September 28, 2013 By Constance Hall Leave a Comment

Recruiters give unfair deal to non-white job seekers

Recruiters routinely discriminate against job candidates from ethnic minorities in favour of their white rivals, alleges the charity Race for Opportunity.

To back their claims, Race for Opportunity issued figures showing only 29% of black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates (BAME) were offered jobs, while 44% of white job seekers found a post.

Around 57% of BAME candidates were invited for an interview, against 73% of white applicants, claims the report, Race and Recruitment: exposing the barriers.

Sandra Kerr, director at Race for Opportunity, said: “Tough economic times and rising unemployment levels mean that the current job market is extremely competitive, with a high number of applications for every role.

“If BAME candidates are not being treated fairly by the recruiters at all stages of the job application process, then they are at a distinct disadvantage from the outset.”

Many BAME job candidates blamed their failure to find work on application handling by recruitment consultancies, who asked employers to consider them for roles that did not match their skill sets.

The study also looked at job applicants who applied directly to an employer – and found that an equal proportion (29%) of both BAME and white applicants found a post this way.

Many recruiters blame the high BAME rejection rate on government policy that forces employers to kick out applications from overseas nationals who cannot prove they have a right of residence in the UK.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), the trade body for job agencies, responded that recruiters had no reason not to shortlist the best candidates.

“An immediate priority is to dig beneath some of these findings as there are always a number of factors at play when employers decide who to offer a job to, such as a candidate’s qualifications and work experience,” said Tom Hadley, REC’s director of policy and professional services.

“Most of the recommendations in the report complement the processes and policies we already have in place as an industry,” he continued. “We now need to move the agenda forward and recognise the positive role that the vast majority of recruiters play in getting people into interviews and into work.”

September 28, 2013 By Constance Hall Leave a Comment

Workplace diversity is just a PR stunt, claim employees

Workers are rubbishing their employers efforts to promote fairness through diversity as a stunt to grab headlines, alleges new research.

Around half of employees consider workplace diversity strategies as filling a tick box to look good for marketing and PR, says the Adecco Group’s report ‘Unlocking Britain’s Potential.’

The dispiriting results of the survey showed workers have a jaundiced opinion of diversity programmes:

27% felt the campaigns failed to change workplace culture

29% of employers confessed they aim to recruit ‘certain types’ of workers

20% of workers felt their organisation ignored marketing to specific sections of society

22% considered a diverse workforce could not supply the skills needed by the organisation

Despite the disappointing response to the survey, many employers and workers are confident that diversity has an important role in the workplace.

Seven out of 10 employers believe they are more likely to succeed by operating a fairer and more tolerant workplace.

This reflects in the 44% of workers who would rather move to an employer with a diverse workforce.

The report is part of a campaign by consultancy and recruitment group Adecco to look at workplace diversity as a tool for promoting better productivity and improving competition in world markets.

Chris Moore, director of the ‘Unlocking Britain’s Potential’ campaign, said:”The business case for investment in diversity has never been clearer. A diverse workforce will widen Britain’s talent pool, have a direct impact on employee engagement, and strengthen relationships with customers.

“Our research suggests that we are far from achieving the radical change in outlook required to genuinely promote the need for a diverse workforce in UK businesses.

“While it is encouraging that the case for greater female representation in the boardroom is attracting such prominence, this is only a small but important part of the debate around boosting diversity in the workplace.

“Diversity is a question of encouraging and increasing social mobility – finding ways to ensure that potential British talent, from any and every background, is not overlooked.”

September 28, 2013 By Constance Hall Leave a Comment

Frightened gay stars who live a secret double life

Gay sports stars and entertainers are forced to live a double life with ‘pretend’ girlfriends rather than openly come out about their sexuality.

In two revealing interviews, tough guy footballer Joey Barton and TV soap star Charlie Condou have both spoken out about the fears of homophobia in public life.

Barton, playing for Premiership Queens Park Rangers, criticised managers and players who fail to support gay team mates.

He also revealed his uncle hid is sexuality for year over concerns about rejection among his family and friends.

“It’s a subject quite close to my heart because my dad’s youngest brother, the youngest of my uncles, is gay. And I didn’t know for a long, long time,” said Barton in The Sun.

“He thought because of the society that we were brought up in, which was quite working class, that it would be frowned upon or that we would disown him.

“So for a lot of years he was in turmoil and was resenting himself for the fact he had these feelings.”

Meanwhile, Condou, writing in The Guardian, claimed coming out ruined actor Rupert Everett’s career – and his views are reflected in a recent survey from entertainer’s union Equity.

