Equal Opportunities News (from http://www.learning4business.com/)
Continuing Reluctance to Report Harassment at Work
New research shows that many employees still feel they are unable to report cases of workplace harassment, despite growing awareness of the issue.
A survey of more than 1,000 UK workers by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, shows that 40% do not feel free to report harassment at work, while more than a third say they are unable to complain about dishonest or unethical behaviour. The research also highlights that the reluctance to report misconduct is not confined to workers lower down the organisational hierarchy. In fact, fewer than 62% of middle managers feel comfortable about reporting cases of harassment inflicted by senior managers.
Paul Sanchez, Head of Communication Consulting at Mercer said: "It is worrying that such a high proportion of employees feel they cannot speak up about bullying and other unethical behaviour at work. When extrapolated to the whole of the UK workforce, we could be looking at several million individuals who are too intimidated to report management misconduct."
Equality Awareness Funding
Deputy Equality Minister Meg Munn has unveiled a 2.5m fund to help voluntary organisations raise employee awareness of employment equality regulations.The money will help voluntary and not-for-profit organisations raise the profile of sexual orientation and religion or belief legislation.
A panel of representatives from the DTI, Welsh Assembly Government and Scotland Office will assess the bids and make recommendations to the head of employment relations at the DTI, Janice Munday, who will make the final decision. Ms. Munn said the money would benefit organisations around the country in their work to raise awareness of this legislation.
Under the Employment Equality Regulations, which came into force in December 2003, individuals who feel they have been discriminated against on the grounds of sexual orientation, religion or belief can take their complaint to an employment tribunal. If a tribunal finds in their favour there is no upper limit to the amount of compensation the organisation may be ordered to pay.
The funding is available up to 31 March 2007 and organisations are invited to submit proposals by 27 July.
Indifference to Diversity within Further Education
A report from the Learning and Skills Development Agency suggests that many managers in organisations that provide further education, adult education or training are indifferent or even resistant to involvement with diversity issues. The report, Leadership, Development and Diversity in the Learning and Skills Sector, highlights the lack of a common understanding of the term diversity in educational organisations and calls for swift action to address concerns about the low priority given to diversity issues.
The report found a wide gulf between staff who were firmly committed to diversity and those who were not. Some saw achieving greater diversity among staff and students as an important objective, whereas others felt it was "irrelevant" and "an impractical target".
Business Case for Diversity is Proved
The fifth annual Race for Opportunity benchmarking report, which tracks the impact of diversity on the bottom line of some of the UK's biggest businesses, reveals that 91% of public and private sector bodies have pinpointed a clear business case for diversity policies, compared with 78% in 2004. Of the 113 private and public bodies benchmarked this year, 40 attributed an estimated 13.3bn in profits to the impact of their activities on race.
Royal Mail chief Allan Leighton, chairman of Race for Opportunity, said business needed to understand that if it is seen as attractive to ethnic minorities, it will make more money. He said: "The ethnic minority population in the UK has an annual disposable income spending power of 32bn. Cater effectively to this sector and you will see rewards on the bottom line."
Lloyds TSB Group was the firm with the best diversity policies in the UK, and the Army was the top public sector performer for the fifth year running.
Ethnic Minorities Under-Represented in Advertising Industry
Advertising companies have been urged to adapt their recruitment methods to embrace diversity, after a report revealed that ethnic minorities are not considering a career in the sector.
The report by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, carried out by COI, the governments marketing vehicle, acknowledged that the industry was recognising the business case for diversity but should aim to increase the 8.5% proportion of employees from ethnic minorities currently working in media.
The COI urged the IPA and its member agencies to develop mentoring schemes in London schools to attract more applicants to the industry from ethnic minorities, and develop an apprenticeship linked to IPA-endorsed qualifications.
Ethnic Minorities Suffer Scottish Penalty
Scotland is beset by a chronic ethnic penalty when it comes to getting jobs, according to the Commission for Racial Equality (Scotland).
CRE Scotland yesterday warned members of the Scottish Parliaments European and External Relations Committee that the countrys population would continue to decline and skills shortages would remain if barriers that prevent people from ethnic minorities from contributing to Scotlands society and economy were not overcome.
The Scottish Executive estimates that the population of the country will fall below five million unless 8,000 more people move to Scotland every year until 2009.
Ali Jarvis, interim director at CRE Scotland, said addressing Scotlands population decline by attracting new immigrants does not simply depend on getting more people into the country; it also depends on ensuring that they want to stay.
He said:"We all like to think of Scotland as an attractive and welcoming country, but we need to face up to reality. A person in Scotland today from an ethnic minority background of the same age, with the same skills and qualifications and living in the same area as a white person is more likely to be unemployed, be in a more junior position and earn less than their white equivalent. Scotland is beset by a chronic ethnic penalty - [which] damages our economy by preventing people from an ethnic minority background from fully realising their potential. Unless we tackle this head-on, new migrants will face the same fate; and Scotland will continue to be held back."
