Equal Opportunity Employment Questions

[FlamesAddiction]

So what are people's thoughts on these as it relates to job applications and questionaires? If you answer; "white/male", are you at a disadvantage or advantage)? If you refuse to answer (as is your right), do they discard your application?

I am currently employed and am satisfied with where I am; however, I recently applied for a position with a Crown Corporation just for the heck of it. Anyway, when you submit your resume, they make you answer a questionaire which includes questions regarding your ethnic background (you're either "white", or a host of different types of minority groups).

If an opportunity is really "equal", then should any of that matter, or is "equal" just some type of euphamism? It does give the option of not answering, but I know someone who worked for a private company that had a similar questionaire, and he said that anyone refusing to answer any question, was automatically thrown out. He said that they received so many resumes that it was an easy way to pare it down before even looking at the rest of the details.

Not that it would matter... my familly name is almost a 100% givaway, so I answered the question, but it doesn't seem right.

[Rathji]

Giving someone who is in a marginalized group due to race, gender, sexual orientation, etc preference on any single position isn't equal for that specific instance, but it increases equality throughout the entire system for that group.

So Bob and his demographic group of homosexual Hindu might normally be under employed across the nation, but if specific companies give preference to someone in that group, then overall they would be able to achieve a greater equality in the bigger picture.

As for your questions about asking that question at a crown corporation, I suspect that all applications that did not include that information would be treated more or less equivalently to those that did, in respect to the consideration given. Personally, I wouldn't assume as much about a much smaller private company, though.

[CaramonLS]

Crown Corporations have very specific diversity requirements to meet in order to continue complying with EEA regulation.

They need to adhere to the terms and conditions of the Employment Equity Act in Canada. This translates to their workforce having a proportional representation to the diversity of Canada.

If you're so inclined, you can read it Here.

Basically what it means is that Crown Corporations, Government Regulated industry, and Federal contracts regulated under the FCP.

It basically means that these employers need to meet specific census targets proportional to their workforce. So to answer your question, if you are a Caucasian male, with everything else being equal, you are at a disadvantage if the employer is not meeting their goals in this program.

[CaramonLS]

As far as private companies go, declaring that you are a visible minority or Aboriginal person during the pre-screening phase will absolutely not hurt your chances.

Most employers have Diversity and Inclusion programs now, but compliance isn't strictly adhered to like it is for companies that fall under the EEA.

As far as being screened out? Well, I haven't really heard of people refusing to answer the question being screened before, but it could happen. It just doesn't make a lot of sense.

Will you be screened out based on you being Caucasian? Unlikely, unless they decide they really want to add some Diversity to that department. But don't look for too many advantages if 'all things are equal'.

[SebC]

Affirmative action nothing more than discrimination (in the negative sense) as far as I'm concerned.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Giving someone who is in a marginalized group due to race, gender, sexual orientation, etc preference on any single position isn't equal for that specific instance, but it increases equality throughout the entire system for that group.

So Bob and his demographic group of homosexual Hindu might normally be under employed across the nation, but if specific companies give preference to someone in that group, then overall they would be able to achieve a greater equality in the bigger picture.

I'd be really curious as to what people are traditionally under employed in Canada in regards to their ethnic background (not just race).

It also assumes that all white people have never been marginalized due to reasons outside of visible racial characteristics. Ethnic discrimination has existed for non-Anglo and non-Franco whites.

And how big does the "big picture" need to be? For example, if I applied in an area that is 90% white, do the demographics of the province apply even if different demographics exist in that commutershed? Should equal opportunity not be taken down to the community level to make it really fair?

edit: I see that question was answered...

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I'd be really curious as to what people are traditionally under employed in Canada in regards to their ethnic background (not just race).

It also assumes that all white people have never been marginalized due to reasons outside of visible racial characteristics. Ethnic discrimination has existed for non-Anglo and non-Franco whites.

And how big does the "big picture" need to be? For example, if I applied in an area that is 90% white, do the demographics of the province apply even if different demographics exist in that commutershed? Should equal opportunity not be taken down to the community level to make it really fair?

edit: I see that question was answered...

I *think* it is the city or 3 KM around the area. So if the company 3 operations in 3 different cities, each plant would be measured according to the demographics that the operation is based in.

Not 100% sure on this though, my company does not have to comply with these regulations, so we use our own measure (3KM around a facility) to measure the diversity for that facility.

[Devils'Advocate]

The funny thing is that government employment equity programs are typically measured based on "what percentage of your workforce is visible minorities?" and "what percentage of your workforce is handicapped?". But I work as a project manager on a tech team so I have a team of programmers working for me and they are mostly from Asia. Immigrants from China, Korea, India, Sri Lanka, etc.. So my particular team is actually short on caucasians!! But what irks me is that the program is supposed to go deeper than "visible minorities".... nobody is asking why there are so few black programmers.

As for answering the question for a Crown Corporation, you are better off checking off white rather than leaving it blank. Most of these applications are screened by the computer first before any human looks at them. And if the computer finds things that are incomplete, well, out they go....

[Clarkey]

People will look back on these policies and chuckle with disbelief in the not too distant future.