Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace

Equality 

First used in the early 15th century is ‘the state of being equal’.  In modern usage in the UK, equality is about ensuring equality of access, treatment, outcomes and impact in both employment and service delivery. It is rooted in ideas of justice and fairness and enshrined in the United Kingdom Equality Act 2010 (EA10) which highlights that every individual must have an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents. It is also the belief that no one should have poorer life chances because of their background, personal identity or experience. 

The achievement of equality of outcomes requires identifying the barriers and biases and taking targeted action (including positive action as permitted under the EA10) to overcome specific inequalities, discrimination, disadvantages and marginalisation experienced by certain groups and individuals including those protected characteristics under the EA10. Inequalities can be manifested through prejudice, oppression and discrimination – direct and indirect – and can be systemic through behaviour, policies, practices and cultures. Equally vital is to identify the EDI benefits for the workforce and business/service delivery which will ensure that the EDI strategy is positively framed to add value to the organisation. 

Equality of impact assessments through feedback from discriminated against and marginalised individuals are therefore essential in determining whether the EDI strategy is effective and is achieving the desired outcomes. 

Some users of the term equality have associated it with the idea of ‘sameness – same access or treatment’. However, this is a grossly inaccurate interpretation, as sameness is akin to ‘colour blind’ approaches – which can be discriminatory. Equality is not the same as equity. Equity is concerned with the actions taken to achieve a state of equality of outcomes. 

Diversity 

Diversity is the differences in colour, ethnicity, abilities, age, gender, beliefs, interests, socioeconomic (class), marital or partnership status, sexual orientation, geographic, academic/professional backgrounds, opinions, backgrounds, thinking, experiences and many other characteristics

Diversity recognises that everyone is different in a variety of visible and non-visible ways, and that those differences are to be recognised, respected, valued, promoted and celebrated. They may include, but are not limited to, differences protected by equalities law. 

Research shows that diverse workforces are beneficial for decision making, innovation and problem solving as people bring a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences with them. However, it's important to note that just simple tolerance of difference and having a diverse workforce is not enough - people need to feel empowered, a sense of belonging, and feel safe to contribute their ideas and viewpoints and to achieve their full potential. 

Inclusion 

Inclusion is the practice of including people in a way that is fair for all, values everyone’s differences, and empowers and enables each person to be themselves and achieve their full potential and thrive at work.

An inclusive workplace culture is one in which everyone feels that they belong through feeling safe in being themselves, that their contribution matters, policies and practices are fair and diverse range of people are supported to work together effectively.

To achieve genuine inclusion there must be positive action, including measures under the Equality Act 2010 to address past, present and potential discrimination and barriers to enable and empower:

• Equal access
• Equal opportunities
• Equal treatment
• Equal resources
• Equal outcomes
• Equal impact

The moral case for building fairer and more inclusive labour markets and workplaces is indisputable: recognising and valuing our identity, background or circumstance, we all have a right to the opportunity to develop our skills and talents to our full potential, work in a safe, supportive and inclusive environment, be fairly rewarded and recognised for our work and have a meaningful voice on matters that affect us.

It’s also vital for the sustainability of businesses and economies. Everyone stands to benefit when we embrace and value the diversity of thoughts, ideas and ways of working that people from different backgrounds, experiences and identities bring to an organisation. So, organisations must ensure their people management approaches do not put any group at a disadvantage. People professionals are seen as the guardians and custodians of EDI policy and practice and therefore have a critical role to play in role modelling and championing EDI best practice in their organisation - find out more about this in our Profession Map.

Standards, such as the BSI and ISO human resource management suite and Investors in People (IiP), provide principle-based frameworks and guidelines to help organisations recognise the actual and potential value of their people and ensure their people polices and working practices are bias free. See more on HR and standards.

The concept of ‘intersectionality’ is that we all have multiple, overlapping identities that impact on our experience, including multiple discrimination and disadvantage.

Differences include visible and non-visible factors, for instance, personal characteristics such as background, culture, personality, work-style, accent and language. It’s important to recognise that a ‘one-size-fits all’ approach to managing people does not achieve fairness and equality of opportunity and outcomes for everyone. People have different personal needs, values and beliefs. Good people management practice needs to be consistently fair but also flexible and inclusive to support both individual and business needs.

Discrimination can:

• Impact an individual’s wellbeing, performance at work and intention to stay.
• Adversely affect employment opportunities.
• Result in failure to recognise skills-based abilities, potential and experience.
• Result in significant legal costs, compensation and settlements paid to avoid defending expensive discrimination claims.

