Equality and diversity are very different even though they are often used interchangeably. Equality refers to creating a society where everyone has the opportunity to fulfill their potential in a fairer society. Equality approaches suggest that an individual’s social identity will impact their life experiences.
Diversity refers to differences within society. When used as a contrast to equality it recognises both individual and group differences. Diversity within the community and workplace creates a positive atmosphere. It is now important that differences within individuals are no longer ignored to ensure that everyone’s needs and requirements are met within the workplace. Individual differences and diversity have long been recognised as important for effective team performance but in recent years greater attention has been given to the management of diversity; reasons for this include demographic changes in the workforce, equal employment opportunities legislation, changing social attitudes and an increase of women and part-time workers entering the workforce.
In October 2006 an age legislation act came into force which had a significant impact on recruitment within an organisation. According to mullins (2010) this new act meant that employers could no longer discriminate individuals and have to provide everyone the same opportunities regardless of their age, this applied to both ends of the age spectrum. As an employer this legislation would have both a negative and positive impact. Gibson (1998) suggested that by excluding smaller minorities it is like fishing in a smaller pool of talent this shows that there are now more workers for organisations to choose from. Older people tend to have a lot more job experience so by opening up job opportunities to them it means they could potentially be a valuable asset to the team. However on the negative side there are many stereotypes that relate to both young and old people which could pose as a concern for employers. Firstly as for many young people they have little or no employment experience so they are therefore considered as unskilled which makes them less appealing to prospective employers. Young people are also given the label of lazy and unreliable. As for many young individuals they are only looking for a part time job and not a career it means that retaining employees will be low. There are also many stereotypes surrounding the older generation. Firstly the most important factor in my opinion is health, old people tend to have a lot more health related problems which could make them less reliable due to sick days. There is also the perception that they tend to be very slow and not adaptable to new technology, this therefore wouldn’t be suitable in a busy fast pace environment.
Employers can attempt to change these stereotypical attitudes of both young and old people by using them to front their campaigns an example of this is B&Q. They use real employees in their adverts the majority of which being older people. Another method of changing stereotypes would be to employ a variety of ages to provide all employees with the opportunity to make their own view rather than listening to stereotypes.
Visitng B&Q’s website it is clear that they have put into practice innovative ideas in order to provide equal opportunities for potential employees. As many statistics show the UK population is ageing which means there is more demand for young workers. B&Q however took a different approach when they noticed that the majority of their employees were being 16 and 26. This meant that staff turnover costs were high practically between 18-20 year olds. It also became apparent that the older employees received more positive feedback as they delivered better customer service because of the own knowledge of DIY. In 1989 B&Q decided to collect evidence so that they can decide for themselves whether to employ older people. This shows that even before the age legislation came into force in 2006 B&Q were a head above the rest. They decided to open a store which was staffed by employees over the age of 50 only, surprisingly results showed that the store had higher profits, lower staff turnover and over a third less absenteeism. These results not only changed the stereotypes of older people within the workplace but also created a positive approach towards the employment and recruitment of an age-diverse workforce. Today there is not a fixed age requirement for B&Q employees and all are entitled to take retirement. B&Q has applied a more flexible role to job roles and working arrangements which has worked successfully in their favour. By recruiting a workforce of different ages it has produced a few benefits which include higher productivity, reduced absences, reduced staff turnover and an increase in business turnover.
To conclude since the introduction of the age legislation act employers have had to change who they recruit as they are no longer able to discriminate individuals due to age. Having both negative and positive effects on the employer it has, in the long run, provided them with more potential employees to consider.
References
Books
Mullins, L. (2010) Management and organisational behaviour.9th ed. Essex : Pearson Education Limited.
Websites
B&Q (2011) About B&Q [online]. Available from: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/corporate/index.jsp [accessed 16 March 2011].
Is4profit (2011) Age discrimination legislation [online]. Available from: http://www.is4profit.com/business-advice/employment/age-discrimination-legislation/case-study-b-and-q.html [accessed 16 March 2011].
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