Equality and Diversity

Making sure your employees feel accepted at work should be one of your main priorities.

Staff shouldn’t feel that who they are will get in the way of any potential progression. An equal and diverse workforce comes with a range of benefits, such as productivity, quality of work and stronger working relationships.

However, inequality still occurs despite the best efforts of employers. To make your workplace more equal, you need to understand its importance.

In this guide, we’ll discuss what equality and diversity are, why they’re important, and how to promote them in your business.

What is Equality in the workplace?

Equality allows every person to have the same opportunities in life. Every member of staff has the right to equality in the workplace.

Equality at work is all employees receiving equal opportunity no matter their gender, race, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or age.

Every person is protected by the Equality Act in Canada. This act means all individuals have equal protection and benefit from the law without discrimination.

As an employer, it’s important you create an environment where everyone feels valued. The more valued employees feel, the more engaged they’ll be.

Why is Equality in the Workplace Important?

The importance of equality in the workplace shouldn’t be ignored. You have a duty of care to your employees to treat them equally.

It’s important because:

• It’ll increase productivity and performance.
• Positive working relationships are created between employees.
• Your company’s reputation will increase, meaning you’ll attract and retain the best staff.

How to promote equality in the workplace

As an employer, you have a responsibility to promote equality. There are many things you can do to create a more equal and inclusive place to work, such as:

• Study your job descriptions: make sure the language being used isn’t discouraging for people applying for the role.
• Make employees are aware of how to report inequality: the more encouraged people are to report any issues, the more transparent your company can become.
• Provide equality training: This training should include how inequality can affect people and who to report any inequality to.
• Provide staff with paid leave: this can be for any religious events that they celebrate.
• Be transparent about your salary: see if there are any gender pay gaps.

What is Diversity in the workplace?

Diversity is about understanding everyone’s differences, and that each person is unique. This involves their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, or religious beliefs.

Diversity in the workplace is when all employees feel accepted and included no matter what their background is.

It’s important that your workforce is diverse and inclusive. You have a responsibility to make sure everyone feels included.

It’s important for your employee’s differences to be respected and valued. A successful workforce is one that includes and absorbs people’s different views and ideas.

Why is Diversity Important in the Workplace?

Having a diverse workforce is extremely important to your business. As an employer, you should strive for a diverse company due to the following reasons:

• Improved cultural awareness throughout your company, leading to stronger relationships.
• A positive company reputation.
• An increase in creativity and quality of ideas.
• A more engaged and happier workforce.

How to Improve Diversity in the Workplace

Improving your business’ diversity should be one of your main priorities. There are many things you can do to help make your workplace more diverse and inclusive:

• Provide diversity training for all employees. Make sure your employees know who to report any issues to, and the importance of having a diverse workplace to colleagues.
• Celebrate all religions and cultures within your workforce. Supply paid leaves for employees if required.
• Hire managers from different ethnic backgrounds where possible. This will lead to different voices and ideas being passed through the company.
• Establish mentoring programs. Pair employees up from different backgrounds who wouldn’t usually work together.
• Make sure your job advert doesn’t put anyone off applying for the role. Study the language involved in the ads.

Get help with your equality and diversity today with BrightHR

Regardless of your employee’s backgrounds, they deserve to be treated equally in the workplace.

You need to make sure your staff feel welcomed and accepted, not isolated. Failure to do so can lead to complaints, staff resignations and a decrease in morale.

If you need assistance with your equality and diversity, BrightHR has a useful tool that will make the whole process easier for you.

Our HR document storage tool allows you to store your equal opportunities policy on the cloud. You will be able to make any changes whenever you need them.

Contact us on 18882204924 or book a demo today.