Equal Employment Opportunity Policy

The PeopleGoal Equal Employment Opportunity Policy describes terms for equality and anti-discrimination in hiring. Download the equal employment opportunity policy template to PDF and simply adjust the information in the brackets to suit your company’s needs.

What is Equal Employment Opportunity?

Equal employment opportunity is a practice in which employers do not engage in discrimination through any means. It's aimed at protecting employees by levelling the playing field for job-seekers, providing fair and unbiased treatment in the workplace, and encouraging an open a transparent approach to promotion, training and skills development.

Equal employment opportunity is legislated in different ways depending on your country, and is often overseen by an independent body. In the US this is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and in the UK this is the Equal Opportunities Commission. There are many additional laws protecting workers' rights and you should familiarize yourself with these in your own country.

It's important to note that an equal opportunity employment policy does not strive to provide equal outcomes to every individual, but rather to provide an equal start for those beginning at a disadvantage.

The Importance of Equal Employment Opportunity

Without the protection of equal employemnt policies and law, there would be a significant disparity in the treatment of workers and individuals. Prior to the introduction of these policies, people would be unfairly treated on the basis of their age, gender, race and sexuality amongst other characteristics.

In the working world, diversity is crucial for good performance and strong teamwork. When we allow nepotism and other biases to control the decision-making process when hiring, it can often prevent the best candidate from accessing certain roles. Similarly promoting candidates solely through favoritism may be desirable as employers can work with like-minded people, however, this homogenization will gradually contribute to the decline of the organization.

Discriminatory practices are unwelcome in all aspects of society, it is the responsibility of organizations to ensure that their employees are not the recipients of any form of discrimination in their work.

What's included in this Equal Employment Opportunity Policy?

• Equal Employment Opportunity
• Reporting Discrimination for External Job Applicants
• Reporting Discrimination for Internal Job Applicants

Our PeopleGoal Equal Employment Opportunity Policy describes the baseline protection you should be offering all of your workers, as well as the process for reporting any discrimination employees may face in the workplace. You should add further sections for unique legislation and additional offerings your organization has in place.

Disclaimer: The PeopleGoal Policies are general templates and should only be used as a basis for company policies. Please take into account all local, state, and federal laws when drafting your company’s final policies. This is not a legal document or a contract, and PeopleGoal will not assume any legal liability associated with the use of this document.