Human Resources Management T.10. EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES AND DIVERSITY D. Borisova

The Business Case  A wide range of groups within the workplace face discrimination and harassment  Increasing concern about ethics and ethical behavior in the workplace  A key issue is providing equal opportunities  A focus on managing diversity

Government interventions to secure minimal standards for:  Just pay: through national minimal wage  Working time: maximum of 48-hour working week  The right to employee participation: the entitlement of workers to participate in the running of their company (statutory trade union recognition)  Equal opportunities for all employees

 “.. a moral or ethical project that focuses on the processes giving rise to inequalities and seeks to address these …” (Goss, D Principles of HRM London, Routledge, p.157)  “The situation in which there is no unfair discrimination against either of the sexes or any ethnic or legally constituted social group in relation to access to jobs, terms and conditions of employment, promotion, training, remuneration or termination of employment” (Bennet, 1992) Equal Opportunities

Definitions of Diversity  The diversity consists of visible and non-visible differences which include factors, such as sex, age, background, race, disability, personality and work style (Kandola and Fullerton, 1998)  “Diversity Management is the systematic and planned commitment on the part of organisations to recruit and retain employees from diverse demographic backgrounds” (Redman, T. & Wilkinson, A Contemporary Human Resource Management London FT/Prentice Hall p. 306)

Need for Diversity Management 1. Sex – increasing numbers of women entering the labour market 2. Ethnic minorities – they will be forming an increasing part of the workforce 3. Age – the ageing of the working population

Fattism….. Overweight job hunters 'lose out' Overweight workers find it harder to get jobs than their slim counterparts, an online survey suggests. The magazine survey of 2,000 personnel officers found most preferred to offer jobs to workers of a "normal weight".  BBC News website,

“Lookism”

Ageism

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES UK LEGAL FRAMEWORK  Equal Pay Act1970  Rehabilitation of Offenders Act1974  Sex discrimination Act (EOC)1975  Race Relations Act (CRE)1976  Disability Discrimination Act (DRC)1995  Human Rights Act1998

Key Legal Terms  Discrimination  Unlawful discrimination – direct  Unlawful discrimination – indirect  Victimisation  Harassment  GOQs (genuine occupational qualifications)  Positive Action Training programmes  *Positive Discrimination

Unlawful discrimination  Direct: when a person is treated less favourably than another on any ground covered by the legislation.  Indirect: when an apparently neutral criterion is applied which disproportionately affects one of the protected groups and is not objectively justifiable

Legal terminology cont.  Victimisation: when a person is treated less favourably as the result of asserting their statutory right under the legislation  Harassment: behaviour which has the effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, offensive or disturbing environment on grounds related to the legislation

Legal terminology cont.  GOQs: lawful discrimination – usually on grounds of: –authenticity –decency –effective provision of services to a minority group  Positive Action –Specifically designated training –Where the minority group can be shown to be under-represented

Disability Discrimination Act  Definition: A physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day- to-day activities  Employers should make “reasonable adjustments” to the workplace  Police, Armed Forces, Prison Service and Fire Service partially excluded from the provisions

Benefits of Equality  Best use of all employees’ skills and potential  Flexible workforce to aid restructuring  Workforce representative of the local community  Improved corporate image with potential employees and customers  Attracting ethical investors  Managers can integrate equality into corporate objectives  New business ideas from a diverse workforce

Differences between EO and DM EO: - Externally initiated; - Legally driven; - Focuses on numbers and problems; - Reactive; - Focuses on particular set of differences: race, gender and disability - THE “MORAL CASE” Diversity: - Internally initiated; - Business-needs driven; - Focuses on qualitative and opportunity outcomes; - Proactive; - Focuses on all differences - THE “BUSINESS CASE”

Key characteristics of diversity- oriented organization (Kandola and Fullerton, 1998)  Mission and values  Objective and fair processes  Skilled workforce: aware and fair  Active flexibility  Individual focus  Culture that empowers The focus is on cultural change and learning in entire organization, rather than promoting fairness and avoiding discrimination.

Diversity Management  Businesses as wealth creators  SHV (Shareholder Value Theory)  The “business case”  Focus on individual contributions  Voluntarism

Ways in which diversity drives business growth  Improves marketplace understanding  Enhances creativity and innovation  Produces higher quality of team problem- solving  Enhances leadership effectiveness  Builds effective global relationships  Provides better utilization of talent

Diversity – beyond the law?  Disillusion with the effectiveness of EO by law  The “language of victimhood”  The problem of compulsion  The business case  The “costs” of inequality  Focus on the individual  What people CAN do, not what they can’t do

Equal Opportunities or Diversity Inclusion?

Diversity Efficiency Indicators

Diversity and stakeholders

Diversity Initiatives  Multicultural workshops designed to improve understanding and communication between cultural groups  Multicultural core groups which meet regularly to confront stereotypes and personal biases  Support groups, mentoring and relationships and networks for women and cultural minorities  Advisory councils reporting to top management  Rewarding managers on the basis of their record on developing members of targeted groups  Fast-track development programmes and special training opportunities for targeted groups

Advantages of Diversity Management  A solid reputation as one of the best places to work  Empowered managers and leaders who empower others  Greater innovation and full usage of employees’ skills  Higher employee productivity  Effective global competition

Strategic DM implementation model (Kandola and Fullerton, 1998) Focuses on 8 processes:  Clarity of organizational vision  Extent of top management vision  Auditing and assessing of needs  Setting of clear objectives  Degree of accountability  Degree of communication within the organization  Extent of co-ordination  Degree to which the strategy and actions are evaluated

The Costs of Inequality  Inefficiency in use of human resources (high staff turnover, low productivity, restricted pool of talent)  Inflexible workforce limiting organizational change  Poor corporate image with prospective employees and customers  Management time spent on grievances  Losing an industrial tribunal case

HRM Tools for Changing Attitudes and Behaviours  Recruitment and selection processes  Working practices and patterns  Health and safety – risk assessment  Training and development  Performance management and reward  Discipline, dismissal and grievance  Sickness absence policy (DDA)  Overall EO monitoring for compliance  Employment tribunal hearing for breaches

Tribunals (ETS 2006) Type of Case Cases registered Successful at ET Unfair dismissal 35,4153,425 Protection of Wages/ Redundancy 35,9169,721 Breach of Contract 21,4443,559 Sex discrimination 24,2174,068 Race discrimination 3, Equal Pay 11,3233,722 Disability Discrimination 4, Religious Belief Discrimination 3409 Sexual Orientation Discrimination NMW37847 Working Time 93881,374 Other jurisdiction areas ,847 Total 160,557 (including multiple claims) Settled 58,493 36% Withdrawn 55,078 34% ET cases 21,256 30% (avg. award £8,679)

Organisational EO Agendas (Goss, D Principles of HRM London, Routledge; p157) SHALLOWDEEP BROAD Token agenda Aspects beyond those covered by law, but superficial Long agenda Beyond legal minima and wider range of aspects NARROW Short agenda minimal compliance with the law Focused agenda long term change but limited to legal requirements COMMITMENT FOCUS

Six Challenges that Must be Managed (Joplin and Daus, 1997)  Changed power dynamics  Diversity of opinions  Perceived lack of empathy  Tokenism, real and perceived  Participation  Overcoming inertia

Existence of HR programs for work with special groups of employees (% of organizations in Bulgaria, 2003, Cranet)

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