Guidelines for Equal Opportunity Employers

Nuneaton Training Centre is committed to preventing discrimination and providing equal opportunities both as an employer and as a provider of work based training for young people.

As an employer we are aware that equal opportunities are very important. Discrimination is bad for business; equal opportunities are cost effective and should be integrated into all management, personnel and employment practices. Employers have found that by putting equal opportunities policies into action they have the benefit not only of compliance with the law, but also enjoy a number of other advantages, including:

Reduced staff turnover savings in recruitment costs and training. An improvement in motivation and performance which in turn, can reduce turnover levels.
A broadening of the "talent base" which develops people's abilities faster and further and opens up the potential for new and flexible approaches
Stimulates a healthy and productive working environment
An improved corporate image with prospective employees and customers

These guidelines will need to be used flexibly according to the size and needs of the organisation. Some employers will require less formal structures than others, while all employers will have to consider a time-scale against which they aim to achieve their objectives on equal opportunities.

More and more organisations are describing themselves as Equal Opportunities Employers. What does this mean?

This information lists those criteria by which employers and their employees can judge whether this description relates to their organisation.

ESSENTIAL STEPS TOWARDS BECOMING AN
EQUAL OPPORTUNITES EMPLOYER

The EQUAL OPPORTUNITES COMMISSION recommends that the easiest way of becoming an Equal Opportunities Employer is first to formulate a written Equal Opportunities Policy. This focuses attention on your commitment and allows it to be expressed publicly, in line with your objectives. The Policy should make clear your intention to develop and apply procedures and practices which do not discriminate on the grounds of sex or marriage and which provide equality of opportunity for all job applicants and employees.

Most policies will include the following:

a definition of direct and indirect sex and marriage discrimination, victimisation and sexual harassment;
a statement of the organisation's commitment to equal opportunities;
the name/s of the employee responsible for policy;
details of structure for implementing the policy
an obligation upon employees to respect and act in accordance with the policy;
procedures for dealing with complaints of discrimination;
examples of unlawful practices;
details of monitoring and review procedures;
a commitment to remove barriers to equal opportunity.

Who is responsible for Equal Opportunities in your organisation?

The Policy should be expressed by senior management and that overall responsibility should be given to a member of management at the highest possible level. Where the person responsible is not the most senior member of management, arrangements should be made for her/him to report regularly to the highest authority.

The full commitment of trade unions is essential for the elimination of discrimination and for the successful operation of an Equal Opportunities Policy. It is recommended that unions should co-operate in the introduction and implementation of Equal Opportunities Policies

In addition, day-to-day responsibility should be assigned to members of line or personnel management. It must be stressed, however, that the commitment of all employees is necessary to make the Policy a success.

Do all employees know about the Policy?

The Policy should be written, and made known to managers, supervisors, employees and job applicants and notified to recruitment agencies, Job Centre Plus and any other sources from which job vacancies are filled.

How is the Policy to be implemented?

Implementing the Policy should be the responsibility of a particular individual or a group, according to the size and structure of the organisation. It is advisable to designate an Equal Opportunities Officer to co-ordinate activities on a day-to-day basis. Normally, such an Officer will be based in the Human Resources/Personnel Department, although this will vary in different organisations. It is important that the Equality Officer should have a clearly defined job description and managerial authority, a straightforward reporting route to the highest level, the visible support of senior management and the full co-operation of employees.

Have Employees been trained on the Policy?

It is recommended that all employees should be made aware of the Policy and those involved with the recruitment and selection process given training on the application of the Policy relative to their responsibilities. Managerial, supervisory and personnel staff, especially those involved in the selection process, should be given further training which should include the following:

An explanation of the forms discrimination can take (direct and indirect sex discrimination; direct and indirect marriage discrimination; victimisation; and sexual harassment).
Information which dispels the myth that only men or only women possess characteristics which qualify them for specific types of employment or training.
Guidance on the unreliability of generalised assumptions and prejudices concerning women and men, and the need to avoid basing employment decisions on these assumptions
The need to assess people on their individual merits and ability to do the job and to avoid letting assumptions about marital status, children and domestic obligations distort objective judgement.

Such training on the equal opportunities Policy is an essential first step. In order to reinforce this initial training, it is recommended that adequate written guidelines or organisational Codes of Practice should be issued as appropriate, to ensure that employees perform their duties in a non-discriminatory way. The Equal Opportunities Policy should be included in all training courses, where appropriate (for example induction, appraisal and interviewing techniques, communication skills, supervisory/management development courses).

Have you examined your existing practices, policies and procedures?

The EOC recommends this as an essential step towards becoming an equal opportunities employer. It is common to find employment practices and systems which appear neutral but which on closer examination, operate to exclude or impede women for reasons which are not job-related or required for safe or efficient business operation. Some of the factors involved although unintentional, may nevertheless amount to unlawful direct or indirect discrimination. To identify such barriers to equal opportunities, existing employment practices, procedures and policies and should be examined and revised where appropriate. For example, many organisations have reviewed and changed their recruitment and selection procedures in the process of becoming an equal opportunities employer.

It is important that the grievance procedure should specifically provide a channel for processing complaints of discrimination, victimisation and harassment, because the adoption of an Equal Opportunities Policy will increase awareness of these issues among the workforce.

How can you be certain that you are providing Equal Opportunities?

This can be done by gathering information on the employment situation of the various groups of people within your organisation. Without this information, you can never be certain that you are actually providing equal opportunities.

Where do you start with monitoring and how much information is required?

There is no firm answer to this because monitoring must be flexible and designed to meet the requirements of the enterprise. Much will depend on the resources available and the systems which exist in your organisation but monitoring must be able to show where change is needed and the progress made in achieving that change.

Monitoring is a process of checking the relative position of women to men and of married to single people within an organisation. Monitoring the gender and marital status of a workforce is a means of checking whether unfair discrimination is going on and whether the Equal Opportunities Policy is being implemented effectively. Sensible monitoring will show for example whether members of one sex:

Do not apply for promotion, or that fewer apply than might be expected
Are not recruited, promoted or selected for training or are selected in a significantly lower proportion than their application rate would lead them to expect
Are concentrated in certain jobs, sections or department

There are no hard and fast rules about where to start monitoring; it will vary according to the organisation's particular circumstances, problems and characteristics and to its size and structure.

Whichever way it is tackled the process will have three distinct stages:

Gathering the information
Analysing the data collected to identify where there are blocks to equality and why these occur
Defining the programme of action necessary to overcome any inequalities.

If you would like further information about equal opportunities please do not hesitate to Contact Us.