The BC Public Service recognizes that with diversity comes unique styles, perspectives, beliefs and creativity. Our workforce needs to be as diverse as British Columbians we serve to better understand the people we work for. Employment equity in the BC Public Service means eliminating barriers to employment for four designated groups: women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities.
The goal of employment equity is a discrimination-free workplace where current and prospective employees receive equitable treatment in hiring, training and promotion. Diversity encourages the BC Public Service to better utilize the talents, skills and innovation that a more diverse workforce can offer. The BC Public Service is focused on hiring the best person for the job—it attempts to include members from the four designated groups so that everyone has a fair chance for employment and or promotion.
The first Employment Equity Act was passed by the Government of Canada in 1986, for the purpose of correcting the conditions of disadvantage in employment experienced by women, visible minorities, Aboriginal people, and persons with disabilities. The Province of British Columbia began work on an employment equity tracking project in the early 1990s, and the Workforce Profile Survey began in 1994 with a census of all government employees—who were hired under the Public Service Act. Since the initial survey in 1994, BC Stats has surveyed all new hires to government through a monthly survey. This survey was administered up until March 2009.
In April 2009 the four demographic questions required for employment equity reporting became part of the Work Environment Survey (WES)—which is now administered every other year.