Has UK Anti-Discrimination Legislation Succeeded in Providing Equality in Workplace - Essay Example

Running Head: UK ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LEGISLATION Has UK Anti-Discrimination Legislation Succeeded in Providing Equality in Workplace? of the Writer] [Name of the Institution] Has UK Anti-Discrimination Legislation Succeeded in Providing Equality in Workplace? Table of Content Has UK Anti-Discrimination Legislation Succeeded in Providing Equality in Workplace? Introduction Discrimination refers to the differential, and often unequal, treatment of people who have been either formally or informally grouped into a particular class of persons. There are many forms of discrimination that are specified according to the ways in which particular groups are identified, including race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, class, age, disability, nationality, religion, or language. The United Nations Charter (1954) declared in article 55 that the UN will promote human rights and freedoms for all, “without distinction as to race, sex, language, and religion.” Later in 1958, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights added eight further grounds for possible discrimination, which were colour, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status (Sparrow, 2000, pp. 202-18). This paper discusses whether UK anti-discrimination legislation succeeded in providing equality for all in workplace or not in a concise and comprehensive way. Purpose of the Study This research is based on the premise that the implementation of the provisions of these laws on employment falls largely in the area of operation of professionals in human resources (HR). These professionals responsible for recruiting, selecting and perform other labour practices affecting the recruitment and retention of workers with and without disabilities. The purpose of this investigation has been to identify how HR professionals have responded to date to this legislation and what more can be done to support the critical role they play in minimizing discrimination against the disabled in workplaces. Workplace Justice and Diversity Sparrow (2000, pp. 202 18) mentions that workplace diversity appears to have a rather short history as a field in organisation studies if one locates its emergence only within contemporary scholarship. Issues that commonly fall within the study of workplace diversity have always existed. Yet, early conceptualisations of organisations were rooted in universalistic approaches that largely ignored race, ethnicity, gender, culture, sexuality, and other social identities. Race and gender in organisations gained some attention after the passage of equal employment legislation in the United States during the 1970s as well as in the UK (Sparrow, 2000, pp. 202 18). This work appeared under the rubric of women in management and in studies of the effects of affirmative action and workplace discrimination (Sisson, 1994, pp. 123-131). Substantive attention to workplace diversity in organisations is attributed primarily to the publication of Workforce 2000. This report forecasted a radical increase in the number of women and racial/ethnic minorities entering the United States workforce. It seems this forecast was largely on target although some changes in the profile of the workforce were unforeseen, including an increase in the number of workers with disabilities and growing religious diversity. Women constitute 48 percent of the United States workforce. By 2020, 32 percent of the US labour force is projected to be ethnic minorities, and four of every ten people entering the workforce from 1998 to 2008 will be members of minority groups. Hispanics are now the largest minority group in the United States, surpassing African Americans. Sisson (1994, pp. 123-131) urged organisations and decision-makers to identify ways to “manage” this growing diversity. Consequently, the field was initially practitioner-driven with scholarly attention lagging. Some would argue this accounts for the frequently lodged criticism that much of the literature on workforce diversity is atheoretical. However, in the last ten years, the research on workplace diversity has escalated. The conceptualisation of and research on workforce diversity has largely emanated from North America, primarily the United States. Consequently, much of the extant literature represents a perspective rooted in the social and political history of the United States. More recently, the topic of workplace diversity has gained currency in Europe, with its growing immigrant population from Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, as well as in other regions of the world, including Africa (Webb, Webb, 1992, pp. 78-92), Australia, and New Zealand. Organisational demography focuses on the causes, consequences, or distribution of employees in an organisation. Scholars studying workplace diversity have utilised organisational demography theory to focus primarily on the group identities of age, tenure, education, and functional background. However, Tsui and Gutek (1999: 15) emphasize that diversity and demography are not the same. They argue that demography experts focus on understanding the meaning of demographic diversity and analyzing the effects of such diversity on individuals, groups, and organisations (Webb, Webb, 1992, pp. 78-92). Their interest is not in prescribing action or change but in explanation. Demographic analysis employs three approaches to uncover the effects of demographic differences: categorical demography, composition demography, and relational demography. Categorical research focuses on the effects of an individuals demographic characteristics on work-related behaviour and attitudes (Cartwright, 2008, pp. 78-85). Composition demography is concerned with the effects of demographic compositions of work units and organisations on individuals or groups. Relational demography focuses on social relationships between an individual and the group with respect. The interest is in effects of the difference in the individuals demographic attributes and those of the other members in the group. For example, the situation of a lone female manager in a top management team is argued to be different from being a female in a top management team comprised mainly of females. An important assumption of demography theory is equivalence among all types of diversity. The interest is in the effects of relative heterogeneity and homogeneity rather than the subjective meaning of the demographic identity (Cartwright, 2008, pp. 78-85). Has UK Anti-Discrimination Legislation Succeeded in Providing Equality in Workplace? Cartwright (2000, pp. 16-23) mentions that the unemployment and underemployment rates for people with disabilities are often very large compared to those of their non-disabled peers, despite the fact that approximately one in six people has a disability. This disparity is given according to the inequality that has pervaded the social policies, access to education, training and employment, as well as societys attitude. To address this gap, United Kingdom has passed laws against discrimination against people with disabilities during this decade. The Anti-Discrimination Act of Disabled Persons 1990 (DDA) provides similar protection in the UK. Prior to 1979, previous Labour governments passed a great deal of legislation regulating unfair dismissal, compensation for redundancy, equal opportunities and pay, maternity leave, time for union duties, and health and safety at work. In 1963 the Contracts of Employment Act obligated employers to provide a written statement of the principal terms and conditions of employment, so removing the informality of oral contracts and giving employees a minimum notice period based on years of service. The Redundancy Payments Act of 1965 compelled employers to make a payment based on earnings and length of service to employees declared redundant. In the period between 1990 and 1995, there were estimated to be over 4 million redundancies in the UK. Employment tribunals were established in 1965, primarily to resolve disputes regarding claims of unfair dismissal. Over the years their remit has extended to include almost 80 different kinds of claims such as disability discrimination, equal pay, working time, and breach of contract. Employment tribunals are normally chaired by a barrister or solicitor of at least seven years standing and two representatives, one from the employees side and one from the employers. Since 1993 certain types of cases may be heard by the chairperson sitting alone. The Employers Protection (Consolidation) Act of 1978 permits dismissed employees to grieve a complaint of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal (Blyton, Turnbull, 1998, pp. 34-42). A conciliation officer from the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS, established in 1974) attempts to find a mutually agreeable solution to the grievance. ACAS has a staff of almost 750 people and is based in London and the regions. Additional government bodies have been formed to enforce specific laws, such as the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) to insure compliance with the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) 1975. The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) was established under the Race Relations Act (RRA) 1976 to tackle direct and indirect racial discrimination and to promote racial equality. The RRA was strengthened by an Amendment Act in 2000, following the Macpherson Inquiry into the death of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, to extend protection against racial discrimination by public authorities. Health and safety in the workplace has been addressed by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. As well as attending to the physical hazards that may result in accidents or prove dangerous to health, employers are also obliged to safeguard individuals as far as possible from the ill-health effects of psychosocial hazards such as workplace stress (Blyton, Turnbull, 1998, pp. 34-42). Since 1974, the Health and Safety at Work Regulations (1999) state that employers have a duty to operate a written health and safety policy; to assess the nature and scale of risks to health; and to apply principles of prevention. As a member state of the European Union (EU), employment law and practices are influenced by EU directives and steps have been taken to harmonise UK practice in the social policy area with the rest of Europe. The Conservative government was highly resistant to commit to the basic employment rights and objectives embodied in the EU Social Charter, but following the 1997 change in government, there has been greater acceptance and adherence to the objectives of the Social Charter under New Labour. Notably, in January 2000 the UK government accepted legislation that required companies with more than 1,000 employees and at least 150 employees in each of two or more member states to set up a European works council (EWC) or some other European-level information and consultative procedure (Kandola, 2001, pp. 17-19). Prior to 1998, working hours were not subject to any regulation in the UK. The implementation of the Working Time Regulations 1998, a consequence of the EU Working Time Directive (93/104), regulates the number of hours worked including overtime averaged out over a period of four months or as long as 12 months if employees agree. The Regulations also