Why keep ethnic records?
It is generally recognised that
policies, by themselves, are not enough to change things. Indeed, it is common
practice for organisations to review their polices regularly to make sure that
they are operating effectively and efficiently. Personnel policies are no
different from any others in this regard. For instance, employers will
generally have some means of reviewing the effectiveness of their health and
safety procedures; or of ensuring that the human resources available in the
organisation are fully and effectively used. Trades unions, too, stress the
importance of implementing the policies they have negotiated on behalf of their
members.
It cannot be assumed that just
because an organisation states that it intends to offer equal opportunities to
all jobs applicants, employees and clients regardless of colour, ethnic or
racial origin, this will actually happen. The question one needs to ask is:
what system does the organisation use to check that equal opportunities are in
fact available to everyone?
The CRE is strongly of the view
that the most reliable and efficient way of monitoring the effectiveness of an
equal opportunity policy is to carry out regular analyses of the workforce and
job applicants, by ethnic origin. This would provide a clear, overall picture
of what is actually happening in terms of the structure of employment in an
organisation. Essentially, organisations would have to:
- Obtain information on the
ethnic origins of their employees and job applicants, and add the data to
their personnel records.
- Examine, by ethnic origin,
the distribution of employees across the organisation, and the success
rates of applicants/candidates for jobs, training and promotions,
according to the type of job, grade, department, etc.
- Assess regularly the extent
to which the distribution of staff and the success rates of
applicants/candidates reflect the existence of equal opportunities for
everyone, regardless of racial, national or ethnic origin.
top
Model explanations of ethnic record-keeping
The following examples show how two
organisations explain to why ethnic origin information is required.
Example 1
This organisation operates a policy
of equal opportunity for employment and advancement. To assist the monitoring
of this policy, and for that purpose only, please provide details of your
ethnic origin.
Example 2
The organisation is committed to developing positive
policies to promote equal opportunities in employment and prohibiting unlawful
or unfair discrimination on the grounds of an employee. s sex, marital
status, race, colour, national or ethnic origin.
In order to ensure that these
policies are being carried out, and for no other purpose, all employees are
asked to provide this information. Your supervisor, section head or union
representative will be able to help if you have any queries.
top
Conclusions
Ethnic record-keeping should be
seen as good personnel practice, benefiting both employers and employees alike.
It should not be regarded as a separate exercise, but rather as an integral
part of existing personnel records, to be considered and treated as a regular
management function. It is perhaps significant that ethnic records have been
fully adopted as a part of general record-keeping by the majority of US
companies.
It must be stressed,
however, that ethnic records should not become an end in themselves: they
are no more than statistical exercises which, by themselves, can achieve
nothing. Rather, they should be seen as a tool to help employers eliminate
unlawful discrimination and ensure rapid progress towards full equality of
opportunity. To be effective, ethnic records need to function within a
positive equal opportunity environment, with a clear and strong commitment
to act upon the information that monitoring produces. Again, it is worth
noting that equality of opportunity and diversity are regarded by US
companies as being central to human resource development and good
business.
