Presentation by Sukhvinder Singh

Presentation by Sukhvinder Singh,

Equality and Human Rights Commission, Great Britain

panel: “The workplace: Addressing racial discrimination & promoting diversity”

United Nations, Geneva, 22 April 2009

1.  Introduction to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)

Merger of 3 existing (Legacy) commissions, CRE (race), DRC (disability), EOC (gender) in Oct 2007

As the independent advocate for equality and human rights in Britain, the Commission aims to reduce inequality, eliminate discrimination, strengthen good relations between people, and protect and promote human rights. It exists to challenge prejudice and disadvantage, and to bring about social change.

It enforces equality legislation on age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation, and encourages compliance with the Human Rights Act.

Its role is to enable, persuade and enforce:

Approach is Thematic (multiple identities) and strand base, backed by evidence based.

2.  Workplace

Our task as a Commission is to make difference within our society a source of energy and prosperity, rather than a cause of friction and inequality.

In this new world, equality and diversity can be more than a moral or social good, it will deliver a more productive society. Every successful business today knows that it needs to manage its place and reputation in the world as actively as it manages its clients, its assets and its accounts.

There are two dimensions to how business might respond to the challenge of the new global and domestic marketplace:

1.  internal, about employment, recruitment and retention;

2.  outward-facing, about products, services and customer demand.

The two dimensions should work together: in a world of diverse client needs, a diverse workforce should be a business imperative.

Challenges we face in the UK:

*People from Ethnic Minority background’s share of the total population has risen from 7.3% in 2000 to 10.3% at the end of 2007. This share is expected to increase further given that ethnic minority pupils make up a fifth of pupils in state funded primary and secondary schools and 17% of UK undergraduate students. This is the workforce of the future. But the story of this decade is that its share of the employed population has failed to match that increase, growing from 5.4% to 8.5% over the same period. The bald statistics show that ethnic minorities are simply not gaining the share of jobs that their population would justify.

*Minority ethnic employment rates have continued to increase. The gap between the

employment rate of the minority ethnic population and the total population narrowed

from around 19 percentage points in 1996 to around 14 percentage points in 2006-07- However not much progress, considering 2nd and 3rd generations- No language barriers, therefore discrimination has a role.

Some communities like Pakistani and Bangladeshi gap around 25 to 30 %, especially for Women from these communities.

*In 2007-08, for people from minority ethnic groups who had been turned down for a job in the last five years, the most frequently specified reason was race (by 21 per cent)

* Government report (CLG on race equality 03/09

*When it comes to those making it to management grade, the gap between the overall population and those in work is even greater. Just 6.8%, or one in 15, were in a management position at the end of 2007, up from 4.4% in 2000. In other words non-white workers have failed to secure the share of management posts that the size of the population would justify.

* Race to the Top-Report by BITC-RfO (Earlier this year)

Companies falling short on racial discrimination:

Summary of Information collected from our Helpline staff, anecdotal evidence:

1. The Commission is seeing a trend in regards to complaints about racial discrimination within the following area:

Recruitment – ethnic minorities fair well at telephone interviews and face to face interviews but are not being employed. Feedback indicates that lack of qualifications and experience are reasons for not being successful. However, some positions are then occupied by people with fewer qualifications and no experience and who are not from an ethnic minority. In other cases, the jobs are re-advertised..

Dismissals – Ethnic minority staff are being dismissed after they have complained about lack of equal opportunities, racial harassment or discrimination. A high proportion of those dismissed have temporary contracts or are still on their probationary period.

Redundancies – ethnic minority employees seem to be the first to be made redundant when employers have not followed the appropriate redundancy guidelines, therefore breaching legislation.

Common Factors

There are many ethnic minority individuals who have a wealth of experience within companies but are overlooked for promotion.

There seems to be a trend that access to training, overtime and holiday entitlement differs between ethnic minority staff and non ethnic minority staff who have the same role within a company.

