Equality, Diversity, and Fair Treatment in Public Services: A Report

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Equality Diversity and Fair Treatment

Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
P3 Identify the range of legislation designed to implement equality, diversity and fair treatment in
public services...................................................................................................................................2
P4 Explain the importance of understanding unconscious bias, prejudice and discriminatory
behaviour in public services..............................................................................................................3
M1 Investigate the role of advisory services in relation to equality, diversity and fair treatment in
public service employment................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................8
References.............................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
Equality and Diversity are important for saving the basic human rights of employees. It is
very important that organizations focus on these issues. Companies need to follow certain
practices that will help the company in the elimination of discrimination among employees.
Organizations must ensure that all employees must be treated equally. They should provide
equal opportunities for every employee. The equality act states that every worker should be
provided with equal opportunity regardless of age, race, colour, disability, religion and
culture. The equality act legislation makes sure that there is positive work culture and there
is no discrimination within the organization. The act of discrimination in the workplace can
result in creating carrier progression obstacles (Richardson and Monro, 2012).
P3 Identify the range of legislation designed to implement equality,
diversity and fair treatment in public services.
Introduction to Equality Act 2010
The equality act of 2010 was able to bring 116 different equality act into one single
framework. The act provides protection and rights to company employees. The 2010
equality act is helpful in protecting an individual from unfair treatment and provides equal
opportunity to them. The Equality Act contains nine different equality legislation these are;
Equality Pay act 1970: According to the act the employers cannot discriminate among man
and women employee. The employers must pay equal compensation for equal work. The
women employee can claim equal pay if they are working on an equal or similar profile.
Disability discrimination act 1992: disability discrimination can happen when a person is
discriminated because of their disability. According to the DDA of 1992, it is illegal to
discriminate a person in employment, recruitment, education or accessing public service
because of disability. The DDA act also provides protection to people who are suffering from
a temporary and permanent disability (Özbilgin and Tatli, 2011). The DDA act is helpful in
providing protection to people that are discriminated because they are accompanied by an
assistant or interpreter etc.

Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) regulations 2003: Every person has equal rights to
follow its religious beliefs. It is the duty of the company to provide a work environment in
which the employee can practice their religion. The act was designed to combat
discrimination on the basis of religion or personal belief. Employers cannot victimize or
harass an employee based on religious belief. According to the act, an employer cannot
discriminate an employee during training, employment or while providing advice
(Thompson, 2016).
Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) regulation 2003: According to the act the
employers cannot discriminate their employees on the basis of their sexual orientation. The
act is applicable during employment, training, recruitment, promotion and dismissal. The act
provides protections to people that are;
 Person of the same sex (lesbians and gay men)
 Person of the opposite sex (heterosexual)
 Person of the same sex and the opposite sex (bisexual)
Employment Equality (Age) regulations 2006: According to the actions employers cannot
discriminate, harass or victimize employee, trainees, job applicant on the basis of their age.
The age discrimination can be done in two ways these are direct and indirect discrimination.
Direct discrimination occurs when the employer put provision on a particular age group.
Indirect discrimination can occur when the employer shows unfavourable behaviour
towards an employee (Kumra et al., 2012).
P4 Explain the importance of understanding unconscious bias, prejudice
and discriminatory behaviour in public services.
The organizational policies must ensure that the employees do not feel any discrimination
within an organization. Promotion of equality and diversity within the company can bring a
lot of challenges to an organization. In order to overcome the equality and diversity
problem at the organization, they should make sure that their employees work together on
a daily basis (Colgan, 2011). Employers should consider the following measures to overcome
the challenges;
 Managers must ensure that every employee is participating in training and
development programs.

