Research Project: Equality and Diversity in NHS Employee Engagement

This research project investigates the impact of equality and diversity policies on employee engagement within the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. The project begins with an executive summary, followed by an introduction outlining the importance of equality and diversity and its relevance to the NHS. It sets aims and objectives, including analyzing the concept of equality and diversity, understanding the importance of employee engagement for the NHS, and measuring the impact of diversity policies. A literature review explores the concepts of equality, diversity, and employee engagement, highlighting their significance in the modern workplace and the challenges faced by organizations like the NHS regarding discrimination. The research methodology employs a quantitative approach to gather and analyze data, including the use of questionnaires. The findings, discussions, conclusions, and recommendations are presented to offer insights into how equality and diversity policies can improve employee engagement within the NHS, addressing ethical considerations and outlining a timeline for the project. References and reflections are also included to provide a comprehensive overview of the research.

Research Project

Table of Contents
Project Title- How equality and diversity policies helps organization in improvising employee
engagement. A case study on NHS..................................................................................................3
1. Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Aims and Objectives....................................................................................................................4
Relevance to Professional or Academic Field/Literature review....................................................5
Concept of equality and diversity and its importance.................................................................5
Employee engagement plays a vital role in NHS........................................................................6
Impact of equality and diversity policies on employee engagement of NHS..............................7
Research approach.......................................................................................................................8
Research philosophy....................................................................................................................8
Data collection.............................................................................................................................8
Ethical Issues...................................................................................................................................8
Timeline.........................................................................................................................................10
.......................................................................................................................................................10
.......................................................................................................................................................11
.......................................................................................................................................................11
Expected Outcomes.......................................................................................................................11
2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..............................................................................................13
Aims and Objectives..................................................................................................................13
3. Results/Findings........................................................................................................................15

Questionnaire.............................................................................................................................17
4. Discussion..................................................................................................................................19
5. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................28
6. Recommendations......................................................................................................................28
7. Reflection...................................................................................................................................29
8. References..................................................................................................................................30
Project Title- How equality and diversity policies helps organization in
improvising employee engagement. A case study on NHS.
1. Executive Summary
Present document is has delivered the information in relation to how equality and diversity
policies affects employee engagement for a organization which is dealing within healthcare
industry. In modern business world, discrimination is considered as one of the crucial element
that majorly impacted negatively on a company’s goodwill at international market. Companies
has taken into consideration of various aspects like development of policies in relation to
minimizing the discrimination through delivering equal opportunities to the employees. Under
this, equality and diversity is said to be a crucial term that induced staff members that belongs to
different cultures and races together at work station. But, some of the healthcare organizations

like National Health Services (NHS) are still dealing with discrimination related problems which
minimized the performance and motivation level of staff. Therefore, it is premise required by
NHS to develop different range of policies so that employee engagement can easily be
improvised at work station.
Over a few decades, government has started supporting equality and diversity at workplace
within United Kingdom. Equality Act, 2010 is considered as crucial rule or the regulation which
is required by every single business organisation whether it is dealing within retail, healthcare or
any other market to include in there policies that are linking to staff members. NHS, which is a
public healthcare organisation of United Kingdom and its staff has gone through different range
of the difficulties in relation to discrimination. There are many cases that came in front where a
person (staff member) has been accused performing a discrimination related act where the
individual who got harassed has reported in the police. This not only impacted negatively on
motivation level of other staff members were performing their tasks regularly within National
health Services but it also affected reputation of NHS within United Kingdom and among other
European countries as well.
Introduction
Equality and diversity is considered as the term which helps a company in in delivering equal
opportunities to every single individual without any sort of discrimination. Over the years, many
business organizations and their staff members have faced discrimination related acts, which not
only reduced engagement of staff members towards different tasks of the company but it has also
impacted negatively on brand image of firm (Kirton, Robertson and Avdelidou‐Fischer, 2016). In
order to investigate the topic, the particular case that has been taken into consideration is of NHS
which is a public Healthcare agency of United Kingdom which develops policies and delivers
medical services to citizens of United Kingdom.Basically, NHS has been going through different
number of difficulties where discrimination has been a major part which impacted negatively on
its reputation in United Kingdom and at international level as well.
Staff members of NHS has gone through ample number of discrimination related acts which took
place at the workstation. Therefore, it is vital for NHS to develop an effective equality and
diversity policies as this will help them in gaining ample number of advantages in improvising
employee engagement at the workstation of NHS. This is why, researcher has taken into
consideration of this topic that will help company which is NHS to improve overall employee

