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Previous Issues
June, 2011
May, 2011
April, 2011
March, 2011
Feb, 2011
July 2011
1) Empowering employees to stand up and be counted
2) Family firms offer greater workplace inclusion
3) Equality commission backs religious discrimination claims
4) Older workers 'neglected in the workplace'
5) Executive search firms set up gender balance code
6) Recession threatening to turn back time for women
7) EHRC attempts at clarity muddy the religious waters
8) Equality and Human Rights Commission seeks European test of UK law on religious discrimination
9) Think tank calls on firms to come clean
10) Building for the future
Empowering employees to stand up and be counted
Attitudes to sexual orientation in the workplace are changing, but there’s still more to do. For a measure of how corporate attitudes to sexual orientation have changed in recent years, one need only look at the history of the Stonewall Index of the top 100 employers in the country for lesbian, gay and bisexual people. When the first index was compiled by the campaigning charity in 2005, six organisations in the top 100 requested anonymity. Today, just six years on and a place in the Stonewall 100 is coveted by big employers, a sign of their openness and inclusivity, with the kitemark proudly displayed on corporate literature.
Family firms offer greater workplace inclusion
Workers at family-owned businesses inspire greater feelings of job security and workplace inclusion than other employers, it has been claimed. According to new research conducted on behalf of the Unquoted Companies Group (UCG), despite workers in the public sector holding their jobs for longer (8.9 years versus 6.2 years), workers at family-owned and managed firms actually feel more secure in their jobs. This is also despite the fact that almost three times as many state workers enjoy a no-redundancy policy. The discrepancy could be explained by manager attitudes, with a third of managers in family businesses sating they believe in providing long-term employment compared to just one quarter of managers in the public and private sector. Furthermore, staff in family businesses are prepared to work longer hours than those in other sectors, with workers in such businesses spending an average of six hours more a week at their jobs.
Equality commission backs religious discrimination claims
The UK's human rights watchdog has backed claims by Christians that they have faced religious discrimination in the workplace. According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, judges have interpreted equality laws "too narrowly" which has led to unfair restrictions on expressing religious beliefs at work. It is backing four discrimination cases being brought by UK Christians to the European Court of Human Rights. They include an airline worker who was prevented from wearing a cross and a relationship counsellor who refused to deal with gay couples. The commission also claims that rulings already made by UK and European courts have created a body of confusing and contradictory case law which makes it difficult for both employers and staff to know where they stand legally on religious matters. For example, some Christians wanting to display religious symbols in the workplace have lost their legal claim so are not allowed to wear a cross, while others have been allowed to after reaching a compromise with their employer, it says.
Older workers 'neglected in the workplace'
Employers need to strive for better inclusion in the workplace when it comes to the development and training of older members of staff, a new report claims. According to a study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), older workers often receive fewer training opportunities than younger colleagues, while they also fare worse when it comes to performance management. The organisation's Employee Outlook: Focus on an Ageing Workforce survey of 2,000 employees found that 51 per cent of those aged over 65 say they have received no training in the last three years, compared to 32 per cent across all age groups. Furthermore, fewer than half of workers (46 per cent) aged 65 and above say they have had a formal performance appraisal either once a year or more frequently, compared to 65 per cent of all employees.
Executive search firms set up gender balance code
A number of executive search firms have signed up to a voluntary code of conduct, pledging to improve senior female representation on FTSE 350 boards. The group has set seven principles on the best practice of boardroom appointments, including creating diversity goals and balancing experience with skills to extend the pool of candidates. Long lists should also be made up of 30 per cent female candidates or explain why they do not. Lord Davies, who conducted the review into female representation on senior boards in February, welcomed the code. He said: "By implementing these principles and working with FTSE 350 chairs and boards, the headhunter community will help to bring more talented women to the top table, improving board effectiveness in the UK." Home secretary Theresa May commented: "It is essential that our boards draw on the talents of everyone, this is not just good for women, but good for our economy."
Recession threatening to turn back time for women
The recession, proposed welfare reforms and cuts in public spending threaten to reverse equality in the workplace, a report has found. It said that many woman in Northern Ireland are being driven back into the home. Lynn Carvill of the Women's Resource and Development Agency (WRDA) said NI was "returning to the 1950's when a woman's place was in the home". "Women are less well positioned than men to weather the crisis," she said. "Women have never been in the same economic position as men. "Unfortunately government responses to the crisis mean we are in danger of turning the clock back in terms of women's equal economic participation. The proposed welfare reforms will remove women's economic autonomy."
EHRC attempts at clarity muddy the religious waters
A bid by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to clarify the law surrounding religious discrimination in the workplace has sparked a huge row. The Commission has applied to intervene in four cases of alleged religious discrimination in the workplace, which are already before the European Court of Human Rights. The cases are expected to be heard together as they all involve the same legal question. The EHRC said that it decided to get involved in the contentious and emotive issue because it believes that both UK and European judges have to date interpreted human rights and equality law too narrowly, resulting in individuals’ freedom of expression in religion or belief being insufficiently protected.
Equality and Human Rights Commission seeks European test of UK law on religious discrimination
UK judges have interpreted the law too narrowly in religion or belief discrimination claims, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has said in its application this week to intervene in four cases at the European Court of Human Rights, all involving religious discrimination in the workplace. If given leave by the court to intervene, the EHRC will argue the way existing human rights and equality law has been interpreted by UK judges is insufficient to protect freedom of religion or belief. It will say the courts have set the bar too high for someone to prove that they have been discriminated against because of their religion or belief; and that it is possible to accommodate expression of religion alongside the rights of people who are not religious and the needs of businesses.
Think tank calls on firms to come clean
Firms should disclose the ratio between the highest and lowest-paid employees to promote greater workplace equality, a think tank urged today. Publicly-listed companies should have to justify high-pay inequalities, such as in banking, because there were few circumstances in which radios above 20:1 could be defended on economic and social grounds, said the New Economics Foundation. Businesses should adopt a charter of responsible pay in their annual reports to show salary differences in their organisation, the report said. "Inequality is damaging to society and high pay doesn't improve performance at skilled work. "In fact, it does the opposite, becoming a distraction to the complex tasks of running a modern business," said the author of the report, Andrew Simms.
Building for the future
Linda Somerville, director of the Scottish Resource Centre for Women in Engineering, Science and Technology, sighs heavily. “This constant waste of talent has to stop,” she says. The centre works to support women who have qualified with such skills, and equally as importantly to work with employers in related sectors to help them change. The figures make depressing reading, as over 73% of women who qualify in science, engineering and technology do not make their careers in those sectors. The number of women studying in those areas is far fewer than men to begin with, which can be an isolating experience both socially and career wise if you’re one of only two women on a course alongside 200 men.
