Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Economics, government & businessEquality, diversity and inclusionLettersSector Skills Councils

Diversity function HR debate: Personnel Today reader responses

by Personnel Today 3 Sep 2007
by Personnel Today 3 Sep 2007

Comments from the equalities ‘tsar’ Trevor Phillips that diversity should be taken away from the HR function (Personnel Today, 21 August) prompted some forthright responses from our readers. Here’s a selection of your views.


I read with interest your article on whether or not diversity belongs in the HR department, following Trevor Phillips’ recent comments.


In one sense, of course, he is correct in that neither the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights externally, nor an HR department internally, can enforce diversity in an organisation. Sure, they may be able to impose compliance on the surface, but diversity is all about attitudes, and the true benefits of diversity in business can only be gained if it is fully supported in all the management processes and culture of the organisation.


But this is true of any aspect of HR. The HR department does not itself ‘manage’ talent or pay, for example, but creates the methods and processes to produce effective pay and talent management across the whole organisation.


My concern, though, is that not enough HR departments are really grasping the true point and benefit of diversity.


The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) early summer survey of diversity practice in UK organisations showed that most departments were wholly focused on the legal compliance aspects of diversity and adopting a ‘do this or else’ stance with the rest of the organisation.


Relatively few leading HR departments were addressing the wider issues and attempting to create the business benefits in their own organisation that wider research has shown can result from a truly diverse organisation – from greater creativity in diverse teams, for example, or in improved customer service to a diverse customer base.


If HR departments fail to grasp this wider business and cultural agenda and remain totally preoccupied with legal compliance, then they should not be surprised if someone else picks up this agenda and benefits from addressing it. They face exactly the same challenge with human capital reporting and with organisational development: unless they pick up and address these strategic agendas, then other functions and professions will, relegating HR to an administrative and compliance backwater.


Duncan Brown, director, HR services, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Integrating diversity is the key skill for HR to master


Having worked on diversity issues for many years, it’s great to see the subject getting a front-page headline in Personnel Today.


There are pluses and minuses of diversity being located in HR.




  • Plus: ready access to employee data, policy development, etc.


  • Minus: diversity (as with many other subjects) can too often be seen as yet another HR initiative.

My view is that the location is to some extent dependent on the organisation. With public sector duty obligations, an HR location can limit the impact on procurement, for example. In a call centre environment, an HR location might work better.


Integrating diversity into everything an organisation does is less about location of the role and more about the skills of the diversity practitioner, which are as much about influencing, being politically astute (in the organisational sense), finding champions, and promoting and measuring progress as it is about legal knowledge.


And what comes first? If an organisation had a truly diverse board, it wouldn’t need a chief diversity officer, would it?


Fiona Triller, equality and diversity manager, Meat Hygiene Service


HR is far too niche to be entrusted with diversity


I have worked as an equalities officer for five years and an HR business partner leading on equalities for two years. I wholeheartedly support the idea of taking the responsibility of diversity away from HR, as it is one of the best ways of ensuring it is mainstreamed.


I would like to see some form of equalities association, as over the years I have been concerned at the ‘cowboys’ I have met, who are responsible for equalities. We need a CIPD for equalities professionals.


Sally-Anne Subidé, HR partner (equalities), Guildford Borough Council


Employers must develop an appetite for diversity


At present, there is no regulation and consistency in diversity training and advice.


An association can help with quality control and networking, and raise the profile of diversity advisers. However, the biggest problem is that the consumption of diversity advice is poor, especially where organisations need it the most – they seem fearful of change and prefer to sweep the problem under the carpet. An association cannot help deal with this major barrier.


Atul K Shah, chief executive, Diverse Ethics


Embracing diversity in the workplace is all in the mind


We can watch HR people jumping around so that their policies and procedures are being adhered to, and we can see the many groups purporting to act for diversity in so many arenas, but none ever get to the real root of the problem, which is in-bred thinking patterns.


Laws are the sticks with which to beat those blatantly being discriminatory in whatever form. Unfortunately, it is what exists in people’s psyche that must somehow be tackled.


John Hooley, posted on Personneltoday.com

Avatar
Personnel Today

previous post
Diversity function role debate
next post
Help the Aged charity calls for anti-age discrimination laws to be extended to cover public services

You may also like

Women in FTSE 350 leadership: ‘A lot of...

20 May 2022

City firms pledge to improve social mobility in...

20 May 2022

How to respond to an HMRC furlough enquiry

18 May 2022

Ethnic diversity: report highlights disparities in school leadership

18 May 2022

Wages fall 1.2% behind inflation as cost of...

17 May 2022

Gender equality facing growing backlash from male managers

16 May 2022

Lack of flexibility pushes half of women to...

16 May 2022

Ethnicity pay gaps: Not making reporting mandatory is...

16 May 2022

Prime minister steps up calls for 90,000 civil...

13 May 2022

‘Small spike’ in minimum wage underpayment among 20-24...

13 May 2022
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more
  • Why now is the time to plug the unhealthy gap PROMOTED | We’ve all heard the term ‘health is wealth’...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+