The findings showed only 57% of gay actors feel they can be open about their sexuality to their agents.

“A previous agent of mine once told me to keep quiet about my sexuality and, though I am out, I do not broadcast it,” said one.

Condou also explained many of Hollywood’s biggest stars are gay – but refuse to admit their sexuality.

“I can’t relate at all. For my entire career I’ve never had a problem being frank about my sexuality, never felt I’ve been turned down for a role on the basis of being gay, and have only played three gay characters in a career that spans 20 years,” wrote Condou.

“The idea that keeping your sexuality a secret will win you better and more varied roles is a lame excuse – often the result of internalised homophobia rather than reality. The industry has moved on and it’s time actors did as well.”

Condou also wrote about gay actors he knew who had told the media they have girlfriends and want to settle down as a family rather than admit the truth about their lifestyle.

September 28, 2013 By Constance Hall Leave a Comment

Council scrap ‘discriminatory’ loyalty pay

A council scrapped long-service pay awards because they are unfair to some workers.

Lawyers have told Crawley Borough Council that rewarding loyal workers who have spent at least 10 years with the authority with extra pay could be construed as discrimination under the Equality Act.

Councillors will vote on the proposal – but as Crawley is one of the few local authorities paying the bonus in the UK, it’s likely they will give the thumbs down.

Instead of earning a pay hike at 10, 15, 20 25 and 30 year terms of service with the council, all workers will have a pay rise of £250, plus an extra £250 will be given to staff earning less than £21,000 a year.

The council has paid the long service bonus since 1980. Amounts range from £188 a year for staff clocking up 10 years with the authority to £1,477 for those with 30 year’s service. The money was paid to entice staff to stay with the council instead of leaving for better pay and conditions elsewhere.

Lawyers suggest the payments could be considered discriminatory. Staff and unions were asked for their opinion and despite just over half of employees voting in favour of keeping long-service pay, the union, Unison, refused to sign an agreement.

“A consultation took place from July to October this year on the removal of the council’s long-service pay scheme and proposed compensation for the staff affected by this,” said a council spokesman.

“Different levels of long-service pay are paid to approximately 300 staff who have been with Crawley Borough Council for 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years.

“However, we are one of the only local authorities in the country with such a scheme and the legal advice we have received is that the scheme is discriminatory and contravenes the Equality Act.

“This month, a ballot of Unison members opted to agree to the proposed changes. Unison accepts that the scheme contravenes the act. This agreement means that no members of staff will have their contracts terminated.”

September 28, 2013 By Constance Hall Leave a Comment

Does diversity management measure up to the talk?

Many organisations talk about the benefits of diversity management in terms of better working conditions, improved productivity and increased profits – but few have actually collected data to prove the point.

Swiss multinational banking giant Credit Suisse has tried to measure the impact of diversity on profits by examining the mix of employees, working conditions and financial performance of large businesses.

“Leading companies across the world today devote considerable resources to promoting gender diversity and better working conditions. Conventional wisdom suggests that improved diversity and working environment have an impact on profitability,” said Christine Schmid, head of banks and financial services research and Juliette Lim-Fat, head of thematic and derivatives research at Credit Suisse, writing in the Gulf News.

A key measure was how many women participated in senior levels of decision making.

Credit Suisse reviewed data gleaned from the most recent annual reports from the largest listed companies in Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland.

The Nordic countries rated high on the number of women in senior management, with some countries insisting large companies have boards comprising at least 20% women.

German DAX 30 companies have established a voluntary quota for senior women managers this year and will publish the quotas for different management levels.

The bank also scrutinised the performance of companies that scored high for diversity from 2008 to the end of March, 2011.

Scandinavian countries again topped the lists for companies with women making up at least 10% of senior management and 20% of the total workforce.

A specific result of including more women at senior decision making levels was identified as the effect on the Scandinavian banking sector during the downturn.

Overall, Scandinavian countries had less economic problems than most – although Credit Suisse noted this could also be due to less exposure to US markets and a more ‘defensive’ financial outlook.

This article is filed under: Discrimination, Diversity, Women, Leadership

September 28, 2013 By Constance Hall Leave a Comment

85% of mentally ill complain of discrimination

Mental health issues are still a stigma with people discriminating against sufferers, according to the latest government statistics.

Tolerance of those suffering mental health problems is improving, although significant numbers still have fear and uncertainty over the condition.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre, part of the NHS, has conducted the study each year since 1994.

Significant changes

Some significant changes in that time include:

The percentage of people agreeing that ‘Mental illness is an illness like any other’ increased

from 71% in 1994 to 77% in 2011.

