The Confederation of British Industry and the Trades Union Congress have published a joint report highlighting the potential benefits to companies of adopting equality and diversity policies. The report includes good practice examples in relation to sexual orientation, the integration of employees with disabilities and age-friendly work measures. It is noteworthy as it addresses the topic of equal opportunities and diversity from the standpoint of companies’ competitive performance.
A report entitled Talent not tokenism (1.2Mb PDF) was published in June 2008 by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC), in conjunction with the UK independent statutory body the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The report aims to highlight the business benefits of developing workplace policies that seek to promote equality and diversity. It emphasises how businesses can achieve increased employee satisfaction, a better understanding of customer needs, and solve skills shortages through the adoption of such policies.
The report sought to illustrate the potential benefits of equal opportunities policies using practical examples outlined in a series of case studies. The equal opportunities policies referred to ranged from the promotion of ‘family-friendly’ flexible working policies to initiatives aiding the integration of disabled employees into the workplace.
Examples of good practice
The case studies spanned a cross-section of companies of different sizes and operating in different economic sectors. Of particular note were the following case studies.
- Pinsent Masons – a legal company employing 1,600 people in the UK. The company sought to find new ways of helping to meet its commercial goals, by developing a series of policies to promote the equality of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) employees. These policies involved reviewing LGB staff’s experiences of working for the company, the inclusion of LGB issues in the company’s diversity training programme and the adoption of a procedure to check that the company’s suppliers conformed with its approach to LGB equality. After adopting these policies, Pinsent Masons recorded a decrease in its annual staff turnover rate among lawyers from 17.5% to 12%. Moreover, its work in this area was publicly recognised by LGB campaign groups.
- Royal Bank of Scotland – a multinational financial services group employing 104,000 people in the UK. In recent years, the group has developed a series of policies designed to aid the integration of employees with disabilities into the group’s workplaces. Such measures include: changes in the organisation of workplaces to facilitate access for employees with a disability; the adoption of a policy to interview every job applicant with a disability who meets the minimum standards of the advertised vacancy; and the establishment of special staff forums for employees who are disabled. The company believes that the quality of staff attracted to and retained by the group has improved as a result of its more inclusive approach to the issue of disability.
- Beacon Foods – a food producer employing 112 people at its site in Powys in central Wales. The company has adopted several policies to integrate employees of all ages into its operations. For example, the company provides opportunities for employees to change the nature of their jobs as the circumstances of their individual lifestyles change. At the same time, it offers possibilities on an individual basis for employees to remain in the company past the statutory retirement age of 65 years if they so wish. As a result of these policies, the company has reported higher levels of employee satisfaction and loyalty among staff.
Commentary
On one level, the report Talent not tokenism is significant as it represents a joint initiative between the TUC and CBI. Although there have been several precedents in other fields, the existence of a joint report on a topic such as equality and diversity possibly illustrates the growing consensus in relation to this issue among social partners in the UK.
The report is also noteworthy as it primarily addresses the topic of equal opportunities and diversity from the standpoint of the competitive performance of companies. Although this set of arguments has been employed before, the justification for equality and diversity in the UK context has traditionally been presented in terms of workers’ human rights rather than the efficiency of companies.
Furthermore, the ‘soft’, non-legally binding nature of the report and its potential impact on policy is likely to be debated in some quarters. While some may be concerned about the weight that a non-statutory text is likely to have, others may point to the fact that the report does not impose any extra regulations on companies, but rather offers non-binding recommendations which may lead to higher levels of commitment in the companies that adopt such policies.
Thomas Prosser, IRRU, University of Warwick