New research shows that many employees still feel they are unable to report cases of workplace harassment, despite growing awareness of the issue.
A survey of more than 1,000 UK workers by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, shows that 40% do not feel free to report harassment at work, while more than a third say they are unable to complain about dishonest or unethical behaviour. The research also highlights that the reluctance to report misconduct is not confined to workers lower down the organisational hierarchy. In fact, fewer than 62% of middle managers feel comfortable about reporting cases of harassment inflicted by senior managers.
Paul Sanchez, Head of Communication Consulting at Mercer said: "It is worrying that such a high proportion of employees feel they cannot speak up about bullying and other unethical behaviour at work. When extrapolated to the whole of the UK workforce, we could be looking at several million individuals who are too intimidated to report management misconduct."
Equality Awareness Funding
Deputy Equality Minister Meg Munn has unveiled a 2.5m fund to help voluntary organisations raise employee awareness of employment equality regulations.The money will help voluntary and not-for-profit organisations raise the profile of sexual orientation and religion or belief legislation.
A panel of representatives from the DTI, Welsh Assembly Government and Scotland Office will assess the bids and make recommendations to the head of employment relations at the DTI, Janice Munday, who will make the final decision. Ms. Munn said the money would benefit organisations around the country in their work to raise awareness of this legislation.
Under the Employment Equality Regulations, which came into force in December 2003, individuals who feel they have been discriminated against on the grounds of sexual orientation, religion or belief can take their complaint to an employment tribunal. If a tribunal finds in their favour there is no upper limit to the amount of compensation the organisation may be ordered to pay.
The funding is available up to 31 March 2007 and organisations are invited to submit proposals by 27 July.
Indifference to Diversity within Further Education
A report from the Learning and Skills Development Agency suggests that many managers in organisations that provide further education, adult education or training are indifferent or even resistant to involvement with diversity issues. The report, Leadership, Development and Diversity in the Learning and Skills Sector, highlights the lack of a common understanding of the term diversity in educational organisations and calls for swift action to address concerns about the low priority given to diversity issues.
The report found a wide gulf between staff who were firmly committed to diversity and those who were not. Some saw achieving greater diversity among staff and students as an important objective, whereas others felt it was "irrelevant" and "an impractical target".
Business Case for Diversity is Proved
The fifth annual Race for Opportunity benchmarking report, which tracks the impact of diversity on the bottom line of some of the UK's biggest businesses, reveals that 91% of public and private sector bodies have pinpointed a clear business case for diversity policies, compared with 78% in 2004. Of the 113 private and public bodies benchmarked this year, 40 attributed an estimated 13.3bn in profits to the impact of their activities on race.
Royal Mail chief Allan Leighton, chairman of Race for Opportunity, said business needed to understand that if it is seen as attractive to ethnic minorities, it will make more money. He said: "The ethnic minority population in the UK has an annual disposable income spending power of 32bn. Cater effectively to this sector and you will see rewards on the bottom line."
Lloyds TSB Group was the firm with the best diversity policies in the UK, and the Army was the top public sector performer for the fifth year running.
Ethnic Minorities Under-Represented in Advertising Industry
Advertising companies have been urged to adapt their recruitment methods to embrace diversity, after a report revealed that ethnic minorities are not considering a career in the sector.
The report by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, carried out by COI, the governments marketing vehicle, acknowledged that the industry was recognising the business case for diversity but should aim to increase the 8.5% proportion of employees from ethnic minorities currently working in media.
The COI urged the IPA and its member agencies to develop mentoring schemes in London schools to attract more applicants to the industry from ethnic minorities, and develop an apprenticeship linked to IPA-endorsed qualifications.
Ethnic Minorities Suffer Scottish Penalty
Scotland is beset by a chronic ethnic penalty when it comes to getting jobs, according to the Commission for Racial Equality (Scotland).
CRE Scotland yesterday warned members of the Scottish Parliaments European and External Relations Committee that the countrys population would continue to decline and skills shortages would remain if barriers that prevent people from ethnic minorities from contributing to Scotlands society and economy were not overcome.
The Scottish Executive estimates that the population of the country will fall below five million unless 8,000 more people move to Scotland every year until 2009.
Ali Jarvis, interim director at CRE Scotland, said addressing Scotlands population decline by attracting new immigrants does not simply depend on getting more people into the country; it also depends on ensuring that they want to stay.
He said:"We all like to think of Scotland as an attractive and welcoming country, but we need to face up to reality. A person in Scotland today from an ethnic minority background of the same age, with the same skills and qualifications and living in the same area as a white person is more likely to be unemployed, be in a more junior position and earn less than their white equivalent. Scotland is beset by a chronic ethnic penalty - [which] damages our economy by preventing people from an ethnic minority background from fully realising their potential. Unless we tackle this head-on, new migrants will face the same fate; and Scotland will continue to be held back."
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