Ombudsman for Equality

General information on equality planning

What is a gender equality plan?

A gender equality plan is about equality between women and men at the workplace. Gender variant people, i.e. trans people, should also be taken into account in equality plans. However, there is nothing to prevent work communities from addressing equality in the workplace on a broader scale and taking issues such as ageing into consideration.

Advice on equality planning and quotas in the workplace, tel. +358 (09) 1607 4463.

Equality plans are the responsibility of employers

If the number of personnel working for the employer on a regular basis is at least 30, the employer must draw up an annual gender equality plan. The content of the plan shall be primarily concerned with pay and other terms of employment.

Equality planning is an employer obligation; the employer is responsible for ensuring that the gender equality plan is in compliance with the requirements of the Equality Act.

The equality plan shall be drawn up in collaboration with the personnel.

Organising equality planning

When starting equality planning at the workplace, it is useful to initiate an internal dialogue on equality and discuss, for example, how gender equality is understood in the workplace community, how the employees would describe a workplace performing well in terms of equality, and what the goals of equality planning and promotion are.

Promotion of equality calls for commitment of both management and personnel to the equality planning and implementation of measures recorded in the gender equality plan.

Appointing a special working group to take responsibility for the organisation or implementation of the various stages relating to the equality planning process (studies, communication, monitoring, assessment etc.) is advisable. The working group will also serve as a channel for cooperation between the employer and the personnel.

Facilitating equality planning by arranging training in equality issues for personnel may also be useful. When organising equality planning, it shall be noted that the promotion of equality requires both time and other resources. It might be necessary to agree, for instance, that members of the working group can attend meetings during working hours. The costs arising from studies conducted for equality planning, as well as those from training and communication related to the planning, must to be taken into account in the budget.

As the persons participating in the preparation of the gender equality plan may change over time, recording the preparation process in the plan is also recommended. In this way new employees do not have to reinvent the wheel.