The purpose of an Equality Plan is to eliminate any kind of gender discrimination within a company. At the same time, it seeks to promote equality of treatment and opportunity between women and men.
According to article 46.1 of the Organic Law of March 2007 for effective equality between women and men, an Equality Plan is “an ordered set of measures, adopted after undertaking an assessment of the situation within a Corporation or Company, which aim to achieve equal treatment and opportunities for women and men, and to eliminate gender discrimination. Equality plans will stipulate the specific equality objectives to be reached, the strategies and practices to be adopted to attain these, and the establishment of effective monitoring and assessment systems”.
Companies with more than 50 employees are obliged to have an Equality Plan. However, it is advisable to have one regardless of the number of employees. This is because not only is it a very important tool for negotiating conditions of equal treatment and opportunity between women and men in the company, but it is also considered a key element in retaining and attracting talent.
Deadlines for implementation
In June 2019, the Government passed a Royal Decree-Law modifying the Organic Law on Equality in the workplace, in which it established some deadlines for companies to adapt to the regulations. Thus companies with between 100 and 150 employees have until 7 March 2021 to draw up and apply their Equality Plan, while companies with between 50 and 100 workers have until 7 March 2022.
What an Equality Plan entails
An Equality Plan aims to achieve equality between women and men in the workplace. For this
purpose, the law stipulates that in every plan the company must ensure that this equality is attained in various areas:
- Selection and recruitment process
- Job classification
- Training
- Career advancement
- Working conditions, including an equal pay audit
- Co-responsible exercise of the rights to a personal, family and work life
- Under-representation of women
- Remuneration
- Prevention of sexual and gender-based harassment
Stages of an Equality Plan
There are various stages in the implementation of an Equality Plan. At ROSCLAR we help our clients at each of these stages.
When introducing an Equality Plan, it is essential to secure the commitment of the organisation and the participation of everyone involved, from senior management through to the workers’ representatives, the workforce and the Human Resources team. Everyone together must play an equal part in creating a permanent Equality Committee, which will be responsible for defining the functions of the Plan, the channels of communication and the timescale for its implementation. This committee will help to prepare the diagnostic assessment and compile the information needed to draw up some proposals.
The next stage consists in drawing up the Equality Plan based on all the information collected. At this point, the objectives, initiatives, resources required, time periods and evaluation techniques are specified. Once the Plan has been put into writing up, it is time to implement its directives.
Finally, there is a follow-up process in which the results of the initiatives taken are evaluated and analysed, and if required, improvements are proposed.
In summary, an Equality Plan aims to improve the situation not only of the female employees, but also of the entire workforce. At ROSCLAR we work together with our clients to achieve this. Can we help you?
