Equality and diversity are topics that are relevant in all organisations. Whether you have 3 or 300 employees, it is just as important. Wherever people are involved, discrimination can occur. Equality and diversity serve as the push towards everyone having the same opportunities through being treated in the same way, no matter what age, gender, or race you are.

The responsibility comes from nowhere else other than the organisation itself. If you actively promote equality and diversity throughout all areas of your business, it will thrive in the long-term due not only to the impact it has on the employees, but also the message you are giving out to potential customers and clients.

By following the rules and regulations out there, and creating an effective policy as a result, the business can reap the rewards as a result of complying. However, with only 5.5% of directors in the FTSE 100 from an ethnic minority, there is still clearly a long way to go on the road to diversity.

What Should You be Doing?

Efforts made towards diversity and equality can often get forgotten by the employers, highlighted by the fact that 41% of people in a recent study by the Society for Human Resource Management said the reason their company made very few diversity efforts was simply because they’re “too busy” to do anything about it. This relaxed attitude needs to change by organisations being more proactive in their workplace management when it comes to diversity and equality.

The Equality Act 2010

The Act was introduced to the UK in order to eliminate unlawful discrimination, create equal opportunities, and promote good relations between people within the working environment no matter who they are.

By making it unlawful for employers to discriminate against workers, their level of responsibility is increased when it comes to dealing with prejudicial behaviour and making the adjustments needed so that everyone has access to the same opportunities.

All workplaces must comply with the Act and be seen as actively promoting equality and diversity among employees.

Most specifically, the Act focuses on 9 protected characteristics. An individual cannot be discriminated against due to any of these particular traits:

1. Age
2. Disability
3. Gender reassignment
4. Marriage and civil partnership
5. Pregnancy and maternity
6. Race
7. Religion and belief
8. Sex
9. Sexual Orientation

The Importance of Diversity and Equality

A diverse workforce shouldn’t be seen as an added extra when it comes to the priorities of a business. Diversity isn’t an advantageous attribute, it should be a given. Including diversity and equality in the general business plan will benefit you in the long term, bringing you success.

Having a diverse company means that you are bringing in variety, which is always good. There is only so much an organisation can grow if everyone within it is the same. Having employees with the same traits, beliefs, and interests will only ever produce a limited workforce. Diversity brings in new ideas and new ways of thinking, both qualities that can strengthen your organisation.

In the UK, the working population is growing more varied in areas such as ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations, so the workforce you are willing to take on needs to reflect the employees that are out there. If you have a business team that doesn’t represent the population around you, then you are always going to be seen as out-of-date, which is seen as a negative quality for the majority of consumers out there.

The diversity of our country is something that the world of business should go hand-in-hand with. By having a current workforce that reflects the population, it is straight away seen as more attractive for customer and clients, but also for the workers out there. Workplace diversity means you have a range of people with a range of opinions, making it much easier for you to target a wide audience. Additionally, if you show off the fact you lead your business with priorities in diversity and equality, people will want to work for you as a result, and the more job candidates you are attracting, the more likely it is you will end up with the cream of the crop!

It may sound simple, but workplace discrimination occurs whenever discrimination takes place in the workplace. Discrimination can take place in any corner of society, with the workplace being a consistent area for problems to arise.

Discrimination means treating someone differently because of who they are and the qualities they possess. When this treatment is unfair and offensive, discrimination is taking place. Workplaces should be made up of people from different backgrounds in terms of age, sexuality, and race, but unfortunately this variation is the perfect place for discrimination to occur. Additionally, this can also lead to harassment and victimisation depending on what the perpetrator does following on from the discrimination.

Different Forms of Discrimination

There are different techniques of discriminating against someone: direct and indirect. Whilst “direct” means that someone is treated differently because of who they are, “indirect” means that a policy is set that applies to everyone, but it can have a negative impact on someone due to their qualities.

