Role of Human Resource in Equality & Diversity in the Workplace - Essay Example

RОLЕ ОF НUMАN RЕSОURСЕ IN ЕQUАLITY & DIVЕRSITY IN THЕ WОRKРLАСЕ Name Course Instructor’s name Institution Date RОLЕ ОF НUMАN RЕSОURСЕ IN ЕQUАLITY & DIVЕRSITY IN THЕ WОRKРLАСЕ Introduction Human Resource Management is one of the significant motivators of success in the ever-changing and increasingly competitive environment of the organization’s workforce. Effective Human Resource Management gives the organization a competitive edge over its competitors by recruiting a skilled manpower geared towards the general goals of an organization. However, Human Resource Management is always cautious on issues dealing with equality and diversity in the workforce especially in regard to the people with disability. In this case, the Human Resource Management is not allowed to prevent any candidate with disability from securing a job within their organizations, especially in cases where they can easily carry out the roles entitled in that job position. An organization’s Human Resource department is meant to ensure that all the rights and privileges of these individuals who are part of the organization workforce are observed, and there is no any form of discrimination directed towards them. Therefore, this report highlights on the roles of human resource in advancing equality and diversity in the workplace in regards to employees with disabilities. Role of human resources in equality and diversity management in organizations Recruitment and selection is one of the key roles of the Human Resource Management geared towards ensuring equality and diversity in the workforce. Through the Workforce Disability Act, the Organization by law is required not to burr any disabled candidate with the basic qualification needed for a particular through discriminatory job requirements. (Mathews, 2006, pp.52-53). It also requires the organization Human Resource management to carry out its recruitment and selection process in the utmost fairest manner without overlooking or giving privileges to the disabled party applying for the job position, this helps ensure equality and diversity in the organization workforce. Kossek, Lobel and Brown (2005) claims that the Human Resource Management in an organization should ensure that there are adopted policies and practices in an organization that minimize discrimination in the organization’s recruitment and hiring process especially in the context of the disabled individuals. De Meuse & Hostager (2010, pp.41) also, backs up this claim by further stating that it is the role of the Human Resource Management in an organization to ensure that there are practices and policies fostering allocation of promotional activities to the workers with disabilities. For instance, the Australian bureau of statistics indicates that 20% of Australians suffer from disabilities thus a need for organizations in Australia to have a robust recruitment and selection process that doesn’t discriminate at all. Human Resource Management is instrumental in the diversity and equality of the workforce through the provision of disability management services which are mandated by both the state and the federal law. In this case, the Human Resource Management ensures that the UC policies and procedures in an organization are followed and observed by all the employees. This is a program that provides technical assistance to the organization managers and supervisors in regards to all aspects of disability management in the organization workforce (Jabbour et al., 2011, pp.68.). They further claim that Human Resource Management has to ensure that a centralized organization structure is present in an organization in order for it to facilitate workplace accommodation for employees with disability. (Joplin and Daus 1997) also, emphasizes that the Human Resource Management in an organization should ensure that the organization establishes a relationship with the local community agencies which can contribute to the recruitment process of qualified candidates with disability as well as identification of the appropriate accommodation that they will need in their working tenure in the organization (Kirton and Healy, 2009, pp.311). Human Resource Management helps ensure that all organizations comply with the disability act and puts in place reasonable accommodators whether non- industrial or work related to ensuring easy carrying out of work by the disabled employees within the organization workforce (Sposato et al., 2015, pp.16-17.). Similarly, they also emphasize on the need for the Human Resource Management to ensure that an organization complies with the disability act. They further claim that it is also the role of Human Resource to ensure that these organizations also comply with the new public sector equality duty (PSED) act where the organization is required to show due regard towards the elimination of harassment, discrimination and victimization or any other wrongful conduct against the disabled employees as prohibited under the law (Richard, Roh and Pieper, 2013, pp.215-242). Human Resource is mandated under workforce diversity and equality to ensure that an organization is able to assist a worker who is disabled either through injuries incurred while working or outside work. This helps ensure that these employees continue working in case disability or a medical condition interferes with their ability to carry out their work within the organization workforce. For instance, soldiers have a strict employment policy on disability and whenever a soldier is injured in the line of duty, he or she is accommodated in other units and ranks of the military thus averting a dismissal from employment. The other role of the Human Resource to help promote equality and disability in the workplace in regards to disability management efforts is to ensure that the organization efforts are dedicated to reducing the fiscal cost of workplace disability (Maxwell et al., 2007, pp.253). In this case, the Human Resource assists employees with disability to overcome disability- related restriction in the workplace. This role seeks to better the work experience of these employees with disability by ensuring that there are provided with all the necessary resources to ensure that their output is not compromised due to their disability (Mathews, 2006, pp.53). (Maxwell, Blair and McDougall (2001) backup this claim by stating the Human Resource Management should ensure that the organization provide non-bias staff training to the disabled individuals within the organization workforce regarding their relevance according to the civil rights and the employee legislation.in the recent past human rights groups have sought a significant share of the overall workforce in the organization be set aside to help accommodate the disabled as well as make organizations aware on the importance of diversity and inclusivity (Richard, Roh & Pieper 2013, p.221). Additionally, Human Resource helps to ensure that the Union Contract policies are implemented as well as the collective bargaining agreements for the return to work agreements or the disabled individuals in the organization workforce. The Human Resource Management, in this case, ensures that the reasonable accommodation