To: Chief Executive of ComputerCo

ComputerCo Implementing Equal Opportunities

Table of Contents Page Numbers Title Page . 1 Table of Contents ..2 Introduction ..3 Discussion/Findings I. II. Section A Section B 4-7 .7- 10 11 12

Conclusion References

Introduction To the Chief Executive of ComputerCo, this report will basically outline the current legislations on Equal Opportunities within the UK. It will look into to all the employment laws attached to equal opportunities that your business need to comply with when starting your business. This will give you an insight into what the legal requirements are for your business and other organisations in general. After having outlined the current legislations I will then link them with your organisation on how you can implement equal opportunities within your workforce. It will look into the different processes that you will undertake as well as advise you on the basis of the demographics of the area you wish to locate your business in as well as giving examples to illustrate how this could be done.

Findings Section A Current Legislations Society has become so diverse especially within the UK which calls for businesses to identify and embrace the different range of features that come with different peoples identities. This was not recognised before which lead to people being prejudiced against based on their features alone instead of their merits. However, eventually the government did recognise this certain behaviour as being discriminatory and sort to do something about it. Action came in place to promote the idea of fairness and rights at work' in the form of equal opportunities policies. This was introduced on the employment agenda in the UK during the 1970s and made effective

by setting equal opportunity policies and practices which organisations have to follow. Under this policy it has legislations that make it illegal to discriminate in employment matters against anyone on the following grounds: race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, age and gender. The general arguments for promoting equal opportunities according to Gatrell and Swan (2008) were to maintain social justice, penalty avoidance and human capital optimisation. Below are the different legislations linked to the grounds in which employers are not supposed to discriminate on and should comply with in their organisations. Businesses have legal requirements to comply with

which come in the form of the following Acts: Equal Pay Act 1970 - This act aims to eliminate any form of discrimination that may occur in the work place in terms of pay especially in gender differences. It is unlawful to pay women less than men for the same equivalent job. However, if the employer can

provide a valid reason for doing so that is not because of both individuals gender differences. Any cases of this nature are

usually dealt with by the employment tribunals who will decide the fate of the situation. A recent example of an equal pay case is of the more than 4000 Birmingham female council workers who won the right to be paid the same as their male colleague workers which lead to an approximately 200m pay-out.

Sex Discrimination Act 1975- this act forbids any discrimination against individuals on the grounds of gender or sexuality, it applies to both men and women whether direct or in-direct. For example discrimination in this case can be in the form purposely affecting employment opportunities for those people with gender reassignment also covered by the Equality Act 2010. The organisation responsible

for administering the Act is the Equal Opportunities Commission, which has the power to monitor and investigate allegations of discrimination. Malik, H (2003)

Race Relations Act 1976 (Amendment- 2000) this act outlines how it is illegal to discriminate against potential employees because of their race of which now under the Equality Act 2010 includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins. However there are limited cases where a business can do this where it is known as occupational requirements For instance in personal welfare services the job role may require people who are familiarised to the culture. ACAS.org.uk (2010)

Disability Discrimination Act 1995 under this act it is regarded unlawful to discriminate against individuals based on their mental or

physical state. This also takes into account any failure by the business to make required adjustments to accommodate the disabled individual. The Equality Act 2010 updates this act by adding the definition of what is regarded as disability. This is: A person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. (CIPD, December 2011)

Age Discrimination Act 2006 (Equality Act 2010) This act renders it unlawful for a business to discriminate against any individual on the basis of their age in employment regarding recruitment, promotion, reward and recognition, redundancy and vocational training. However there are some circumstances where an employer can get away with this when they can justify their decisions.

Equality Act 2010 this is a general act that just covers the nine separate pieces of anti-discrimination legislation into one single. Overall it basically looks to update and streamline current legislations in order to further promote equality within the UK. Conclusion Above are all of the main legislations that come under the equal opportunities policy which businesses in the UK will need to implement within their organisations in order for them to obey the law. Section B Recommendations Recruitment As new company that is just starting one of the first stages in the first year of starting your business is going to be recruitment. Recruitment is very important and is more or less one of the main areas where you will require an equal opportunities policy that will identify how you aim to (David Farnham, 2010)

