Diversity

by Fluid

April 2010

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Contents3-4 Introduction to Fluid5-6 Why is diversity important?7-8 Legal considerations9-11 Improving diversity12-13 Exercise A14-16 Ethnic minorities17-18 Hiring refugees19-22 Managing age diversity23-25 Recruitment and selection26-28 Positive action29-30 Driving the diversity agenda31-32 Monitoring equality compliance33-34 Takeovers35-39 Equality Act40-43 Real-life example44-46 Good practice checklist47-50 Case studies51-52 Exercise B53-54 Conclusion and questions

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Introduction

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Introduction to Fluid• Fluid Consulting Limited (Fluid) is a specialist

human resources consultancy headed by Tim Holden MCIPD

• 10 years in banking• 10 years in Human Resources consultancy• Fluid trading since 2006• The core services provided by Fluid are:

- Retention- Selection- Attraction- Remuneration & Reward - Outplacement- Training & HR consultancy

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Why is diversity important?

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Why is diversity important?

• A diverse team will bring different talents to the workplace

• An increase in innovation is known to be a result of a diverse workforce

• As information spreads via technology at breakneck speed, a negative public image can be very damaging to an organisation

• A diverse workforce is likely to attract a wider customer base, have the ability to recognise new potential markets and provide a better and more tailored service

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Legal considerations

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Legal considerations

• Legislation• Types of discrimination• Direct discrimination• Harassment and segregation• Indirect discrimination• Victimisation• Genuine Occupational Requirement• Cost of discrimination

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Improving diversity

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Improving diversity 1 of 2

• Comply or else• Think opportunity• Make your own business case• Measure it• Get out of your box• Be holistic• Share responsibility

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Improving diversity 2 of 2

• Get the boss involved• We are the champions• Tick boxes• Put yourself about• Forget old boys…• …Get ‘em young instead• Know what’s coming• Group effort• Model employees• Keep going

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Exercise A

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Exercise A

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Ethnic minorities

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Ethnic minorities 1 of 2

• BUILDING LINKS WITH THE COMMUNITY• Visit schools and talk to young people• Tell communities and families about the careers on offer• Encourage suitable role models• Build links with ‘new’ universities and colleges• Publicise professional opportunities in the older

industries• Offer work experience opportunities as a marketing tool• Tackle employment barriers faced by women and lone

parents• Deal sensitively with job enquiries• Be willing to deal with stigmas• Find out what people think of your organisation

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Ethnic minorities 2 of 2

• DEVELOPING AN ETHNIC MINORITY WORKFORCE• Devise structured training and development plans

for all employees• Identify work-related courses and training that

are not necessarily academic in approach or delivery

• Explore a partnership approach• Use mentoring, coaching and job placements• Incentives• Address local and wider barriers to training

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Hiring refugees

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Hiring refugees

• Work placements/work trials• In-house English language training• Training for employees on refugee issues• Positive action placement scheme

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Managing age diversity

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Managing age diversity 1 of 3• Analyse your workforce profile in terms of age, as

well as the future impact of the changing generational mix

• Carry out an employee survey and analyse the views and motivations of different age groups

• Audit your internal communications channels to assess whether communications channels and styles are sufficiently flexible to meet the preferences of all groups of employees

• Ensure your employer brand conveys what is compelling about the organisation as a place to work for different generations

• Analyse career development opportunities for all members of the workforce

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Managing age diversity 2 of 3• Provide flexible working opportunities that will

appeal to employees at different stages of their life

• Maximise opportunities to enhance coaching and mentoring across different generational groups

• Re-engage baby boomers by ensuring they are given appropriate developmental opportunities

• Re-evaluate your corporate social responsibility policies and practices to ensure they have cross-generational appeal

• Identify areas of commonality and build on them

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Managing age diversity 3 of 3

• Avoid making unnecessary allowances• Mix up the generations• Encourage them to swap skills and

experiences• Avoid focusing on one particular

generation• Make the mixture of age groups a positive

thing

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Recruitment and selection

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Recruitment and selection 1 of 2

• Have you explored, discussed and written interview questions which promote genuine dialogue-and elicit real evidence of competence?

• Have you spent time creating documentation that addresses your organisational needs?

• Are your person specifications up to date? And are they meaningful, relevant and fair to the individual?

• Are you maximising on the diversity of your workforce? When did you last conduct a skills audit?

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Recruitment and selection 2 of 2

• Have you identified and managed the common pitfalls relating to discrimination in the workplace?

• Have you empowered your team members to accept responsibility for their own performance by agreeing realistic and challenging objectives?

