Employment equity : guidelines for the recruitment and selection of people with disabilities in the open labour market

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Until very recent people with disabilities in South Africa were an overlookedand under-utilised pool of labour. Disabled people have been denied thechance to participate in employment opportunities by becoming economicallyactive and hence contributing towards the economy of the country. This isbecause employers were seldom or never exposed to the employment ofdisabled people in the open labour market. The result is that employers areuninformed about the benefits of recruiting disabled candidates.Since the establishment of a new democratic order in South Africa in 1994,new legislation that protects the rights of disabled people was implemented.The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (No 108 of 1996), the LabourRelations Act (No 66 of 1995) and the Employment Equity Act (No 55 of 1998)for the first time proclaimed that it is unlawful to discriminate against peoplewith disabilities.The Employment Equity Act (No 55 of 1998) encourages employers to employpersons from designated groups. These designated groups are black people,women and people with disabilities. To enable employers to successfullyrecruit disabled people in the open labour market, existing recruitment andselection procedures should be reviewed to remove any discriminatoryelements. It is during the recruitment and selection process that the disabledapplicant are either denied access to employment or not given a fair chance tocompete for a position.Currently the Employment Equity Act (No 55 of 1998) only mentions the termspeople with disabilities and reasonable accommodation. This Act does notprovide guidelines for employers on how to go about recruiting and employingdisabled candidates. Therefore the aim of the study is to present practicalguidelines regarding the employment of people with disabilities. Theseguidelines describe in a non-discriminatory manner the recruitment andselection process, such as reviewing job descriptions, the advertisement ofpositions, interpreting the disabled candidates' curriculum vitae and interviewing the disabled applicant. The idea of reasonable accommodationwithin the workplace highlights the use and benefits of assistive devices fordisabled persons so that the essential functions of a job can be performed.Exploratory-descriptive research was done with the assistance ofquestionnaires as an instrument for data collection. To meet the aims of thisstudy, an availability sample of 20 businesses (small, medium and largebusinesses) which also included government departments in the CapeMetropolitan area was selected. The opinions and attitudes of humanresources staff and business owners concerning the recruitment of physicallydisabled people, persons with hearing impairments, persons with visualimpairments and persons suffering from epilepsy, were determined. Theresearch findings reflected and discussed in this study indicate that employersdo not have recruitment and selection guidelines available to recruit personswith different disabilities successfully.Conclusions and recommendations are made regarding the knowledge andopinions of employers recruiting people with disabilities. The use ofrecruitment and selection guidelines will benefit both the employer and thedisabled candidate. Such guidelines will enable employers to recruit disabledpersons in a fair and consistent manner.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University