A Diversity Policy at Briggs - Case Study Example

Introduction As an assistant human resource manager at Briggs for over a considerable period now, my experiences and insights here and elsewhere in the industry have prompted me to formulate a study in a much needed direction of innovation in the Human Resource practices and policies within the company. A strong need was felt to study the organizational structure and human resource pool to acquire an in-depth understanding into the probability of beneficial outcomes of incorporating diverse cultures, age groups and discretion practicing workforce towards betterment in operations, employee satisfaction, and enhancing corporate image in the masses through such endeavors which may although at first glance seem to give rise to discourses and not-so-pleasant interactions at times but surely improve the beneficial aspects of inviting diversity in the work culture at Briggs, the departmental chain. Britain, as any other part of the world is changing, globalization is the keyword. And not to be far behind, Briggs is also expanding to new frontiers and taking its operations and culture to Eastern Europe countries for the very first time. As being responsible for the management and development of human resource at Briggs, it falls upon me to raise certain issues which might be relevant and important in the scenario. Elsewhere and here in Britain, due to various reasons of reduced travel times, accessibility, changing mindsets and adventurism have brought in as a result of invasions, expansions, commonwealth and simply a desire to explore English waters, we suddenly see an amalgamation of various nationals, people with diverse cultural, racial and religious backgrounds. These factors are defining our cultural identities, heritage and no doubt adding value to present day Britain. I believe, as a service corporation, the Briggs should start reflecting more the diversity of the UK people in its workforce, as well as in its public image. It is strongly recommended to be inclusive of the differences that make up the reality of modern Britain, including gender, age, ethnicity and cultural diversity, people with disabilities, different faiths and social backgrounds, and different sexual orientations. We understand, for minority employees, the missing piece is often a strong sense of self and an appreciation for who they are and what they have to offer. Through this report, we shall seek to find the reasons, the possibilities, the benefits and immediate targets for ensuring that diversity happens. To aptly identify the initiatives to be supported that are aimed at promoting diversity in the workforce I propose a meet for a review of our targets for the portrayal of black and minority ethnic and disabled people on the floor and behind desks. Thereby also fix targets that may help us in formulating policies, their procedures, applications and structural set up for its monitoring and guidance as well as initiatives and actions outside their scope. It would also help in becoming a member of the major industry networks on disability and ethnicity, as well as of the main UK employer forums which bring together committed organizations to drive progress on diversity. We are aware that promoting equality is a legal requirement today. Equality dissipates everyone is treated fairly, is given equal access to opportunities and services, and is in no way subjected to any unlawful discrimination at workplace, either in hiring or firing process. Diversity takes this a step further; to identify, accept, promote and utilize these various differences as a major shift in the mindset today. This ensures that all employees have access to all the opportunities and are able to maximize their potential and self-development in order to contribute actively to the organization. More organizations are recognizing the benefits of promoting equality and diversity in the workplace, which include the greater quantity and variety of skills, talents and viewpoints brought by a broader based workforce and client group, the opportunities presented by the diverse marketplace, a diversification and expansion of the customer base, attracted by the diverse workforce and an increase in motivation of current staff and hence improving productivity and quality of service, along with the most crucial factor of an expansion in the potential workforce which is indeed a long felt need. In my opinion, as a major boost to operations and morale, diversity training will also help us in fighting the rising attrition rates in the industry, even more, when the costs of advertising, selecting, hiring, training and retaining costs have increased manifolds from the last decade. Last but not the least, an improved public image that of an employer and service provider will immensely help Briggs bridge the gaps into public relations and help us to root out negative publicity of recent where a couple off racial and discriminatory episodes were made public somehow. I hereby present a case study, into one of the leading chain of Marks & Spencer in England that follows such a diversity policy. They have had an Equal Opportunities Policy for more than a decade and age diversity has been an integral part of it since 1995. This stemmed from a desire to create and sustain a competitive edge in terms of employment, as well as customer perception. The addition of age to their Equal Opportunities Policy prompted a full review of their approach to diversity and led to the development of a strategic plan which aimed to derive the maximum business benefits of employing an age diverse workforce by aiming to remove any barriers to recruitment and retention. To disregard the age shift is not an option. Our business success also depends on keeping the professional skills of both older and new workers updated by regular training. As is evident by an in-depth study, it was found that most learnt skills have a three to five year life span. It would be worthwhile to hire anyone who is likely to stay that period to recover our efforts and resources. That is why, and chiefly to avoid any shortage of