Managing Equality and Diversity at Work - Assignment Example

Managing Equality and diversity at work Name Date Course Question 5 Equal Pay Act 1963 was established for the purposes of eliminating sex-based wage discrimination. However, more than 40 years after the establishment of the Act, gender pay gap is still in existence. Men still earn more than women despite having the same qualifications (Lips, 2013). Family responsibility is one of the main reasons that contribute towards gender pay gap. Women in most cases are required to care for their children and their families. This means that the women are more likely to take unpaid leave from time to time in order to attend to the family issues and this affects their pay. The caring responsibilities among the women may also force them to choose flexible working arrangements. This may force them to miss some of the training and development opportunities and hence impacting negatively on their pay despite the same qualifications with the men. Poor recognition of qualifications is also one of the factors that contribute to the gender pay gap despite the existence of the Equal Pay Act 1963. Most of the companies do not have a proper mechanism for recognizing the qualifications. This has led contributed to the gender pay gap despite the employees performing the same type of work. This is usually common in some of the professional that are dominated by men. The belief that the women cannot perform certain jobs well has also contributed to the poor recognition of the qualifications (Manning & Dickens, 2012). This is common in some of the industries like Engineering. The work of the women is not valued by most of the employees and it is usually assumed that the women usually carry out minor tasks. This includes when the same job is being carried out by both men and women. This situation is more complicated as most of the people in the managerial positions are men (Grove, 2011). The women are still undermined despite the presence of the Equal Pay Act 1963 and hence affecting their pay. Such a factor can be attributed to masculinity which dominates the society and hence impacting negatively on the women. The gendered characterization of the work undertaken by the women is a factor that affects the payment of women in most of the jobs. Some of the employers do not believe that the women can do a perfect job and it will always require the men to make corrections and countercheck the work. Although the Equal Act Pay 1963 is in place, most of the employers ignore it and do not fully comply with its provision. This makes it difficult for the payment of men and women to be the same. The failure to observe the provisions of the Act with regards to equal pay is an offense. However, the employers are able to get away with the offense as the cases are rarely reported (Manning & Saidi, 2010). In many companies the issues of pay are also confidential and hence making it difficult to determine whether the provisions are being followed or not. Question 6 Laws and regulations that are in place with regards to anti-discriminatory approach to aging are weak and hence posing a challenge to the employers. This makes it difficult for the employers to determine what should constitute the workforce in terms of age. The conflict among the employees of different age groups is a factor that makes it challenging to promote the anti-discriminatory approach to age (Kunze, 2011). In most cases, the older employees look down upon the young employees and hence creating a conflict. This is usually the common because the older employees usually feel threatened by the younger employees who may be more qualified than them. In some instances, the older employees usually feel that they are more experienced and should not be supervised by the young employees. Competition among the people in different age groups is also a factor that makes it challenging to implement the anti-discriminatory approach to age. Most of the employers fear that the tension among the employees from different age groups may affect the productivity of their organization and hence presenting a challenge during the implementation (Sargeant, 2012). The employers are usually concerned about their performance and hence making it challenging to undertake the approach. Globalization is a factor a factor that is affecting the decision of the employers. It may be difficult to make for the employers to ensure that the approach is used. This is considering that the workforce challenged is usually faced by the when dealing with globalization. The labour market is a factor that makes it difficult for the employers to adopt the anti-discriminatory approach to age in the job market (Krings, 2011). Currently, the job market is full of young people as compared to the older people. This means that most of the applicants for any job will compose of a high number of young people. This therefore makes it difficult for the employers to use the approach as they may end up not recruiting qualified candidates. In the current set up, technology is one of the most important aspects that are used for the purposes of carrying out most of the activities within an organization. The younger generation is more exposed to the technological concepts and hence making them suitable for such jobs. It is difficult to employ the older generation in such a situation and hence affecting the approach. Some of the jobs also require highly qualified ad experienced personnel. In such circumstances, the older generation is more suitable for the job as compared to the younger generation. The employers find such situations difficult to implement the approach and in most cases it results to the discrimination in terms of age. Although the employers are trying to use the approach, it is complicated due to the effects that it has on their organizations (Tomlinson, 2014). The mandatory retirement age is a factor that poses a challenge for the employers when trying to implement the approach. A lot of understanding by the stakeholders is thus requires in order o ensure that the approach is successful. List of References Lips, H, 2013, The gender pay gap: Challenging the rationalizations. Perceived equity, discrimination, and the limits of human capital models, Sex Roles, 68(3-4), 169-185. Manning, A, & Dickens, R, 2012, The impact of the national minimum wage on the wage distribution, poverty and the gender pay gap, Centre of Economic Performance, LSE. Grove, W, 2011, The Gender Pay Gap Beyond Human Capital Heterogeneity in Noncognitive Skills and in Labor Market Tastes, Journal of Human Resources, 46(4), 827-874. Manning, A, & Saidi, F, 2010, Understanding the gender pay gap: what's competition got to do with it?. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 681-698. Kunze, F, 2011, Age diversity, age discrimination climate and performance consequences—a cross organizational study, Journal of organizational behavior, 32(2), 264-290. Sargeant, M, 2012, Age discrimination in employment, Gower Publishing, Ltd.. Krings, F, 2011, Stereotypical inferences as mediators of age discrimination: The role of competence and warmth, British Journal of Management, 22(2), 187-201. Tomlinson, F, 2014, Negotiating the self between past and present: narratives of older women moving towards self-employment, Organization Studies, 35(11), 1655-1675. Read More