Equal opportunity

Equal opportunity relates to legislation intended to outlaw discrimination.  (Mullins, L, 2010). Within a business the human resources department will take care of  equal opportunities issues  that may rise within  the organisation. There can be problems between employees or managers, the reason for the equal opportunities legislation is that is makes businesses have to action in a positive way against discrimination with the work environment. The legislation such as the equality act 2010 helps to eliminate unjustified discrimination by making it unlawful and it provides a mechanism for individuals that suffer from or have suffered discrimination to seek redress.

The different forms of discrimination that can arise are : indirect and direct discrimination.

Indirect discrimination is when a person has or is treated unfairly due to some requirement that would disproportionately exclude the group that the person belongs to, or when the requirement is not be justifiable.  An example of indirect discrimination would be all employees have to be over a certain height in order to do the job.

Direct discrimination is when an individual is or has been treated less favourably for a reason that has directly to do with his/her sex, marital status , race, origin of background , age and disability. An example of direct discrimination is to refuse a woman a truck driver job due to her being a woman.

Diversity

Diversity focuses upon the multiplicity of differences among people on the variety of people as heterogeneous grouping. Individuals differences are the basis of diversity. (Mullins, L, 2010).  It also means that the business is trying to meet the aims and objectives that were set by the business at the beginning of the year.

Some of the advantages of diversity are an increased adaptability and broader service range. In terms of increased adaptability businesses that employ a diverse workforce are able to provide a larger variety of solutions to problems with a service, sourcing and allocation of resources. Employees from several different backgrounds bring to the business, individual skills and experience in making suggestions for more flexibility in adapting to customer demands and market fluctations. 

The boarder service range means that their will be a more diverse collection of skills and experience this will include for example cultural understating or language skills. These skills allow business to provide services to customers on a global scale. ( Ariclesfree.co.uk, 2012)

Differences between diversity and discrimination

Differences between diversity and equal opportunities is that diversity is focused upon dealing with discrimination , by helping to solve issues and problems so that there is an increase in the contribution of employees to the business.  In equal opportunity cooperation between employees is strongly encouraged. Diversity does not require action to be taken in the same way as equal opportunity on which the human resources department in a business is relied upon to deal with the issues.  (Bizcoverimg.com, 2008)

Views of employers to wards young people and older people

The views that employers have against young people is that they are lazy and not committed to the jobs. This would show that employers think that young people are not motivated to come to work on time and are not committed because they will often not complete their tasks to the standards that is required by the business. . they way in which business can change their perceptions of young people is by offering incentives and appraisals to those young people that are working hard and are committed as this will also motivate un professional young people too also work hard and do a professional job so that they are also able to receive the appraisals and incentives.

The views that employers have towards older people is that they are unable to do jobs quickly and are unable to do certain task due to their old age. Employers also believe that they can be a liability for the business are they are more likely to get injured at work. The organisation can change their perception of older people by offering them longer brakes  and holidays with smaller shifts so they are able to rest, the business could also position elder people on tills and have younger people do carrying items and stocking shelves. Because younger people will be more productive in doing labor work than older people would be .  these suggestions would be beneficial for the business as it would help to change business attitudes and productivity of staff.

B&Q diversity and equal opportunities

“At B&Q we are committed to equal opportunities in employment and value diversity within our Company. We wish to create a positive work place, where people feel comfortable to be themselves and where everyone is treated with fairness, dignity and respect. We will eradicate all forms of inappropriate/offensive behaviour including bullying, intimidation, victimisation, discrimination or harassment and ensure that we protect the rights and opportunities of an employee to work and progress.” (diy.com,2010)

What b& Q say about diversity is that respecting diversity is central to their success, or reputation and their profitability.  It’s not an optional extra or a nice to have; it is the mark of our humanity and is crucial to our B&Q culture.  (diy.com, 2010)

In order for B&Q to increase their diversity and make sure that every employee has equal opportunities B&Q uses monitoring, this is useful as they say that by B&Q holding monitoring information on every employee consisting of their age, disability, gender and ethnic origin, B&Q are able to identify areas for improvement, by doing this B&Q hope to ensure that customers and staff will say it is a great place to work and shop for everyone.  The information is treated confidentially.  In order to make improvements upon diversity they have set some goals for the year, these are:

● To achieve and retain a top ten position in Race for Opportunity Benchmark

● To achieve our aspirational gender target for total management population and improve position in Opportunity Now (Gender) Benchmark

● To achieve and retain a top ten position in the Employers Forum on Disability Standard Benchmarking

● To achieve an upper quartile position in Stonewall LGBT index

● To achieve a world-class score on Q12 employee engagement measure (diversity question)

● To extend the range of Daily Living Made Easy products and increase sales in this category by 10%

● To achieve external recognition for B&Q’s diversity programmes from a range of external stakeholders   (diy.com, 2010)

Conclusion

In conclusion their can be many cases within an organisation where discrimination may occur between employees in the workplace ,  in order to prevent this from occurring manger and bosses need to make sure that if there are any problems positive action is taken in order to deal with the problem HR departments are responsible for dealing with equal opportunities and diversity within the business, B&Q is  a very large organisation that has many legislations and acts that are enforced to prevent discrimination and increase diversity with the business for their employees.

References

 Mullins, L J. ( 2010) Management And Organisational Behaviour. 9th Ed. Pearson’s Education Limited: Essex

diy.com (2010) B&Q equal opportunities and diversity [online] Available from: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/pdfs/diversity.pdf [Accessed 2 may 2012]

Bizcoverimg.com (2008) equal opportunities in workplace [online] Available from: http://bizcovering.com/business/diversity-management-and-equal-opportunities/ [Accessed2 may 2012]

(Ariclesfree.co.uk (2012) diversity in the work place [online] Available from: http://www.articlesfree.co.uk/Art/73294/292/Diversity-in-the-Workplace-Benefits-Challenges-and-Solutions.html [Accessed 2 may 2012]