For example, ‘neurodiversity’ is a growing area of workplace inclusion. It refers to the natural range of differences in human brain function. Among employers, it’s used to describe alternative thinking styles including dyslexia, autism and ADHD. Together with Uptimize, we’ve produced Neurodiversity at work, a practical guide for employers to help create a neurodiversity-friendly workplace where people can utilise their strengths. Most adjustments are simple and low-cost, but can make a significant difference to an individual’s working life. Listen to our Neurodiversity podcast.

The social justice case is based on the belief that everyone should have a right to equal access to employment, training and development based solely on merit. Everyone should have the right to be free of any direct or indirect discrimination and harassment or bullying. This can be described as the right to be treated fairly and the UK law, principally in the Equality Act 2010, sets minimum standards.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published a range of guidance on all aspects of the Equality Act 2010, including a Code of practice on employment. Whilst not legally binding documents, the codes give important guidance on good practice and failure to follow them may be taken into account by tribunals or courts.

For more information on particular aspects, see our various factsheets on age, disability, harassment and bullying, race, religion, sex discrimination and gender reassignment and sexual orientation discrimination.

The main business benefits of taking inclusion and diversity seriously are talent and corporate reputation.

Talent

Research on the psychological contract shows that people want to work for employers with good employment practices. They also want to feel valued at work.

To be competitive, organisations need everyone who works for them to make their best contribution. Increasingly, employers recognise the importance of inclusion and diversity in recruiting and retaining the skills and talent they need.

As well as designing appropriate and fair people practices, it’s important to create open and inclusive workplace cultures in which everyone feels valued, respects colleagues, and where their contribution is recognised.

Flexible working and job design are also important components of diversity strategies and part of attracting and retaining a wide pool of talented people.

Corporate reputation

Businesses need to consider corporate responsibility (CR) in the context of diversity as social exclusion and low economic activity rates can limit business markets and their growth. CR used to be centred on environmental issues, but an increasing number of employers now take a wider view, seeing the overall image of an organisation as important in attracting and retaining both customers and employees.

Better business performance

Openness to diversity widens access to the best talent. Inclusion allows engagement with talent effectively. Equality enables delivery of fair outcomes. Together, this leads to enhanced innovation, creativity, productivity, reputation, engagement and business results.

Overcoming prejudice, bias (including unconscious and micro-aggressions) and changing entrenched negative attitudes can be difficult. To progress EDI, organisations should take a systemic approach, including developing an inclusive culture, inclusive approaches to employment policies and practices, to personal behaviours, and by managing EDI issues in ways that also support business contexts.

Our report Diversity and inclusion at work: facing up to the business case reviews the evidence on the touchpoints in the employee lifecycle that may contain barriers to equality. Businesses should examine their own people management practices and diversity data to understand where barriers lie, taking action accordingly.

As well as targeted initiatives, a coherent strategy is needed to ensure that working practices across the organisation support an inclusive culture which embraces difference. The strategy needs to be supported by organisational values and leader and manager behaviour which reflect the importance of EDI. Our report Diversity management that works draws on research evidence and professional expertise to make practical recommendations in six key areas of diversity practice and strategy. Explore the actions people professionals need to take to build inclusion.

Although there’s no legal requirement to have a written EDI, it’s a good idea to produce one to demonstrate the organisation takes its legal and moral obligations towards being a diverse employer seriously. It can also encourage employees to treat others equally. Any EDI policy and strategy will have greater buy in and sustainability if it is developed in collaboration with the lived experience of marginalised and discriminated against staff and middle managers. 

Overall strategy

• Recognise that a diverse workforce may not achieve equality of outcomes and needs an inclusive environment and cultures to flourish.
• Ensure that initiatives and policies have the support of the board and senior management.
• Remember that managing diversity and developing a culture of inclusion is a continuous process of improvement, not a one-off initiative.
• Develop a strategy with the lived experience if marginalised staff to support the achievement of business goals, including ways of addressing the diverse needs of customers.
• Keep up-to-date with the law and review policies through checks, audits and consultation.
• Design guidelines and provide training for line managers to help them respond appropriately to diversity needs, as they are vital change agents, but give them scope for flexible decision-making.
• Link diversity management to other initiatives such as such as Investors in People (IIP), BSI 76000 Valuing People and ISO 9001 Quality Management.
• In an organisation that operates internationally, be aware that the approach to managing diversity will need to take account local legislation, norms and social issues, and the ways that individual working styles and personal preferences are influenced by national cultures.
• Prioritise collecting and using good quality people data, especially from marginalised and discriminated against individuals and groups to identify barriers and solutions.