and medical separation are underway in the wake of a disable employee returning to work or them starting off work in the organization (Marques, 2010, pp.435-446). This role ensures that all the aspects regarding workforce disability are put in place in the organization in order to ensure smooth transition of the disabled employee to the workplace environment and practices. Workforce diversity and equality requires the human resource in the case of employee disability to ensuring that an organization is utilizing the interactive process method in conducting of consultation with the organization workforce and management in regards to issues pertaining workforce disability (Sposato, et al. 2015, p. 17). This ensures that the workforce around the disabled employees is informed of the issues that it should be crucial and sensitive about in regards to disability in order not to create an awkward environment which might make a disabled employee not to feel comfortable in the workplace (Kirton and Healy, 2009, pp.302-318). Most organizations operate from locations that only have staircases and lacks lifts or run ways to help accommodate disabled employees they also lack designated parking spots for disabled employees leading to insensitivity and discrimination. In this case, the Human Resource Management should caution the organization workforce on the need for balancing on the attention it gives to the disabled employees. Here the Human Resource Management emphasizes on these employees striking a balance when it comes to giving the disabled employee some attention, hence emphasizing that they should not give them too much neither should they give them too little (Bennett 2009, p. 446). The other role of the Human Resource Management in regards to workforce diversity and equality in the case employee disability is ensuring the adherence of the fair work ACT that emphasize on good employee relations and good disability management services within the organization (Gagnon and Cornelius, 2008, pp.68-87). This ensures the organization is well knowledgeable of how to retain employees with disability when their work is impacted by a medical condition or that which impact of their body was functioning. In this case, the Human Resource Management ensures that the organization is we knowledgeable of how to prevent grievances and litigation as well as ensuring that it is in compliance with both the federal and state-federal legislation. Human Resource helps ensure that disabled employees are entitled to health and other benefits similar to the other employees with the organization workforce. The Human Resource Management is tasked with investigating and reporting organizations which do not provide equal health care and benefit plan to its disabled employees since it is against the workforce Disability Act (Jabbour et al., 2011, pp.66.). On the other hand, the Human Resource Management role is also to ensure that the work related recreation facilities are provided to all the employees even those with disability. Similarly, it also ensures that the social activities in the organization are accessible to all individuals within the organization with communication, mobility and cognitive impairments. In line with this, human resource is tasked with ensuring that these employees within the organisation’s workforce also get the disability benefits as stipulated in the Disability Act. For example, among seven disabled employees in America by the year 2000 were getting disability benefits. Evidently, these shows the extreme conditions which disabled employees were forced to work in and they were also forced to remain quite since at this time the society stigmatized against disabled individuals within an organization workforce. Kirton & Healy( 2009, p.314) emphasizes on this specific role of the Human Resource Management by claiming that is should be in charge of identification of actions that improve the communication strategies adopted by the organization in consultation with the trade unions and disabled people in an effort to foster a good working environment for the disabled employees within the organization (Bennett, 2009, pp.443-447). Maxwell et al.(2007, p.251) also draws more emphasis from this claim by stating that the Human Resource Management should specifically be in charge of promotion of policies relating to electronic means face-face communication and paper bases means of communication in order to ease the communication and movement in the organization workplace for the disabled employees within the organization workforce. Conclusion It is evident that disability is a huge problem facing the Human Resource department of many organizations especially with the estimated number of people with disability reaching an all-time high globally. The disability act, on the other hand, has done quite little in effort to protect the rights of the disabled individuals in the organization. However, current reforms which are underway regarding this Act promise to have a more significant impact on both the workplace disability rights and the civil rights of these employees going forward. Thus a need for the top hierarchies in most organizations to empower the human resource department more so on matters of employee management and wellbeing. References Bennett, T. (2009). New ways of promoting equality and diversity in the workplace. Equal Opportunities International, 28(5), pp.443-447. De Meuse, K. and Hostager, T. (2010). Developing an instrument for measuring attitudes toward and perceptions of workplace diversity: An initial report. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 12(1), pp.33-51. Gagnon, S. and Cornelius, N. (2008). Re-examining workplace equality: the capabilities approach. Human Resource Management Journal, 10(4), pp.68-87. Jose Chiappetta Jabbour, C., Serotini Gordono, F., Henrique Caldeira de Oliveira, J., Carlos Martinez, J. and Aparecida Gomes Battistelle, R. (2011). Diversity management. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 30(1), pp.58-74. Kirton, G. and Healy, G. (2009). Using competency-based assessment centres to select judges - implications for equality and diversity. Human Resource Management Journal, 19(3), pp.302-318. Marques, J. (2010). Colorful window dressing: A critical review on workplace diversity in three major American corporations. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 21(4), pp.435-446. Mathews, P. (2006). Managing Diversity: Human Resource Strategies for Transforming the Workplace. Journal of Management & Organization, 4(1), pp.52-53. Maxwell, G., McDougall, M., Blair, S. and Masson, M. (2007). Equality at work in UK public-service and hotel organizations: inclining towards managing diversity?. Human Resource Development International, 6(2), pp.243-258. Richard, O., Roh, H. and Pieper, J. (2013). The Link Between Diversity and Equality Management Practice Bundles and Racial Diversity in the Managerial Ranks: Does Firm Size Matter?. Human Resource Management, 52(2), pp.215-242. Sposato, M., Feeke, S., Anderson-Walsh, P. and Spencer, L. (2015). Diversity, inclusion and the workplace-equality index: the ingredients for organizational success. Human Resource Management International Digest, 23(5), pp.16-17. Read More