For example, if someone was being refused entry to a nightclub because they were Jewish it would be direct discrimination due to religion and belief. On the other hand, if a hair salon has a policy that means they refuse to employ stylists that cover their own hair, indirect discrimination would be occurring. This is because it means that a Muslim woman or Sikh man might be unable to apply for the position due to wearing headwear, so it is an example of indirect discrimination.

Whether discrimination is carried out directly or indirectly, the same nine terms are listed by the Equality Act 2010 as ‘protected categories’. In other words, if an individual is discriminated against because of them, the law is being broken – something that could lead to penalties such as fines and reputational damage for the business too.

The protected categories are:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and Civil Partnerships
• Pregnancy and Maternity
• Race
• Religion and Belief
• Sex
• Sexual Orientation

By having standards that organisations need to meet to combat workplace discrimination, consistency is achieved across all businesses so that employees and customers are treated fairly. By following these rules and regulations, companies are showing that they comply with equality and diversity, creating a better system all round.

Real-Life Workplace Discrimination

Pregnancy: Mary was six months pregnant. After ten years of working at an accounting firm, she applied for a senior position and was rejected, despite being the best candidate due to her experience and qualifications. When she asked the manager for feedback, he said he needed someone “more dedicated to the position”.

Because of her pregnancy and impending maternity leave, she was discriminated against, causing the employer to see her as a less reliable worker.

Disability: Tom worked in a toy shop and had a physical disability that prevented him from carrying heavy items. He discovered that his co-workers were on a higher salary despite having the same experience and workloads. When he asked his manager about it, she said it was because he didn’t do as much within the business. Limitations in some aspects of the job caused the manager to see Tom as a less valuable member of staff, discriminating against him because of his disability.

Our Equality and Diversity Courses

The UK legislation for equality and diversity comes predominantly in the form of the Equality Act 2010. It replaced the previous legislation that was in place, creating one general act to follow instead of lots of smaller ones. The act pushes for a consistency across the board, so that employees and employers all comply with the laws to create fairer workplaces all over the country.

As well as this, the Commission of Equality and Human Rights (EHRC) and Human Rights Act of 1998 exist to reduce inequality and discrimination, both problems that crop up in the workplace.

Equality Act 2010

The act brings together over 116 separate pieces of legislation in an attempt to simplify and strengthen the legislation. The act provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equal opportunities for all, protecting individuals from unfair treatment.

It promotes equality in the areas of 9 protected characteristics, also known as general duties to promote equality. The nine main pieces of legislation that have merged cover topics such as gender, race, disability and sexual orientation:

• The Equal Pay Act 1970
• The Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• The Race Relations Act 1976
• The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
• The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
• The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
• The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
• The Equality Act 2006, Part 2
• The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)

The EHRC joined up the work of the previous equality organisations, the Commission of Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission, and the Equal Opportunities Commission.

It challenges prejudice and promotes the importance of human rights, enforcing the equality laws around age, disability, gender, race, religion and sexual orientation and encourages compliance with the Human Rights Act.

The Commission seeks to maintain and strengthen the UK’s history of upholding people’s rights, valuing diversity and challenging intolerance, as well as tackling the areas where there is still discrimination and inequality, such as the workplace.

Human Rights Act 1998

The act sets out the rights and freedoms that everyone in the UK is entitled to. It links to the Eur#opean Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and bring it into domestic UK law. The act is set out as ‘Articles’, with each one dealing with a different right; they are often known as the convention rights:

• Article 2: Right to life
• Article 3: Freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment
• Article 4: Freedom from slavery and forced labour
• Article 5: Right to liberty and security
• Article 6: Right to a fair trial
• Article 7: No punishment without law
• Article 8: Respect for your private and family life, home and correspondence
• Article 9: Freedom of thought, belief and religion
• Article 10: Freedom of expression
• Article 11: Freedom of assembly and association
• Article 12: Right to marry and start a family
• Article 14: Protection from discrimination in respect of these rights and freedoms
• Protocol 1, Article 1: Right to peaceful enjoyment of your property
• Protocol 1, Article 2: Right to education
• Protocol 1, Article 3: Right to participate in free elections
• Protocol 13, Article 1: Abolition of the death penalty

The changes it brings means that you can take your case to a court in the UK rather than heading to the European court of human rights in France. It also means that public bodies such as the police and schools have standards they need to meet in order to respect your human rights.

