Equal opportunites and Diversity

The difference between equality and diversity

Equality and Diversity is often used now instead of equal opportunities. However both terms have a slight difference in their meaning. Equality is seen as the structure and culture which arises from the tasks that are carried out within the workplace. It is made up of laws, policies and procedures to ensure a consistent, non discriminatory, safe environment. (The adult college, 2010). It is about creating a fairer society where everyone can contribute and has the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

According to the charted management institute, the definition of diversity is described as any sort of difference between two or more people. Differences might exist in terms of race, gender, disability, education etc. The aim is to treat each person as an individual and involves strategies for the varied individuals to work together to become a dynamic workforce. (Mullins, 2007, page 146)

Equality of opportunities involves legislation to eliminate unjustified discrimination if they feel they have been treated unfairly and enable employers to seek help and develop equal opportunities by taking positive action. Many legisation such as:

• Sex discrimination act 1975-The Sex Discrimination Act applies to both men and women of any age and race, including children. However, it is not unlawful to discriminate against someone because they are not married.
• Disibilty discrimination act 2004- This act covers discrimination against disabled people no matter how many members of staff the employer has.
• Race relation Act 1976- The Race Relations Act covers people from all racial backgrounds and makes no division on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin.

3 arguments for and against Margaret Mountford views

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article6830916.ece

3 arguments for Margaret Mountford's views:

Mountford stated that women should only be appointed to senior positions on merit. This is a fair point, all men and woman should be treated equally on the basis of merit for any job position they apply for and only the skills, experience and qualifications should be considered.
This would enable women to be more focused on their work and dedicated to towards their work as they know they have to work hard to get to the position they want to achieve.
This would make women demand less to working flexible hours as they might take the advantage during child bearing years. They cannot complain that they are not on the board if they decide they want to leave or take a couple of months off or work less hours.

3 arguments against Margaret Mounford’s views:

Mountford’s views do not take into consideration that women have certain responsibilities which men in most cases do not need to worry about e.g. their children.
This stops women from achieving higher and be appointed to senior positions as they have other priorities which come first to them.
If companies make the working hours more flexible for women, this would discriminate against men. (Business.timesonline, 2009)

The impact age legislation has on employers:

The age discrimination legislation which was the final strand to equality legislation protects employers from being discriminated against their age while working for an organisation. As this legislation came into force in 2006, it covers employment and vocational training. The impact age legislation has on employers is:

• It is vital that recruiters and employers are educated and trained effectively so that they are aware of the requirements of the age legislation. It is important to bring the right policies and procedures in the workplace to avoid discrimination.
• Effective training that is provided with the development and performance of successful practice should not only minimise the legal risks but bring real benefits to employers. These benefits could include a reduction in recruitment and training costs, and increased productivity.(Business link, 2010)
• Research shows according to the training journal online “employers are starting to move beyond good intentions towards delivering strategies that contribute to achieving an age diverse workforce.” (Training journal, 2004)
• Creating age diverse workforces employers can attract employees within the range of age recruiting and developing both younger and older workers.
• Companies can gain from businesses employing an age-diverse workforce, For example there would be increased motivation, higher retention rate, greater flexibility lower absenteeism, and a wide range of skills.

The stereotypes we tend to hold about younger people are:

• They have a lot of energy and pick up things easily.
• They are inexperienced
  

The stereotypes we tend to hold about older people:

• Slow at working and take their time to get things done as they do not very active.
• More experienced, reliable and work well under pressure.
• Harder to train.
  

The two ways organisations can change these attitudes and stop these stereotypes is by looking at the positive side to stereotypes. Organisation should closely observe at older workers and their work performance. As a result they may find that performance does not decline with age. As they have a lot of experience, older workers tend to find more efficient ways of performing their jobs compared to younger workers. Another way is employers should treat both young employees and older employees equally and with the same amount of respect so they can set a example infront of other workers which they can follow and so they would feel that everyone should be treated in the same way.