address the issues of rest breaks and holiday entitlement. The EU has also been influential in protecting the rights of employees transferred from one employer to another as a result of corporate acquisition (Kandola, 2001, pp. 17-19). The UK has a strong tradition of trade unionism dating back to the onset of industrialisation in the eighteenth century. Webb and Webb (1902) define trade unions as “a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining and improving the conditions of their employment.” Collective bargaining was a common feature of trade unionism during the twentieth century. However, the power of trade unions has been severely weakened over the years mainly as the result of a decline in manufacturing, prolonged high unemployment, and the extensive anti-union legislation introduced by the Thatcher government. Labour is less sympathetic to the trade union movement than it was in the past and, despite the partys return to power, the influence of trade unionism has not significantly increased. In 1975 trade union membership in the UK was 12.2 million; by 1996 membership had declined to 7.2 million, which amounts to about one-third of the workforce. In 1996 there were fewer than 250 strikes or stoppages due to industrial action. The Trades Union Congress (TUC), established in 1868, is a voluntary body which in 1997 represented 74 trade unions. The TUC holds an annual conference and elects a General Council to make decisions and establish policy on a wide range of issues (Kandola, 2001, pp. 17-19). The evolution of human resource management (HRM) in the UK has followed a similar course to the US, with an increased alignment between human resource strategy and business strategy. The changing nature of work and work organisation will continue to present a number of challenges for HRM in the future and will require the development of new competencies to cope with the changes in work design (Scase, 1999, pp. 56-69). Predictions from the Institute for Employment (2000) suggest that by 2009, 40 percent of jobs will fall into the managerial, professional, and associate professional class, with only 21 percent in elementary and operative jobs. In an interview for the Guardian newspaper in 2000, Graeme Leach, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, claimed that within 20 years one-quarter of the workforce would be temporary workers and that as many as 50 percent would work from home in some form. Furthermore, the mobility of the workforce is predicted to increase, along with greater polarisation in cultural (Scase, 1999, pp. 56-69), educational, and material living standards. If UK employers are to remain competitive in a global economy, they will need to win what Kandola (2001) terms the “war for talent” and recruit more women and ethnic minorities. This will place an increasing emphasis on flexible working and a move in some sectors to virtual organisation. The UK will also likely employ more immigrant labour, particularly from the EU member states. The changing nature of work has already impacted on worker health. In the UK the average number of hours worked is 44.7 hours, which is significantly higher than in other EU states despite the Working Time Directive. This has been a contributing factor in the incidence of stress-related illness, which has become a growing problem in the UK in recent years. According to the UK Health and Safety Executive, stress-related absence accounts for 60 percent of all work absences and affects one in five employees. Apart from facing recruitment difficulties and skills shortages, employers will also need to meet the challenge of maintaining workplace health (Scase, 1999, pp. 56-69). Process of Accommodation and Adjustment in the Organisations Many of the organisations surveyed are responding to their respective anti-discrimination laws through accommodations or adjustments needed by job applicants and employees with disabilities, including being flexible in HR policies and give accessibility to existing facilities (European Economic Community Council, 2003, pp. 34-41). In Great Britain and Northern Ireland, this decision often takes managers or directors who are not HR. When asked if wearing registration information for accommodations and adjustments, once again there were significant differences between countries. In general, is more rare keeping records in Northern Ireland (56% do not keep records of adjustments) and Britain (35% of respondents do not keep records), compared with only 13% of Americans who do not bear registration these data (European Economic Community Council, 2003, pp. 34-41). European Communities (1997, pp. 10-17) discusses that the organisations of the three areas reported difficulties in responding to the request of making information accessible to people with visual impairments or learning, as well as for people with hearing disabilities. The British and Irish employers reported more difficulties to adjust the medical evidence in order to minimise discrimination against disabled applicants in the process of screening personnel (European Communities, 1997, pp. 10-17). Several research have reported a higher degree of familiarity in the areas of: Develop questions for applicants on their ability to perform specific tasks rather than ask about their disability; restrictions and examinations to obtain medical records; restrictions when seeking information on medical issues affecting the applicants health and safety at work and knowledge on when to ask an applicant how to carry out certain tasks. They were more respondents representatives HR British or Irish Americans who reported being familiar with the adaptation of printed materials used in the process of having large letters, are in "floppy" (Church, Ware, 