Embrace diversity
June 03 2008
Malcolm Martin, employee relations specialist at Lancaster-based Employer Solutions Ltd suggests it is time to move beyond anxiety about discrimination and take a more positive view of the opportunities presented by a diverse workforce.
Discrimination when it occurs, or is claimed, can be time consuming and very messy should legal action result. Nevertheless, Malcolm suggests that for the most part discrimination is relatively easy to avoid and there are much wider challenges to address.
Equal opportunities legislation seeks to follow social trends and is underpinned by a moral perspective of reducing disadvantage for certain groups. This tends to overshadow the fact that there are business gains to be made by inclusion of employees from a wide range of backgrounds, socio-religious beliefs and circumstances.
A major challenge for employers is to capitalise on people’s differences, finding ways to maximise performance by utilising the opportunities presented by a diverse workforce.
Malcolm said: “It is surprising how often employers overlook the true cost of recruiting an employee. Especially smaller employers, who cannot easily afford to make mistakes. These recruitment costs are highly significant when compared to the cost of, say, an adjustment for a deaf person or retraining an older person; either of whom might be your ideal candidate.”
It is not just that narrow thinking may lead an employer to miss the best candidate; the pool of candidates can be reduced for unnecessary reasons or even because the employer’s reputation goes before them. Good candidates can be choosy about prospective employers.
Large and small, all employers compete in much the same labour markets and the evidence (from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) is that people aspire to work for employers with good employment practices.
Furthermore, commercial competitive advantage can come from taking on board diverse ethnic and social experiences, which can broaden the customer base, help develop new products and open up market opportunities.
Malcolm envisages a time when the realisation of this will bring an end to the need for discrimination laws.
“I would like to think that the business advantages of respect and dignity for all employees will make discrimination, and the complex legislation it has spawned, out dated,” he said.
June 2008