• Do you understand your body language? Understanding your body language will help you to create the right environment to get the best from the candidates

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Positive action

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Positive action 1 of 2

• LESSONS FROM THE US• Numerical goals and preferential treatment for ill-

qualified candidates are not popular and cause resentment

• Contract compliance is the most effective way to promote positive action in employment

• Successful employment equity programmes must take into account supply and demand issues

• Positive action programmes should be continually reviewed in terms of their effectiveness, business efficiency and fairness to ensure their success

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Positive action 2 of 2

• WHAT NOT TO DO• Use positive action simply to create a racially balanced

workforce• Make assumptions that ethnic minority groups are under-

represented in particular areas of work• Offer employment contracts, salaries and other terms &

conditions usually associated with employment• Offer or guarantee a job at the end of a training

programme, or imply that a job may be available• Use positive action programmes for apprentices• Be easily dissuaded from using positive action measures

provided the conditions are met, they are lawful and a useful component of good equal opportunities policy

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Driving the diversity agenda

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Driving the diversity agenda

• HR and diversity practitioners believe their leaders are less committed to the diversity agenda than they are and rate the support provided by their leaders as average

• Diversity development strategies for leaders are rated poorly

• Leaders should take a holistic approach to diversity/equality and link it to business objectives. They need to develop a sense of shared ownership and accountability throughout the organisation and demonstrate diversity values widely

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Monitoring equality compliance

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Monitoring equality compliance

• Application• Appointment• Pay• Promotion• Resignation/termination of employment• Training• Disciplinary and grievance cases• Appraisal• Selection for redundancy

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Takeovers

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Takeovers

• Monitoring of gender and ethnicity is limited to UK employers

• Organisations experiencing mergers and acquisitions were more likely to have experienced a reduction in the proportion of women and non-white people in the workplace

• There was a clear indication that any growth on female representation in a particular workplace was closely related to initial levels of female representation

• There was no evidence that HR diversity policy had any significant effect

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Equality Act

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Equality Act 1 of 4• WITH EFFECT FROM OCTOBER 2010• The basic framework of protection against direct

and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation in services and public functions; premises; work; education; associations, and transport.

• Changing the definition of gender reassignment, by removing the requirement for medical supervision.

• Levelling up protection for people discriminated against because they are perceived to have, or are associated with someone who has, a protected characteristic, so providing new protection for people like carers.

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Equality Act 2 of 4• WITH EFFECT FROM OCTOBER 2010• Clearer protection for breastfeeding mothers;

Applying the European definition of indirect discrimination to all protected characteristics.

• Extending protection from indirect discrimination to disability.

• Introducing a new concept of “discrimination arising from disability”, to replace protection under previous legislation lost as a result of a legal judgment.

• Applying the detriment model to victimisation protection (aligning with the approach in employment law).

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Equality Act 3 of 4• WITH EFFECT FROM OCTOBER 2010• Harmonising the thresholds for the duty to make

reasonable adjustments for disabled people. Extending protection from 3rd party harassment to all protected characteristics. Making it more difficult for disabled people to be unfairly screened out when applying for jobs, by restricting the circumstances in which employers can ask job applicants questions about disability or health.

• Allowing claims for direct gender pay discrimination where there is no actual comparator. Making pay secrecy clauses unenforceable.

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Equality Act 4 of 4• WITH EFFECT FROM OCTOBER 2010• Extending protection in private clubs to sex,

religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment. Introducing new powers for employment tribunals to make recommendations which benefit the wider workforce. Harmonising provisions allowing voluntary positive action.

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Real-life example

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Real-life example 1 of 3• 2300 employees• THE CHALLENGE• Yorkshire Water wanted a diversity

strategy that made a clear link between business success and diversity. This was led by a diversity steering group and delivered by the organisation, with HR providing co-ordination and ‘thought leadership’

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Real-life example 2 of 3• WHAT THE ORGANISATION DID• HR created the diversity-in-business brand

‘Open to all’• It implemented diversity awareness customer

experience training for front-line employees• This was a nationally acclaimed recruitment,

retention, progression and diversity project• Progress reports were presented to the board

every six months• The HR team ran a two-day diversity

conference for the whole business and external stakeholders

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Real-life example 3 of 3• BENEFITS AND ACHIEVEMENTS• There was an increase in the BME

workforce from 2% to 4%• The scheme led to the first female and

BME recruits to a number of operational front-line roles

• One in three employees is now involved in company-sponsored community volunteering

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Good practice checklist

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Good practice checklist 1 of 2

• Does your organisation demonstrate top level commitment to diversity in order to raise awareness of the issues throughout the organisation and convince employees you are serious about the equality of opportunity for all workers?

• Has your organisation tried to improve its reputation with customers, the wider business community and employers by publicising your commitment to diversity and celebrating success through the use of role models and case studies?

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Good practice checklist 2 of 2

• Do you value the opinion of your employees by creating a culture of inclusiveness and listening to employee concerns and ideas when looking at opportunities for joint decision making?

• Have you ever undertaken a skills audit of your organisation in order to identify the potential skills shortfalls?

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Case studies

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Case studies 1 of 3

• ATTRACTION

• OLDER PEOPLE

• DISCIPLINE

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Case studies 2 of 3• DRESS CODE

• TRAINING

• FINANCIAL ADVICE

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Case studies 3 of 3

• REDUNDANCIES

• RETENTION

• SOCIAL MOBILITY

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Exercise B

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Exercise B

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Conclusion & Questions

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Conclusion

• Summary• Questions