tackle discrimination when putting together your workforce. This will look into the recruitment process from things like advertisements, job specification, application forms, interviews, tests, or in short-listing. Under this policy ComputerCo will need to recognise and state that it is regarded unlawful under the British employment law for them to discriminate against a potential applicant on the grounds of any of the nine protected characteristics of employment within their policies. (NVCO, April 2010) One of the main things that ComputerCo will have to be proactive about in the recruitment process and their policies is the demographics of the area where they are going to be located. Firstly, Luton has been recognised as being one of the most vibrant cultural multicultural environments in the country with approximately 100 languages being spoken. (Love Luton website) So to avoid being accused of discriminating against someone for example through job advertisements, they could firstly make them available to everyone through broad employment agencies such as the Job centres, internet or newspapers where everyone has access to it without any cultural bias. These advertisements will have job requirements that do not directly or in directly discriminate against certain individuals, if that does occur then you should be able to justify your requirements. ComputerCo will more or less be complying with the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Equality Act 2010 by undertaking this practical implication to equal opportunities.

Selection The main policy relating to selection should purely be based on merits of which Julie Mellor (Chair of EOC) states that employers should ensure that women and men are judged purely on their ability to carry out a job rather than their gender. This statement will arguably apply to other areas other than gender like, age, race, disability etc. to show that you do not discriminate against anyone. One way of ensuring this is by coming up

with a selection criteria that looks at merits only through a person specification or job description that will outline the job requirements to

the applicant. One common form that this is used is with technology whereby the system will filter and short list candidates based on them having met the requirements. There are a lot of ways in which you as a business can adopt when selecting individuals which range from application forms, interviews, assessment tests, references etc. of which when undertaking these approaches policies should be in place to avoid any discrimination. However, just like many of the policies if any claims of discrimination are made and there is evidence of discriminatory behaviour you should be able to justify your choices. By doing this ComputerCo will have complied with the law by promoting equal opportunities in selection peoples characteristics. regardless of

It may also be wise in your recruitment and

selection process of the recent changes to the age at which a person is supposed to retire which has been raised of which has been one of the areas where age discrimination has been largely recognised. For example, Reuters wrote an article whereby A former presenter on the BBC TV show "Country file," who argued she had been dropped from the show because she was considered too old, won a case for age discrimination against the broadcaster. So ComputerCo will have to be careful in recruitment that they do not discriminate against this group of people in selecting potential employees.

Pay Pay is another stage that is largely spoke about because over the years there have been a lot of talks about it whereby discrimination has taken place within the work place especially with regards to women. So employers are severely responsible for making sure that pay systems within their organisation do not have any gender discrimination. So ComputerCo will need to have policies that promote equal pay in that if two people do the same job then they are entitled to the same pay for regardless of any other characteristics. Initially it helps knowing the national minimum pay rates which were set out by the government especially when recruiting young

people. Employers should indicate their pay rates in the contract of employment where both parties will agree on the pay that will be paid to the employee. However, one way in which ComputerCo can avoid any discrimination in terms of pay especially as the number of the workforce begins to grow to 500 within the 3 year period or even now is by adopting an equal pay audit. This involves comparing the pay of protected groups who are doing equal work in your organisation, investigating the causes of any pay gaps by gender, ethnicity, and disability or working patterns and planning to close any gaps that cannot be justified on grounds other than one of those characteristics. This will hopefully to some extent be able to eliminate some form of discrimination in regards to pay at ComputerCo.

Promotion Promotion in the workplace has been largely criticised in relation to the nine protected characteristics where individuals have faced unlawful discrimination especially on women and ethnic minorities. For example, the EHRC states that it is unlawful to deny a woman promotion opportunities because she is pregnant or on maternity leave therefore she must be considered for promotion in the same way as any other worker who is not on leave. As well as promotion this could also apply to recruitment and selection as firms are not allowed to stereotypically assume that a woman with children will be unreliable, inflexible or not interested in the demanding role. So one way that is suggested in relation to promotion in which employers can avoid discrimination is by informing the individual on maternity leave of the opportunities available for promotion. Overall it

is regarded discriminatory if a particular group of people are directly or in-directly not considered for promotion. So the way around it would just simply advertise the promotion opportunities to everyone within the business and give each person the opportunity to apply for the job offer. Equalityhumanrights.com (2010)

