HR professionals have backed the TUC’s calls to make the private sector
legally required to promote racial equality at work.
The
report, Black Workers Deserve Better, launched by TUC president Bill
Morris last Friday, reveals that the proportion of white employees in
managerial positions has increased since 1999 while the proportion of black
employees at this level has remained static.
John Monks, the TUC’s general secretary, said the provisions of the Race
Relations (Amendment) Act should be applied to the private and voluntary
sectors to try and reverse this trend.
Gill Dawson, the Halifax’s group equal opportunities manager, believes the
Act will improve businesses. "I back the Act. All big companies should
have the systems to incorporate the detailed monitoring that the Act demands.
The information on the diversity of the workforce will help companies tailor
their HR policies."
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Annabel Abbs, HR director of Firefly Communications, agrees. "It could
only be a good thing. Any organisation with decent race-related policies would
welcome it, as it would not have a negative effect, and should not provide much
more work for HR."
The RRAA, which was implemented in April, means public organisations have to
define racial equality policies and assess the impact on the recruitment,
retention and promotion of ethnic minority staff in annual reports.
