CRE code of practice
The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has issued the final draft of its revised statutory Code of practice on racial equality in employment*. It has been laid before parliament and comes into force on 6 April 2006.
The code will replace the existing statutory code, which was issued in 1984. Since then, there have been substantial changes both to the legislation itself - as a result of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 and the Race Relations Act (Amendment) Regulations 2003 - and via case law.
The CRE has made substantial changes to the consultative draft code issued in 2004 (CRE issues draft revised Code of Practice).
Structure
The code starts out with a chapter on the legal concepts used in the Race Relations Act. There follows a detailed chapter on the responsibilities of employers, including a "framework for action", giving guidance on developing and implementing an equal opportunities policy and putting the policy into practice. This includes sections on promoting the policy; training; monitoring the racial groups of workers and job applicants; setting racial equality targets; and using positive action to tackle any under-representation of particular racial groups in the workforce, or in particular work; and evaluating the policy.
There is then a chapter on equality of opportunity and good employment practice, looking in detail at recruitment and selection, and issues that arise in the course of employment, such as language in the workplace, performance assessment, training and development, promotion, disciplinary and grievance procedures, harassment and dismissal, and a section on responsibilities to former employees. This is followed by a chapter addressed to trade unions, professional associations, employment and recruitment agencies, partnerships, accrediting bodies and vocational training organisations concerning the responsibilities that they have under the Race Relations Act in relation to the services they provide, both for their members and for the public.
A chapter on the rights and responsibilities of workers is followed by appendices that contain a more detailed explanation of positive action and genuine occupational requirements and qualifications; a sample policy on equal opportunities in employment (see box); a sample anti-harassment policy; and guidelines on job application forms.
Framework for action
The chapter of the code setting out good employment practice is much improved from the earlier draft, which was criticised for failing to adequately distinguish between what steps are considered to be "good practice" and what steps the CRE considers are needed to avoid unlawful discrimination. The recommendations in the final version of the code are much more closely rooted in the legal requirements on employers.
A key recommendation is that employers should "monitor workers and applicants for employment, promotion and training, by racial group, and review all employment policies, procedures and practices, to see if they are potentially discriminatory or obstruct equality of opportunity"; and then "take steps to remove potentially unlawful discrimination, and reduce any significant disparities between racial groups." Detailed guidance is provided on how to monitor by racial group, and on what can be achieved by monitoring. According to the code, monitoring by racial group will allow employers to:
"a. determine the composition of their workforce, by racial group, and compare this information with benchmarks, such as census data;
b. know how their workforce is distributed across the organisation, by location, type of job and grade;
c. uncover any disparities between racial groups, in the workforce as a whole and at different levels of the organisation, and investigate the underlying causes;
d. find out whether people from certain racial groups are typically taking longer to obtain promotion;
e. examine whether the practices, provisions, criteria, requirements or conditions used to select candidates for employment, training and promotion might be indirectly discriminatory, and why, and consider how they might be changed to avoid any negative effects on candidates from a particular racial group (or groups);
f. set realistic targets and timetables for reducing any significant racial disparities, both within the workforce as a whole and at different levels of the organisation;
g. send a clear message to its workers, and to jobseekers, that the organisation is serious about achieving fair and equitable participation, and encourage them to cooperate fully; and h. judge whether the equal opportunities policy is achieving its aims."
Racial equality targets
The CRE suggests that employers could consider setting racial equality targets as a means of planning the reduction of any significant disparities between racial groups. According to the code, such targets should be based on the ethnic and racial composition of the area from which an organisation recruits and on the ethnic and racial composition of its workforce. The targets should be based on the following outcomes:
"a. The ethnic and racial composition of the workforce, at each location and level, reflects the composition of the labour markets used for different types of work.
b. Vacancies attract applications from the full range of qualified candidates in the relevant labour markets, including candidates from ethnic minorities.
c. The ratio of appointments to applications is proportionate across all racial groups.
d. The organisation's board and senior management team (where applicable) reflect the ethnic and racial backgrounds of all potential candidates, both internally and externally.
e. Workers from all racial groups are equally likely to apply for, and be offered, training.
f. Applications for promotion and deputising are received from across the full spectrum of workers, irrespective of racial group.
g. Workers spend the same length of time at a particular grade, on average, irrespective of racial group.
h. Progress from one grade to another is unaffected by workers' racial groups.
i. Workers are not disproportionately subject to disciplinary proceedings because of their racial group.
j. Workers from all racial groups benefit equally from bonuses or performance pay.
k. Grievances are not more likely to be brought by workers from particular racial groups.
l. The number of complaints alleging racial discrimination or harassment is negligible.
m. There are no significant disparities between racial groups among staff leaving the organisation, for whatever reason."
Interviews
The revised code contains some interesting guidance on training staff in interviewing techniques. This is seen as helping staff: recognise when they are making stereotyped assumptions about people; apply a scoring method objectively; prepare questions based on the person specification, and the information in the application form; and avoid questions about hobbies, social activities or religious or cultural beliefs or practices, unless these are demonstrably relevant to the job.
The CRE advises employers to make arrangements to keep application forms, and documents relating to each stage of the recruitment process, for 12 months, in case of any complaints about decisions or procedures, or requests for the information under the Data Protection Act or the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The documentation should include records of discussions and decisions of selection panel members, notes taken by each panel member and any marks awarded by each of them at all stages of the process.
*www.cre.gov.uk/gdpract/employmentcode2005.html.