Ensuring equal opportunities and managing diversity are of increasing importance in the workplace. Businesses find that there is a value in attracting and retaining a diverse workforce.
Legislation has developed in most detail on ‘race’, gender and disability and more recently, further laws and regulations on human rights, sexual orientation, religion and age have been introduced.
Recent duties in the public sector to develop Equality Schemes, in particular on race, disability and gender, have created an environment which is pro-active in promoting equality, as opposed to purely removing discrimination. Although these are specific requirements for the public sector, the schemes provide a comprehensive framework to implement equality and diversity and therefore any organisation – public, private or voluntary, can benefit from developing such a Scheme.
