The Diversity Agenda:

‘what is diversity?’

What is meant by diversity?

Who does this include?

Who does the term make reference to?

How does this differ from equal opportunities?

How does this impact us and our work?

Some useful definitions:

Diversity refers to more than skin colour and gender. It canencompass age, race, religious affiliation, economic class,military experiences and sexual orientation. - Galagan 1991

Understanding that there are differences among employees, and that these differences if properly managed are an asset to work being done more efficiently and effectively. Examples of diversity factors are race, culture and ethnicity, gender, age, a disability and work experience. - Barz, Hillman Lehrer and Mayhugh 1990

Employers must seek out all available strategies that will bring them the talent they need in the years to come. One such strategy is to understand our own cultural filters and to accept differences in people so that each person is valued and treated as a unique individual.- Kennedy and Everest 1991

What we must do is create an environment where no one is advantaged or disadvantaged, an environment where ‘we’ is everyone. - Thomas

Equality vs. Diversity:

E.O focuses on groups of individuals either ethnically or physically,

E.O assumes that there's a single

prescriptive style of management, one best way, defined by specific process,

The business view for E.O tends to be strategic and long term…

Diversity is focussed on enabling individuals to work with each others strengths and weaknesses

Diversity aims to understand the needs of the individuals and to combine the synergies of their individual skills and talents

Diversity has an immediate impact on processes and procedures providing genuine benefit and competitive advantage

Diversity: the benefits

‘Intelligence on service user’ it is a logical step to analyse individual needs, service delivery and employment practices within a diversity framework.

Understanding clients needs

Legal case is compelling in itself- minimum compliance is not so easy to achieve and the cost of failure is ever increasing.

An inclusive approach means addressing the needs of ‘all’

Valuing all in the work place, and in the arena of delivering a service, is an overall ‘win’ for everyone, staff, service users, and community.

Reflecting diversity in the workforce and developing on individuals skills strengths and weaknesses is tapping into a rich resource we stand to lose to the private sector unless we act now.

And finally…

‘Diversity is about valuing the differences between people, ensuring we maximise the

benefits of those differences to innovate ideas, fresh perceptions and enable each of our

colleagues to bring a valued contribution to our organisation. Diversity is about changing attitudes and eliminating barriers, as individuals and as an

organisation’