Single equality commission can reduce burden on business

The proposed single commission for equality, formally announced by the Government today, should reduce confusion and help to make the business case for diversity more evident. But it has to avoid adding to the trend for litigation surrounding diversity issues, which, far from encouraging diversity in practice, just develops a compliance-driven minimal approach based on keeping noses clean. These are the views of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the professional body for all those involved in people management and development.

Geoff Armstrong, Director General of the CIPD, said:

This is a good opportunity to re-think diversity and set it on a much more positive path. This new body has the capacity to reduce the confusion and bureaucratic burden on business while bringing about a profound shift for the better in employment practice. We have long called for a single body to create a simple and coherent framework dedicated to supporting and encouraging responsible employers to promote diversity.

We believe diversity is central to good people management and good business. The single commission should focus on making the business case for diversity, and on demonstrating that the diversity agenda works in practice.

Valuing difference should be about more than box ticking and litigation avoidance. An approach that promotes all forms of diversity in the workplace, while not adopting an overly prescriptive approach or encouraging litigation, is to be welcomed.