The Implications of Recent Equalities Legislation for the Human Resource Management of British Airways - Case Study Example

The Implications of Recent Equalities Legislation for the Human Resource Management of British Airways I. Introduction I am presenting this report based on my investigation on the equality legislation and its relation to the employee recruitment process. The Board of Directors of British Airways required a report that can help in aligning the company’s operations to new equalities legislation. The focus of this report is the implication of the equalities legislation on the human resource recruitment process of British airways. II. Mandate A. Background There has been a need to reduce workplace inequalities that arise from socio-economic disadvantages faced by some groups like ethnic minorities, women and the disabled. Dickens (1997, p. 282) states that inequalities which victimise women and racial minorities have been reflected in statistics on labour force and pay data. Companies in the country have continually condoned bias among their employees, preferring to offer better pay and more positions to males and native born. This implies discrimination against women and non natives. For decades now there have been calls for deregulation of the labour market through weakening of the power of labour law and trade unions. Statutory employment rights and legal protections of employees like minimum standards have been abolished (Dickens 1997, p. 286). Ultimately, business case for equality has replaced legal compliance and social justice stipulations. Employer self interest rationale is promoted by the government, business groups, employer organizations and equality agencies (Dickens 1997, p. 287). Companies that employ the self interest rationale have bolstered their competitive advantage in the market place by improving the positions of women and members of minority groups in their organizations. B. Equality Legislation The government requires all public bodies to comply with equality legislation. The equality legislation is a collection of many new rights aimed at protecting individuals from discrimination. Some of the targeted forms of discrimination are those based on gender, disability, religious and sexual orientation, and age. Gender based pay discrepancy has been rampant for long with women receiving up to 17 percent less than men (Mangwana 2010). Therefore, this law is a guideline for the making of strategic decisions in companies. Any breaches arising concerning implementation of the equalities act will be dealt with under other laws like the human rights act which has provisions for suing for discrimination. III. Conclusions and Recommendations A. Conclusions Diversity and inclusion has been one of the considerations made by the British airways human resources in its recruitment process. The company realizes that recruitment is a sensitive function of the human resource department and is directly linked to the quest for equality in the Britain workplace. Diversity and inclusion need to be combined with equality considerations. Equality law requires public authorities to consider socioeconomic factors when allocating resources. Public authorities are required to be sensitive to the need to root out discrimination, boost equal opportunity access and enhance good relations between people of diverse origins. Equality has become one of the qualities customers have been increasing looking for in companies. British Airways has strove to fulfil its wider social responsibilities while setting up its human resource segment to satisfy customers’ needs. Under the new laws, members of the public have the mandate to put the public service providers on check. The Equality Act 2010 puts in place a framework for the public to monitor the performance of public bodies. Employers will be required to be transparent about the pay they offer so that employees can monitor for any gender or race based discrepancy. The public is wary of the disadvantaged groups’ discrimination and shall be very keen to witness change. The equality requirement will indeed salvage the country from the current segregation against minority races and women. Ethnic minority races are mostly employed in low paying jobs or are not employed at all. In addition, women in full time employment are offered less pay hourly and weekly compared to men (Dickens 1997, p. 283). B. Recommendations Public authorities are required to device their equality objectives and show the way these are reflected in their policies. The company therefore is responsible for figuring out how to align itself with the government’s decentralization and requirement for democratic accountability. The human resource recruitment in the company must tackle the challenge of diversity. There is need to improve on diversity and inclusion in the human resource department if the company is to continue to foster good relation with customers. The need for diversity should not be sacrificed in the growing focus on improving efficiency of services through introduction of a leaner and well qualified body of employees. The company will be more respected if its human resource promotes cohesion irrespective of employees’ racial background or sex. This cohesion has direct impact on retention of qualified employees especially those from disadvantaged groups. Undue discriminatory action may result in employees from disadvantaged groups leaving the organisation hence causing inequality in job distribution. Therefore, cohesion should be promoted to ensure diversity which is one mark of equality in the workplace. The company should avoid any institutional and cultural bias that might promote pay gender discrimination. Russell, Smyth & O’Connell report that gender discrimination which disadvantages women is based on cultural and institutional context bias (2005, p. 3). The institutions lack arrangements that would provide sufficient support to working parents. This situation places more responsibility on working women leading to their committing lesser working hours hence lower pay. British Airways should put in place measures to support its women employees. Readjustments should be continually made to accommodate disabled employees in British airways. The company’s policy of including people with disabilities among its staff is laudable. The public demands to see the inclusion of disabled in the human resource therefore the company should not renege on this endeavour. National equality priorities must be taken into consideration in the recruitment process. This has often been compromised by myopic considerations within companies (Dickens 1997, p. 287). British airways should avoid falling into a situation where it cannot match its business interest to the needs of disadvantaged groups. Luckily the company has broad and long standing interests which can only be satisfied by enhanced equality. The customer and client base is nationally and even internationally distributed hence the company is under pressure to satisfy them all. Since the company seeks to satisfy the interests of all sections of society who are potential customers, it must be ready to abide by the equality demand. Otherwise, the company stands to lose business to competitors. The company is required to provide equality data about its workforce for the public to scrutinize and determine if it is in the right track. The government has worked towards realization of right to data among citizens. The implied freedom of information will go a long way to increasing accountability. The company should add equality consideration to its current recruitment criteria. The company recruitment currently focuses behaviour, skill and knowledge competencies. The competencies approach is useful for the company to avoid absurdly going for disadvantaged group individuals. Green (2009) argues that the bill encourages opportunity, race, gender and religion notwithstanding which has potential of increasing the importance of group identity while ignoring individual merit. References Dickens, L 1997, ‘Gender, race and employment equality in Britain: inadequate strategies and the role of industrial relations actors,’ Industrial relations Journal. vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 282-291. Green, D 2009, ‘The Equality Bill will hinder, not help,’ The Telegraph, 11 May, P. 6. Helen, R, Emer, S, Philip J. 2005, Degrees of Equality: Gender Pay Differentials among Recent Graduates, ESRI, New York. Mangwana, S 2010, ‘The Equality Act 2010 – what does it mean for employees?’ The Sunday Times, 15 April, p. 4. Read More