Equal Opportunities and Diversity

Equality - is the principle that all people regardless of certain attributes e.g. sexual preference are treated equally.

Diversity - is the principle of recognising people's differences and applying it to or in a certain environment e.g. the workplace. A reason for encouraging diversity would be to have different skills amongst a company's employees.

Difference - "The distinction between equality of opportunity and the management of diversity has often been described in terms of equal opportunity being driven by legislation and applying it to specific groups whereas diversity refers to all differences among people (e.g. Kandola and Fullerton, 1998)" (Farmer and Yellowley, 2009, p.61). In the example of older people being employed for instance, legislation protecting the rights and equal opportunity of older people is equality while a business employing an older person because of his/her experience to compliment the business's younger employees is diversity.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article6830916.ece

3 arguments for Margaret Mountford's views:

• Objective - It is objective to appoint women based only on merit. This is because it doesn't take into account subjective characteristics such as personality.
• Fair - Women shouldn't be treated any differently from men because men are appointed based on merit as well.
• Sympathetic - Her views aren't sympathetic to women that have / may have children.

3 arguments against Margaret Mountford's views:

• Mountford's views don't take into consideration the bigger picture. For example, for certain jobs, personality may be just as important as merit if not more.
• Women are different from men - Women are different from men e.g. have different responsibilities and should therefore be treated differently, regardless of equality.
• Discriminatory - It is unfair for women to be appointed on different grounds from men just because they are women.

The impact age legislation may have on employers:

• Employers may have to invest more money into accommodating extra training/equipment for older people.
• Employers may have to change its current employment program if its currently breaching the age legislation.
• Employers may have to take into account the benefits of employing an older person more considering the age legislation put in place.
• The age legislation will result in business's employing more older people which may change the culture of certain organisations.

Stereotypes we tend to hold about younger people:

• Younger people are inexperienced.
• Younger people are inconsiderate.
• Younger people are immature.
• Younger people are fast learners.

Stereotypes we tend to hold about older people:

• Older people are unproductive/inefficient.
• Older people are reluctant to change / conservative.
• Older people all have disabilities.
• Older people are slow learners.

Two ideas how organisations can attempt to change attitudes regarding old/young people:

1. Directly compare the performance of both the younger and older people in the workplace. This may help prove/disprove any stereotypes that may exist regarding job performance of younger and older people e.g. old people work inefficiently and young people work efficiently.

2. Try and encourage team working between the younger and older people in the workplace. This may help change any preconceived views or attitudes that may have existed before the teamworking had taken place. This is because the younger and older people are working intimately, possibly demonstrating characteristics different from any existing stereotypes.

Practise in relation to equal opportunities (Sainsbury's):

Sainsbury's (2010) state on their website that:

"We are committed to championing equality, diversity, inclusion and flexible working options for our colleagues. We remain committed to recruiting, retaining and engaging the best people, from backgrounds that reflect the communities we serve."

The last sentence from the quote above shows that Sainsbury's encourage equal opportunities of people from different racial backgrounds, assuming they apply into practice what they are stating. Despite the fact that the quote states that Sainsbury's are "committed to championing equality", they make no specific references to certain groups that are / aren't included in such "equality" excluding race. For example, they make no references to sexual preference, age or disability and if they are included or excluded in such "equality". As a result, the broadness of equality in Sainsbury's isn't clear. This may mean that Sainsbury's aren't promoting equal opportunities to a large extent in the respect of certain groups e.g. age.

Sainsbury's are also encouraging graduates to apply with them despite the economic crisis, having a whole subsection of there website dedicated to graduates. Sainsbury's offer many perks to graduates applying for a role at Sainsbury's including gym membership and an interest free loan of up to £2000. It is therefore clear that Sainsbury's are keen in promoting opportunities for graduates, possibly more so than other groups. In this respect, Sainsbury's aren't promoting equality as it appears they are looking for a certain type of employee in particular for jobs i.e. graduates.

Sainsbury's most innovative practice is in offering an interest free loan up to £2000 for graduates. This is because it appears that Sainsbury's are aware of the debts that students get into while at University so it's a nice opportunity for them to possibly make a clean slate, paying back any existing debts they may have with the loan. In addition, it avoids getting the students into further debt as much as possible as the loans are interest free.

In respect of benchmarking equal opportunities into practice, B&Q is a company that takes equal opportunities very seriously. For example, B&Q removed the retirement age more than 15 years ago (B&Q, 2010). It is therefore clear that B&Q are trying to promote equal opportunities for older employees that are currently working at B&Q as this is encouraging older peoples to stay employed within the company. In addition, B&Q has "been listed in The Times 'top 50 places where women want to work' for four consecutive years" (B&Q, 2010). As a result, B&Q are evidently doing their bit in treating women appropriately and fairly as B&Q wouldn't be receiving such accolades from a major Newspaper if they weren't. This also proves that B&Q are without a doubt adhering to equal opportunities legislation with regards to women. In this respect, it is very clear that equal opportunities are something that B&Q take seriously in practise.

B&Q's most innovative practice is in removing the retirement age over 15 years ago. This is innovative because many business's today still have a retirement age e.g. The Post Office, while B&Q does not. Removing the retirement age gives older people greater opportunities in terms of employment than they usually would with business's that have a retirement age as they can keep their position/s within the company instead of being replaced by younger employees. As a result, older people aren't discriminated against at B&Q because of their age in this respect.

In conclusion, I have enjoyed this topic a lot. This is because equal opportunities and diversity relate to me now in terms of how I'm treated and if it's fair how I'm treated. In addition, this topic has made me more considerate of people's differences e.g. in terms of age, disability, race which would prove to be a good charicteristic if I decide to set-up my own business in the future because I would have to conform to equal opportunities legislation.

References:

B&Q (2010) Our ethics [online]. [s.n.] Available from: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/content/environment_ethics/ethics/index.jsp [Accessed 10 March 2010].

Equal opportunities image. [n.d.] [s.n.] Available from: http://www.hometutoring.org.uk/images/equalopportunities.jpg [Accessed 03 March 2010].

Farmer, M. Yellowley, W. (2009) People and Organisations 2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited

J Sainsbury plc (2010) A great place to work [online]. [s.n.] Available from: http://www.jsainsbury.co.uk/cr/index.asp?pageid=10 [Accessed 03 March 2010].