Some tips to help you be prepared ahead of time
1st September sees the start of the 2025 Employment Equity (EE) reporting period on the Department of Employment and Labour’s (DEL) online portal. Employers can expect to start receiving activation emails from the DEL’s Employment Equity department from Monday, 1st September. These emails are sent from employment.equity@labour.gov.za to the CEO and Senior Manager listed in last year’s submission.
There are a few key things to know this year around as much has changed.
Firstly, ALL EMPLOYERS who have reported before, whether they are Designated Employers (> 50 Employees) or Non-Designated Employers (< 50 Employees) will receive the reminder letter from DEL on or about 1 September 2025 containing an activation link to the Employment Equity portal.
NON-DESIGNATED EMPLOYERS will need to log in during the reporting period (01 September – 15 January) to confirm that they remain non-designated.
Upon clicking the activation link, a new password must be created for 2025. Only the first click by designated personnel (e.g., CEO or EE Manager) will activate the employer profile.
Once they have completed the declaration, they can download their Compliance Certificate.
DESIGNATED EMPLOYERS – Once logged in, designated employers must complete the following new field:
Economically Active Population (EAP) Selection: Employers must choose either the national EAP or a provincial EAP, based on the primary location of operations. Multiple provincial selections are not allowed.
Reporting Period: All designated employers must report for the period 01 September 2024 to 31 August 2025. The period is no longer at the discretion of the company like before. New employers may report for shorter periods if they were not operational for the full year.
ACCESSING YOUR COMPLIANCE CERTIFICATE
All designated employers must first complete the submission of the EEA2 and EEA4 before progressing to the newly added section to request an EE Compliance Certificate. Employers.
Note that users cannot first request the EE Compliance Certificate and then go back and capture the report.
BE AWARE OF THE ACTIVATION PROCESS:
Reminder Letters are emailed to CEOs and EE Managers using contact details stored in the DEL system.
If roles have changed, employers must notify DEL to ensure correct recipients receive activation links. Please email us for the guidelines to change recipient details if relevant.
CHANGES TO REPORTING PORTAL – DESIGNATED EMPLOYERS ONLY
EEA2 – Annual Reporting
Users who are familiar with EEA2 capturing will notice some significant differences this year.
Firstly, the normal “snapshot” of the current employee figures per race and gender will have an additional line per occupational level for the company’s target. BUT this will only apply from the next reporting period (2026). Note that all previous targets fall away.
This means that employers will not be evaluated against numerical targets in 2025/26 as a new 5-year cycle begins. Therefore, you won’t be asked whether annual targets were met this year. This field will be greyed out for 2025/26 but will auto-populate from 2026 onwards using targets set in 2025.
Similarly, the list of justifiable reasons for not meeting targets will be greyed out for 2025/26 as these will only be applicable from next year when Year 1 target achievements are evaluated.
EEA4 – Income Differential Reporting
The EEA4 template also sees some changes this year.
Not only will you need to report the salary breakdown for your highest earners like in the past, but you will also now have to report on the lowest earners by occupational level, race, and gender. This provides the DoEL with more transparency and visibility.
The Gini Coefficient (Gap between the highest and lowest earners) will also be calculated automatically.
Need help with your Employment Equity Plan or your Employment Equity Report submission?
Contact Human Alliance for more information.
Menet Hamel – menet@humanalliance.co.za
Thea Marais – thea@humanalliance.co.za
Nola Erasmus – nola@humanalliance.co.za
This article is a general information sheet and should not be used or relied on as legal or other professional advice. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omissions nor for any loss or damage arising from reliance upon any information herein. Always contact your adviser for specific and detailed advice. Errors and omissions excepted (E&OE).