Equal employment opportunity and affirmative action

Affirmative action is a step further than equal employment opportunities. Dessler (2005) emphasises that in affirmative action the employer has to take decisive measures in staffing functions to protect minority groups, people with disabilities or females in the organisation. In order to make such measures realistic and achievable, there should be a policy on equal employment opportunity, an officer responsible for its implementation, broad organisational awareness creation, implementation and continuous reviews.

In Tanzania, 54% of the labour force is made up of women. Despite the fact that the national employment policy 1997 advocates equal rights of employment for women, local authority departments dealing with gender equality consistently face challenges due to lack of resources and are therefore unable to bring gender issues to the foreground. The target is for 30% of the positions in top leadership to be held by women.

The Mzumbe University policy on gender development (2008) expresses the university aspiration to achieve gender balance in employment and students’ enrolment. In terms of employment, the target is to reach the ratio of 35:50 in employment by 2012 and 50:50 in students’ enrolment.

Managing diversity

Despite growing concern for the promotion of equal opportunities, there is also a shift in emphasis to managing diversity which appears, at least in theory, to focus on policies which will lead to valuing and recognising a wide range of differences and use them for the good of individual employees and the organisation (Foster & Harris 2005). So inequality is seen as an opportunity that should be exploited.

1. Retirement policy

Retirement is a natural way of employees leaving the organisation. On some occasions, the organisation may need the services of retired staff. Retirement policy allows the management to enter into a contractual agreement with retirees for employment purposes when it is clearly established that doing so would be in the best interests of the organisation.

The policy will state, among others, that there should be an identification of retired staff to be employed and that the process of employing such staff is initiated. For example, ‘upon request, the department of human resources will provide a list of eligible employees who qualify for reemployment’ or: ‘The line manager intending to continue utilising the services of retiring staff has to seek the consent of the staff concerned before initiating these contractual agreements and that such a process has to begin well before the actual date of retirement’.

The policy might also state that the top management be advised of the department’s intention and reasons for employing retired staff and requests consideration and approval of higher organs for such an application. The policy may state that ‘the mandate for approval of employment of retired staff lies with the governing body’. The terms and conditions of employment usually stipulate thus:

· ‘Employees who are employed in the category of retirees are not eligible for company benefits other than those explicitly stated in the employment agreement.’

· Or ‘no more than 5% of the total departmental workforce may be made up of retirees.’

· All these policy statements help managers to make informed and consistent decisions in all matters regarding the reemployment of retired staff for the organisation as well as avoiding frequent and unnecessary questions from staff since the policy will be an open document.

2. Lay off policy

In the same way that sometimes employees are required by the organisation, there are other circumstances where, for reasons such as a fall in demand, the organisation does not need those same employees. Lay off policy enables the organisation to implement a reduction in the workforce according to uniform criteria, known to both employees and management, when it is necessary. The decision to implement layoffs should be free from all types of discrimination.

Some areas for consideration in the development and implementation of lay off policy include the requirement that all opportunities to avoid layoffs be taken. This includes work reorganisation, demotion in lieu of layoffs, shift work, part time, volunteers for early retirement, and leave without pay. The following are some of the policy statements:

‘Hourly positions involving the same duties in the organisational units and job classifications shall be discontinued before any salaried employee is made redundant.’ ‘Employees considered for lay off shall fill in a ‘redundancy notification form’ that will be used by these employees to secure preferential treatment when they apply for a job in this organisation and for which they have minimal qualification.’

Consideration of employees identified for lay off to receive certain benefits such as, preference for reemployment when future opportunities arise, retraining support so that they can develop a self-employed career. A policy statement could state that:

‘Classified employees in positions considered for redundancy will be considered for placement and lay off benefits according to the provision of this policy.’

Procedure for layoffs. The policy will guide the procedures to be used in carrying out redundancies. This will cover the review of the organisation and job positions to satisfy the need for redundancies, identification and putting in place of all the benefits for the affected employees, setting the modalities for informing the employees and implementation of the layoff process. One example of the policy statements is:

‘Before implementing a lay off decision, the organisation must:

· Determine whether the entire organisation or certain designated work units are going to be affected.

· Designate business functions to be eliminated or reassigned.

· Review all vacant positions to identify valid vacancies for possible placement.

· There shall be no unfair treatment in layoffs.

· There shall be fair compensation.

Responsible organs for staff lay-off. It is important that the different organs’ roles in laying off be clearly stated in order to avoid ambiguity and a tendency for avoiding responsibility. For example, a statement could say

The Directorate of Human Resources with the assistance from other directorates will;

· Identify positions and duties to be eliminated using steps provided in this policy and;

· Inform the management of the situation so that further decisions may be made.

The scope of policy statements regarding lay off is unlimited in human resource management. Indeed, it must cover as many details of the issues affecting both the organisation and management as possible in order to avoid unnecessary disputes that could land the organisation in a costly judicial process.

Other areas for human resource policies

There are as many areas where human resource policies could be developed as there are human resource functions. It is up to managers to decide which areas are critical and requires policy directives, although in any case having policy is better than having none, even in what might seem to be trivial issues in day-to-day human resource management. This is because there may be cost implications if policy guidance is lacking. Some of the areas that call for a policy statement include promotion, transfer, demotion, employees transport, death, dismissal, employee relations, and information technology.

However, a word of caution is important here. Policies should not be taken as just something good for the organisation and end there. There should be proper preparation and commitment to meeting policy demands particularly where resources are required. Otherwise, policies that cannot be implemented put the organisation at the risk of frustrating not only the employees but also the officers in charge of execution. This is fertile ground for low morale and productivity in the organisation.