SHOULD EQUALITY POLICY BE UNDER HR?

At present in the UK, most equality and diversity work is positioned in Human Resources - the rationale being that equality is primarily a people issue. In public bodies, where there is a legal duty to promote equality in services, its location varies, and many public bodies do have independent equality units to monitor and promote equal service delivery. However, this is not always the case and some organisations still have equality located within HR. Mr. Ajay Mehta of Ki-Rin strongly believes that this can be a handicap, and prevents the organisation from dealing with some of the critical concerns, which are listed below.

Research in the UK has shown that generally speaking, especially in the Corporate Sector, equality has not become embedded, and Boards and leaders just do not get it - and as a result, they delegate it to HR departments. There are several problems with this strategy:

• Diversity is as much about products, services and markets as it is about people. In fact, better marketing and more diverse products would directly improve the bottom line, so there is a huge direct benefit of getting this right, explaind Ezra Anajonu of EDF Energy.
• Innovation and diversity are directly connected - the more diverse teams are, the more chances of innovation and differing solutions and strategies.
• Leadership needs to be holistic to succeed, and this requires a diverse board with open minds and hearts, and an integral approach to decision-making.
• The HR profession is not necessarily the best expert on diversity because their training is very often focused on legal compliance and administrative procedures. This can close the thinking and approach to diversity, rather than see it as an asset and a celebration. There is a lot of evidence in the UK that the HR profession is not providing leadership in this agenda.
• Cultural Intelligence should be a Board level skill and not delegated to the HR director. Global companies require global mindsets, which are culturally astute.

These are some of the reasons why the location and execution of equality and inclusion policies in large organisations should be carefully considered. Otherwise, there is a big price to pay in terms of lost markets, opportunities and talent.

Article added on 6th February 2012 at 4:58pm