Equal opportunities
The idea of Equal opportunity is an approach to addressing the labour markets inequality. Implemented by the belief that all employees and prospective employees should be treated the same regardless or social group characteristics, enacted by the removal of formal and informal barriers to employment opportunities and to create a level playing felid. (Wilton, 2011)
While providing equal opportunities to their current or potential staff an organisation has to accommodate for and not discriminate against diversity. Diversity represents the categories that a person falls into, for example gender, age, race, sexual orientation, and political and religious views. (Torrington et al., 2011)
Equality is the way in which people are treated in comparison to others; this therefore is a way of measuring whether or not people are being treated with equal opportunities based on their diversity or needs. (Mulins, 2002)
Demographic changes, legislation and labour shortages have led to increase recognition’s of the need for equality and respect for age. With the Uk having an ageing population since the millennium there has been an increase in the labour market in participation from older workers. However, although with the implementation of the 2006 age legislations, 59 % of respondents still claim they have been disadvantaged due to their age. (Torrington et al., 2011)
There are many ways in which people suggest you can decrees discrimination within the work place, and the most popular of these is the idea of legislation. However, as seen when looking at age, this does not always have an effect, and people’s opinions are often hard to change. Therefore a fundamental change to the attitudes and preconceptions about these groups of people is required. This needs to be done through workshops and education the existing staff members.
People tend to stereotype people and try to put them into categories so they can judge them, the idea of equal opportunities is that you do not stereotype and judge. Below are some sterio types that are based on age.
Older generations: Are slow drivers and cant see well.
Younger generations: Lazy and “chav, Goth, Emo, gangster”
But clearly these stereotypes are not the same for everyone, many elderly people get speeding tickets and many young people have ambitions and goals. So its these stereotypes 4that equality and diversity aims to reduce.
The Glass Celling
The term glass ceiling refers to the unseen barrier that keeps minorities, mainly women from rising and progressing up the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements. The guardian Survey found 73% of female managers believe barriers to advancement still exist, compared with only 38% of men. Anna Bird, acting chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: "The report highlights just how far the UK has got to go on workplace equality particularly between women and men. A lot of things come together to keep women out of leadership roles. (Snowdon, 2011)
B&Q – Equality and diversity standards (B&Q, 2012)
"Respecting our people and their diversity is central to our success, our reputation and our profitability. It's not an optional extra or a nice to have; it is the mark of our humanity and is crucial to our B&Q culture". Liz Bell, HR Director
Clearly every organisation has to follow the legal guidelines when it comes down to employment, but many such as B&Q take it one step further, by doing this they make their organisation more appealing to potential workers and by keeping their current work force happy, increase their efficiency and reduce their labour loss.
Some of B&Q policies include:
·
- Workforce spans a huge age range from 16-96
- · Approximately a quarter of our workforce is over 50
- · Our workforce reflects a 55/45 gender split
- · More than 1,200 of our employees speak over 60 different languages, with many being multilingual
- · The business has a diverse recruitment policy, which aims to reflect the communities which it serves
- · We were well ahead of the 2004 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), eg we changed our store layouts, introduced induction loops and Braille signage in customer toilets
- · Removed our retirement age more than 15 years ago
- · E-Learning in place for all employees on 'Respect for People'
- · All employment policy is written around our Equal Opportunities and Diversity policy
- · Award winning flexible working policy
To conclude it is clear that equal opportunities within the workplace are becoming more and more desirable not only for the employee but for the employer, as increased motivation, and more opportunities to employ people with different skills is continuing to develop many workforces. Although some organisations implement the legal side of equality and diversity it will always take a few people going the extra mile to insure that people continue to receive the treatment they desire and deserve.
Bibliography
B&Q (2012) B&Q our staff [online]. B&Q CSR. Available from: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/content/environment_ethics/ethics/respect.jsp [Accessed: 29th March 2012].
Mulins, L.J. (2002) Management and Organisational Behaviour. Sixth Edition ed. Essex: Financial Times Pitman Publishing Imprint.
Snowdon, G. (2011) Women still face a glass ceiling. Online Newspaper. URL:http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/21/women-glass-ceiling-still-exists-top-jobs: The Guardian.
Torrington, D., Hall, L., Taylor, S. and Atkinson, C. (2011) Human Resource Mangement. 8th ed. Harlow: Pearsons Education Limited.
Wilton, N. (2011) an introduction to human resource managment. 1st ed. London: SAGE publications.
