What is Diversity?

Equal Opportunities or Diversity Management? Are they one and the same or should they be considered as separate considerations in the management and treatment of people in the workplace.

Diversity management moves on a considerable step further than equal opportunity and does not rely upon positive action. Today, we expect all businesses and organisations to promote equal opportunity in the workplace and indeed to have policy statements that reflect the principles of equality.

Managing diversity

• Ensures all employees maximise their potential and their contribution to the organisation.
• No one is excluded.
• Concentrates on issues of movement within an organisation, the culture of the organisation, and the meeting of business objectives.
• A concern for all employees, especially managers.
• Does not rely on positive or affirmative action.

Equal opportunities

• Concentrates on issues of discrimination.
• Perceived as an issue for women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.
• Less of an emphasis on culture change and a meeting of business objectives.
• Seen as an issue to do with personnel and human resource practitioners.
• Relies on positive action.

The original reasons for the introduction of equal treatment centred around women in the workplace having the same opportunities as males in terms of jobs and pay levels. It is fair to say that these values and initiatives have in most cases been embraced.

Rarely do we see a job vacancy advertised without the organisation reminding us that they are an "equal opportunity employer", usually now coupled with the "positive to disabled" two ticks symbol.

There have of course been extensions to equal treatment policies with the introduction of further legislation on disability and race issues. Positive results are obvious with many public and private organisations and businesses leading by examples of good practice, procedure and the improvement of policies that in turn have seen some of the barriers into employment faced by certain disadvantaged groups being addressed in a positive way.

All of these actions taken by the employers are indeed welcome and appreciated. Embracing Diversity in the workplace concerns and involves everyone.

A diverse team is a team in which every member of staff regardless of their age, gender, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and regardless of how they operate, or what they look like are valued as an individual and not as a member of a group.

Companies and organisations have a moral and social responsibility to embrace diversity. There is also a strong business case for the employment of a diverse workforce that reflects the diversity of the community it shares and serves. Adopting and practicing diversity policies effectively in the workplace benefits the image projected by the organisation. People obviously have a greater attraction to work for companies with a caring and friendly attitude; reduced employment costs through improved retention in the workplace are also a major consideration.

There is also a legal case for adopting diversity management if serious consideration is given to compliance with current and future employment law. Again here there are examples of some organisations facing huge legal costs and damage to their reputations through poor employment practice and procedures.

Some companies are producing real evidence of improved performance and enhanced profits with the development of services and products that have been influenced by employing a diverse workforce.

A good example would be a South East branch of Lloyds TSB that have changed from having mainly white counter staff to a mixture of races have seen volume sales of financial products rise by 30%

Diversity in the workplace is not a personnel or human resource issue, however managers in these roles are seen as the key staff to influence the ethos of a company or organisation and effect change within their environments towards valuing diversity.

Embrace Diversity - Believe in Difference - Value Difference.