Our Equal Opportunities Policy
ListenPolicy Statement
- Introduction
- The Council's Policy
- Equal Opportunities Legislation
- What is Discrimination?
- Our Policy in Practice
- Responsibility for Equal Opportunities
- Equal Opportunities Through Career Development and Training
- Promoting Opportunities for All
- Terms and Conditions of Employment
- Business Strategy and Practices
- Dealing with Complaints
- Our Commitment to Equal Opportunities
In Bracknell Forest Council, we believe that equal opportunities in employment is all about:
Policies and Practices
Creating a working environment where all employees and potential employees have fair and equal access to available opportunities and enjoy fair and unbiased treatment
Communication
Keeping employees informed of changes and consulting them on issues which directly affect their work.
Involvement
Increasing involvement and commitment by encouraging staff to share their ideas and to use their talents.
Quality of Service
Recognising that employees are normally closest to the Council's "customers". As such, they are well placed to suggest how services could be improved. Equal opportunities can ultimately help to improve the quality of service we provide to the public.
We are committed to providing equality of opportunity to all. Our aim is to treat all employees and prospective employees with integrity, respect and consideration.
As a major employer in Bracknell we aim to ensure that individuals are recruited, selected, trained and promoted on the basis of ability, job requirements, skills, aptitudes and other objective criteria.
All applicants and employees will always be dealt with impartially and on objective criteria so no individual or group is disadvantaged.
Equal Opportunities Legislation
The laws relating to Equal opportunities are:
- Equal Pay Act 1970 (amended 1983)
- Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and 1986
- Race Relations Act 1976
- Disability Discrimination Act 1995, 2005
- Human Rights Act 1998
- Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
- Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
- Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) 2003
- Age Discrimination Act 2006
The spirit of all this legislation is to seek to remove social injustices.
These laws are designed to provide redress for those who consider they are discriminated against by reason of sex, marital status, ethnic or national origin, colour, race, nationality, age, disability and differing terms of employment, including pay for jobs of equal value.
In employment, these acts make it unlawful for employers to discriminate on any of these grounds. Legal action can be taken against employers who demonstrate unfair discriminatory practices.
These laws are overseen by the Equality and Human Rights Commission who issue codes of good practice on promoting equal opportunities and provide assistance to individuals on how to redress grievances
In law, discrimination takes two forms:
Direct discrimination - treating a person less favourably than another in any aspect of employment on the grounds of sex, marital status, ethnic or national origin, colour, race, nationality, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, or disability.
Indirect discrimination - imposing an unjustifiable requirement or condition for employment which has a disproportionately adverse effect on one sex, marital status, ethnic or national origin, colour, race, nationality, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, disability or other group. Examples may include:
- applying an unjustifiable age or height barrier which may exclude women and some ethnic groups.
- rigidly insisting on certain education qualifications which may not be essential to performance of the job.
Our aim is to encourage:
- the development of better employment opportunities in the Council, available to people from all walks of life
- a better climate for improving employment practices and flexibility in business and management approaches.
We will ensure this happens by a series of measures which are contained in our Code of Practice on Recruitment and Selection. This document will be widely circulated amongst those employees with a responsibility for recruitment and training whose work in these areas will carry a substantial equal opportunities element and the responsibility for ensuring the Council's policy works in practice.
Responsibility for Equal Opportunities
The Chief Executive has overall responsibility for ensuring the policy is operated effectively. Directors are responsible for ensuring equal opportunities are promoted within their department. Managers will ensure decisions relating to matters such as recruitment, training and promotion are based on objective related criteria and do not give rise to discrimination. Every employee must ensure he/she does not practice unfair discrimination in carrying out his/her duties.
Equal Opportunities Through Career Development and Training
Training needs must be systematically assessed. General assumptions that certain groups of people are not suitable for management posts and therefore do not need training must be avoided.
Employees should be actively involved in the assessment of their own training and development needs primarily through the annual appraisal process.
The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and Race Relations Act 1976 make special provisions to enable employers to take positive steps to enhance the career opportunities for otherwise disadvantaged people. Specific action is encouraged to increase the numbers of disadvantaged people in areas of work where they are currently absent or under represented.
The Council is keen to promote such measures and ensure that development opportunities are available to all employees, in keeping with fair assessment of potential and business needs.
Managers must be skilful in recognising potential and supportive in providing training opportunities. They should themselves be adequately trained for the task. In particular managers should:
- encourage all staff to develop their skills and gain experience
- make sure that promotion opportunities are accessible to all who qualify
- ensure everyone is considered fairly for training opportunities including part-time employees.
Promotion Opportunities for All
Selecting employees for internal promotion involves very much the same principles and procedures as external selection. Bias-free criteria, testing and interviewing procedures are needed.
Promotion decisions should be based firmly on the systematic assessment of individual employees against job-related criteria, avoiding all generalised and discriminatory assumptions. The key factor is individual ability to do the job.
Terms and Conditions of Employment
An essential part of the Council's policy on equal opportunities is embodied in the Terms and Conditions of Employment, which must be available to all employees in a fair and equitable manner.
The Council will ensure that:
- allocation of work duties and responsibilities is based on ability, skill and experience, not sex, marital status, ethnic origin, age or disability.
- salary reviews reflect job related criteria and performance
- opportunities for promotion, secondments, training etc. are equally open to all staff who qualify
- they do not assume that women and disabled people are unable or unwilling to work overtime, or do not have career aspirations.
Business Strategy and Practices
Ensuring non-discriminatory business practices will help the Council to achieve its business objectives of providing the best possible service to the community of Bracknell and will ensure that we treat all of our 'customers' fairly.
From time to time complaints may arise that individuals have in some way been discriminated against. Managers should not ignore or treat lightly grievances from particular groups on the assumption that they are over sensitive. Neither should an individual be victimised for making a complaint or giving evidence about such a complaint.
Employees are required to maintain acceptable standards of performance and conduct and to perform their duties and responsibilities in accordance with Council policies. Failure to conform to these will be dealt with in accordance with the Council's disciplinary procedures.
Respect for employees as individuals should form part of good day to day employment practice. No one should be subjected to behaviour (whether malicious or thoughtless) which causes serious unhappiness and stress. Managers should therefore be aware of behaviour and attitudes that might give rise to disharmony and should take all practicable steps to prevent the occurrence of all forms of discrimination and harassment.
If an individual has a complaint of harassment or discrimination they should currently pursue it through the Council's Grievance Procedure.
Grievances will be treated confidentially.
Our Commitment to Equal Opportunities
The Council is committed to developing and maintaining the right climate and attitudes that will ensure that all employees are treated fairly. It is vital that no one is disadvantaged or feels disadvantaged. It is equally important that this philosophy is highly visible to the community we serve.
Continued success of our philosophy will involve regular review and update of our policies, practices and procedures. We must gather appropriate data about applicants to advertised vacancies to monitor our progress. We must continue to develop and support specific initiatives - such as positive training schemes - to help those that may otherwise be disadvantaged.
Above all, we must all be encouraged to make a positive personal contribution through our attitudes and actions, to promote real equal opportunities for all.
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