The Elephant in the Room: Protected Characteristics – Race

I often ask myself how, in 2021 is Race still an ‘Elephant in the Room’ in the workplace. The Race Relations Act first came into force in 1965 and outlawed discrimination on the “grounds of colour, race, or ethnic or national origins” in public places. It was then updated in 1976 and 2000 and replaced […]

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Discrimination

  Well written policies and procedures which are communicated and applied consistently are the key to ensuring that the risk  of discrimination is reduced as much as possible. Employees (as well as workers and job applicants) could bring claims for discrimination on the basis of Age, Gender, Race, Beliefs, Marital Status, Disability and Sexual Orientation. […]

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Bullying is prevalent in UK workplaces… and it’s on the rise

It’s National Anti-Bullying Week, and shockingly, Acas have reported that over the past year they received around 20,000 calls about harassment and bullying at work. Some callers even reported that workplace bullying caused them to self-harm or have suicidal thoughts. Bullying is defined as any unwanted behaviour that makes someone feel intimidated, degraded, humiliated or […]

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Recruiting Blind

Would you? Could you? Over 100 UK businesses have pledged to recruit blind as a way of increasing social mobility and reducing the risk of discrimination candidates with submit their applications on standard company from without a name or school. As an HR professional, I’m not sure how I feel about this. 15 years ago […]

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BNI – 60 Seconds – 9th November

Can your clients afford to settle an employment tribunal claim? Now, I don’t like scarring you, but in 2009 – 10, there were 392,800 claims of which 24% were working time directive related, 19% were unauthorised deductions from wages and 32% were unfair dismissal, breach of contract or redundancy related. – In 2008 – 09 […]

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