Equal Opportunities - week 16

   There is a variety of people all over the world. There are also two factors that have a major impact on life of every single person. They are known as equality and diversity.

   ''Equality (or ‘equal’) signifies correspondence between a group of different objects, persons, processes or circumstances that have the same qualities in at least one respect, but not all respects.'' Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2007)

   ''The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences.  These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.  It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.'' Queensborough Community College (2007)

   Mentioned definitions explain the concepts of both equality and diversity. However , there is a big difference between them. That differences are often seen in places like a company employing many people or a school.
Equality shows and values the different experiences of people , identifies discrimination , helps in treating people in the same way and often operates within the law. On the other hand , diversity shows and values the differences between individuals , treats every single person in a individual way , helps in challenging the opportunities coming from diverse people , and often is beyond the law.

   The age legislation came into force in 2006. It contains the regulations about the discrimination opportunities when looking at people's age. That legislation might have several impacts on employers. For example:

• Employers have to be very careful when assessing their employees. They have to ensure their staff that the assessment has nothing to do with the age of assessing person and also employers must make sure that they have proper arguments in case of arguments on that topic.
• When sorting the job opportunities , promotions and rewards , employers can have problems with giving them to their workers as if not given equally to certain age groups , employees can make it look like they have been discriminated , whereas they might be lazy and jealous.
• Grievance policies in companies can be a problem for employers. They can be in serious trouble , when members of their personnel would like to use it against each other during an argument against the background of the different age groups. Employers might have to undertake some expensive actions to solve that kind of problems.

    People tend to hold a variety of stereotypes about younger and older people. The stereotypes about younger people present them as lazy , looking only to benefit from other people's failures and heartless , caring only about money and their own life. In case of older people , the stereotypes about them present them as afraid of a modern technique , electronic devices and show them as people with limited knowledge and skills. To change this attitudes , organisations should make people of different age groups see , that in the real life , such stereotypical personalities occur very rarely. Organisations could do that through either:

•  Creation of working teams , made of people from different age groups , so that older people would  have to cooperate with younger people. Thus , older people would see that younger people don't always have to be heartless and younger people could learn a lot from the experience of older people and respect them , not see them as a usless part of personnel.
• Or making sure that the workplace is not divided into the parts. For example , older people working on the first floor and younger on second. There should be a similar amount of people from different age groups working in every place , so that they could get to know each other and change their attitudes about the stereotypes.

   On its website , British Airways claims to constantly work towards creation of an inclusive culture that understands and respects the individual differences of its employees. British Airways , being a company operating globally , needs to attract and retaind a diversity of talented individuals as their customer base is also a diversity. Knowing that employing a mix of people from diverse background leads to potential new ideas and innovation , BA wants to stay competetive through the right level of equal opportunities within its personnel. They organise regular events , on which employees discuss issues on religion , disability , flexible working , sexual orientation and ethnicity. British airways make sure that the diversity issues are communicated to employees via their corporate internet site , forums and networks. They also use newspapers and monthly newsletters called ''Diverse Times'' and ''Religious Festivals''.

   In conclusion , the diversity and equality are the two major factors related to every single human being. They can help in looking for new opportunities and treating people in a fair , equal way. Since the age legislation came into force in 2006 , employers have to be careful in undertaking the actions they are used to , and make sure that their assessments have no age assessing background. There are plenty of stereotypes about people from the different age groups and organisations can solve their negative impact within their personnel through the right actions. British Airways , a company operating globally , employs a diveristy of people from the different backgrounds all over the world , on a variety of job positions , and takes care about the equal opportunities through the organisation of events and use of their internet network and materials like newspapers and newsletters containing the articles about different issues.
   

Bibliography:

•  British Airways' view for equality. [Online] Available from: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/crdivhome/public/en_gb [Accessed: 30th March 2011]

• Definition for Diversity. Queensborough Community College. [Online] Available from: http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/diversity/definition.asp [Accessed: 30th March 2011]

• Equality. (2007) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. [Online] June 2007. Available on: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equality/#DefCon [Accessed: 30th March 2011]