The global workforce continues to change, which is attributed to globalisation and the growth and development of a company to other areas. This has resulted in companies being prompted to promote inclusivity and diversity. According to CIPD (2021), it is imperative to ensure that every employee feels valued and is part of the organisation. This is important in good people management. Inclusivity and diversity are about valuing people as individuals, crucial in promoting the company’s performance and employee satisfaction and motivation (Grissom, 2018). Failure to promote inclusivity and diversity may result in conflict with the relevant legislation, including the Equality Act of 2010.

AC 1.1 Value of Diversity and Inclusion in Organisations for Employees, Customers, and Stakeholders

People management is laid in the moral case of establishing a more inclusive and fairer labour markets and workplace. This ensures that every individual is valued, regardless of the circumstance, background, and identity. In my organisation, every individual has an equal opportunity to participate in the firm’s activities. The role of the leadership and management is to ensure that each individual has the opportunity to develop their skills and talent to the full potential and working in a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment (McCleary-Gaddy, 2019). Other elements that employees prefer are fair rewards, recognition, and having a meaningful voice. Inclusivity are also crucial for sustainability of economics and businesses. This is centred on the thoughts’ diversity and working with individuals from various backgrounds.

Diversity and inclusion go handy but are different. This implies that companies should consider them concurrently in the people strategies and practice. Inclusion, according to CIPD (2021), refers to where the people differences are used and valued to ensure that each individual thrives at the workplace. In an inclusive working environment, each individual feels that he or she belongs without the need to conform. Also, every person’s contribution is important and have the ability to work to their full potential regardless of the circumstances and identity. Diversity, on the other hand, focuses on recognising the differences. It also involves acknowledging the importance of diverse perspectives in the decision-making process. At my organisation, diversity and inclusion are based on fair practices and policies that enable a wide range of individuals to work collaboratively.

Value of Diversity and Inclusion to Employees

An inclusive and diverse working environment significantly impacts the internal and external stakeholders. The main internal stakeholders affected by diversity and inclusion are the employees. Fundamentally, an inclusive environment is characterised by each employee having their value recognised regardless of their diversity affiliation. According to Jaiswal and Dyaram (2018), promoting diversity and inclusion at the workplace is important for the employee’s wellbeing. This is attributed to the alleviation of various vices at the workplace such as discrimination and bias. The impacts to the employees is to ensure that their mental and emotional wellbeing is sustained.

Diversity and inclusion are also foundational to the workforce creativity and innovative practice. According to Kaur and Arora (2020), inclusivity and diversity provides each individual an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. This is essential in promoting creativity and innovation. This is centred on bringing various perspectives together on how to address the organisational issues, which is essential in finding suitable solutions to the work issues. Diversity and inclusion also promote employee engagement. According to CIPD (2021b), employee engagement involves how people express themselves emotionally, physically, and cognitively. It involves how people are committed to their jobs. Diversity and inclusion ensures that each individual feels appreciated, which is important in engagement.

Diversity and inclusion are also important in enhancing the working environment, an important factor in promoting the employee’s motivation, satisfaction, and engagement. Drawing from Herzberg dual factor theory of motivation, diversity and inclusion are hygiene factors, important in promoting the employee motivation (Pedraza and Chen, 2021). These elements are also related to employee retention.

Value to Customers and Wider Stakeholders

Diversity and inclusion ensures that the working environment is a mirror of the society. This is important in employees understanding the diverse needs of the customers and how they can be met. This promotes customer satisfaction, which is important in ensuring that the company’s brand name is enhanced. Through diversity and inclusion, various perspectives and ideas are applied, fostering the company’s innovativeness and creativity. This ensures that the products and services are aligned with the customers’ preferences and needs (Brimhall and Mor Barak, 2018). Diversity and inclusion are also important in the company has a better understanding of the customer. This knowledge is important in approaches such as segmentation, targeting, and positioning, which enhances the business performance.

The wider-external stakeholders impacted by diversity and inclusion include the government, media, managers, and competitors. The benefits of diversity and inclusion to the employees is fundamental to promoting the leadership and management’s satisfaction. To the government, diversity and inclusion ensures that the company respects and applies the legislations, including the Equality Act of 2010 (Kang and Kaplan, 2019). To the society, a company that observes the diversity and inclusion mirrors the composition in the society, which is essential in creating a suitable relationship. Besides, the company has a wide pool of individuals to choose from. Diversity and inclusion further promotes the company’s competitive advantage.

AC 1.2 Overview of Diversity and Inclusion Legislation

Equality and diversity are predominant in the Equality Act of 2010, which has replaced the majority of legislations that were in place. Other legislations fostering equality and diversity are the Commission of Equality and Human Rights (EHRC) and the Human Rights Act of 1998. In the Equality Act of 2010, there are 116 separate legislations acting as a legal framework to protect individual rights and ensure equal opportunities for every individual and preventing unfair treatment. Some of the topics covered in the legislation include disability, sexual orientation, age, and gender (CIPD. 2022). The EHRC sums up previous work on equality to challenge prejudice and promote human rights, enforcing equality-related laws on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. It ensures compliance with the Human Rights Act. The commission further maintains and strengthening valuing of diversity, upholding the people’s rights, and tackling intolerance. This further ensures that inequality and discrimination at the workplace are addressed. The Human Rights Act of 1998 sets out the freedoms and rights that each individual in the UK is entitled. Examples include right to life, fair trial, and no punishment without the law.

Employment Case Studies

The diversity and inclusion related legislations are applied in various case studies. Discrimination based on sex, for instance is reflected in the Rooney vs. Leicester City Council. In the case, the claimant had accused the company of disability and sex-based discrimination after receiving a formal warning in relation to the sickness absence that she attributed to the menopausal symptoms. She further alleged that she was denied a female doctor for the occupational health assessment. From the Equality Act of 2010 perspective, the EAT argued that sexual and disability discrimination where important considerations since the male counterparts were receiving the attention that they requested, yet the claimant was denied. Diversity and inclusion can also be examined from the direct and indirect discrimination perspectives. In the case of Essop and v Home Office (UK Boarder Agency), Naeem v Secretary of State for Justice [2017], the claimants who were the civil servants claimed indirect discrimination for low pass on the Core Skills Assessment (CSA). Although the Supreme Court had to reverse the decision, arguing that the PCP scores were not important in the indirect discrimination, the key lesson is to ensure that adequate evidence is provided about the discrimination claims, whether direct or indirect.

AC 1.3 Barriers to Achieving Diversity and Inclusion

Please click the icon below to receive this assessment in full