The percentage saying they would be comfortable talking to a friend or family member about

their mental health rose from 66% in 2009 to 70% in 2011.

The percentage saying they would feel uncomfortable talking their employer about their

mental health was 43%, compared to 50% in 2010.

Other highlighted findings for 2011 include:

25% of respondents agreed ‘Most women who were once patients in a mental hospital

can be trusted as babysitters’.

Agreement that one of the main causes of mental illness is a lack of self-discipline and willpower stands at 16%.

The percentage of people saying that locating mental health facilities in a residential area

downgrades the neighbourhood stood at 17%.

Stigma and discrimination

Two new questions about stigma and discrimination were asked in 2010 and repeated this year:

Whether people with mental illness experience stigma and discrimination nowadays, because of their mental health problems;

Whether mental health-related stigma and discrimination has changed in the past year.

“Overall, 85% respondents in 2011 said that people with mental illness experience stigma

and discrimination,” said the report. “ Half (50%) said they experience a lot of discrimination, and a further 35% that they experience a little discrimination. There was no significant change in responses to this question from 2010 to 2011.

“Around a half of respondents (48%) in 2011 said that mental health-related stigma and

discrimination has not changed in the past year. Again there were no significant changes in responses to this question between 2010 and 2011.”

A copy of the report and datasets are available from [LINK: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/attitudestomi11]

What is diversity? See http://www.diversityleaders.org/our-services/what-is-diversity

Do you want more than what Diversity Training can deliver? See Diversity at Work in the workplace http://www.diversityleaders.org/our-services/training-a-events

September 28, 2013 By Constance Hall Leave a Comment

Give your views on how equality is working

Equality and diversity managers have their chance to influence government policy as part of David Cameron’s red tape challenge to slimline bureaucracy.

The government is seeking views on how equality legislation is working – and what, if anything, can be changed to improve the law.

The Equality Act 2010 is umbrella legislation that replaced nine major statutes and around 100 sets of regulations aimed at making diversity management easier for business and public sector organisations.

Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone said: “The Equality Act is here to stay. Fairness and opportunity for all remain at the heart of government. But there is always more we can do to ensure that business is not being strangled by red tape.

Unnecessary rules

“This government is committed to economic prosperity and reducing unnecessary rules and regulations. We want to hear from individuals, businesses, public sector organisations and voluntary and community organisations about how the act is working in practice.

“We want to know whether the act could be simplified, better implemented, or if certain provisions should be dropped or amended, or whether it should be kept exactly as it is.”

For more about the red tape challenge and how to respond, go to http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/home/index/

One major change was implemented by Home Secretary Theresa May when she scrapped gender pay reporting measures under section 78 of the act. The government is urging businesses to publish the data voluntarily instead.

Meanwhile, Director of People and Policy at BT, Caroline Waters, has taken up the post as equality champion tasked with mediating the easing of legislation between the government and industry.

Deadline for consultation

The clocking is also ticking on government consultation about reforming the Equality and Human Rights Commission, with the deadline for submissions is June 15, 2011.

The consultation and forms for response are available for download from http://www.equalities.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=1789

EHCR has already published a short response – promising a more detailed document will follow.

The EHRC view is that the government is right to examine the early progress of the commission, but some of the current proposals for change may run counter to equality policy and a broader approach to deregulation and decentralisation.

Do you want more than what Diversity Training can deliver? See Diversity at Work http://www.diversityleaders.org/our-services/training-a-events

September 28, 2013 By Constance Hall Leave a Comment

Finding an accessible home online

A new web site promises to open doors for the disabled looking for a place to live or holiday that suits their needs.

The Accessible Property Register [LINK: http://accessible-property.org.uk/] is a new venture that has around 40,000 visitors a month looking for accommodation with easy access.

Run by Conrad Hodgkinson and Dr Christine Barton, a couple from Sheffield, the site lists homes for rent and sale all over the UK.

As a wheelchair user, Dr Barton can empathise with many browsing the site for a home.

The web site has developed in to a one-stop shop advertising adapted homes and holiday accommodation with adapted or wheelchair access.

Private and social housing properties are listed for sale and rent.

Easy to access homes

“Estate agents sometimes seem to think adaptation will put people off so they suggest, sometimes subtly, sometimes not so subtly, removing them or ask people not to mention them,’’ said Mr Hodgkinson.

“Increasingly we have estate agents coming to us saying there’s a wheelchair-accessible property available and we’d like to advertise it with you.”