B&Q and British airways practise in relation to equal opportunities:

B&Q's is an organisation that highly values its employees. The diversity policy they hold relates to gender, race, age and ability and does not discriminate against these issues. B&Q have been recognised for their achievements to employ people from every kind of background and race which gives them a much wider mix of experience. They believe having a diverse workforce is important for B&Q as they can understand their customers which will bring a positive image to the company. On their official website they have mentioned they have received many awards, one which was from the in the top 50 retailers where women would want to work. This indicates that the policies they believe in treats both men and women equally within the workplace and does not discriminate. (McCarthy Recruitment, 2010) Usually women may need to take maternity leave at a point which would result in less staff or they might want to leave the job but however B&Q does not show prejudice and women recognise this so that’s why women prefer to work there. The benefits of employing older people means there would be more experience and understanding and they would be a great asset to the company. B&Q have been acknowledged and also earned a reputation for employing older workers as they believe this would lead to their customers having an insight to their generation of experience and knowledge. This is the reason B&Q have removed their retirement age more than 15 years ago and are encouraging equal opportunities for older employees. (B&Q, 2010)From training to rewards to store layouts, B&Q continue to support equality of opportunity in everything they do, so there are no barriers for anybody who wants to apply an be apart of the B&Q team.

BA is one of the most successful companies that value a diverse workforce and think equality and diversity are key factors to their success and this is a reason why they play a huge part in ensuring they achieve equality of opportunity. BA has taken the time and effort to develop an equal opportunities policy to eliminate any discrimination in their company. The number of policies includes:

• Disability discrimination- They aim to provide an environment for many disabled people in the areas of employment, education and access to goods, facilities, services and premises. BA’s recruitment process follows the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 allowing people with disabilities to have fair and equal access to employment opportunities. They also make adjustments to roles and environments to accommodate disabled applicants and for staff who have become disabled while being employed by BA.
• BA have quite strict values on diversity and have stated on their website that they “are committed to equal opportunities and oppose any form of direct or indirect discrimination, harassment or bullying of employees or job applicants on the grounds of: sex; ethnic or national origin, race, nationality, class, colour, sexual orientation, transsexuals, disability, marital or family status, religious beliefs, employment status; membership or non-membership of a trade union; HIV status or any other unjustifiable condition” (BAA, 2010) As they believe employees and their customers are most important, all of these aspects are important to them to help maximise employers potential and contribution to the organisation, bring about change and increase their performance and the reputation of BA as a whole.

Conclusion:

Over all it is important that organisations understand there are differences among employees and that these differences, if properly managed, are an asset to work being done more efficiently and effectively. Following all the regulations is vital to enable employers to develop equal opportunities and eliminate unjustified discrimination.

References:

The adult college (2010) Explanation of Equality [online]. Available from: http://www.theadultcollege.org/equality/eq003a.asp [Accessed 15 April 2010]

Mullins, L. (2007) Management and organisational behaviour, Eighth edition page 146

Business times online (2009) Margaret Mountford of The Apprentice tells women [online]. Available from: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article6830916.ece [Accessed on 15 April 2010]

Business link (2010) Age legislation impact on employers [online] Available from:
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?r.l1=1073858787&topicId=1082249786&r.lc=en&r.l2=1079568262&r.s=tl [Accessed on 15 April 2010]

Training journal (2004) Impact of age legislation on recruitment [online] Available from: http://www.trainingjournal.com/news/880.html [Accessed on 15 April 2010]

(McCarthy Recruitment, 2010) B&Q [online] Available from: http://www.mccarthyrecruitment.com/retail-employers/featured/b-q [Accessed on 15 April 2010]
(B&Q, 2010) Our ethics [online] Available from: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/content/environment_ethics/ethics/index.jsp [Accessed on 15 April 2010]

(BAA, 2010) Equal opportunities policy [online] Available from: http://www.baa.com/portal/page/Corporate/BAA+Airports%5ECorporate+responsibility%5EOur+policies%5EEqual+opportunities/8ad9ec27b5eee110VgnVCM10000036821c0a____/448c6a4c7f1b0010VgnVCM200000357e120a____/%20responsibility [Accessed on 15 April 2010]