Leaders in Global Equality and Diversity since 1962
A World of Difference
ORC's Monthly Newsletter for Diversity and Inclusion Specalists Making a Difference in Their Organizations. Sign up for ORC Worldwide's Global EDI mailing list.
January 2010
Changes Brewing in the European Union
Employment and equality practices are likely to undergo a good deal of change in many European nations over the next half decade as a result of the European Commission’s “Employment Agenda for a Changing Workplace”. The five-year employment agenda, which began in 2009, gives priority to issues of work/life balance, inclusion, and working conditions. Proposals have already been drafted to:
- Extend maternal leave to 18 months and give mothers more flexibility to decide when to take leave (before or after birth)
- Extend parental leave to four months, making part of the leave non-transferable (to encourage fathers to use their leave), and giving employees the right to request flexible working when they return from parental leave
- Ensure equal treatment in the delivery of goods and services regardless of age, disability, religion or belief, or sexual orientation
The Commission is expected to release proposals in the near future that would:
- Lay out an “Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in External Action”
- Establish a “Women’s Charter” focused on elimination of the gender pay gap
Best Practice of the Month: Teach Managers and Employees About Unconscious Bias
Most large companies offer diversity of one form or another: awareness training, skills training, cross-cultural training; stand-alone or embedded in new hire orientation or management courses; classroom or online. Evidence suggests that whatever umbrella diversity training comes under, it should address unconscious or implicit bias. Project Implicit, an online and ongoing research and educational project by scientists from Harvard University, the University of Washington, and the University of Virginia, demonstrates how the decisions made by well-intentioned people may be tinged by unrecognised assumptions about other groups.
A sub-set of unintentional bias is “microinequities”: the small, again unintentional, and seemingly insignificant ways that we exclude people who are different. ORC’s research suggests that one of the practices that distinguishes companies with successful diversity initiatives is whether or not they provided microinequities training. High diversity performing companies were more likely to offer several kinds of diversity-related education, but the biggest differentiator was microinequities training.
[Source: The Impact of Senior Leadership Commitment on Diversity and Inclusion, conducted by ORC Worldwide; funded by Industrial Relations Counselors, Inc., 2008]
In our most recent study, we found that racial/ethnic minorities were kept from reaching senior positions in part because of senior leaders’ reluctance to “take risks” on non-traditional candidates, a tendency often due to unconscious bias.
Unconscious bias training helps to make diversity and inclusion real to people who may not have understood what all the fuss was about or who presumed that discrimination was something that was only an issue in places like the U.S. or the U.K. We know one company has used it as a driver for the globalisation of its D&I efforts by training volunteer “ambassadors” from locations around the world and charging them with applying the general concept to the particular circumstances in their home countries.
“Asia Rising”: Webinar for Workplace Compliance Professionals on Employment Trends in Asia
Members of the Global Workplace Compliance Network (GWCN) and other U.S.-based in-house attorneys and workplace compliance professionals will hear local experts discuss the emerging trends organisations face as employers and buyers in a rapidly growing Asia. The 90-minute webinar is scheduled for January 20, 2010 from 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (EST).
China, India and Korea are rising to lead a global economic recovery with employment opportunities in the region returning to pre-recession levels. Our panel of experts will discuss key hurdles employers must overcome, such as varying union practices, legal requirements, worker expectations, job skills, and proficiency with English across this large, diverse region.
The panel of three experts will include Shalini Agarwal, a U.K.-based partner at the Indian law firm of ALMT Legal. Agarwal has extensive expertise in the field of Indian employment and immigration and is experienced in advising Fortune 500 companies. Lesli Ligorner, a Shanghai-based partner in the international law firm of Paul Hastings, is chair of the firm’s employment law practice in China. The third expert, Brendon Carr, Esq., is an attorney at one of the premier Korean law firms, Hwang Mok Park, P.C. Carr advises international clients on matters of Korean labor and employment law. The panel will be moderated by Jacqueline Scott of Fortney & Scott, LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm that advises and assists U.S. employers expanding outside the United States and counsels foreign clients on complying with U.S. workplace laws.
To register for the webinar visit https://www.orc-netsafe.com/registration/gwc/asiaemploylaw.cfm or, to join the GWCN, please visit www.gwcnetwork.com. For additional information, contact Nita Beecher at +1-212-852-0436 or nita.beecher@orcww.com.
