What is discrimination at work?

To protect our equality of opportunity, some of those characteristics — such as race, sex, age, religion and disability — are protected by law against unfair discrimination in the workplace.

Equality doesn’t mean treating everybody the same. If your employees have different needs, they might need different support too, such as workplace adjustments.

“I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.”
- Mahatma Gandhi

Equality management, therefore, needs to be both fair and flexible. It also needs to be vigilant. The quote above is in jest, but it shows even progressive thinkers can discriminate! To prevent complacency and stay up to date with the law, HR must strive to continuously improve on workplace equality.

What is Discrimination?

Discrimination is used to describe being treated unfairly for a particular reason. In the workplace, it can be based on certain prejudices against an employee.

The Equality Act 2010 only protects individuals. This means that an employer cannot discriminate against its employees.

Discrimination examples and characteristics

It’s important that you understand each type of discrimination so you can be aware of any signs in the workplace.

Here are some examples:

• Age Discrimination
• Disability Discrimination
• Gender Discrimination
• Marriage Discrimination
• Pregnancy Discrimination
• Race Discrimination
• Religious Discrimination
  
• Sexual Orientation Discrimination

Preventing workplace discrimination

In practice, you can create a diversity strategy to guide workplace behaviour. Your strategy should be regularly reviewed and reinforced with support from senior management.

As an employer, you should be proactive in protecting your employees.

To stay on the right side of the law, you can prevent discrimination at several stages:

Recruitment – Make sure your job advert doesn’t discriminate against a particular group of people. Policies – Create an equal opportunities policy at work. This policy should lay out the protected characteristics. Educate your employees – Let your employees know what is on your policy and include details in their contracts and handbooks. Deal with complaints – If a worker makes a complaint, you should deal with it quickly.

It might also address the following characteristics, among others:

Sex, orientation and gender reassignment

Sex discrimination includes equal pay legislation, which requires pay equality between men and women. Sex discrimination at work also includes unfair treatment of a woman because of her pregnancy.

People of all sexual orientations, as well as people who have undergone or are undergoing gender reassignment, are also protected under the Equality Act 2010.

Age

The Equality Act 2010 protects people of all ages from employment discrimination in the workplace. The law applies to all employers and covers not just hiring but promotion, rewards, redundancy, training and company pensions.

Your organisation can take positive action to address under-representation of specific age groups within your workforce.

Disability

In the Equality Act 2010, the term ‘disability’ means a substantial, long-term, physical or mental impairment. It includes cancer and other serious illnesses.

As an employer, you’re required to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate disabled workers’ needs. It’s also illegal to issue pre-employment medical questionnaires.

Race and religion

Workplace discrimination laws on race and religion are broad. Race includes colour, ethnic origin and nationality. Religion includes known religions as well as philosophical and non-spiritual beliefs, including lack of belief.

Your strategy might cover recruitment, appraisal, dress codes and working practices, making sure they don’t discriminate in terms of race, religion or belief.

How workplace equality makes business sense

Promoting equality within your organisation isn’t just about supporting workers’ rights to fair treatment. There’s also a strong business case for making sure your organisation offers equal opportunity for all.

“It turns out that advancing equal opportunity and economic empowerment is both morally right and good economics, because discrimination, poverty and ignorance restrict growth.”
- Bill Clinton, former US president

• Making people feel valued: Research shows people enjoy working for organisations with good employment practices. You could attract and retain better talent, as well as improving workforce productivity.
• Increasing competitiveness: A diverse workforce may be more in touch with the needs of diverse community groups. So you could be better placed to find and exploit new market opportunities.
• Enhancing corporate reputation: Equality and diversity are increasingly seen as an indicator of good corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Get help preventing discrimination in the workplace

Understanding discrimination and equality is vital for your company.

By not knowing, it could cost your company thousands of pounds and give your brand a bad reputation. It may be difficult to if interpret whether it is being carried out in the workplace. Make sure you understand each type before action is taken.

If an employee is being untreated fairly against, they can make a complaint against you or even take their case to court. This could end with a hefty fine for an employer.

BrightHR can alleviate any stress you have about workplace discrimination. We can ensure you deal with it correctly whilst protecting your employees and their rights.

Book in a free demo today to see how easy it is to HR with BrightHR. Give us a call on 08007832806