The Importance of Equality and Diversity Legislation in the Workplace

The importance of this legislation cannot be stressed enough. By having standards that organisations need to meet, there is a consistency throughout the whole process so that customers are treated fairly wherever they go.

By companies following these rules and regulations, they are showing that they comply with equality and diversity, creating a better system all round.

Promoting equality and diversity in the workplace means that companies can gain a more flexible and adaptive corporate culture by accessing a broader variety of worldviews and problem-solving styles. Another positive is that diverse workforces are perceived as more appealing to potential employees and customers.

It’s not always easy to tell whether a company has a diversity program, but companies that want to promote diversity take the extra step of scrutinizing their own policies and strategies to determine whether they are really doing everything they can to create a diverse workforce.

Our Equality and Diversity Courses

The UK legislation around equality and diversity comes in the form of the Equality Act 2010. Hailed as a landmark in the topic of discrimination legislation, it works to protect people from discrimination in the workplace (as well as in wider society). The act pushes for a consistency across the business world so that employees and employers all comply with the laws to create fairer workplaces up and down the country.

The act impacts everyone to make sure that employers create policies that are compliant. However, it tends to be the smaller companies that are less likely to have a clear anti-discrimination policy, so the act has a greater impact on them. The aim is to ensure employers and employees benefit from a much fairer working environment as a result.

Elements of the Equality Act

The act brings together over 116 separate pieces of legislation in an attempt to simplify and strengthen the rules around the topic. The act provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and push for equal opportunities for all in an attempt to protect employees from unfair treatment.

This ‘unfair treatment’ can come in the following forms:

• Direct discrimination: Treating people less favourably than others
• Indirect discrimination: Creating rules that apply to everyone, but actually put some at a disadvantage/in an uncomfortable position as a result
• Harassment: Unwanted behaviour that violates someone’s dignity or creates an offensive environment for them
• Victimisation: Treating someone unfairly if they’ve complained about discrimination

It promotes equality in the areas of 9 protected characteristics, also known as general duties to promote equality, and 9 of the main legislations that were incorporated into the act.

• The Equal Pay Act 1970
• The Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• The Race Relations Act 1976
• The Disability Discrimination Act 1995
• The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
• The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
• The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
• The Equality Act 2006, Part 2
• The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007

As you can see, the main focuses of this act are the issues of age, disability, gender, race, religion and sexual orientation. Additionally from these issues, pregnancy and marriage could cause someone to be discriminated against. Anywhere that a quality can be used against someone to make them feel uncomfortable or ‘singled out’ is where discrimination can occur – something that prevents equality and diversity from being prominent within the workforce.

The Equality Act and You

The Act pushes for an increased transparency in payslips by making the secrecy clauses unenforceable. In other words, the firm can’t make the clauses secret, so can’t really stop people from talking about what they earn. These rules used to be included in a lot of contracts, attempting to prevent employees from discussing their pay, because discussing salary highlights the pay gap between men and women. By making pay much more transparent, the pay gap can be narrowed.

The Act also prevents employers from requesting a health form before offering the individual the position. This then prevents the decision being made on factors other than your work capability and skill.

Employment tribunals are another element of the Act that have a big impact on individuals. If an employee makes a claim, rather than just receiving financial compensation as a result, the response goes as far as making recommendations to the employer. This equates to a greater change because the employer is more likely to alter their behaviour if they are told to assess their policies and introduce employee training.