2000, pp. 45-53) or in Braille for applicants with disabilities. It seems that in Great Britain and Northern Ireland is being much more significant changes from administration policies and in the absence of payment in case of poor health or illness of what is occurring in the United States on policies disabilities long and short term (Church, Ware, 2000, pp. 45-53). Only 50% of Britons with disabilities of working age is unemployed. The British legislation against discrimination has led to higher unemployment among people with disabilities, according to an investigation conducted by the Wolfson Research Institute at the University of Durham, which echoes the newspaper The Guardian. It may be mentioned that since the adoption of the Anti-Discrimination Act of Disabled Persons (DDA, as its acronym in English) the employment rate of this group has dropped, affecting mainly lower-skilled workers (Horspool, Korah, 1992, pp. 337-85). The DDA was adopted in 1995 in the UK and became illegal discrimination against people with disabilities in the workplace, and mandatory accessibility of products, services and public establishments. Between 1990 and 2003, employment rates of people without disabilities increased in that country. However, the employment rate of disabled persons registered an overall decrease of 7%, being more pronounced among those with lesser qualifications (11%). Research (Horspool, Korah, 1992, pp. 337-85) shows that the adjustments to the less skilled jobs are more expensive, which could be the cause of lower hiring disabled workers for these posts. Currently, only 50% of Britons with disabilities of working age are unemployed, compared with 80% of those without disabilities; therefore, the author of the paper concludes that anti-discrimination legislation has failed to narrow differences between both groups. Relevant research suggests that the law would be more effective if instead require the disabled worker to show discriminatory situations, forcing companies to take steps to avoid such situations (Camesasca, Van, 2002, pp. 143-86). Conclusion The current trajectory suggests a questioning mode. On one hand critical management and post-modern approaches question the very ontology, essence, and aims of workplace diversity. At the same time, there is an evident broadening in the level of complexity in the study of workplace diversity within scholarship from a positivist and functional orientation. More attention is being given to the context in which diversity effects may occur as well as recognizing that individuals have multiple identities, not a singular identity (Bergeron, 2001, pp. 513-35). Others question whether enough attention has been paid to the effects of religious diversity, sexual orientation, disability, and class. Despite the volume of research generated over the past ten years, clearly there remain a number of pertinent complex issues and unanswered questions. Not least among them is the persistence of discrimination, racism, sexism, and homophobia as well as continued inequality in the workplace. Ragins and Gonzalez (2003) noted doing research on workplace diversity requires traversing a slippery slope. Yet, it is clear that there is still much research needed to understand the meaning, effects, and consequences of workplace diversity as well as how best to address the stubborn issues of inequality (Kanter, 2004, pp. 54-59). In short, the purpose of this research is to identify how they have responded to date HR professionals to this legislation, and what more can be done to supporting the important role they play in minimizing discrimination against the disabled in their workplaces. Given the decline in the workforce in some countries and increasing skilled labour in certain industries, it is time to explore effective recruitment and integration into the workforce of employees with disabilities. The laws as the Act of British Disability Discrimination against 1995 are important laws in the process of lead in the social, cultural and economic development towards the realisation of equal employment for disabled people. References Blyton, P. and Turnbull, P. (1998). The Dynamics of Employee Relations. London: Macmillan, pp. 34-42. Cartwright, S. (2000). Taking the pulse of executive health in the UK. Academy of Management Executive, pp. 16-23. Kandola, B. (2001). The future of diversity. Paper presented at the British Psychology Society Annual Conference, Glasgow, March, pp. 17-19. Scase, R. (1999, August). Britain Towards 2010: The Changing Business Environment. London: Department of Trade and Industry, pp. 56-69. Sisson, K. (1994). Personnel Management: A Comprehensive Guide to Theory and Practice in Britain. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 123-131. Sparrow, P. R. (2000). New employee behaviours, work and designs and forms of work organisation: What is in store for the future of work? Journal of Managerial Psychology, (15) (3), pp. 202 18. Webb, S. and Webb, B. (1992). The History of Trade Unionism. London: Longman, pp. 78-92. Cite this article Cartwright, Susan, 2008, "United Kingdom." The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management, Blackwell Publishing, pp. 78-85. Bergeron, J. (2001). Antitrust federalism in the European Union after the modernisation initiative. Antitrust Bulletin, (46) (3), pp. 513-35. Camesasca, P. and Van den Bergh, R. (2002). Achilles uncovered: Revisiting the European Commissions 1997 market definition notice. Antitrust Bulletin, (47) (1), pp. 143-86. Church, J. and Ware, R. (2000). Industrial Organisation: A Strategic Approach. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin, pp. 45-53. European Communities (1997). 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