THE MANAGEMENT OF

HUMAN RESOURCES
DR TESSA WRIGHT
Lecture 5: Equality and Diversity

Why is equality and diversity

important to HR managers?
Social justice: evidence of inequality in
society and at work
Institutional discrimination and legal
requirements
The business case: the costs of inequality
and benefits of diversity

Employment patterns by gender

Employment rates for men are 77% and
66% for women
But women much more likely to work
part-time than men

MEN

WOMEN

Full-time

Part-time

Full-time

Part-time

88%

12%

58%

42%

Source: ONS, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2013

Occupational gender segregation

Source: ONS,
Labour Force
Survey April-June
2013

High and low-paid jobs

Average
%
hrly pay, women

%
men

Thous
ands

High-paid jobs
Chief executives and senior officials

43.17

25

75

76

Medical practitioners

30.26

42

58

242

Financial managers & directors

28.28

36

64

275

Marketing and sales directors

33.55

24

76

146

Senior professionals in education

29.77

62

38

95

Sales & retail assistants

6.81

66

34

1,080

Cleaners & domestics

6.71

72

28

607

Kitchen & catering assistants

6.40

63

37

456

Waiters and waitresses

6.20

68

32

154

Bar staff

6.20

60

40

187

Low-paid jobs

Source: TUC 2014, From Annual Survey of Hours and earnings 2013

Implications for gender equality

Gender pay gap 2014
9.4% gap between men and womens fulltime median hourly earnings
19.1% overall gap (full-time and part-time)
Part-time hourly earnings 36% less than FT
Women managers will have to work until 80 to
earn same as male counterparts (CMI, Xpert
HR Management Salary Survey 2014)

Employment rates by ethnicity, full-time

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Male Employed full-time

Source: EHRC, 2010, How Fair is Britain?

Female Employed full-time

Employment rates by ethnicity, part-time

30

25
20
15
10
5
0

Male Part-time

Source: EHRC, 2010, How Fair is Britain?

Female Part-time

Implications for race equality

Unemployment levels are higher, particularly for

some ethnic minority groups

Less than 1% of senior staff at Foreign and

Commonwealth Office from an ethnic minority; and
only 6% of senior civil servants in London are from
ethnic minorities

Discrimination can be compounded for ethnic

minority women

Employment status for adults by DDA

status, 2009-10
Full-time - self employed
Full-time - employee
Part-time work
Workless - retired from paid work
Workless - unemployed
Workless - sick or disabled
Workless - other inactive
0

20

40

60

Percentage
Non-disabled adults

Source: Office for National Statistics

DDA disabled adults

all adults

Implications for disability equality

Life Opportunities Survey (ONS, 2010) first major

survey to look at social barriers, not only medical

Involuntary unemployment high for disabled people:

56% believe they are restricted in access to
employment, compared to 26% of non-disabled

Pay gap of 11% for disabled men and between

disabled women and non-disabled men it is 22%
(EHRC, 2010: 415)

Equality legislation
Equality Act 2010 covers:
Race
Sex
Disability
Religion

and belief
Sexual orientation
Age
Gender reassignment
Pregnancy
Marital status

Equality legislation
Equality Act 2010 includes:
Direct discrimination

Indirect discrimination

Harassment

Victimisation

Equal pay

Public sector equality duties

Theories of equality

Conceptualising equality
Sameness v difference
Equality of opportunity
Liberal and radical approaches
Jewson and Mason (1986)
Equality of outcome
Equality legislation
Sameness: individual comparator
Difference: indirect discrim., public sector duties

The critique

Liberal approaches
Political will and resourcing
Bureaucratisation
Sameness or the white, male norm?

Radical approaches
Special treatment and the backlash
Challenging the status quo?

Managing diversity

Focus on valuing difference, utilising difference

Not only concerned with legal compliance
Business case benefits:
Making best use of human resources
Flexible workforce
Attracting ethical investors
Integrating equality into corporate objectives
New business ideas from a diverse workforce

Business case at Network Rail

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Everyone home
safe every day
Reliable
infrastructure
Reliable
timetables
Biggest
investment since
Victorian era
Technology
enabled future

6.

7.

8.
9.

10.

Customer focused
organisation
Investing in our
people
Opening up
A railway fit for
the future
Reduced public
subsidy

The critique
Evolution or sanitisation?
Individualistic approach: social group
disadvantage?
Flaws in business case (Noon, 2007):
what if rational to discriminate?
evidence for cost benefits?
employer prejudice?
Rhetoric or reality?

HR practice on equality & diversity

Fair recruitment and selection, promotion and
appraisal processes
Pay audits by gender and ethnicity
Zero-tolerance of harassment, bullying;
addressing organisational culture
Work-life balance: part-time and flexible
working opportunities, at all levels
Monitoring and equality impact assessment