Diversity In Met Police

INTRODUCTION Diversity management and equal opportunities are important values that need to be upheld in today’s work environment. Given both the past and recent history of discrimination cases against the Met Police, such as the cases of Stephen Lawrence and Carol Howard, institutional racism in organizations is still being questioned in British society. Over than last 50 years, changes in discrimination law have indeed impacted the behaviour of employers and institutions. These laws have made discrimination in the workplace illegal, specifying the rights and responsibilities of both employees and employers. However, there is still progress to be made in increasing diversity and equal opportunities in the workforce. In this paper, I will
be evaluating the extent diversity has improved since the Macpherson Report on the Stephen Lawrence case in 1999, how employment laws have impacted organizational diversity as a whole, and ways in which organizations can improve equality in their workforce.
IMPLICATIONS OF DISCRIMINATION HISTORY Today, institutional racism is still prevalent in the Met Police and various workforces, however, it is also important to recognize that certain organizations have been exemplary in achieving diversity. In 1999, the Macpherson report found the Met Police of being institutionally racist in their investigation of the death of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. Fundamental errors were committed by the Met Police in their investigation, such as not providing first aid at the scene, did not thoroughly follow up on their leads and failure to arrest suspects (Holdaway & O’Neill, 2006). Since then, reforms in recruitment, training, and promotion procedures within the Met Police have worked towards increasing diversity in the workforce and changing attitudes (Bennetto, 2009). However, years after the Macpherson report, not much change has actually been achieved within the Met Police.
According to the Human Rights and Equality Commission, the proportion of ethnic minority officers in England and Wales has risen from 2% in 1999 to 3.9% in 2007, but it is still significantly below that of the average population. Police recruits of ethnic minorities increased from 6.3% to 10.7% from 2007 to 2008, but ethnic minority officers have a higher resignation rate than Caucasian officers. The diversity progress has only increased on all rank levels except for the top levels. The Met has only four ethnic minority officers among 34 at commander rank or above which is completely disproportionate to the population’s ethnic composition. Furthermore, statistics have shown that the police are seven times more likely to stop and search Black people compared to Whites, and Asians are two times more likely to be stopped and searched compared to Whites (Bennetto, 2009). This disproportionate rate of stop and search shows that police officers are engaged with a certain degree of racial profiling and stereotyping, which is detrimental to the fair treatment of civilians. More recently, the Met Police was found guilty of sexism and racism against Carol Howard (C. Howard v. Metropolitan Police Service 2014). This case has further supported that there is still immense progress to be made by the Met Police. The Met Police is only one organization and is not representative of
all other organizations. There are many other organizations and employers who have achieved and effectively managed diversity such that organisational efficiency and profitability is raised. The significant changes in organizational structures is also attributed to continuous amendments in discrimination law.
DISCRIMINATION LAW IN THE WORKPLACE Discrimination law has become more sophisticated over the last 50 years and provided the legal framework for Human Resources (HR) policies in organisations. The creation of these laws has protected employees from discrimination and impacted behaviours in organizations. The first form of legislation that contributed to the importance was the Disability Act 1944. After World War II, there were many service men and women who were disabled and the law protected their employment opportunities (Cheatle, 2001). In 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 protected employees on the grounds of sex and marital status (The National Archives, 1975).
