Encouraging diversity at work

By Christine Hayhurst
Director of professional affairs, Chartered Management Institute

Ron Atkinson denied his remark about Marcel Desailly made him a racist

Football pundit Ron Atkinson's much publicised comment, made in the wake of Chelsea's first leg defeat against Monaco - and newspaper proprietor Richard Desmond's alleged antics in a recent meeting - emphasise just how far we still need to travel down the road to diversity.

Big Ron may well be "devastated and very sorry" about his remarks - and rightly so - but his comments raise a deeper problem.

Racial prejudice is still felt in too many vital areas of employment practice.

You don't have to search too hard to find examples either, whether it's during recruitment, selection or promotion, or even in circumstances involving training and development, redundancy and retirement.

How can companies benefit from stamping out discrimination?

Over the past few years, more and more organisations have realised that a mixed workforce is a successful one.

Ms Hayhurst: Age, gender and religion should not matter

Employers who still think otherwise are missing out on the substantial and proven business benefits that a good mix of workers can bring to their business - higher productivity, a broad range of skills and combined years of experience, to name just three.

At a time when the country is experiencing skills shortages in many sectors, whole swathes of the working population are being overlooked solely on the basis of their differences.

And the workforce is changing in significant ways - the 2001 Census, for example, showed that the minority ethnic population now accounts for almost 8% of the UK population and that, by 2014, there will be more people over 65 in the UK than under 16.

It stands to reason, then, that organisations with a diverse workforce are - and will be - more likely to appeal to a marketplace that they reflect.

What are the pitfalls for companies that do not have a policy on discrimination?

Internally, if individuals are ignored, company managers will quickly face a demoralised workforce; one that has no passion for the organisation and one where productivity will inevitably fall.

Remember, if unfair treatment can be reduced, that can have a knock-on effect on grievances and relations in general within an organisation.

Research by academics Dex and Scheibl has also shown that organisations with high quality human resources systems, in which equality plays its part, deliver better products and services - and ultimately shareholder value.

So, it's likely that businesses ignoring the case for diversity run the risk of damage to their reputation and status.

What can be done to encourage diversity in the workplace?

Companies should appoint an individual to introduce and implement a policy and deal with issues on a day-to-day basis.

Companies need to make sure that discrimination is taken seriously and the best way to do this is to create a specific role.

After all, financial responsibilities are not shared on an ad hoc basis - they are the remit of the financial director - and because of this, great importance is attached to them.

In the same way, if people realise that an equal opportunities officer exists, they will quickly accept the need to deal with any issues of discrimination.

Who should be involved in creating a discrimination policy?

To be successful, companies need to set up a working party drawn up from representative groups within the organisation.

If possible, this should include groups such as union representatives, management, personnel, women, ethnic minority groups and the people with disabilities.

But, companies must also make it clear that the group has an aim and is not a lobbying point for special interests.

What happens once decisions have been taken?

The key is to provide specific equal opportunities training, whether it's about company policies or the law.

After all, acting on decisions made by an organisation, for the organisation, is only half the story.

Diversity is a hot political issue, so it's crucial that management and staff are kept informed about their rights, whenever legislation is about to come into force and when new company policies are introduced.

This means companies must communicate the organisation's policy to job applicants and current employees.

How to determine whether a policy is successful?

Company managers should test themselves regularly.

A policy will only work if companies create targets that can be monitor and reviewed.

So companies should set up systems to capture information and performance indicators to review progress.

But they must do this carefully, because if they begin to introduce positive discrimination, they are falling into an equally dangerous trap.

It's important to remember that age, gender, religion or any diversity factor should not matter when decisions are made in the workplace.

Put simply, skills, abilities and potential are what should count and if effective competency frameworks are used by organisations in their approach, discrimination should be minimised.

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Your comments:

This article is clearly aimed at the larger organisations because I cannot see a small business employing one person to deal with such issues and nothing else!

The problem is that these issues are more apparent in the smaller businesses because larger businesses tend to have more structures in place to look at people on merit alone.
Mark, Munich, Germany

Companies do pay a lot to lip service and don't seem to realise that diversity doesn't end at the recruitment stage. Given that a majority of the top companies in the world don't even have a diversity statement, makes you wonder how seriously they take it.

On a final note, I noticed that the one particular diversity missing in the article is of disability which is often swept under the carpet by companies too uncomfortable to face this, preferring to reuse the phrase "didn't meet min. criteria"
Rob, London UK

But what can you do if your boss is a racist, homophobic, sexist, anti-Semitic, bully who owns the firm?

Stamping this out in a big firm with hundreds of employees is one thing.

But what about small firms? I can't see any way.
P., England

The idea that all this must be done in the name of diversity - and that having non-white workers is much better than having just white workers is in fact racist and insulting to white people.

Are we not good enough on our own?
Tom, England

Our company lets Muslims pray five times a day in there own praying room and go early some days to go to the mosque, which i think is fine, but I should be able to go early to and am not, so yes my boss is racist - against me.
Chris Hall.

Although I do believe that the senior management of most companies in the UK are sincere and actively working on trying to eradicate discrimination from the workplace, they are failing to get the message across through what appears to be an impervious or even resistant layer of middle management who have not bought into this policy.

From my own experience in the automotive industry, having worked for a major automotive manufacturer, I can say that it was very disheartening to see how some individuals openly mocked this policy to their subordinates (including myself) at meetings, or simply ignored the policy altogether.
Vic Goodridge, Southminster, UK

The Civil Service is a big offender. So where is a role model for private companies to follow?
Clive, Croydon

"If possible, this should include groups such as union representatives, management, personnel, women, ethnic minority groups and the people with disabilities."

Actions like this will only lead to unhappiness among the rest of the workforce as it will appear to be favouring some above the others.
William, London

It seems to be the assumption that race is the only thing that people discriminate against.

Try having a facial piercing and dreadlocks in an office environment, you'll very quickly see that you are disadvantaged by your appearance.

Personally I'm not sure how having a stud in your lip somehow makes you incompetent or untrustworthy.

The sad fact is that people still make snap judgements based on appearance, whether it is a reflection of someone's colour or culture.

We have to stamp out discrimination in every form and at every level.
Simon Rerrie, Birmingham, UK

Racism is Institutionalised here in the UK.

There are certain jobs that are still only available to middle aged middle class white men.

This needs to change and I think positive steps are now being taken.

However, the worst and most damaging racism exists in the classrooms of the schools of this country.

Racism amongst teachers is what needs to be addressed, because you can never be in line for a good job without an equally good education.

This should never depend on race.
Tom, UK