Employers at risk by failing to deal with all of the issues covered by equality law

Legislation is the main driver for diversity, with over two-thirds of UK organisations ranking ëlegal pressuresí among the top five drivers, according to a new report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). But still many organisations are not dealing with all the issues covered by law, leaving them wide open to potential legal claims.

More organisations take disability into account than any other diversity issue, yet still 40% fail to do so. Dianah Worman, CIPD Diversity Adviser, says: ìEmployers who fail to uphold their legal responsibilities leave themselves at risk of claims being taken against them.

ìWhile it is important to comply with the law, legislation alone is not enough to remove unfairness. Bias will continue, despite complex legislation, unless employers understand the benefits diversity can offer, and invest the resources required to drive change that will support improved business performance.î

Investment in diversity
Almost 40% of respondents believe that diversity and equality is at the heart of everything they do ñ which is good news ñ but the evidence suggests that most employers do not grasp the full nature of the business case. Most organisations also fail to reward and recognise diversity achievements, with less than one-fifth of organisations using diversity as a performance criterion, and very few organisations setting diversity standards.

ìWhile some organisations recognise business case arguments, such as improvements in the recruitment and retention of talent and improvements in people management practices, few organisations focus on the ways in which embedding diversity into other operational activities, such as marketing, can add value to business performance.

ìEmployers need to engage with all staff, especially managers, if they are to avoid equal opportunity related tribunals. Managers are often the decision makers when it comes to recruiting, training and promoting employees so linking diversity to objective-setting and reward makes sense. These are the very activities that could help organisations to mainstream diversity into organisational culture and improve business performance.î adds Worman.

The survey also shows the majority of respondents with a responsibility for diversity are not specialists, or contracted to work on diversity management, and 70% of organisations have no budget for diversity. This raises questions about the effort and energy employers invest in making progress

The research provides important benchmarking information on diversity progress and will be available to line managers and HR professionals that attend the CIPDís Annual Employment Law Conference, on 4 July 2006. The conference includes an update day on how employers need to prepare for the age discrimination laws, and will examine each stage of the employment cycle from recruitment and selection to retirement and redundancy.

Key findings:

- ëLegal pressureí is the most important motivator for managing diversity, with 68% of respondents ranking it among the top five drivers. This is followed by business-case reasons, such as the ability to ërecruit and retain best talentí (64%).

- 93% of organisations have a diversity policy.

- Disability is the most popular issue covered in diversity policies, yet still 40% fail to include this.

- 53% of respondents who have a responsibility for diversity are not contracted to work on it.

- The majority of professionals involved in diversity management are at middle management level (41%) and earn 21,000-40,000 annually (66%).

- Only 38% of respondents make sure diversity and equality are at the heart of everything it does.

- Almost half of organisations (46%) have already incorporated age in their policies, well ahead of the new regulations due in October 2006. This suggests that the education and awareness raising by Government and organisations like the CIPD, have had an important impact.