Conclusion Above are just some of the areas where equal opportunity policies will need to be adopted in within your workplace, they are just general but you will need to specifically aim to tackle discrimination in practically all stages of employment. In order for ComputerCo to comply with the law or build some form of reputation you will need to ensure that you have a comprehensive equal opportunities policy that is incorporated into the Contract of Employment Pcs.org.uk (2012) Initially it would be beneficial if you could make sure that everyone has access to the policies or even provide training to raise awareness on equal opportunity issues in order to eliminate discrimination. So as well as implementing these policies ComputerCo will

all have to effectively monitor and review these policies to constantly strive to make the better to make sure that under-presented groups are catered for too within your workforce. Word Count: 2,070

References ACAS (2010) Equality and Discrimination . [online] Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/a/3/Equality___discrimination(RAW)_OCTOBER _2010.pdf [Accessed: 23 April 2012]. Acas.org.uk (1998) The recruitment process - Acas. [online] Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=748 [Accessed: 25 Apr 2012]. Cipd.co.uk (2012) Equal pay - Factsheets - CIPD. [online] Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/equal-pay.aspx [Accessed: 24 Apr 2012]. Cipd.co.uk (2012) Equal pay - Factsheets - CIPD. [online] Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/equal-pay.aspx [Accessed: 24 Apr 2012]. Cipd.co.uk (2010) Equality Act 2010 - Factsheets - CIPD. [online] Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/equality-act-2010.aspx [Accessed: 22 Apr 2012]. Cipd.co.uk (2012) CIPD - Equal opportunities in recruitment and selection. [online] Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/about/jobs/eqop.htm [Accessed: 21 Apr 2012]. Dundee.ac.uk (1991) Equal Opportunities Policy and Guidelines - Human Resources - The University of Dundee. [online] Available at: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/hr/equality/equal_opportunity.htm#staff [Accessed: 19 Apr 2012]. Equalityhumanrights.com (2010) EHRC - Recruitment and promotion. [online] Available at: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/yourrights/disability/disability-in-employment/recruitment-and-promotion/ [Accessed: 23 Apr 2012].

Equalityhumanrights.com (2010) EHRC - Tools: Equal pay. [online] Available at: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/guidance-foremployers/tools-equal-pay/ [Accessed: 17 Apr 2012]. Farnham , D. (2010) Human Resource Management in context. Strategy, insights and solutions. 3rd ed. CIPD, p.357-359. Holden, M. (2011) Ex-BBC presenter wins age discrimination case. Reuters, [online] 11 January . Available at: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/01/11/uk-britain-bbcidUKTRE70A46G20110111 [Accessed: 24 Apr 2012]. Hrmguide.co.uk (2007) Woman truck driver wins compensation for sex discrimination. [online] Available at: http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/diversity/truck_driver.htm [Accessed: 25 Apr 2012]. Loveluton.org.uk (2011) Home - Diversity. [online] Available at: http://www.loveluton.org.uk/diversity/ [Accessed: 24 Apr 2012]. Marchington , M. and Wilkinson , A. (2005) Human Resource Management At Work. People Management and Development. . CIPD, p.298 - 299. Ncvo-vol.org.uk (2010) Equal opportunities and recruitment advertising | National Council for Voluntary Organisations. [online] Available at: http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/advice-support/workforce-development/hremployment-practice/recruitment/equal-opportunities-advertising [Accessed: 21 Apr 2012]. Pcs.org.uk (2012) Equal opportunities policies - PCS. [online] Available at: http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/equality/lgbt_equality_toolkit/equal_opportunities _policies.cfm [Accessed: 23 Apr 2012]. Pidd, H. (2010) Female Birmingham council workers win 200m equal pay case. The Guardian , [online] 28 April. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/apr/28/pay-female-staff-birminghamcouncil [Accessed: 25 Apr 2012].

Torrington , D. et al. (2011) Human Resource Management . 6th ed. Pearson, p.452, 470-482, 667-8 . Xperthr.co.uk (2010) Equality Act 2010: how to update your equal opportunities policy (XpertHR - Employment Intelligence). [online] Available at: http://www.xperthr.co.uk/blogs/employmentintelligence/2010/09/equality-act-2010-how-to-updat.html [Accessed: 23 Apr 2012]. Acas.org.uk (2010) Race discrimination - Acas. [online] Available at: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1849 [Accessed: 25 Apr 2012].