engagement towards different goals and objectives of the healthcare organization.
Aims and Objectives
Aim:Primal aim of present investigation is “To the impact of equality and diversity policies on
employee engagement of an organization.” A case study on NHS.
Objectives:
 To analyse the concept of equality and diversity and its importance.
 To identify why employee engagement is important for NHS.
 To measure the impact of equality and diversity policies on employee engagement of
NHS.
Questions:
 What is the concept of equality and diversity and its importance?
 Why employee engagement plays a vital role in NHS?
 What is the impact of equality and diversity policies on employee engagement of NHS?
Relevance to Professional or Academic Field/Literature review
Literature review is specifically considered as a crucial element of a research where
investigators specifically take into consideration of different secondary sources like books and
articles, helps in conducting in depth investigation on a chosen topic. In present context, where
the topic which has been chosen by researcher is to the impact of equality and diversity policies
on employee engagement of NHS, where there are three different objectives are going to be
performed in literature review section. Basically, literature review is the particular academic
along with the professional field where research analyze the sources like previous investigations
that has been performed by scholars and researchers.
Concept of equality and diversity and its importance
According to Shan, F. (2017), the concept of equality and diversity specifically based on
anti discrimination process which is mostly followed by organizations in today's business
world. It can be defined as equal opportunities given to every single employee of a company,
without considering different elements like race, color, religion, culture, and many more other
aspects. Policies which has been developed by organizations in relation to equality and diversity
specifically helps staff members to perform all the tasks based on their capabilities and not
focusing on their religion, color, race and so on. This helped ample number of staff members

from going through two different prejudice and discrimination. On the other hand, there are
ample number of cases that came in front where discrimination took place because of color and
the promotion was not given to them because of their cultures and some other elements which
are linked with discrimination. Over the years, most of the organizations consist of workers that
belong to different cultures, religions and also do not carries same skin color (Bailey and et. al.,
2017). This has brought various conflicts among staff members where one is making fun of the
other individual that belongs to another community or consists of a different color. This not
only raised conflicts and workstation but also impacted negatively on repetition of a business
organization. Therefore, it has become vital for firms to develop equality and diversity based
business environment so that they can perform their daily tasks without dealing with any sort of
prejudice.
On the other hand, there are various examples like Google Company, which is performing at
international level and hired staff with mostly that belongs to different cultures. Their policy has
helped form in in enhancing employee engagement and also raised competitive advantages as
well because motivated employees getting equal opportunities directly impacts positively on
overall performance level of a business organization like Google. Including this, if it is talk
about health and social care department of United Kingdom then NHS which is a public
Healthcare organization delivering health related services to the citizens of United Kingdom, it
is pretty much required for them to develop effective equality and diversity policies so that staff
members effectively engage with each other and perform all the daily tasks insuccessful manner
and also look among different aspects to achieve common goal of NHS. on the other hand, it is
important because employee engagement helps a company in rising much more effectively than
the existing stage is it will not only improve the performance level of firm but also reduce the
height of the ratio of staff.
Employee engagement plays a vital role in NHS
As mentioned by Cole, B. (2016), employee engagement plays an important role for every single
business organization which may impact positively on overall performance level of a firm.
Basically, employee engagement can be defined as emotional connection of an employee
towards the company in which he or she is performing daily tasks at a workstation. It is vital for
NHS to understand how employee engagement can easily be improved as it will not only help
form in in enhancing the motivation level of staff members but it will also impact prominently

