Equality and Diversity
What do you need to know?
Maintaining a diverse and equal workforce makes sense from both a compliance point of view as well as making good business sense. Having a workforce (however small) that draws upon the varied talents, skills and expertise that exists in the UK enables a businesses to get the most out of its team and attract the best candidates.
Under UK law it is unlawful to discriminate on grounds of sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, and age. Age discrimination is one of the newer areas of the law and affects the way all businesses recruit staff and also how and when employees leave the organisation at retirement. The important thing to remember though is that this regulation covers people of all ages. It is therefore unlawful to discriminate against young workers as well as against older workers. It is very important that small businesses check that how they advertise for employees and undertake their selection processes are in accordance with the law. For example, organisations need to ask for types of experience now rather than years of experience.
For more information on this and other discrimination and equality laws visit the ACAS website on http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1363