Seminar Report

Diversity - what it means to you Thursday 21 September 2006 Institute of Association Management, 1 Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster, London		supported by
		View presentations made at this event: Employers, Diversity and the Law Why Diversity Matters Diversity in Action Note: These presentations are not refereed publications and IofAM assumes no liability for the information contained within. The opinions expressed are those of the presenting authors and do not necessarily reflect those of IofAM or its representatives.
Speakers: Mark Slattery, Development Director, HR Insight Sue King, Sue King Regeneration Femi Otitoju, Training Director, Challenge Consultancy Under the new age discrimination legislation coming into force in October 2006, employers will need to re-examine and fine- tune their policies on diversity. Discrimination can take a variety of forms – and sometimes even intent to discriminate can serve as the basis of an employee claim. The Institute’s seminar on Diversity - What it Means to you on 21 September stressed the need for employers to be proactive - formulating a diversity policy that addresses a wide variety of issues. Suggested areas to look at include: raising awareness of your association among a range of religious and ethnic groups and among people of all sexual orientations and ages achieving endorsement from recognised associations promoting diversity setting up a learning scheme among employees – keeping them informed about legislation and issues looking into advertising and various media for promoting membership and for recruiting members to a variety of groups accessing help from other organisations specialising in diversity awareness and training , using networking with groups having experience in implementing diversity policies making sure to keep on top of new legislation talking to your membership – learning from their experiences with diversity, and keeping them up to date about trends and practical applications appointing a diversity “champion” – someone to train others on the subject and to promote implementation of diversity policies. An association should be being proactive in anticipating issues surrounding people’s differences. How to achieve this? Look carefully at your image. Are you perceived as diversity-friendly? Do you use a variety of non-traditional media to recruit members and staff? Do you aim for representation among different groups among the speakers and delegates at events? Do you make good use of volunteers from a variety of backgrounds, orientations, religions and ethnic groups?