September 2006

Employment Equality

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 come into force on 1st October 2006. The Regulations aim to eliminate discrimination helping everyone to have an equal opportunity to work and to develop their skills.

There is already legislation to protect people against discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, disability, gender reassignment, sexual orientation and religion or belief.

The law covers:

All workers including self employed, contract workers, office holders, the police and members of trade organisations.
People who apply for work and, in some instances, people who have left work.
People taking part in or applying for employment related vocational training, re-training or work experience including all courses at Further Education and Higher Education Institutions and training provided by employers or private and voluntary sector providers.

The Employers Forum on Age survey of 1,000 people aged over 16 found 50% did not know ageism in the workplace will be outlawed. This suggests that millions of UK workers are unaware of new ageism laws.

The survey also found that 61% of respondents knew of cases of what they considered to be ageist behaviour where they worked and it found evidence that both young and old can lose out in areas such as pay and promotion because of their age.

A separate survey for the charity Help the Aged, published in September, found that just 42% of 1,000 people surveyed knew that the law on age discrimination was about to change. "Ageism is endemic in our society and rife in our workplaces," said Sam Mercer, of the Employers Forum on Age.

Just another piece of legislation?

In some ways, yes it is, but it adds to all the other legislation that organisations need to be aware of when dealing with people in their organisation and people who come into contact with their organisations.

It is recognised that the true cost (on average) of an equality claim is fast approaching £100,000 - irrespective of whether the organisation wins or loses. The cost of management time, lost productivity, staff demotivation and negative P.R. are just some of the key factors that need to be properly costed and taken into account.

Organisations that have the least problems with issues such as this and other forms of discrimination, bullying, stress etc. are those that understand the culture of their organisation and how it affects the behaviours of the people within it.

Do you understand your organisations culture?

If you do not understand the culture of your organisation you can not possibly understand the true likelihood of the organisation falling foul of any of the discrimination legislation. If you do not understand the current culture it is not possible to identify a plan to improve the working environment and reduce the risk of prosecution.

Cultural Audit

One way of understanding your culture is to undertake a cultural audit within the organisation to establish your benchmark position and to evaluate the business needs in term of development and organisational change. These audits can be done in a number of ways, many of which are unobtrusive and can provide a start point for future improvements. The Health & Safety Executive require an audit to demonstrate that the organisation is effectively managing the risk of stress within the organisation, a cultural audit can satisfy this requirement at the same time.

For more information on the development of a cultural audit for your organisation contact Steve Stones on 01788 538 150.

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