Workplace behaviour

• Train all employees to understand and engage with EDI in how they do their jobs and work with colleagues.
• Reflect equality, respect and dignity for all in the organisation’s values and ensure these are shown in the way the organisation and its employees operate on a daily basis.
• Describe desirable behaviours to gain positive commitment.
• Make clear that everyone has a personal responsibility to uphold the standards.
• Embed EDI in performance management frameworks and all managers’ roles; they have a key role to play, behaving in an inclusive way and contributing to diversity goals.
• Focus on accountability and transparency, ensuring that merit, competence and potential are the basis for all decisions about recruitment and development, and be alert to the influence of conscious and unconscious biases.
• Introduce mechanisms to deal with all forms of harassment and bullying, making clear that such behaviour will not be tolerated and setting out the consequences of breaking the organisation’s behaviour code.

Communication

• Develop an open culture with good communication channels based on open dialogue and active listening.
• Ensure appropriate channels for employee voice and that different groups feel able to access them.
• Use different and accessible methods such as newsletters, in-house magazines, notice boards and intranets to keep people up to date with diversity policies and practices.
• Actively seek people’s ideas and take action on feedback.

Learning and development

• Build EDI concepts and practices into staff training courses, management training and teambuilding programmes to increase awareness of the need to handle different views, perceptions and ideas in positive ways. Find out what diversity training is most effective in our Diversity management that works report.
• Consider awareness-raising programmes as part of wider ongoing EDI training integrated into continuous professional development (CPD).
• Include EDI issues in induction programmes, including raising awareness of employee network groups, so that all new employees know about the organisation’s values and policies.
• Train all leaders and managers to help them understand the issues and drive their support for organisational and operational policies and practices.

Measure, review and reinforce

• Establish effective governance of the EDI Policy and Strategy to ensure effective leadership, accountability and delivery
• Regularly audit, review and evaluate progress, using quantitative and qualitative data on both inclusion and diversity, to highlight where barriers exist (for example, via recruitment data) and show the impact of initiatives, making appropriate changes to activities if needed.
• Use employee surveys and marginalised employee lived experience to evaluate initiatives, to find out if policies are working for everyone, and to provide a platform for improvement.
• Add EDI objectives in job descriptions and performance reviews, and recognise and reward achievement. For example, staff surveys could ask questions about the team culture and the perception of equality of opportunity.
• Benchmark progress against other organisations and explore what others are doing to adopt and adapt ideas where appropriate.
• Network with others from inside and outside the organisation to keep up-to-date and to share learning.

Contacts

Acas - Equality and discrimination

Equality and Human Rights Commission

GOV.UK - Employers: preventing discrimination

Government Equalities Office

The Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (enei)

Equality and Diversity Forum

Books and reports

Acas. (2018) Prevent discrimination: support equality. London: ACAS.

Business Disability Forum. (2015) Square holes for square pegs: current practice in employment and autism. London: Business Disability Forum.

Frost, S. and Kalman, D. (2016) Inclusive talent management: how business can thrive in an age of diversity. London: Kogan Page.

McAndrew, F. (2010) Workplace equality: turning policy into practice. London: Equality and Diversity Forum.

Whysall, Z. (2020) Avoiding unintended consequences of diversity initiatives: the importance of dimensionality. CIPD Applied Research Conference Paper.

Visit the CIPD and Kogan Page Bookshop to see all our priced publications currently in print.

Journal articles

Bader, A., Kemper, L. and Jintae, F. (2019) Who promotes a value-in-diversity perspective? A fuzzy set analysis of executives’ individual and organizational characteristics. Human Resource Management. Reviewed in Bitesize research.

Baska, M. (2019) Businesses ‘feel free to discriminate’ because equality law is not being enforced. People Management (online). 30 July.

Faragher, J. (2020) We need to talk about diversity and inclusion. People Management (online). 18 July.

Paluck, E., Porat, R., Clark, C. and Green, D. (2021) Prejudice reduction: progress and challenges. Annual Review of Psychology. Vol 72. pp533-560. Reviewed in Bitesize research.

Phillips, K.W., Dumas, T.L. and Rothbard, N.P. (2018) Diversity and authenticity. Harvard Business Review. Vol 96, No 2, March-April. pp132-136. Reviewed in Bitesize research.

CIPD members can use our online journals to find articles from over 300 journal titles relevant to HR.

Members and People Management subscribers can see articles on the People Management website.