What An Employer Can Do To Avoid Workplace Discrimination

If you’re looking to reduce unfair treatment in the workplace, our new Fairness, Diversity and Respect Accreditation can help your organisation achieve workplace fairness.

Workplace inclusion is an important topic for any business, and some examples of discrimination within the workplace can be:

• Disability discrimination
• Race discrimination
• Gender discrimination
• Age discrimination
• Religious discrimination.

A study by CIPHR reported that 36% of adults in the UK feel they have faced discrimination.

Workplace discrimination is a pressing issue for most adults. With this in mind,  the Fairness, Inclusion and Respect Assessment was created. It was important for CHAS to be one of the first organisations to develop an accreditation to promote inclusion in the workplace in partnership with this assessment. 

If you’d like to know more about how CHAS can help improve workplace discrimination within your organisation, request a callback with one of our award-winning experts.

In the rest of this article, we’ll examine workplace discrimination and how you can create more diversity and inclusivity within your business.

The Basics Of Workplace Discrimination

Workplace discrimination is a complex topic worthy of its own assessment. 

It means the unfair treatment of any person or persons based on one or more protected characteristics.

Protected Characteristics

Protected Characteristics Infographic by Scottish Parliament

Nine protected characteristics as defined by GOV.UK in the equality act are:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race, ethnicity or nationality
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation.

Within the workplace, there is both direct discrimination and indirect discrimination.

Direct Discrimination

Direct discrimination is when a person is mistreated and experiences discrimination in the workplace personally and because of a protected characteristic. This might be by another individual or the organisation as a whole.

Some examples of direct discrimination claims are:

• An individual passed over for promotion because of their age or race.
• Unfair dismissal based on a new marriage or pregnancy
• Being unable to attend a training session because of disability discrimination.

Indirect Discrimination

Indirect discrimination refers to a policy or procedure that puts some employees at a disadvantage compared to the majority of the workforce. This type of workplace discrimination is more difficult to spot, so it’s essential to have at least one person within your team with the kind of training that protects employees from this.

Some examples of indirect discrimination claims are:

• Enforcing working on Saturdays for all, as this can impact Jewish employees who don’t work on the Sabbath
• A minimum height requirement where height doesn’t impact the role, as this can impact women and some ethnicities who may be shorter on average
• Specifying that only people who have lived in the UK for five years may apply for a job. This will affect anyone who is not British and has only just moved to the UK. Of course, this is only applicable if that person has the right to work in the UK.

These examples demonstrate the complexities of discrimination in the workplace. Generally, a good sense check ensures that there is a good reason for any policies or procedures in place.

For example, a height requirement may be a reasonable policy that some airlines may employ to ensure employees can reach the overhead compartments.

How To Deal With Discrimination In The Workplace

There are several things that employers can do to avoid both employment discrimination and discrimination in the workplace.

Create An Equality Policy

An equality policy is a statement that aims to protect employees from discrimination in the workplace. It should explain what your organisation seeks to do to create a safe and inclusive environment for all employees, regardless of age, race, gender, or other protected characteristics.

It should also state that there shouldn’t be any favourable treatment for particular job applicants, promotion or training. These things should be based on merit alone.

It should reassure staff that you will take any complaint seriously, and make reasonable adjustments if you’re aware of any indirect discrimination.

Create A Safe, Respectful Environment

Sometimes, discrimination arising out of a lack of understanding can be avoided by learning and education.

• Consider training an expert in diversity within the organisation to do regular talks and education pieces on topics like religion and harassment.
• Encourage as much interaction across your workforce as possible, allowing colleagues who wouldn’t usually have the opportunity to work together, to do so in an equal capacity.
• Ban offensive remarks and all types of harassment.
• Encourage reporting of discrimination claims in a safe environment.

Take Claims Seriously

Remember that discrimination values start from the top. If managers act fairly and inclusively, more employees are likely to follow suit.

This includes creating a safe atmosphere for employees to report any discrimination claims and also ensuring that there are steps in place to handle them.

This goes back to your equality policy, outlining the procedures that protect employees. Ensuring that you follow through on these will reassure staff and new candidates that your organisation respects and values them as individuals. 

Consider Taking A Qualification

If you’re a senior leader or work within the HR team, achieving an accreditation in discrimination at work will help you support your team and better understand their needs.

This is exactly what the Fairness, Inclusion and Respect (FIR) Assessment has been designed to do. The CHAS FIR Accreditation will help you to:

• Better understand what you’re already doing well within your organisation regarding discrimination in the workplace.
• Benchmark against other businesses
• Access learning resources and give you the support to improve your best practices
• Create evidence to present to clients and stakeholders that you’re taking action against work discrimination.

The Benefits Of Having A Diverse And Inclusive Workplace

There are plenty of benefits to tackling discrimination in the workplace, which is true of any organisation.

If you’re asking yourself whether your business could benefit from better policies and procedures around discrimination at work, consider the following benefits:

• Improve your reputation with stakeholders, clients and other industry professionals.
• Be ready to address cultural challenges that you may encounter within the workplace.
• Attract, recruit and retain a talented and diverse workforce, hired based on their suitability.
• Become known as a more innovative and collaborative place to work.
• Encourage collaboration and co-operation across teams.
• Create a happier, safer work environment and keep talented staff.
• Meet client requirements in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
• Improve your financial returns by increasing productivity and retaining staff.

How To Get Started With Your FIR Assessment

The Fairness, Inclusion and Respect Growth Assessment is a considered and strategic approach to tackling discrimination in the workplace.

It has been developed by industry leaders in construction and the Supply Chain Sustainability School.

Taking an accreditation in FIR shows commitment by your organisation to inclusivity and diversity in the workplace. This is an excellent way to prove to clients and prospective employees that you’re a reputable and responsible business to work with and for.

Through an online assessment, CHAS will guide you through a series of questions, allowing you to better understand the current FIR level that you operate at.

CHAS will also organise a series of online or telephone interviews with relevant stakeholders to understand your FIR criteria through different aspects of the organisation.

Having reviewed your criteria, you’ll be awarded a level of accreditation. We’ll also present you with a report detailing the steps you need to take to improve your ratings in the future.

Any level of accreditation shows a commitment to fairness, inclusion, and respect within your workplace. So even if you need improvement, an FIR accreditation will give you a competitive advantage and set you on a positive path to a more inclusive workplace. 

Want to know more about the CHAS FIR Growth Assessment? Request a Callback from one of our award-winning experts.