Derogatory language is often used in the workplace and in many situations nothing is done to stop it. As a consequence, ethnic minority staff often leave employment without securing another position elsewhere just to get out of a racist work environment.

People feel intimidated to raise grievances because of the size of the companies and worry about the monetary implications if racial discrimination is not proved within the courts. Many people in this situation look to the Commission for legal assistance.

Racial bullying and harassment in terms of derogatory language is common at all levels of employment from junior staff to the most senior.

Role of EHRC is Persuade, Enable & Enforce to overcome the challenges as above.

Persuade – Why equality and diversity

For any business we can divide the issue of equality & diversity into three strands:

Minimising exposure to risk (Legal case)

Business Case

Moral Case

Legal Case

UK Legislation on Racial Equality

·  The Human Rights Act (1998)

·  The Race Relations (Amendment) Act (2000)

·  The Equality Act (2006)

Good equality policies can help businesses reduce their exposure to risk through reducing the number of cases brought to employment tribunal on the grounds of race discrimination

The financial risk to businesses of having a case brought against them can be substantial, for example in the UK:

•  85,034 claims lodged at the tribunal in 2006/07 under the various equality legislation

•  maximum fine in an equality case was £138,648

•  Race cases – In 2003-04 there were over 2800 cases registered

There can also be significant other costs to a business in addition to the potentially huge fines. Employment tribunal cases can bring substantial negative publicity for a business irrespective of whether they are found guilty or not. Press coverage, both in national and local press will damage a business' reputation.

Damage to business image and subsequent standing in the community can lead to a drop in trade. Employers may find that consumers, both other businesses and individuals, will prefer to take their custom elsewhere, to businesses that have good ethical and social policies. Customers may become wary of businesses that have a history of discrimination, fearing that they too might be discriminated against in the level of service offered to them.

Allegations of discrimination will also impact on overall staff morale and can generate an atmosphere for mistrust and fear.

Negative publicity surrounding tribunal cases may also cause employers difficulties when recruiting suitably skilled staff. Increasingly potential employees are 'vetting' businesses when applying for jobs, and those with a history of discrimination will not be an employer of choice.

This argument is usefull, when linking equality and diversity to the Finance department.

Business Case

·  Changing demographics/Employer of Choice:

For business, the lesson is clear. The failure to use human potential to the full will become more damaging as labour markets become more competitive and mobile. The imperative for employers to treat and reward all their staff fairly will become more and more difficult to resist. And the benefits are there to be reaped.

There are clearly competitive benefits to be gained by employers who take every step to ensure they recruit from the widest possible talent pool.

Business Growth

Expanding the business is a key objective for most business leaders. With business growth comes a greater share of the market, higher turnover and increased profits. Having good equality policies and a diverse workforce can help businesses access new customers and markets, and lucrative government contracts.

An example is a company in the UK, that provided Funeral Services. Where there business operates there is a large South Asian population. When questioned on how many people they serve from these communities, there answer was minimal. Thus they realized the business potential of engaging with these communities. This resulted in them, recruiting individuals from these communities, who had the necessary skills and knowledge for this type of work and then developing a ‘Asian Funeral Service’, which has know been mainstreamed.

During the economic downturn/recession- Need better ways of working, using skills of a diverse workforce, assist with customer loyalty, better customer service etc.

Moral case- Inclusion within the Workplace through Integration

A single person's brilliance or single group's view is no longer enough of a basis for success. The successes of tomorrow will be the forward thinking of people who embrace the concept of Social Inclusion and harness the energy and benefits that both that and Diversity can offer. No organisation can benefit from Diversity unless it is inclusive; what is essential is a structured, systematic approach and process to achieve this.

Today's society should be one in which 'everyone who lives in this country has the right to every opportunity it offers and the duty to make every contribution of which they are capable

Workplace Inclusion, results in, gaining a competitive advantage through workplace environments that accept, accommodate and appreciate the talents of all employees and customers regardless of their background or identity

ENABLE:

·  Employers need advice, guidance and support.