 The benefits and rewards should be accessible to each employee. Any type of
discrimination can result in employees demotivation.
 It is the responsibility of the managers to provide a work environment in which
employees are comfortable in expressing their views, ideas etc.
 Promotion of communication and coordination among employee can create
innovative products.
Bias in the workplace
Bias, prejudice, discrimination produces a distance between the employees. It creates a
physical and emotional difference between employees. This can lead to an uncomfortable
situation between members. Bias at the workplace can result in conflicts within two
individuals. The organizations need to understand the negative consequences of the bias. If
the organization is not able to control these issues then there are chances that the
organization might have to face discrimination claims.
Unconscious Bias at the workplace
Unconscious biases are the form of bias that may occur at the workplace and an individual
might not recognise it. Researches have shown that stereotyping and bias are automatic and
unconscious. Bias can be described as prejudice against an individual or group of individuals.
The act of bias is generally considered as unfair treatment (Dovidio et al., 2010).
Unconscious bias can have great consequences on the individual as well as the organization.
Bias can be divided into two types;
 Conscious Bias
 Unconscious Bias
The organizations should understand that the bias may exist in any form, it can be based on
age, gender, religion, race, country origin etc. The act of unconscious bias can increase in a
situation like working in teams and under time constraints.
Stereotype and bias
It is a human tendency to different individuals based on experience, believes of other
people or through media. Nowadays media play a vital role in the formation of stereotype.

Due to less social interactions, it is very easy to form stereotype about any group or a
person. The major problems associated with stereotype are;
Socially constructed: People form stereotypes from their environment. Some social
stereotypes are generally true for e.g. Younger people have better hearing capability than
older people. But most of the stereotypes are invalid especially when they are formed on
the basis of the gender, race, colour, country origin etc. This type of stereotype can be very
difficult for an organization (Sargeant, 2016). It can result in a decrease in motivation,
productivity, and overall organization value and culture.
Arbitrary: stereotyping individuals is an arbitrary act. Every group is different and forming a
stereotype about a group might not represent that group. Therefore forming a stereotype
feeling towards the special group is not a positive activity.
Biased: Research has shown that people believe those individual people belonging to a
particular group are similar, but is not true. For e.g. a person might think that all American
are similar. Research has also shown that people create a bias towards out-groups and in-
groups. Here out-group is referred to the group in which we do not perceive ourselves as
belonging. Generally, people think that the members of the in-group share similar
characteristics with them.
Prejudice and discrimination:
The formation of stereotype can be led to social judgement. Prejudice is referred to feelings
and attitude towards a particular group or individual. The act of prejudice is generally
related to the formation of stereotype.
Discrimination is referred to as the act of the treating individual or group of an individual
differently. Discrimination can be done on the basis of colour, gender, religion etc. For e.g.
the hiring manager might differentiate employee during hiring and promotion. Sometime an
individual might face hostile treatment from managers. The act of discrimination is linked to
prejudice and stereotype (Fevre et al., 2013).
Unconscious bias during performance management: Performance management is one of
the main functions of an organization. It is done to access the performance of employees.

Performance management involves a comparative rating of employees. Due to its
comparative nature, performance management can attract bias. Managers can develop an
affinity towards a particular employee. This can lead to discrimination toward other
employees.
Unconscious bias during the customer's relation: Customers relationship play a very vital
role in the success of an organization. The organizations must ensure that they are meeting
their customers demand. There are possibilities that the customers care executive might
have an inclination towards a particular group of people. For e.g. the customer care
executive might like a particular group of people (Marvel, 2015). There can be a possibility
that it may avoid other people. The discrimination can be based on race, colour religion, age
etc.
Unconscious bias during recruitment and selection: Recruitment and selection can attract
bias. It totally depends on the hiring managers. A candidate can face discriminatory
behaviour. It is the responsibility of managers to conduct fair recruitment and selection. This
will make sure that skilled and talented employees are hired (Hepple, 2014).
Ways through which an organization can remove unconscious bias
 Managers can adopt a set of standard practices for performance management. A
detailed checklist can be used. It will help in removing discrimination in the PM
management process.
 Proper analysis of various factors can remove the discrimination from the PM.
 Managers should avoid affinity towards any particular employee.
M1 Investigate the role of advisory services in relation to equality, diversity
and fair treatment in public service employment
Role of advisory services
Equality advisory and support service (EASS)- The main aim of the EASS is to provide data
and information to people who want expert information about equality and diversity. The
main of the organization is to provide information about issues such as human rights and
employment legislation. The organization was established by the UK government to
promote equality and diversity within organizations. One of the major responsibility of the