The legislation also highlighted both direct and indirect discrimination. For example, employers only advertising a job specifically to men; direct discrimination, or not promoting part-time work that disadvantages women given that they are usually primary caregivers; indirect discrimination. (Cheatle, 2001). The Race Relations Act 1976 followed, which protects employees from discrimination of race, colour, nationality, and ethnicity (The National Archives, 1976). There are exceptions whereby certain characteristics are genuine occupational qualifications, such as a female matron for a girls’ school, or a Chinese waiter for a Chinese restaurant. The Equal Pay Act 1970 stated that there should be equal pay for the same value of work (The National Archives, 1970). The creation of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (The National Archives, 1995) made it unlawful for employers to discriminate against disabilities and repealed the Disabled Person’s Act 1944 which was a patronized form of protection for people with
disabilities. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 revised in the 1990s is another important legislation that affects the work culture. Previously, all crimes were erased from employment records in order to remove preconceived notions during the recruitment process, however, exceptions currently include categories of crimes involving sexual assault and abuse of children and vulnerable people (Cheatle, 2001). Additionally, Trade Union Reform and Employment Rights Act 1993 give the right for employees to belong to a trade union and employers cannot discriminate employees based on their membership to a trade union. Through employee representation and practices, trade unions also work with employers to combat discrimination and promote equality in the workforce. Now, a number of anti-discriminatory laws have been consolidated into the Equality Act 2010. There are nine protected characteristics employers cannot discriminate employees on which include age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation (The National Archives, 2010). The Equality Act changed the way employers dealt with retirement. Employers could not remove employees who were above the pension age of 65, instead, they could only ask if employees plan to leave. The normalization of gender reassignments and same-sex marriages in today’s society have called for legislation to protect the rights of people in these categories. Both changes in the law and changes in society have influenced the way organisations approach diversity and equal opportunities. Case laws have also impacted the ways legislation and institutions function. Apart from the Macpherson Report, cases such as Grant v. South West Trains Ltd. 1998 have called for changes in legislation. Lisa Grant filed a sex discrimination claim against South West Trains stating that the company refused to give travel benefits to her partner when unmarried opposite-sex partners were given benefits. This brought attention to protecting the rights of gays and civil partnerships, which are now protected by the Equality Act 2010. Correspondingly, the John Terry race case in 2012 (Gavins & Simpson, 2015) brought to light the fact that racism is still a problem in society. Footballer John Terry was found not guilty of making racist remarks against footballer Anton Ferdinand. Even though John Terry won the case, he lost the hearts and the minds of people. The Football Association held separate independent inquiry which found John Terry guilty of racial abuse and stripping him of the captaincy of the English football team. The case highlighted the importance of institutions to manage the discriminatory attitudes among its workers. The progression in discrimination law has impacted on the behaviour of employers and institutions. Furthermore, codes of practice established by the Equal Opportunities Commission, Commission for Racial Equality and Disability Rights Commission have guided human resource management (HRM) practices in the workplace to increase diversity and equality (Cheatle, 2001). For instance, HRM practices in addressing inequality in recruitment, pay and promotion can enhance equal employment opportunity, promote inclusiveness and enhance innovation (Goodman, Fields, & Blum, 2003). There is also a cascading effect whereby hiring more female or minority board members results in greater diversity in recruitment. With a diverse board of members, subsequent recruitment becomes easier through their access to networks and talent pools (Shen et al., 2009). Goodman et al. (2003) found that HRM practices that actively engaged in addressing demographic changes had greater representation of women and ethnic minorities in higher level management positions. Many organizations have also been effective in hiring women and minorities to reflect the increasingly diverse global markets. However, many organisations still fail to have substantial ethnic minority and women representation in higher corporate positions. Holly (1998) found evidence of discrimination in employment in the UK public sector, including education, police, and fire services. Specifically, there is a lack of women in senior executive positions and women still face sexist attitudes from male colleagues. Also, many well-established companies have not been able to retain and promote ethnic minorities and women (Goodman et al. 2003). The lack of ethnic diversity has also been attributed to managers in organizations where the lack of effective HR diversity policies promote or rate highly subordinates who have similar cultural backgrounds. A study conducted by Fortune magazine found that among the companies in the Fortune 1000, only 19% of the executive positions are held by people of ethnic minorities (Hickman, Tkaczyk, Florian, & Stemple, 2003). Moreover, while the implementation of equal pay has significantly reduced the pay gap between men and women, pay inequality still remains a problem in the UK. Men in full-time work are still earning 14% more than women and in both full-time and part-time work, the gender pay gap is at 19.1%. Also, even though flexible work has been able to attract more women into the workforce, the pay gap by the hour between full-time and part-time work is at 25% (Kollewe, 2015).
IMPROVING EQUALITY AT WORK