1.1 Background and Introduction to Key Issues
The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the reader to the main themes of the first volume entitled: Inequality and Organizational Practice: Employment Relations. It seeks to outline the key context and concepts explored across the chapters and enable the reader to examine the importance of understanding hidden inequalities in the workplace.
Changes in employment relations and working conditions underscore the increase in thinking around diversity and equality issues in the workplace. There is a paradigm shift in thinking around organisationsâ responsibility in recognising and valuing diversity and equality in the workplace. Literature reinforces the argument that organisations place less strategic emphasis in managing those hidden inequalities due to poor leadership commitment (Tomlinson and Schwabenland 2010) and limited allocation of budget and resources for addressing diversity issues in the work (CIPD 2012). Policy makers have been actively addressing a number of equality and diversity problems that arise with the implementation of national, industry and organisational policy initiatives against discriminative practices. Nevertheless, there is still informal discrimination in organisations as the legal framework did not provide effective guidance to address all aspects of unfairness and discrimination in the workplace. As Klarsfeld et al. (2012, p. 312) assert, current approaches are not effective, in that âcontrol rules are not as binding as they appear ⌠[and] voluntary practices are not as deliberate as they seemâ. This shows the need for organisations to take actions to provide feasible solutions to diversity needs in modern organisations (Greene and Kirton 2011). For example, current employment practices fail to address long-standing employment issues including training, work design and flexibility. According to Charted Institute for Personnel and Development - CIPD (2018) report, there is a lack of appropriate use of job design and flexible practices leading to unfavourable management actions. Further to that, Ballard (2017) provides a critical perspective around organisational capacity to develop effective and fair developmental opportunities. The report argues that managers fail to provide sufficient opportunities to train employees for the future and encourage organisations to use emerging technologies to and raise the quality of life for the employees.
As educators, we felt the need to have some contribution in this area and provide insightful findings to support changes on how hidden inequality is addressed. After we published our first book,1 we received a high number of messages from the academic and professional community. This was a positive outcome given that the book challenges traditional ways of understanding diversity in the workplace. Comments highlighted the need to make radical changes on diversity and equality by producing relevant knowledge (at both individual and organisational levels) and undertake an appropriate assessment of the wider business practices in diversity. We noted that individuals were keen to discuss their concerns about hidden inequality due to high level of âfrustrationâ as to how organisations address work and welfare issues. We have to admit the realisation that individuals shared similar concerns about the way organisational practices create hidden inequalities boosted our confidence to carry on our work and produce this new volume. What is more positive is the fact that many individuals were eager to gain more knowledge regarding this topic. Our first book shows that theory and practice could generate positive outcome by enabling individuals to challenge current thinking and raise awareness (Caven and Nachmias 2018). In fact, individual awareness is an important first step in enabling change to happen at both an individual and organisational level, with Celik et al. (2012) suggesting that establishment of awareness is followed by acceptance, adoption and adherence. Management of hidden inequalities should be seen as a necessity, where individuals should be involved in a process of examining the operational and behavioural realities leading to durable and relevant diversity work-based solutions (Caven and Nachmias 2018). Therefore, we have to move away from the âforce-feedingâ attitude towards satisfying legal expectations, enabling individuals to have a key part in tackling inequality, encouraging diversity and creating an inclusive workplace culture (CIPD 2018).
1.2 Aims and Objectives
The scope of this volume is to provide further practical and strategic insight with the scope to support practitioners, managers and policy makersâ needs with UK, European and International perspectives. It seeks to address the following areas that generate hidden inequality:
- Academic evaluation of the meaning of diversity management, and diversity training needs for modern organisations.
- Managerial and organisational practices that perpetuate social exclusion, cross-cultural discrimination and management/employee trust withdrawal.
- Diversity management, training and learning contribution towards addressing âhiddenâ inequalities and workplace stigmas.
- Voluntary and involuntary disclosure of difference in relation to organisational realities and employment practices.
