Equal Opportunity and Diversity

Equal Opportunities

Equality and Diversity

Equality is where people are all equal, everyone is treated in the same way, characteristics such as age, marriage, ethnic origin, physique, gender, experiences, social and cultural factors are not taking into account. No human is at a disadvantage. Humans differ in many ways such as motivation; some are more motivated than others. Some have different attitudes, personalities and some are more intelligent. But equality states that we are all equivalent. There should be equal opportunities and therefore discrimination should be gone. Ferell (2012) defines equality as how income is distributed between employees within an organisation. Equal opportunities are seen as a concern of human resource practitioners. Price (2011) highlights that the main factor which causes a problem to equal opportunities is social justice.

Diversity relates to the various types of people, that we should honour and respect the differences of employees. This is because they are an asset to work and can contribute so work can be done more efficiently and effectively. There are many examples of diversity; these are factors such as race culture, gender, age, experience and more. However, diversity does not just focus on the problems of discrimination. It also ensures that employees exploit their potential fully and add to the organisation. It embraces a broad range of people. Managing diversity is seen as the concern of all employees. Mullins (2008) defines diversity as multiple differences between individuals.

Age legislation in 2006 and Stereotyping

Some of the age legislation laws are as stated:

• “prohibit unjustified age discrimination in employment and vocational training

• require employers who set their retirement age below the default age of 65 to justify or change it

• introduce a new duty on employers to consider an employee’s request to continue working  beyond retirement

• Require employers to inform employees in writing, and at least 6 months in advance, of their intended retirement date. This will allow people to plan for their retirement

• remove the upper age limit for unfair dismissal and redundancy rights, giving older workers the same rights to claim unfair dismissal or receive a redundancy payment  as younger workers, unless there is a genuine retirement 

• Include provisions relating to service related benefits and occupational pensions.”

Since the age legislation came into force in 2006, an employer is not allowed retire, hire or promote someone that is based on age. Unless it is justified. Having the age legislation brought in can have an impact on employers. This is because they have to choose extremely carefully the best candidate. Even if an employer thinks he has the best candidate for the job, they can not refuse an offer. An employer will have to be very careful of there actions. They will also have to think carefully about the questions they ask. This is because some of the laws that have been adopted mean “questions must relate to the requirements of the job. If it is necessary to assess whether personal circumstances will affect performance, this must be discussed objectively without detailed questions based on assumptions about age.” The age legislation will force more work on employers not just for hiring new recruits, but also internally in the company, this is because promotion and training will have to be thought out carefully and made sure that it is not based on age.

A stereotype for young people is that they are not experienced enough for the job. Some say that young teens are lazy and irresponsible. Therefore, they will not want to employ them in an organisation. Another reason is because they believe they lack motivation and act in violent in their behaviour.  A stereotype for the older generation is that they are not as strong as they use to be. For example, in a working organisation, they may be unable to keep up with the pace of the job, and hearing might not be as good as it once was.

A way to stop stereotyping is to offer youngsters and elders jobs. It can even be part time. This is because giving a youngster a job may give them a certain responsibility that they have never received before. You can set goals for both elderly and youngsters, this would then mean that they can have their own goals and do not have to concentrate on keeping up with the pace. Giving them appraisals will also help their motivation. Treating them fairly will also help individuals and encouraging the whole work environment not to age stereotype will also aid the attitudes of others.

British airways

British airways have many innovative practices in order to have equal opportunities. They range from equal opportunities in age, gender, race, religion and sex orientation. They have innovative practices in age as they have built programmes to “ensure consistency in recruitment for both external and internal applicants.” They also consider “flexible working options prior to retirement” which shows that their innovation as they give alternatives. British airways “encourage age diversity in all areas by challenging assumptions and stereotypes linked to age.” This shows that they are following the age legislation and that age is not a factor when employing. They also have schemes for gender equality; they have introduced a few flexible working alternatives that benefit women who need dependent care. This shows that women also have equalities and that gender is not a problem. Race is a big factor in British airways. No matter where you are from, you still have equal opportunities. This is shown as a worker on the website tells us that “During my career I've had a number of very supportive managers who recognised my potential and encouraged me to seek opportunities to progress.” British airways listen well to ethnic workers and have many innovate objects such as increasing ethnic workers to senior levels and are in contact with other organisations such as “race for opportunity.”

Conclusion

This topic has taught me many things. I can now define equality and diversity and state the differences. I can see how it is important in society that there should be equal opportunities for all, British airways have a number of innovative practices that I never knew they do. They do many schemes to increase opportunity for all. This topic has shown me that even though discrimination still happens, it is getting reduced over time.

Bibliography

Mullins, L.J. (2008) Essentials of Organisational Behaviour. 2nd ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

O. C. Ferrell, J.F.Fraedrich (2012) Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases. 9th ed. Mason, OH: South-western Cengage Learning.

Price, A. (2011) Human Resource Management. 4th ed.