Unlike many property web sites, The Accessible Property Register details enhancements for the disabled.

To meet the web sites strict ‘accessible’ property definition, all listings meet the following conditions:

Off-street or unrestricted on-street parking

No steps between the closest parking and property entrance

Level or ramped access to at least one entrance

Level access to all main living rooms

A WC on the same level as the entrance

Wheelchair-friendly

Other factors considered to make a property easier to use for someone in a wheelchair or suffering a physical problem include:

Entrance level bath or shower

Adapted bathroom with features like an electrically-operated seat, walk-in bath or fixed handrails

Adapted kitchen with lowered working services and appliances

Wider-than-standard doorways

Stair\wheelchair lifts to upper floors

Fixed or tracking ceiling hoist

Environment or SMART controls

Intercom and remote door opening

Supported living

Most advertising is free, although some charges are involved if homeowners need help with posting their property details online.

Around 460 properties are advertised for sale or rent in the UK and some overseas locations. property listings include holiday lets as well as permanent homes.

What is diversity? See http://www.diversityleaders.org/our-services/what-is-diversity

Do you want more than what Diversity Training can deliver? See Diversity at Work in the workplace http://www.diversityleaders.org/our-services/training-a-events

September 28, 2013 By Constance Hall Leave a Comment

Employers focus on ‘retiring’ older workers

One in four employers is retiring older workers who they would normally let work on because of concerns about keeping staff on after the default retirement age is scrapped.

Among the latest is Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which has written to 203 staff aged over 65 to tell them their contracts would expire in October.

Letters were sent on March 31, a week before the default retirement age of 65 years old was abolished.

The trust said the decision was not taken lightly, particularly in light of the service given to the hospital by some of the employees who are being forced to retire, but added that they were following a policy where if a post was no longer required, the employee would automatically be retired.

450 older workers lose jobs

Meanwhile, a study of 157 organisations by The Age and Employment Network (TAEN) shows that 70% of employers will let retire when they wish.

But the the findings also highlighted a quarter of employers are targetting older employees in the transitional period before the default retirement age is finally abolished on October 1.

Including those losing their jobs in Sheffield, this affects around 450 employees in 42 private and public sector organisations.

Employers review retirement changes

The report also disclosed some other findings:

A third of employers have not decided post-default retirement age policy

Around one in four (38%) of employers are reviewing other policy areas for amendment as a result of retirement law changes

A quarter (23%) have reviewed or changed performance management and reviewed capability procedures, while 17% have reviewed pensions and benefits

12% have reviewed or changed succession planning

At 31% of employers, managers discuss retirement plans with workers and 33% plan to introduce similar discussions.

31% will train managers on how to discuss retirement plans with employees

TAEN is an independent, not-for-profit that monitors and campaigns for older workers’ rights.

September 28, 2013 By Constance Hall Leave a Comment

BBC slammed for diversity failings

The BBC needs to switch on to the real world instead of portraying Christians as ‘derogatory stereotypes’ and marginalising older women.

This indictment of the broadcaster’s diversity policy is even more damning as the main critics are viewers and the BBC’s staff.

Many believe the organisation goes too far in representing minority views, with positive discrimination affecting recruitment and too much time spent concentrating on ‘tokenism’ and diversity ‘box ticking’.

The results of a diversity study carried out by the BBC were leaked by the Daily Mail. The report was compiled form a survey of 4,500 people.

The research repeatedly slammed the BBC over depictions of Christians on TV.

Derogatory stereotypes

Many respondents claimed the BBC was anti-Christian and poorly represented Christianity.

“Christians are specifically mentioned as being badly treated, with a suggestion that more minority religions are better represented despite Christianity being the most widely observed religion within Britain,” said a quote from the report.

Others said:

“As a Christian I find that the BBC’s representation of Christianity is mainly inaccurate, portraying incorrect, often derogatory stereotypes.”

“Seldom do we find a Christian portrayed in drama, and when we do, it is usually a “weak” person or a “bigot”

A recurring criticism was soap storylines lacked pro-Christian themes but often showed the faith in a poor light.

Doomed to fail

In many ways, the BBC is doomed to fail whatever minority group or religion is portrayed in programmes, as the content often generates complaints from other minorities or faiths.

The study also highlighted that many viewers were concerned at the treatment of older women, who were often shown as feeble and unable to lead a normal life.

Others moaned that the organisation is tainted politically as left-wing or too liberal..

A BBC spokesman said: “We have strict editorial guidelines on impartiality, including religious perspectives, and Christian programming forms the majority and the cornerstone of our religion and ethical output.”

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