Through our work as educators and researchers, we have become very aware that there exists a strong legislative framework. There are fracture points where the transfer of policy to practice (from macro-level to industry level, then again from industry to organisational level) fails or becomes corrupted (Ackrill et al. 2017). Our students researching for their dissertations on the topic of equality also provided us with further evidence about the theme, with Human Resource (HR) managers quoted as saying âof course we have an equality policy, itâs in that drawer thereââin other words, the organisation could show it was complying with the legislation but was clearly not prepared to put it into practice. This saddened us and has led us to develop our ideas further with this and other volumes in the series showing the many and varied areas of hidden inequalities in the workplace. While we are keen not to lay blame on the part of the legislation, we are eager to identify why the take up of diversity practices and policies other than merely complying with legislation remains to be low on the organisational agenda. Thus, the central aim of this specific volume is to introduce solutions and suggestions for the eradication of hidden inequalities in employment practices. This is stimulated by a recent CIPD report (2017) on Work, Health and Disability produced as a response to consultation on a Government Work, Health and Disability Green Paper which identifies barriers to greater employment opportunities for the disabled which we feel are readily transferable to the areas of hidden inequality covered within this series of books. It identifies several areas of weakness which are summarised below:
- There is a lack of awareness, knowledge and understanding on the part of managers and employers about different forms of disability and health conditions particularly regarding reasonable adjustments.
- Misconceptions and unconscious bias on the part of employers and managers exist concerning recruitment of those with a disability and/or health condition with many (particularly small) employers and line managers having no previous experience of this.
- Lack of training for line managers with just 22% of organisations training managers to more effectively manage and support people with mental health problems.
- Lack of open and inclusive working environments to encourage the effective disclosure of a disability and/or health condition.
- Inadequate use of job design and flexible working patterns.
The report goes on to discuss areas of good practice already put in place by some organisations in terms of designing good employment practices which is the subject of the chapters within this volume. A key finding from the report was that the emphasis should be on developing supportive good practice and moving away from a compliance-based approach as this is counter to creating an inclusive culture where diversity is embraced and encouraged. There are areas of the legal framework that are not covered which creates a complex challenge for organisations to reduce effects of social exclusion and discrimination and achieve greater inclusion which promotes visible and non-visible differences. This supports our scope to explore how employment practices generate hidden inequalities and the need for organisations to take some responsibility for the lack of progress in promoting diversity and equality (Caven and Nachmias 2018).
Perspective Analysis by Serena Bradshaw, Goddard Consultants Coaching Practice
In the last 12 months weâve delivered well over 1000 coaching sessions for individuals with mental health conditionsâand during this time weâve encountered countless adults who are still suffering from the long-term impact of child abuse. Managers report that they donât have confidence to manage employees with mental health problemsâthe likelihood of being confident to support Survivors of childhood trauma seems small. Yet, when managers have the skills and knowledge to support Survivors, they will also feel empowered to support all employees with mental illness. Thatâs because the impact of childhood trauma includes and goes beyond mental health.
Why does this matter?
People are astonished when that conservative estimates suggest that one in five adults have experienced sexual abuse in childhood. This means that, in a team of five, itâs quite possible that one individual is affected. In an organisation of 500 staff, it could be 100 individuals. And these figures only relate to sexual abuse. Other forms of child abuseâfor example, neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse, are not included in these figures. Mental illness is described as a taboo subject in the workplaceâand understandably employees will only be encouraged to speak out if they believe they will be heard, understood and helped. Stigma, shame, myths and misunderstanding still abound. But I believe weâre making significant progress at least in terms of Having That Conversation. Lloyds bank is raising awareness in its advertising, Mental Health First Aid is taking off and high-profile figures from business, sports and entertainment are talking openly about mental health. Iâm heartened to see and hear about all initiatives that tackle stigma.
Yet, stigma and shame are frequently life-long companions of the adult Survivor of childhood abuse. Indeed, many Survivors will hide behind a mental health label because this may appear more palatable than the real reasons they are seeking support in the workplace. This is wrong on so many levelsânot least because children are abused in silence. And silence in later life reinforces stigma and shame. Of course, some Survivors may never wish to disclose their past. However, when they do come forward, itâs important that Managers and HR professionals feel confident to provide the right support and to speak openly. This should be no different from learning to talk about common mental illnesses or the support needs of Veterans. When we gathered personal accounts of Survivor experiences in the workplace, we were saddened, though not surprised, that 80% said that their childhood abuse has had a negative impact on their career.
What are the issues?
The support needs for each Survivor are different, in the same way that two individuals with a diagnosis of depression are differentâbut itâs not surprising to see common themes emerge. Managers need to understand that there are links between adult survivors of childhood trauma and other areas of an employeeâs life. For example, there are well-documented links with re-victimisation in adulthoodâfor example in the form of domestic violence. There are also links with substance misuse and alcohol dependency. Add into the mix as well the fact that Survivors can also present with long-term physical hea...