Equal Opportunities Policy
BJP Consulting Group Ltd is an Equal Opportunities Employer. The aim of this policy is to ensure that no job applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, race, disability, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, marital status, sexuality, responsibility for dependants, religion, trade union activity and age (up to 65). Selection criteria and procedures will be kept under review to ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and treated on the basis of their relevant merits and abilities. All employees will be given equality of opportunity with the company and will be encouraged to progress within the organisation. To ensure that direct or indirect discrimination is not occurring, recruitment and other employment decisions will be regularly monitored in conjunction with ethnic records of job applicants and existing employees. The company is committed to a programme of action to make this policy fully effective.
Details of Policy
(i) Attracting Applicants
The aim of the Company is to recruit employees on a fair and non-discriminatory basis.
In order to achieve this:
Recruiting only by ‘word of mouth’ will not be practised by the Company, because this restricts applications from racial groups who may be under-represented in the workforce.
When advertising the Company will seek to use a wide range of organisations and publications to advertise its vacancies with the aim of attracting interest from a wide community.
All adverts will include wording demonstrating the Company’s commitment to equality of opportunity and encouraging applications from under-represented groups for jobs within the company.
Application forms should have a space for all applicants to declare their ethnic origin (for monitoring purposes only).
(ii) Selection
The aim of the Company is to select employees on a fair and non-discriminatory basis.
In order to achieve this:
The Company will measure the suitability of each applicant/candidate against the requirements for the job.
(iii) Promotion
The company will promote employees on a fair and non-discriminatory basis.
In order to achieve this:
The promotion criteria will relate specifically to the individual’s ability and aptitude to do the job.
The Company periodically reviews the promotion procedure.
The Company shall monitor the ethnic origin of employees selected for promotion.
(iv) Transfer
The Company will transfer employees on a fair and non-discriminatory basis.
In order to achieve this:-
The Company will not automatically transfer employees who complain of racial discrimination.
The Company shall monitor the ethnic origin of employees selected for transfer.
The Company will periodically review its criteria for transferring employees.
(v) Training
The persons responsible for recruitment, selection, promotion and transfer of staff shall receive ongoing training in equal opportunities
Training will achieve two objectives:
Enable employees to recognise the Company’s, and their own, obligations under the Race Relations Act 1976.
Develop the necessary skills to translate the Equal Opportunities in Employment Policy into practice.
The Company will also ensure that all its employees have equal access to training and development opportunities.
The Company shall monitor the ethnic origin of all employees selected for training and development opportunities.
(vi) Dismissal (Including Redundancy) and Other Detriment
The Company will ensure that it does not unlawfully or unfairly discriminate on racial grounds in dismissal, redundancy or other detriment to an employee.
In order to achieve this:
The Company will examine its current procedure and criteria to ensure that they do not directly or indirectly discriminate against a particular racial group or groups.
The Company will monitor all employees dismissed or selected for redundancy in terms of their ethnic origin and grade.
(vii) Positive Action
Where members of a particular racial group or groups are found to be under represented at a particular grade or occupation, the Company will encourage existing employees and potential employees from those racial groups to apply for jobs at those grades of occupations. In addition, the Company will offer training to existing employees from those groups to prepare them for promotion as permitted under Section 38 of the Race Relations Act 1976.
(viii) Monitoring
The Company will monitor the make up of its existing workforce (by keeping a record of their ethnic origin and grade). In addition, the company will monitor the recruitment and selection process by keeping a record of the application rate, those shortlisted for interview and job starters in relation to their ethnic origin and grade.
Information gathered through the monitoring exercises will regularly analysed in order to identify areas which may need particular attention.
(ix) Grievance, Disciplinary and Dispute Procedures
The Company does not ignore or treat lightly grievances or complaints from minority ethnic employees on the assumption that they are over-sensitive about discrimination.
Grievances and complaints regarding discrimination are thoroughly investigated by the Company.
Where there is evidence to suggest that an employee(s) has/have committed a racially discriminatory act, ie. racial harassment, verbal or racial abuse, physical violence, racial discrimination or inducing others to discriminate, the disciplinary procedure will be invoked. These are serious employment issues and are in breach of the Race Relations Act 1976.
The Company shall take such steps as are reasonably practicable to prevent acts of discrimination by its employees.
(x) Victimisation
The Company acknowledges that it is unlawful to victimise any individual who has pursued a case, complaint or allegations of racial discrimination by:-
disciplining them
dismissing them
transferring them (unless this is requested by the victim(s))
subjecting them to any other detriment (eg. moving them into a lower paid/status job).
(xi) Queries
Any queries relating to this document should be referred to Jonathan Cooper, Director.