organization is to advice other organization on issues regarding equality and diversity. It also
takes care of human rights issues within organizations.
Roles and responsibility of EASS
 The main aim of the EASS is to provide the information and data on legal and
equality rights
 It helps an individual or company in finding a solution to complex issues such
as the employment and discrimination legislation
 It can provide financial aid to the person that wants to take legal action.
An individual searching for information about equality and diversity can approach EASS. The
organization is responsible for providing help to individuals that are seeking information
about equality and diversity.
Citizen Advice: It is a UK based organization whose main aim is to provide confidence and
knowledge to people seeking solutions to their problems. Citizen Advice believes that
people should find solutions to their complex problems. According to the company data,
currently, the company is providing valuable advice to millions of people. Citizen Advice is a
charity organization that specializes in providing advice and solution to complex problems
through phone, internet, or in person. According to the company website they also provide
information and advice on consumer rights, they claim that they are capable of producing a
witness to courts. Another main function of the company is to provide pension-related
advice to people aged more than 50.
How a company can make a difference
According to the data on the company website the company was able to solve problems of 7
people out of 10. Eight people said that the company advice helped them in finding a way
through which they can solve their problem and 9 out of 10 people said that they will
recommend the company service to their friends. The advice that the company delivered to
its client was able to save around $435 million of government money.
Rights of Women: It is a charity organization that specializes in providing legal advice to
women. The organization main aim is to provide access to information that will help women

in fighting its case in court. The organization provides urgent information and legal advice to
women that are affected by the violence. The urgent availability of information can result in
making an important decision on time (Pearson et al., 2013).
How Rights of Women provide help to women
 Provide legal advice to women
 Help save the rights of women
 Provide information that results in raising the confidence of women
Conclusion
Equality and diversity play a very active role in defining the organizational culture and its
working. The report helped in understanding the concept of equality and diversity. The
report discusses the importance of equality and diversity for the organization, its impact on
the organization, employee and customers were studied. Finally, it can be concluded that
the organizations must include equality and diversity culture within their organization.

References
 Colgan, F., 2011. Equality, diversity and corporate responsibility: Sexual orientation
and diversity management in the UK private sector. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:
An International Journal, 30(8), pp.719-734.
 Dovidio, J.F., Hewstone, M., Glick, P. and Esses, V.M., 2010. Prejudice, stereotyping
and discrimination: Theoretical and empirical overview. The SAGE handbook of
prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination, pp.3-29.
 Fevre, R., Robinson, A., Lewis, D. and Jones, T., 2013. The ill-treatment of employees
with disabilities in British workplaces. Work, employment and society, 27(2), pp.288-
307.
 Healy, G., Kirton, G. and Noon, M. eds., 2010. Equality, inequalities and diversity:
Contemporary challenges and strategies. Macmillan International Higher Education.
 Hepple, B., 2014. Equality: The legal framework. Bloomsbury Publishing.
 Kumra, S., Manfredi, S. and Vickers, L., 2012. Managing equality and diversity:
Theory and practice. Oxford University Press.
 Marvel, J.D., 2015. Unconscious bias in citizens’ evaluations of public sector
performance. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 26(1), pp.143-
158.
 Özbilgin, M. and Tatli, A., 2011. Mapping out the field of equality and diversity: Rise
of individualism and voluntarism. human relations, 64(9), pp.1229-1253.
 Pearson, R., Seyfang, G. and Jenkins, R., 2013. ‘I’ll tell you what I want...’: women
workers and codes of conduct. In Corporate Responsibility and Labour Rights (pp. 59-
76). Routledge.
 Richardson, D. and Monro, S., 2012. Sexuality, equality and diversity. Macmillan
International Higher Education.
 Sargeant, M., 2016. Age discrimination in employment. Routledge.
 Stepanikova, I., Triplett, J. and Simpson, B., 2011. Implicit racial bias and prosocial
behavior. Social Science Research, 40(4), pp.1186-1195.
 Thompson, N., 2016. Anti-discriminatory practice: Equality, diversity and social
justice. Macmillan International Higher Education.