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Diversity
and
Equal opportunities
Equal opportunities anddiscrimination
The areas that this subject covers includes:
Equal opportunities
Equal pay
Discrimination on the basis of gender, color, race,disability, sexual orientation, religion and age
Discrimination can be:
Direct
Indirect
Victimization
Harassment
Direct discrimination
Occurs when one interested group is treated less
favorably than another (except for exempted
cases). It is unlikely that a prospective employer
will practice direct discrimination unawares
Sex, race, religion, disability etc
E.g. a woman might be dismissed when she getsmarried: discrimination on the basis of marital
status, An individual might be over looked for
promotion because he has speech impediment:
discrimination on the basis of disability
Indirect discrimination
When certain requirements are imposed withwhich certain interested groups could not comply
Occurs when a policy or practice is fair in form, butdiscriminatory in operation: for example, ifrequirements or conditions are imposed, withwhich a substantial proportion of the interestedgroup cannot comply, to their detriment
For example an organization expects all itsmanagers to work long hours and at weekends isprobably discriminating against woman becausemany women than men have familyresponsibilities that prevents them from workinglonger hours consistently
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Victimization
Occurs when a person is penalized for giving
information or taking action in pursuit of a
claim of discrimination (giving evidence on
discrimination cases)
The individual is therefore ignored for training
and promotion opportunities because of
his/her act of betrayal or whistle-blowing
Harassment
The use of threatening, intimidatory, offensive
or abusive language or behavior
Equal opportunities
Equal opportunities means ensure individuals aretreated fairly in the employment process. In otherwords everyone has the right to be treated fairly atwork. Equal chances for everyone
Equal opportunities employment exists when there isno unfair discrimination (against gender, color, ethnicorigin, disability, orientation, religion and age) inrelation to:
access to jobs; employment terms and conditions;
promotion prospects;
training opportunities;
remuneration; or
termination of employment
The idea of equal opportunity is also that
employers should discriminate between
employees and applicants for jobs only on the
basis of:
Ability
Experience
Potential
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Discrimination of certain types is illegal in the
UK on grounds of:
Sex and marital status
Color, race, nationality and ethnic or national
origin
Disability
Sexual orientation and religious beliefs
Age
Law
In many countries, this is enforced by
legislation. For example in the UK there are:
Equal Pay Act
Disability Discrimination Act
Race Relations Act.
Employment Discrimination Laws
Equal Pay Act of 1963
The act requiring equal pay for equal work, regardlessof sex.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967(ADEA)
The act prohibiting arbitrary age discrimination and
specifically protecting individuals over 40 years old. Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973
The act requiring certain federal contractors to takeaffirmative action for disabled persons.
Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Act of
1974
An act requiring that employees with government
contracts take affirmative action to hire disabled
veterans.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) of 1978
A Title VII amendment that prohibits sex
discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or
related medical conditions.
If an employer offers its employees disability coverage,
then it must treat pregnancy and childbirth like any other
disability, and include it in the plan as a covered
condition.
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Equal pay
Under such legislation any person is entitled
to the same remuneration and conditions of
service as another who:
is doing similar work; or
work which is of a similar value as judged under a
job evaluation exercise.
Sex discrimination
Basically it is illegal to discriminate within the
workplace on the basis of sex (gender) in the
areas of recruitment, job selection, terms
and conditions of employment, training,
promotion and pay (including the form of
fringe benefits and redundancy pay and
pensions).
Sexual harassment
Asking or forcing an employee to performsexual favors in exchange for some reward orto avoid negative consequences
Covers:
unwelcome sexual advances
requests for sexual favors, and other
verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature
Can be:
Verbal
Non-verbal
Physical
Sexual orientation/religious beliefs
Employers cannot discriminate on the basis of
an individuals sexual orientation or religion.
Employers can be held responsible for
conduct(including harassment) deem
offensive in regard to an individuals sexual
orientation or religion.
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Disability A disabled person is defined as someone who
has a physical or mental impairment that has
substantial and long-term (more than 12
months) adverse effect on his or her ability to
carry out normal day-to-day activities.
There are three areas (within UK legislation)
that make it illegal for an employer to
discriminate against disabled individuals:
in deciding who to interview, who to employ or in
terms of an employment offer;
in the terms of employment and the
opportunities for promotion, transfer, training or
other benefits, or by refusing the same;
by dismissal or other disadvantages.
Age discrimination
Occurs when a person is treated less favorablybecause of their age, and this is used as a basisfor prejudice against, and unfair treatment of,that person.
Can:
Impact regardless of age
reduce employment prospects for older people,younger people and parents returning to work
favor people in the age group 25 to 35
prevent the full consideration of abilities, potentialand experience of employees
A country's age discrimination regulations may
suggest that employers should:
Refrain from using age limits while recruiting and
focus on ability and skills (such as newly-qualified
or recent graduate) in job advertisements;
refrain from asking for medical references only
from older applicants
Use mixed age panel of interviewers
Promote on the basis of ability
Train and develop all employees
Base redundancy on job related criteria
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Managing equal opportunities
Management should consider: Support from the top of the organisation for the
formulation of a practical policy
Monitor and review (application, leaving, transfers,promotions, training)
Policy made by a working party drawn frommanagement, unions, minority groups, the HRfunction and staff representatives
Stance and positive action: taking active steps toencourage people from disadvantaged groups to applyfor jobs and training, and to compete for vacancies.E.g. using ethnic languages in job advertisements, orimplementing training for women in managementskills
There are a number of reasons why acompany might wish to do more than they arelegally obliged to. These include:
Feeling they have a moral duty
To keep customers happy.
Obviously this is important for recruitmentand selection but also includes:
Equal opportunities for training
Equal opportunities for promotion
Equal treatment in times of redundancies.
Other initiatives
Putting equal opportunities higher on the agendaby appointing Equal Opportunities Managers
Flexible hours
Career-break or return-to-work schemes forwomen.
Fast-tracking school-leavers
Training for women-returners
Awareness training for managers, to encouragethem to think about equal opportunity
Counseling and disciplinary policies
Diversity
The idea of diversity means the organisation recognizesthat people are different in terms of personality,working style, work/life balance needs, trainingrequirements and career expectations and looks forways to use the different viewpoints this brings for itsown benefit
The organisation may try to have a workforce with avariety of Religious
Races Marital status
Gender
Sexual orientation
The organisation might try to achieve this throughnumerical targets.
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Diversity Management Diversity management means actively
encouraging a diverse workforce.
Tolerance of individual differences
Workplace behavior
Communicating effectively with (and motivating)ethnically diverse work forces
Managing the adjustments to be made by anincreasingly aged work force
Training
Dealing with differences in literacy, numeracy andqualifications in an international work force
Managing co-operative working in ethnically diverseteams
Diversity Policy, Ingham (2003)
1. Analyze your business environment
2. Define diversity and its business benefits
3. Introduce diversity policy into corporate strategy
4. Embed diversity into core HR processes andsystem (hiring, promotion, training etc)
5. Ensure leaders implement policy
6. Involve staff at all levels (education throughawareness training)
7. Communicate, communicate, communicate
8. Understand your company's needs
9. Evaluate
Benefits
More creative ideas
More viewpoints considered when making
decisions
Better understanding of customers
Increased chance of being successful in new
markets.
Increased competitive advantage