while serving different services to patients.Including this, employee engagement or worker
commitment is characterized as the passionate venture representatives make in their associations.
It is the energy, inclusion, and inspiration they bring to work, which they use to manage their
work. Drawn in workers relate to the objectives of the association and adjust their own objectives
to the association's objectives. The emphasis on employee engagement or worker commitment is
on the ascent comprehensively (Osborne and Hammoud, 2017). Away with this, it's anything but
an issue consigned uniquely to the HR group of NHS. It is also considered to be an operational
conflict that requires genuine thought. In this piece, representative commitment implies, why it is
basic to the main concern of NHS, powerful innovation empowered worker commitment, and
instances of worker commitment in real life.
Impact of equality and diversity policies on employee engagement of NHS
Based on the information given by Rees, G. (2017), there are ample number of positive impacts
that can be seen of equality and diversity policies on employee engagement of a company. In the
same way, NHS which is offering Healthcare services to citizens of United Kingdom, they main
also game different benefits of equality and diversity policy if developed by them considering all
the needs and requirements of their staff members. Some of these impacts are given underneath:
A comprehensive and diversified workforce: Specifically, policies in relation to equality and
diversity will carry Makings numerous advantages to your business. Having a different scope of
encounters and characters inside NHS with bettering comprehend and for the necessities of a
more extensive client base. Particularly so for organizations with a global centre like NHS, it is
favourable to have staff in NHS group with establishes in different nations or societies to
assemble better multifaceted relations with clients.
Advancing comprehension: Advancing more noteworthy comprehension and consciousness of
these various attributes lessens the probability of segregation occurrences, which thus decreases
the opportunity of grumblings, disciplinary activity and work court claims, and at last diminishes
expenses and disturbance to NHS (Gupta and Sharma, 2016).
Making sensible alterations: Segregation happens when a representative is rejected
advancement, excused, barred from social exercises, or given diverse compensation or terms and
conditions as a result of one of the nine secured attributes set out in the Equality Act.
Research Approach or Methodology

Research methodology is another crucial section of an investigation where investigator take into
consideration of different approaches to conduct a research in rightful manner. There are number
of elements like research approach, philosophy, data collection tool and many more are
specifically being presented by the investigator. In present investigation where the topic is to the
impact of equality and diversity policies on employee engagement of NHS, arrange of
methodologies has been taken into consideration are presented underneath:
Research approach
Qualitative and quantitative are the two different approaches that are utilised by investigators
while conducting investigation. Along with this, another approach which can be adopted by
researcher is mix approach which consists of both qualitative and quantitative data and helps in
pulling out favourable outcomes. In present investigation, researcher has utilised quantitative
research methodology which will help in pulling out favourable outcomes in relation to the
chosen topic which is equality and diversity.
Research philosophy
Research philosophy is considered as the perspective of the investigator that has been adopted
while conducting investigation on a particular topic like equality and diversity. In present
context, there are two different philosophies interpretivism and positivism that can be utilised or
adopted by investigator. In order to conduct research in rightful manner researcher has utilised
interpretivism philosophy which will help in collecting favourable outcomes (Masuda,
Holtschlag and Nicklin, 2017).
Data collection
There are specifically the two major data collection sources by which information can be
collected by researcher are secondary and primary. Basically, data which has been collected from
primary source is considered to be more authentic than the secondary one. There are some of the
tools like questionnaire, Focus group, interview and many more can be taken into consideration
by an investigator while considering primary source of collecting the data. On the other hand, if
it’s talk about secondary then it is considered to be less authentic data as it has already been
utilised by different scholars from collecting it through books, journals and many more other
elements (Łaba and Geldenhuys, 2016).

In present context, while conducting the investigation on equality and diversity investigator has
utilised primary research data collection tool and will be utilising questionnaire with 30
respondents that belongs to NHS (employees).
Ethical Issues
While performing an investigation, a researcher specifically goes through different range of
ethical issues that are required to be reduced to minimal in order to carry out the positive and bi
fitting results of the investigation topic that has been taken into consideration. Primal issue that
came in front was the authorisation of respondents that has been utilised in order to conduct the
investigation on diversity and equality. But, with the help of consent form this issue was
effectively resolved as it delivers the information in relation to how exactly the information is
going to be utilised (Davis, Frolova and Callahan, 2016). Another ethical issue that came in front
was the information that was carried out from different secondary sources was ethically proven
or not. In order to resolve this issue, researcher has utilised government authorised online
websites only in order to pull out the favourable information.
Timeline

Expected Outcomes
If it is talk about the outcomes of this investigation then and it is pretty much clear that equality
and diversity policy if developed by NHS then it can directly help form in improvising overall
employee engagement which will not only motivate staff but it will also help form in gaining
ample number of competitive advantages while serving to the patients. On the other hand, my
knowledge in relation to term “Equality and diversity” has directly enhanced and also the overall
project also impacted positively on my research skills and also project improved my time
management skills as well. It also helps me out in looking amongst different rules and
regulations in relation to discrimination that are followed by most of the business organizations
while developing an effective equality and diversity policy. Lastly, I can also say that this overall

project will help me out in my near future whenever I will get the chance of conducting same
sort of investigation over a topic.