One-day training course for an accountancy firm in Yorkshire seeking to employ a more diverse workforce

1. Diversity by Fluid April 2010

2. Page 2 Contents 3-4 Introduction to Fluid 5-6 Why is diversity important? 7-8 Legal considerations 9-11 Improving diversity 12-13 Exercise A 14-16 Ethnic minorities 17-18 Hiring refugees 19-22 Managing age diversity 23-25 Recruitment and selection 26-28 Positive action 29-30 Driving the diversity agenda 31-32 Monitoring equality compliance 33-34Takeovers 35-39 Equality Act 40-43 Real-life example 44-46 Good practice checklist 47-50 Case studies 51-52 Exercise B 53-54 Conclusion and questions

3. Page 3 Introduction

5. Selection- Attraction - Remuneration & Reward - Outplacement - Training & HR consultancy

6. Page 5 Why is diversity important?

8. An increase in innovation is known to be a result of a diverse workforce

9. As information spreads via technology at breakneck speed, a negative public image can be very damaging to an organisation

12. Types of discrimination

13. Direct discrimination

14. Harassment and segregation

15. Indirect discrimination

16. Victimisation

17. Genuine Occupational Requirement

20. Think opportunity

21. Make your own business case

22. Measure it

23. Get out of your box

24. Be holistic

26. We are the champions

27. Tick boxes

28. Put yourself about

29. Forget old boys…

30. …Get ‘em young instead

31. Know what’s coming

32. Group effort

33. Model employees

35. Page 13 Exercise A

36. Page 14 Ethnic minorities

38. Visit schools and talk to young people

39. Tell communities and families about the careers on offer

40. Encourage suitable role models

41. Build links with ‘new’ universities and colleges

42. Publicise professional opportunities in the older industries

43. Offer work experience opportunities as a marketing tool

44. Tackle employment barriers faced by women and lone parents

45. Deal sensitively with job enquiries

46. Be willing to deal with stigmas

48. Devise structured training and development plans for all employees

49. Identify work-related courses and training that are not necessarily academic in approach or delivery

50. Explore a partnership approach

51. Use mentoring, coaching and job placements

52. Incentives

55. In-house English language training

56. Training for employees on refugee issues

59. Carry out an employee survey and analyse the views and motivations of different age groups

60. Audit your internal communications channels to assess whether communications channels and styles are sufficiently flexible to meet the preferences of all groups of employees

61. Ensure your employer brand conveys what is compelling about the organisation as a place to work for different generations

62. Analyse career development opportunities for all members of the workforceManaging age diversity 1 of 3

64. Maximise opportunities to enhance coaching and mentoring across different generational groups

65. Re-engage baby boomers by ensuring they are given appropriate developmental opportunities

66. Re-evaluate your corporate social responsibility policies and practices to ensure they have cross-generational appeal

67. Identify areas of commonality and build on themManaging age diversity 2 of 3

69. Mix up the generations

70. Encourage them to swap skills and experiences

71. Avoid focusing on one particular generation

72. Make the mixture of age groups a positive thingManaging age diversity 3 of 3

73. Page 23 Recruitment and selection

75. Have you spent time creating documentation that addresses your organisational needs?

76. Are your person specifications up to date? And are they meaningful, relevant and fair to the individual?

78. Have you empowered your team members to accept responsibility for their own performance by agreeing realistic and challenging objectives?

81. Numerical goals and preferential treatment for ill-qualified candidates are not popular and cause resentment

82. Contract compliance is the most effective way to promote positive action in employment

83. Successful employment equity programmes must take into account supply and demand issues

85. Use positive action simply to create a racially balanced workforce

86. Make assumptions that ethnic minority groups are under-represented in particular areas of work

87. Offer employment contracts, salaries and other terms & conditions usually associated with employment

88. Offer or guarantee a job at the end of a training programme, or imply that a job may be available

89. Use positive action programmes for apprentices

90. Be easily dissuaded from using positive action measures provided the conditions are met, they are lawful and a useful component of good equal opportunities policyPositive action 2 of 2

91. Page 29 Driving the diversity agenda

93. Diversity development strategies for leaders are rated poorly

96. Appointment

97. Pay

98. Promotion

99. Resignation/termination of employment

100. Training

101. Disciplinary and grievance cases

102. Appraisal

105. Organisations experiencing mergers and acquisitions were more likely to have experienced a reduction in the proportion of women and non-white people in the workplace

106. There was a clear indication that any growth on female representation in a particular workplace was closely related to initial levels of female representation

109. The basic framework of protection against direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation in services and public functions; premises; work; education; associations, and transport.

110. Changing the definition of gender reassignment, by removing the requirement for medical supervision.

112. Clearer protection for breastfeeding mothers; Applying the European definition of indirect discrimination to all protected characteristics.

113. Extending protection from indirect discrimination to disability.

114. Introducing a new concept of “discrimination arising from disability”, to replace protection under previous legislation lost as a result of a legal judgment.

116. Harmonising the thresholds for the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. Extending protection from 3rd party harassment to all protected characteristics. Making it more difficult for disabled people to be unfairly screened out when applying for jobs, by restricting the circumstances in which employers can ask job applicants questions about disability or health.

120. THE CHALLENGE

121. Yorkshire Water wanted a diversity strategy that made a clear link between business success and diversity. This was led by a diversity steering group and delivered by the organisation, with HR providing co-ordination and ‘thought leadership’Real-life example 1 of 3

123. HR created the diversity-in-business brand ‘Open to all’

124. It implemented diversity awareness customer experience training for front-line employees

125. This was a nationally acclaimed recruitment, retention, progression and diversity project

126. Progress reports were presented to the board every six months

127. The HR team ran a two-day diversity conference for the whole business and external stakeholdersReal-life example 2 of 3

129. There was an increase in the BME workforce from 2% to 4%

130. The scheme led to the first female and BME recruits to a number of operational front-line roles

131. One in three employees is now involved in company-sponsored community volunteeringReal-life example 3 of 3

132. Page 44 Good practice checklist

137. OLDER PEOPLE

139. TRAINING

140. FINANCIAL ADVICE Case studies 2 of 3

142. RETENTION

144. Page 52 Exercise B

145. Page 53 Conclusion & Questions

146. Page 54 Conclusion Summary Questions