skills, we need to retain older workers in the workforce for longer. It was found that workers aged over 50 are more likely to stay until retirement and are able to provide more than a decade of service. (Isn’t training older workers a wasted investment?). Why Marks and Spencer did it (See Case Study)? Why was their mandatory retirement age removed from the agreements? As oppose to us who pride us at Briggs on being a 'traditional' company, where as it is not hidden that the 'traditional' style of our managing is beginning to cause concern amongst the company's Board of Directors and its shareholders. There have been particular concerns that the store is not balancing its 'traditional' brand with innovative human resource management strategies. With the impending expansion into Europe this concern has heightened. My experience as Assistant Human resources Manager at Briggs allows me to have certain insights to hint that diversity is a much needed innovation within our company. I would like to share some with you today. We employ 80% women in the workforce but only 13% of them are in any managerial position. Due to an informal procedure, job applicants aged over 50 are been routinely rejected in favour of younger applicants. We are about to venture into Eastern European countries as per expansion plans but our managers seem to know very little about the culture of the East European countries into which they intended to expand. We lack dynamism in our thinking and meetings. So much so that informal comments from our own staff indicates a weak culture of diversity at Briggs. It is right that we comply with the letter of the law with respect to the new directives of the Disability Discrimination Act, but taking no more positive action to enhance the work opportunities of disabled people. What we require is an action plan to put the machine into motion. This is exactly the same I intend to do in my proposal as a prospective head of Human Resource department at Briggs. (Charlotte Parton 2006). Let me start with the benefits. The changing demographics, especially the growing number of older people, will provide Briggs with a major source of skills and expertise. As we shall no longer be able to rely on traditional sources of recruitment as the numbers of younger people is dramatically declining and we will need to widen our candidate-pool. As ADA's spokeswoman, Rachel Fellows, has explained why his company has now become one of the biggest employers of people aged over 50. (Case study, ADA). We may also consider allowing our staff to work beyond their normal retirement age of 60. Retaining talent is the best practice to reduce overall recruitment costs, I have learnt. Secondly, by retaining and attracting an age diverse workforce, we will enhance our potential to increase sales and improve customer service. An initial pilot of Open Days held at 6 branches, specifically aimed at the over 50’s, and staffed by people who mirrored the age groups targeted, generated increased profits in excess of £130,000 in one of the studied experiments. We should do the same if not better (Case study, Barclays). Diversity in Britain is opening up new markets due to the age shift requiring a different emphasis on their products and services. Failure to achieve an age diverse workforce will definitely risk alienating their customer base - 50% of which are already over the age of 50. Our competitors are already capitalising on the benefits of employing an age diverse workforce and have already taken account of the impending age legislation to adopt a more flexible approach to retirement (Case study, Barclays). I propose to set up a team to devise a strategic plan to implement diversity at Briggs. To initiate to help Briggs avoid the skills shortage and to have a more diverse workforce aboard. With a solution to help eradicate the issues that are starting to cause concern amongst our company's Board of Directors and its shareholders by formulating and involving our own Equal Opportunities Executive Steering Group. The first step to keep our future commitments to Age Positive practices in the workplace can been strengthened by effective communications, involving staff in the development of equality policies through Focus Groups, Innovation Forums and Business focused Road shows. Some of the initiatives would include removal of ‘age’ from the Application Form for Employment. I am sure we can follow Barclays’ example, who have also reviewed all HR policies to ensure no undue mention of age or any age bias. Having Equal Opportunities statements on all internal or external job advertisements,. Using appropriate faces depicting diversity in age, culture, race, coulour and sex on recruitment advertisements. All applications being based on a competency framework to foresee all appointments according to merit equality and diversity. (The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006). Becoming a member of the Employers Forum on Age and sharing best practice at workshops, a testimonial from our Chief Executive in can be used on exhibition stands and be incorporated into future publicity campaigns. Government pressures, demographic changes, and the clear business benefits of employing people of diverse ages show that we as an employer need to take a proactive approach to age diversity. ‘Diversity’ is also stirring up the UK civil service. It is now an integral part of the current UK civil service reform agenda (Govt. white paper, 2006). Building the image of leading Equal Opportunities employer and service provider – will not be easy but it will gain momentum and help external media to recognize to recognition promote us as an employer that recognises ability and not age. It was studied that after the Older Workers Policy was introduced at Marks & Spencer, the post retirement aged employees have increased; their youth policies have increased sales floor coverage for weekends at peak hours. They have successfully added to the diversity of their workforce and retained high-performing members of staff entirely on merit and results. They enjoy a good press image and have also won ‘Personnel Today's Age Positive At Work Award 2002’ (Case study, Marks & Spencer). Today, many of the challenges facing propagation of diversity policies in the workplace are evident in different strata and all levels of management. As business leaders, Briggs should think of retention when hiring, advancement when thinking of development. No doubt bringing such extreme makeovers will also raise its share of practical difficulties from all the fronts, basically, the workforce. We would need initiation programs, training, implementing, monitoring and advising groups at different levels to keep such a huge program on tracks (Kurt April 2006). We will routinely analyze employee statistics by gender, age, ethnicity and grade as part of our concurrent HR process. Through our close study programs at all outlets of Briggs, I propose to introduce training measures towards the following effects. Induced interaction within participants giving them insight into their biases, stereotypes, prejudices, etc. Activities helping the participants will operate with an understanding and respect for the presence and power of culture (i.e. norms, values, etc.) in everyday life. To help them work as a group to positively reflect on their experiences from the training and motivating them to work further with diversity issues. Communication and Conflict Resolution workshops play important role in diverse groups. In any case of misunderstanding, these activities address conflict. The ROI on human resources is reduced when productivity and commitment are lost for the reason that the employees feel disregarded and time is wasted in conflicts (Carrie Shearer, 2004). People may be unaware that their behaviour is offensive. People stop when such behaviour is clearly pointed out to them. Supporting other individuals when we see them suffering at the hands of a discriminator/ harasser comes through proper training (DSA). Understanding of personal choices with respect to sex partners, diverse culture and race induced practices, etc. Through these activities, workers will bear a soft corner and try to rationalize themselves to other people’s needs. Various activities like seminars, distributing communication handouts, lectures, group activities, role playing games will also be undertaken to achieve our goal. Childcare, elder care, flexible work arrangements, disability accommodation, language training, working preferences and literacy will be addressed in the formulated policy. I also propose to appoint a separate section under HR department to take care of workplace diversity responsibilities to drive the initiative seeking to fully develop the potential of each employee and turn the different sets of skills that each employee brings into our business as advantage. Team creativity, innovation and problem-solving can be enhanced in the workgroups by their proper study. It will enable us to understand to help us serve our customers better, and on the same side, also help to attract investors and partners in different regions of operations and new areas, as well as reduce the litigations and other such discrimination related costs. A special taskforce under this executive can work to alleviate all occupational stress, either because of gender or age or ethnicity and Opening prospects for Women in all tiers of management. Recent changes in the law now mean that people don’t have to suffer at work because of their sexual orientation. What has changed most is that the burden of proof now lies on the employer. All the dimensions of diversity have negative effects on the worker’s performance, his motivation, his successes, and interactions with their colleagues. I am sure, managing diversity by planning and implementing organizational systems and practices to manage people will maximise our potential advantages when flexibility and creativity and globalization are keys to competitiveness. If we continue to ignore diversity issues at Briggs, as before, we would intend to loose much more than time, money and could be forced to witness reducing profits and overall efficiency. Unhealthy tensions between groups of diverse people breed to loss of productivity due to an increase in personal conflicts; loss of talented people; legal actions; and not being able to retain otherwise talented women and people of color, resulting in a tremendous loss of time, effort and resources invested in recruitment and training processes. Having a diversity policy at Briggs and an efficient framework of good management practices to ensure prevention of discrimination and promotion of inclusiveness on the whole is desired. I sincerely believe, this, to date, will be by far, the most remarkable and much needed innovation within the company, also strengthening our efforts to face new frontiers in Eastern Europe with preparedness and helping us to shine in public by favouring a great cause, a cause of the workers. References 1. Case Study, ‘ADA Stores’, http://agepositive.gov.uk/case_studies/asda.asp, 2005. 2. Case Study, ‘Barclays’, http://agepositive.gov.uk/case_studies/barclays.asp. 3. Case Study, ‘Marks & Spencer’, http://agepositive.gov.uk/case_studies/marks_and_spencer.asp. 4. Case Study, ‘Marks & Spencer’, http://agepositive.gov.uk/case_studies/marks_and_spencer.asp. 5. Case study, ‘Sainsburys’, http://agepositive.gov.uk/case_studies/sainsburys.asp 6. The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, ‘Equality and Diversity: Age Discrimination in Employment and Vocational Training’, http://agepositive.gov.uk/legislation/index.asp. 7. Isn’t training older workers a wasted investment, http://agepositive.gov.uk/news/training_mixed_age.asp, 2006. 8. Modernizing Government White Paper March 1999, Cabinet Office. 9. Kurt April, Marylou Shockley, ‘Diversity: New Realities in a Changing World’, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 10. Carrie Shearer, 2004, ‘Improving ROI through diversity’, http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=159&story_id=11562. 11. DSA, ‘Equality and Quality Policy’, http://www.dsa.gov.uk/Documents/Equality_Diversity/DSA_equality_diversity1.pdf. Read More