The Business Case for Diversity

Good Practices in the Workplace

10/2005

An increasing number of European companies are adopting diversity and equality strategies, not only for ethical and legal reasons but also for the business benefits they are expected to deliver. Among the most important of these benefits are enhanced employee recruitment and retention from a wider pool of high quality workers, improved corporate image and reputation, greater innovation and enhanced marketing opportunities.

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BT - Positive About Age

02/2005

Age discrimination legislation is due to come into effect in October 2006. While some employers have not yet begun to prepare for the new Regulations, BT has already instigated a proactive approach to employing older workers. In particular, it has introduced a portfolio of fl exible options to support a decade of retirement for its employees. These have seen the company increase its proportion of employees aged over 50 from 13% to 24% in just three years. Carol Foster explores the business-case arguments behind BT�s age-positive policy, details the fl exible retirement options and examines the actions the company has taken to raise awareness of the new policy and encourage take-up of the flexible options.

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Tipping the Balance

2005

How do the rights of employees under discrimination law weigh up against those of the employer? With the continuing influx of new discrimination legislation, employees now have rights not to be discriminated against in areas legislation, employees now have rights not to be discriminated against in areas such as pay, disability, sex and sexual orientation, race, religion, belief and more. Employees are increasingly protected � but is this at the cost of the employer�s rights? Employer John Catchpole and employment lawyer Martin Brewer weigh up the distribution of rights in the workplace.

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The Costs and Benefits of Diversity

October 2003

Companies who implement diversity policies - that is policies that seeks to encourage a mix of races, sexual orientations, religions, physical disabilities, ages and sexes within the workplace - can expect benefits in the short and long term. These are the results of a new report, carried out for the European Commission. �The Costs and Benefits of Diversity� report points to short and medium term benefits, such as improved cash flow through resolving labour shortages, opening up new markets, reducing costs and improving performance in existing markets, as well as long term benefits, including building a differentiated reputation with key stakeholders and customers and improving the quality of human capital.

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Age Discrimination

11/2003

• What will the new laws mean?
• What should employers be doing now?
• Justifying age discrimination
• Recruitment issues
• Implications for pay and benefits
• Harassment
• Retirement

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Being positive about age diversity at work

A practical guide for business

2002

This guidance, which is voluntary, has already helped many employers to change their employment practices for the better. But we still need to do a lot of work to tackle age discrimination in the workplace. Why does age discrimination still affect the way some employers work? Surely, the aim of any sensible employment strategy is to find the right employee for the job, encourage them to develop, and continue to benefit from their skills, knowledge and experience for as long as is reasonable.

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