Diversity offers employers fresh dimension

What must you do to manage diversity in the workplace? What are the implications of the new Employment Equality Bill for your business? How do you reduce the risk of an unsuccessful job applicant taking an action for discrimination against you?

These and related questions were examined at a conference on managing diversity in the workplace last Friday organised by the Irish Management Institute.

Under the Bill, legal action for workplace discrimination could be taken on the grounds of gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, age, disability, race, religion or membership of the traveller community.

Mr Tom Mallon, a barrister who spoke at the conference, told Health Matters that an employer could "directly or indirectly" discriminate against someone "without knowing about it and without necessarily meaning to do it".

He warned "where someone imposes an unnecessary requirement for a job the effect of which is discriminatory, then it is discriminatory".

For example, he said: "There's nothing wrong with saying it's unlikely that someone under 30 will have the skills and experience, but that's not excluding someone under 30 if they can show they've the skill and experience. I know it's a subtle point but it's more than semantics. If I say nobody under 30 need apply, that's discrimination."

Asked if a casual comment made by an employer that could be construed to be discriminatory exposes that employer to litigation, Mr Mallon replied: "It depends on where he makes that casual comment. If he makes it at an interview then undoubtedly it would."

Other areas that require vigilance include the terms and conditions of employment, the classification of posts, training, promotion and early retirement.

Mr Mallon agrees that if an interviewer asks a woman how she intends to arrange child care for her children, such a question "has great potential to be regarded as discriminatory".

He said: "I would be a strong believer that application forms shouldn't contain questions that are unnecessary. Do you need to ask for instance whether someone is married or single? You don't need to ask that before the interview. It's irrelevant. After the interview, when you've offered someone the job, it may be relevant. It might be relevant for VHI payments or next of kin but that's after you've hired the person where you need to know it for genuine reasons. But you don't need to know it in advance so why ask it?"

An employer should not ask a job applicant if his or her mobility would be restricted because they are married or have children. But Mr Mallon has no problem with an employer asking: "Is there anything in your social or domestic life that would interfere with you moving?"

"That may be that you're married. It may be that you've kids. It may be that you've a sick mother. It may be because you're heavily involved in amateur dramatics or it may be that you've a fear of flying."

Dr Margret Fine-Davis, Research Fellow at the Centre for Women's Studies at Trinity College Dublin, told the conference that accommodating diversity contributes to rather than inhibits competitiveness and performance.

Referring to the ESRI's latest medium-term review which recognised the part played by women in contributing to the economy, she said: "This is ironic when we remember the cultural ethos of the 1970s and 1980s when women were admonished to stay in the home and not deprive men and schoolleavers of jobs."

She believed that opening the doors to other groups like older workers, the disabled and racial minorities would pave the way to similar lessons and that "to cater for diversity in our workforce should not be seen as a hindrance but rather as an opportunity".

Ms Ann Dinnigan, development adviser at Aer Rianta, gave a workshop at the conference on how to ensure a positive environment for people with disabilities. She said that US research showed that 69 per cent of "accommodations" special treatment or facilities arising from the employment of a person with a disability had cost nothing. The average cost of accommodations was only $120 (£85); 60 per cent cost less than $500 and half of placements required no accommodations.

Ms Maribeth Chick, director of human resources at Motorola UK, said that in the US terms like "junior executive" or "recent college graduate" could not be used in recruitment advertisements. Nor could there be requests for age or date of birth on employment applications.