Manitoba Civil Service Commission
Diversity and Employment Equity
The Manitoba government recognizes that a diverse civil service allows us to better represent and serve the citizens of our province. Diversity is an important component of our civil service renewal efforts.
Employment equity
Employment equity refers to positive steps taken to attain a representative civil service and continue progress towards increasing the representation and retention of four designated groups at all levels of the organization. Our Employment Equity Policy promotes these goals and is based on the principles of fairness, merit and equity.
The four employment equity groups are:
Self-declaration
Applicants for positions are encouraged to self-declare as a part of their application. Current employees can self declare by completing an Employment Equity Declaration Form and submitting it to their department human resource services office.
See Employment equity in the competition process for more information on how employment equity is applied in our recruitment practices.
Provincial Civil Service Diversity Strategy
In December 2007 with the introduction of the Provincial Civil Service Diversity Strategy the government recommitted to the principle of employment equity, and broadened the scope to include the need to embrace diversity in all aspects of our work.
Three key components on this strategy are:
- Requiring all departments to have diversity and employment equity plans for increasing and retaining a diverse work force.
plans are developed using corporate goals and actions as a starting point and adapting them to fit the department’s specific needs and challenges
progress is monitored by a committee of deputy ministers on a regular basis
- Eliminating bias and being culturally sensitive in all human resource practices.
currently the primary focus is on improving the awareness of managers, supervisors, human resource practitioners and employees of diversity issues through open workshops and customized presentations and sessions.
- Establishing partnerships with internal and external resources to enhance efforts in the area of diversity and employment equity.
this involves government departments working together to share resources and ideas, as well as working with agencies that support and represent diversity and employment equity group members.
Senior leaders in government are committed to these goals and are working within their departments to achieve the goals of diversity and employment equity.
In addition to the work being carried out in departments as part of the strategy, we also offer a number of internship and recruitment programs that provide members of employment equity groups access to employment opportunities in the civil service, and learning and development programs to help current employees succeed in their career in the Manitoba civil service.
Why diversity is important to us
- A diverse group of employees that represents the public often leads to understanding the issues and concerns of the citizens we serve in a more complete way.
- A diverse group of employees can enable a workplace to come up with a variety of unique ideas and approaches to an issue, and it can often lead to creative, innovative solutions.
- By providing a safe working environment and a manager who demonstrates the importance of diversity, employees with varied backgrounds can become more comfortable within the workplace.
- This encourages employees to be actively involved in the workplace, as well as share and discuss work issues and ideas with each other, leading to increased satisfaction levels of employees, as well as higher productivity and quality results.
- A workplace that promotes diversity also promotes itself as a place of employment, which can be effective both at retaining employees and hiring new employees.
