistency or non-compliance in this regard comes to light.
How to draw up a company equality plan
At Nextport, as part of our organisational development services, we help you to design, develop and implement equality plans.
As a support to our professional work and to guide you, in this article we are going to see how you can draw up a company equality plan step by step.
Establishing an Equality Commission
A series of work commitments should be adopted. A realistic schedule of meetings and targets to be met by certain dates should also be established.
Performing a diagnosis of the company’s current situation in terms of equality.
You must at all costs avoid cheating yourself. That is why you must know the current reality of the company in terms of equality without any make-up or distortion. It is essential to identify all situations of inequality. And record them in a report. You will need to collect data and it is also advisable to draw up forms and carry out staff surveys. This phase is very important.
Elaboration and approval of equality plan for the company
This is the phase in which the measures to be implemented to correct the errors or situations of discrimination in terms of equality identified in the previous step are defined and negotiated.
But also, the new goals to be achieved must be determined and objectives to be met must be set. Strategies must be designed to achieve these objectives. And resources must be defined and allocated for their implementation and subsequent monitoring.
Implementation of the company’s equality plan
The measures in the plan are only good intentions if they do not start to be adopted. The next step is therefore implementation. The first step is to communicate the changes to be made to the staff. These should correspond, in the first steps, to the previously agreed measures.
Once they start to be implemented, it is advisable to communicate this externally. For example, through company notes sent to the media. And, on the corporate website and on the company’s official social media profiles. As a strategy to improve brand reputation, it is recommendable.
Registration of the equality plan for the company
This is the moment to register the plan in the Register of Equality Plans of the Autonomous Region and the corresponding labour authority. Even if you are not legally obliged to have one. Or if it has not been discussed and agreed with the staff.
Evaluation and Follow-up
In this phase after the implementation of the company’s equality plan you need to evaluate the results. You need to know the results of the measures taken. What is working and what is not. If you find that any measure is not allowing you to achieve the proposed objectives, it is time to re-evaluate the situation. It will be necessary to look for new solutions to achieve the desired objectives.
As you can see, it is a process that has many steps to take, requires time and is not always easy. That is why most companies prefer to entrust the whole process to specialised professionals.
Among Nextport’s services we have a service for the design, development and implementation of equality plans in companies. Contact us to find out what it consists of and how we can help you in all its phases. We would be delighted to speak to you.
