So what can you do to ensure you have an equal and diverse workplace? Some examples include:
- Offering staff diversity and inclusivity training
- Ensuring that the recruitment process is also diverse and inclusive
- Understanding what equality means and who can be affected
- Make sure you’re compliant with the best practices
- Build on the culture of inclusivity
The Equality Act of 2010 has helped guide corporations into the industry-standard which should be set across all businesses – though it is important to push even further to ensure your workplace is well and truly both equal and diverse.
What is The Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act came into force in 2010 and merged separate pieces of legislation all into one single Act which provides a legal framework to protect the rights of everyone and ensure equal opportunity for all is upheld.
Some of the pieces of legislation which merged into the Equality act includes the Equal Pay Act, the Sex Discrimination Act, the Race Relations Act and the Disibility Discrimination Act.
Since the 2010 act, it is against the law to discriminate against someone because of the following:
- Sex
- Disability
- Age
- Relationship status
- Race
- Religion
- Gender reassignment
- Pregnancy
- Sexual Orientation
When a breach of the Equality Act 2010 has been reported, the two most important categories for a legal pursuit is injury to feelings and loss of earnings – in discrimination cases, there is no limit to the amount of compensation that can be awarded.
How To promote Equality and Diversity at Work
Promoting equality and diversity in the workplace is important for both staff happiness and retention, at ICENA we can support you in bespoke training to ensure that you are going above and beyond. There are various ways to maximise your equality and diversity practices in the workplace, so we will talk you through some of the best ways to support your business and its staff in growing.
Ensure Equality Policies
ensure you’re always supporting your employees. To continue to stay ever-changing will support your team members and allow all employees to feel safe and supported at work.
Employees should be treated fairly across all activities and decisions as a basic right, but it is vital to go further to ensure the policies put in place are not only diverse, but completely inclusive.
Create a Culture of Inclusion
The leadership team will need to be at the forefront of creating an inclusive culture in the workplace. With their help, employees will quickly recognise why it is beneficial for the organisation – particularly as retention increases. There are many ways to achieve this, but one of the best routes is to give your employees an opportunity to identify issues, make suggestions for improvements and receive feedback.
A dedicated person or team which actively looks for ways to become diverse and inclusive across the company would not only be a great way to ensure your company is always doing the most that they can do, but it will also support employees. While you’re working hard to introduce your culture of inclusion, one way to keep track of how you’re doing is to distribute anonymous surveys which will get honest feedback from those who may feel some changes could be implemented.
Prevent & Identify Bias and Unconscious Bias
Unconscious bias is common, but it’s important to identify it and put a stop to it before it becomes problematic. Almost everyone will have some kind of unconscious bias, so dealing with it early on is vital to ensure all employees feel as though they’re in a safe and welcome space.
Individuals will need to understand what their own unconscious bias is, which can affect various aspects of the Equality Act 2010, including bias against gender, race, age, sexuality and many others.
Once individuals have assessed their unconscious bias, they should receive adequate training to prevent it further and understand how to support their peers.
Build Equality & Diversity into Your Works Recruitment Process
There are policies already in place to support equality and diversity into the recruitment process, including an encouraged avoidance of personal questions in any job interviews. Gender neutral language should be used in job advertisements to encourage a completely inclusive and diverse range of applicants. Numerous employees should also be involved in the selection process and anyone who is invited in for an interview must be treated the same as others.
As an employer, it is important to hire the best person for the job without any prejudice getting in the way, so it’s vital to put the right procedures in place, like gender neutral language, to help you do so. If you’d like more help or guidance, you can contact us at ICENA.
Annual Workplace Equality Training & Consultancy
While putting the above policies in place would be a fantastic start to promoting diversity and equality in the workplace, we are constantly evolving and finding new ways to boost inclusivity. Therefore, it would be best practice to host annual workplace equality training and consultancy. This way, you’ll know that as an organisation, you are doing the best to your ability for your employees.
Support Gender Equality Across the Organisation
The UK is still fighting towards gender equality within the workplace, but it’s important for organisations to support it where possible. Women who have dependent children have an employment rate of 74% – which is likely to be far higher if companies implemented flexible working timetables. This would also support closing the gender pay gap and the disproportionate amount of women in high power positions, as they would be far more likely to take on opportunities if they are able to work on their schedule.
Additional workplace support
If you believe your workplace could benefit from additional support to ensure you are maximising your potential, ICENA offers both training and consultancy on equality within organisations. You can contact us to inform us of what you’re doing in your organisation at the moment, then we can guide how much or how little support you may need from us.
Our goal is to ensure people feel safe and included within their organisation, and as a UK specialist at instilling a culture of inclusion, we will work to ensure you are putting the right practices in place within your company.
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