MONITORING WORKFORCE DIVERSITY
OVERVIEW
This line managers briefing covers the topic of monitoring the workforce.
Monitoring is a key component of existing legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act and Race Relations Amendment Act and will undoubtedly feature heavily as a requirement of future equalities legislation. With this in mind the Diversity Task Force have been working with the SWISS project board and support the inclusion of the following fields within the personal data capture exercise:
Five steps to effective monitoring
You need to understand your starting position. What does your workforce look like? Only effective monitoring can provide you with the information you need. Remember, the diverse backgrounds of staff bring a richness to the workforce which translates into better patient care. The SWISS results will provide a useful baseline for each employer.
Make sure staff are aware in advance about when the monitoring will take place. Make sure that you have explained to your staff that they will be asked a number of personal questions before they receive the questionnaire. Talk about the SWISS project and also the diversity awareness campaign in your team meetings.
You must explain to staff why these questions are being asked. Yes you have certain legislative requirements but explain that the organisation needs to know more about the make up of its workforce if it is to meet the requirements of staff such as dietary and spiritual needs, access requirements and support for staff networks such as LGBT or overseas workers networks.
You must tell staff how the information is going to be collected and stress the importance of filling out the questionnaire as fully possible. What we don't measure we don't do! Make sure your team understand that they are important and that we won't know how to make our policies and practices meet their needs if we don't know more about who works in the organisation.
Make sure staff know what will happen with their questionnaire. Assure staff that information will be confidential and will not be shared with line managers or colleagues. Explain where the information will be kept and who will have access to it. Direct worried staff to in-house HR staff , their Trade Union Rep or a member of the SWISS team. Explain to staff that we need to monitor diversity if we are to become a more inclusive employer.
For further information regarding the SWISS project please don't hesitate to contact the national SWISS helpline on 0131 275 6700
RETURN TO LINE MANAGERS BRIEFING MENU