Compliant Culture

The importance of this Act cannot be stressed enough. By having national standards that organisations need to meet, a consistency is created throughout the whole process so that customers are treated fairly wherever they go.

By companies following these rules and regulations, they are showing that they comply with equality and diversity, creating a better system all round.

Promoting equality and diversity in the workplace means that companies can gain a more flexible and adaptive corporate culture by accessing a broader variety of worldviews and problem-solving styles. Another positive is that diverse workforces are perceived as more appealing to potential employees and customers.

Companies that want to push for diversity take the extra steps of scrutinizing their own policies and strategies to determine whether they are really doing everything they can to recruit a more varied workforce.

Starbucks 2016

Starbucks was shamed for discrimination recently when an employee won a disability case after she was accused of falsifying documents.

Meseret Kumulchew was discriminated when she made some written mistakes due to having dyslexia – mistakes that resulted in a big step down as she was told to retrain as well as being given simpler duties as they accused her of falsifying the documents.

The tribunal revealed that Starbucks had failed to make reasonable adjustments for her disability and therefore discriminated against her because of the actions that were a result of her dyslexia. It was also stressed that she was victimised by her employer.

The result is that Starbucks are in discussions around the idea of supplying more workplace support. Giving the employee longer to learn each task is exactly how they could have coped with this simply, something Ms Kumulchew says would have helped considerably.

Equality and diversity are topics relevant in any workplace, of any size, whether you have a handful of employees or a few hundred! Whenever groups of people are put together, discrimination can occur. Equality and diversity push for everyone to have the same opportunities through being treated in the same way, no matter what age, gender, or race.

The responsibility comes from nowhere else other than the organisation itself, which is where training comes into the picture. If you actively promote equality and diversity throughout all areas of your business, the business itself will thrive in the long run not only because of the change it will cause throughout the workforce, but also the message you are giving out to potential customers and clients about the type of business you are.

Efforts made towards diversity and equality can often be forgotten by employers, a fact that is highlighted by the fact that 41% of people admitted their company made very few diversity efforts simply because they’re “too busy”, according to a recent study by the Society for Human Resource Management.

This attitude needs to be changed by organisations being more proactive in their workplace management when it comes to diversity and equality through offering staff training. By following the rules and regulations out there, and creating an effective policy as a result, your business can reap the rewards.

The Importance of Training

An equality and diversity policy should apply to every aspect of the working process. From recruitment, salaries and benefits, right through to discipline procedures, promotion opportunities and after work activities. Your job is to have a protocol ready to cover all situations so that inequality never has the chance to thrive anywhere within your business. Once your policy is written down it makes it much easier to follow so that your employees will always have confidence in your commitment towards improving diversity.

Staff training is the perfect way to create a workforce made up of people with the consistent level of understanding and respect needed to tackle inequality and discrimination. By informing employees about the types of discrimination out there, the contents of the Equality Act, and the standards that need to be met, the business will run smoother all round. By helping you to promote a fairer, more tolerant and diverse working environment, the training really can have a huge impact on the general attitudes within the company.

Training should start from the top of the company and work its way down, covering all areas of the business structure. Whether it is the senior managers or a summer intern student, the compliance around diversity needs to be stressed to everyone in the workplace, because at the end of the day everyone has a responsibility to support equality and diversity.

Setting an Example

Google’s head of diversity and inclusion for Europe and the Middle Eastern region says the key step is to challenge the structure of the level just below the senior executives and managers, because they are the board members of the future, so they’ll be holding the influence in years to come. Google is aiming for the 50:50 level of men and women, a good example to be setting in their industry.

In 2011, they created a project called CodeF, a career development programme for women, specifically undergraduate computer scientists. The project aimed to increase the number of women working in the technology industry through professional mentoring.

CodeF is just one way that companies can spread the word about diversity, and with Google using this technique by giving women more opportunities, as well as staff training and having suitable policies ready and waiting, progress is being made to make diverse and equal workforces the ‘norm’.