All engineers aboard!
Equal opportunities are as important in the engineering industry as they are in any other business sector. Employers are eager to recruit and retain a diverse workforce because it makes good business sense and, it’s the right thing to do.
Engineering employers are as aware as those in any other sector of the need to recruit and retain a truly diverse workforce. The reasons for this go far beyond mere political correctness. It is simply the right thing to do. Over the last 50 years or so society has developed a much greater understanding of human rights and appreciation of the importance of diversity. Anti-discriminatory practices have become enshrined within UK law while issues to do with diversity and discrimination are engrained within the public consciousness.
A diverse workforce makes good business sense in a global industry
In an increasingly globalised world, diversity in the workforce also makes good business sense. Diversity is about harnessing the skills and talents from all segments of society. To succeed, organisations must be creative, forward thinking and innovative, so they need to attract employees who can bring a wide range of values, beliefs, backgrounds and ideas into the workplace. Having a diverse workforce also means that employers will be more successful at communicating with and marketing themselves to a diverse population.
Diversity is about harnessing the skills and talents from all segments of society.
As more and more organisations are becoming truly global businesses, employees will increasingly have to learn how to carry out their everyday work within a multinational, multilingual and multicultural context.
Equal opportunities in practice
What do diversity and equal opportunities mean in practical terms? Apart from the protection offered in law, many employers have put in place various support systems to help build a welcoming and inclusive workplace. These range from network groups for different constituencies (for example, black and minority ethnic, women and LGBT groups) to mentoring schemes. Managers and human resources staff are also available to approach in the case of a problem arising.
Age
Age discrimination legislation was finally introduced in 2006 and every employer has had to review its practices to check that they are in line with the law. The new legislation prohibits employers from discriminating on the grounds of age. For example, they can’t specify an age range for entry onto graduate schemes, traditionally the preserve of the early twenties straight out of university. For younger graduates this can mean facing competition with those who have more life experiences and skills to offer. However, it also means that employees can’t be disqualified from applying for more senior roles on the grounds of age.
Disability
Over the last few years there has been a slow but steady stream of government and employer initiatives to increase job opportunities and offer practical support to bring people with disabilities into the workplace. The Disability Discrimination Act was introduced in 1995: one of its aims is to ensure that organisations enable disabled individuals to perform to their maximum potential.
Nevertheless, there are some exemptions that affect engineering. If the disability has an adverse effect on your ability to do a particular job and it can’t be remedied by a change in equipment or alteration to the building, you won’t be protected by law to get the position.
Ethnicity and religion
The 1976 Race Relations Act and the 2000 Race Directive have ensured that it is illegal in the UK to discriminate on the grounds of nationality, colour or ethnic group. The importance of religion to individuals’ everyday lives has also been widely recognised: time to pray, flexible working hours and recognition of different religious festivals as well as fasting and dietary requirements are all making serious inroads into working life.
Gender
It may come as a shock to realise how male dominated the engineering sector is even at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Present estimates suggest that around 15 to 20 per cent of graduate engineers are women, which roughly reflects the take-up by women of engineering degrees at university, while only three per cent of chartered engineers are women.
Efforts are being made to change this situation, for example with initiatives aimed at girls of school age led by such organisations as Women into Science and Engineering (WISE). Fortunately, it’s now rare to hear of discrimination against women, and most employers will have support in place for their women engineers through networking groups, mentoring initiatives and access to cross-organisational organisations.
Sexual orientation
As in society at large, perhaps, attitudes to sexual orientation have been slow to change, but change they have. Good employers could well have an LGBT group in addition to support networks for people with disabilities, women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Increasingly employers are recognising that part of being an equal opportunity employer is about creating a friendly and open working environment, where being ‘out’ is accepted and welcomed.
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