EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

Equality and Diversity- business school module

Equality and Diversity- business school module

Introduction

At the organizational level, barring older workers' access to jobs is possibly commonly found discriminatory practice. In the U.K., age limits are in job advertisements. Australian employers significantly preferred recruiting 26 to 35 year-olds for most job categories, with the exception of managerial positions (over 35 being preferred), whereas those over 56 either rarely selected by employers, or chosen for unskilled jobs only. Even in a nation with active anti ageism provisions as New Zealand, 80% of New Zealand's job recruiters admitted in a national survey that they would be most likely to turn down older applicants regardless of merits. Surprisingly, younger workers (e.g. in the mid 30s) may also find themselves victims of ageism. For example the British Civil Service Commission specifies that applicants for the position of Executive officer, a junior administrative position, should he between the ages of 17 and 28. Older workers are particularly vulnerable in organizations downsizing plans. A Canadian company was recently found discriminating against older workers by the Ontario Board of Inquiry, because this company led to downsize employees who did not have “career potential”. Coupled with older workers' inability to find new employment redundancy and voluntary retirements (e.g., the policy of “golden hand shake” resulted in an estimated 1 .25 million unemployed people aged 50 to U.K. in the early 1990s. Many countries in the world have legislation that prohibits discrimination on the grounds of disability such as Hong Kong's 1995 Disability Discrimination Ordinance and India's 1995 Persons with Disabilities Act. These protection laws generally oiler a definition of disability on the spectrum of physical, mental, and biological levels, such as the loss or disfigurement of' a body part(s), mental instability or illness resulting in disturbed behaviors or learning deficiency or carrying organisms capable of causing diseases or illness. Some countries such as China have passed laws that require employers to improve access to employment for workers with disabilities (e.g., modifying physical facilities and/or providing transportation), sanctioning employers who do not comply (U.S. Department of State. 2002b). Thus, many workers with disabilities arc legally protected from discrimination either when applying for jobs or in the course of employment.Despite legal protection, people with disabilities arc often excluded from the workforce. For example 50% of Canadians with disabilities who could work were unemployed. This reality is partly a result of the ignorance or reluctance of organizations to provide work to the persons with disabilities, coupled with poor access and insufficient or ineffective protective legislation. A surveyed by private-sector employers in south England for their awareness of the U.K.'s Disability Discrimination Act and issues related to workers with disabilities. The researchers found that the organization' size was positively related to legal awareness, with larger companies (e.g., over 100 employees) being more aware of labor law requirements such as actively recruiting persons with disabilities, designing special training for them and changing the work environment to provide access for people with ...