Friday 30 April 2010

Equal Opportunities

Equality and diversity is not about treating every one the same but be aware that people are different, being able to recognise those differences and treat people with fairness and dignity.

(purbeck [2010])


Equal opportunity emphasizes that oportunities such as education, employment, benefits, and more, should be available to people in this country regardless of their sex, age, race, politcal views and so on.


Diversity however means that people ar different and therefore an organisation should allow its employees to perform to their potential. Never force them to do more than they are capable of.




Margaret Mountford and her oppinion:
In this article from the times, Margaret Mountford, sir allans right hand in the Aprentice, states that women should earn their promotion and not just get it because an organisation needs more women to make it look like it's a fair company. she states that women cannot expect to get prometted and then get all the leaves they want and return to work and still be in their holiday mood.she also states that when it comes to team work men are more organised and get on with the task quick; whereas women spend time on stupid things such as " gettin a good team nickname". She also makes the point that women can get to the top however they don't always want to and as a result people tend to think that it is a discrimination. Women are askin leaves from companies, "they want companies to bend backward".


3 arguments in favour of Margaret Mountford:



  1. In a way when she says that women are expecting too much from the companies, she is right as menn have fewer leaves then women, and therefore it should only be fair that men get the same amount as women.

  2. Women complain about not beeing at the top of companies, but like she says; so many women have the talent to get to the top however they do not chose to get therre. If you take margaret Mountford for example, she is at the top, and therefore that proves that women can get to the top wit dedication and committment.

  3. She says that most wowen get to the top just because companies want to look like they are not discrminating. " you are just there to make numbers"

3 arguments against Margaret Mountford:



  1. Margret Mountford states that men are better than women in team working as women tend to waste time on stupid things, whereas men get on with the task. However eventhough that may be truth, women do complete the tasks given and win the prize and therefore in my point of view, she shouldn't judge the ability of one because of their sex.

  2. She also states that women are only at the top because companies need women so that they don't look like they are discriminating; however women working for companies, hardly get the chance to get to the top compared to men. Just because she got to the top it doesn't mean it is the same every where.

  3. She is talking about maternity leaves and that women should be working full time at the best of their potetial when they come back, however it is really hard for a woman who just had a kid to do so; companies should acknowledge that and allow women to have flexible times dureing the first years of their pregnacies. Margaret Mountford, of course has never experienced having a kind, and i am sure she would acknowledge the same thing if had a kid during her career.

(business.timesonline [2010])





Age legislation act 2006:


Age legislation act was introduced in October 2006. It will affect every one but mianly eldery people and young people. This legislation states that a company cannot discriminate or be unfair to any umployees due to their age. (is4profit [2010]).


This legislation was mainly introduces, as some companies started to get rid of eldery employees who were not fit enough for the job, or would even reject eldery applicants during recruitment process. Employers will obviously want a higher turnover and getting old means leas work less turnover less energy to do things. Due to this new legislation employers have to be aware that any discrminations about eldery people or younger people will cost them. One company that only employs younger people, will find it difficult to keep up employing younger people. they state that: "Recruitment is going to be a potential problem area because some jobs suit younger people, so the wording of adverts in the future will have to be more careful." (bbc [2010]). business that requires younger people are now forced to lose out as they cannot reject eldery people without a really good reason and evven that could be very hard to prove. Most companies believe that they will get more out of younger people than eldery people however it is criticised that younger people have less experience and are more like to make mistakes whereas older people have more experience and would get given tasks completed with no problem. In my point of view, practical jobs are more suitable for younger people whereas skillful jobs such as accountancy or management jobs are more suited for people with experience hence eldery people.

In order to comply with this new legislation most companies are employing younger people during time period where the most turnover is needed and employ elderies when they don't need that much turnover. For example an icecream company would employ younger people during the summer time and give eldery people vacation and when the winter comes they would give the younger employees vacation and employ the eldery ones. that is a way that a company could cope with the new age legislation act 2006.

B&Q, Asda, Tesco and their equal opportunities:

I have visited the websites for B&Q, Asda and tesco to look at how they give opportunities for their employees and how they are fair. B&Q states that it expects from its employees an open mind about changes, good customer servises passion to deliver and a flexible approach to the company; if done so they will deliver flexible approaches, a fair employer who promotes equal opportunities, freindly athmospher and support in their career development. the website is well layed wiyh pictures of people with a mixed of backgrounds of al age types. (diy [2010]). Asda calls its employees its colleagues, looking at the website i can see that there is a great mixture of people, varying from age to race and therefore i donnot belive that any discrimination is taking place, however when asda talks about its people it only has the name of its senior employees and this may feel lower level employees unconfortable as they are the main for the company's In Asda's recruitment process they do not ask any age, race or sex and therefore are giving equal chances for every one to apply for the job. (asda [2010]). Teco has the same principle as asda however is looking for commited people who are willing to complete given tasks , employees have to be passionate about the job, and most of all very motivated as Tesco is one of the worlds leading retailers. In return tesco gives employees a safeguard their future by helping them to get more from their money as well as looking after their health. even on their application form they state that they recruit reguargless of an applicants background, sex age and so on. (tesco [2010]).

overall i believe that b&Q is more successfull at keeping its equal opportunities true as it has the most simplest way to recruit wiyhout to many questions and from the website it looks like it has a mixture of people from all age and backgrounds.

Conclusion:

Equal opportunities are in every companies, however most companies would not be so generous without these legislations that protects employees and most of the time companies only recruit and employ people to cover themselves from discriminating from the media and the public.

References:


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