E.g. 'Managing the downturn and preparing for recovery' is the first in a series of guides for small businesses from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The vast majority of businesses want to do the right thing by their staff and treat them fairly. But the law around equality and discrimination can be confusing and intimidating if you don't have a human resources specialist. The Commission is here to help small businesses understand their legal obligations and develop best practice in a way that is tailored to their size."

·  Public Duty

·  Helpline officers advice and guidance

·  Codes of Practice- Statutory Code of Practice on Racial Equality in Employment:

·  Detailed guidance on areas such as positive action and ethnic monitoring

·  Responsibilities of employers, Professional and trade organisations,

Accrediting bodies, Recruitment and employment agencies, Rights and responsibilities of workers

·  What Is Its Legal Status?-:

o  Statutory – approved by Parliament

o  Not authoritative statement of law

o  Its recommendations are persuasive

o  Follow the Code – be in a better position!

·  Legal Context

o  Racial groups

o  What is unlawful discrimination?

o  Positive action

o  General Occupation Requirement

o  General Occupation Qualifications

·  Good Employment Practice:

o  Recruitment and selection, Performance and assessment, Training and development, Promotion, Discipline and grievances, Harassment

o  Dismissal, Former employees, Outsourcing

·  Framework For Action:

o  Race equality policy, Training, Monitoring, Targets and timetables

o  Positive action, Evaluation

Most important is monitoring, Need to ensure that monitoring all through the recruitment process, from job applications, shortlisting to interviews. Then identifying trends and taking appropriate action, i.e. if not enough applicants then look at where and how advertising, shortlisting & interview processes, panel training or diversity of panel members increase.

Monitoring- uptake of training programmes, promotion, pay rewards also grievance and disciplinary processes.

Once identified any trends use this data to develop action plans etc and then evaluate on a regular basis and on-going monitoring.

ENFORCE-

The Commission is charged with the task of systematically enforcing human rights and equality obligations in both the public and private sectors.

The Commission probes, exposes, challenges and secures change across organisations with the aim of securing a fairer, more equal society, by conducting inquiries and investigations, intervening in judicial proceedings instigated by third parties that raise significant equality principles, and issuing legal proceedings in the Commission’s name

Enforcement actions

How does an issue come to our attention?

An issue relating to inequality can come to the Commission’s attention by any number of means, including a call to the Commission’s helpline, or from a stakeholder organisation or individual. The Commission also actively monitors court cases, parliamentary business and press articles for evidence of human rights or inequality breaches.

How do we respond to the equality / human rights issue?

The first step the Commission will take in response to a potential equality / human rights issue is to make preliminary inquiries and gather information.

When all the available evidence is to hand, it will decide whether to pursue the issue via enforcement proceedings. Even if such a decision is made, the Commission will look to resolve the issue through pre-enforcement action and cooperation, rather than through more formal legal means. Pre-enforcement action can take the form of writing a letter to the alleged offending body pointing out the potential noncompliance, giving them specific advice or working with them to ensure that remedial or preventative action can be taken to rectify the situation. These avenues are generally less time consuming and costly than formal actions.

The vast majority of cases are resolved this way. However, when pre-enforcement action fails to achieve the desired outcome, the Commission does not hesitate to take more formal action where it is warranted. Formal action can involve:

(a)  ordering an inquiry into the matter

(b)  carrying out an investigation

(c)  applying for an injunction to prevent an organisation committing an unlawful act

(d)  using a legal power under the public sector duties, for example serving a compliance notice.

Progress so far

Since the Commission came into being on 1 October 2007, it has pursued some 337 cases, with over one third having been resolved. Some matters that remain unresolved are awaiting hearing dates in the European Court of Human Rights, while others are awaiting judgement from domestic courts.