Diversity Training

Equality and diversity training, though it ought to be an anachronism by now, isn’t.  The world we live in is no more enlightened than it was 30 years ago – harassment, inequality and discrimination exist in all their forms and, as far as this writer can tell, no lesser spread than they did when women couldn’t be anything other than secretaries and coloured people were expected to clean floors.

The problem is fairly simple:  management has always been entrenched by the values of its predecessors.  New levels of management, in general, are trained by the old – and the old guard their elitism fiercely.  Also, of course, management is by its very nature elitist (and therefore, in a sense, discriminatory):  which means that people who are more likely to discriminate end up being managers.  Sad, but true.  Diversity training, attempts to redress this balance by educating the managing classes (and, indeed, everybody else) about the ways in which every day workplace behaviour continues the regrettable tendencies of the 20th century.

As with all modern training courses, diversity training is tailored in all sorts of ways to meet the needs of the businesses buying it.  No-one is suggesting, particularly in these trying economic times, that companies neglect their business to engage in diversity training – but, given that diversity training is wholly necessary for a fairer (and, one would imagine, therefore more productive) workplace, most progressive companies will be of the opinion that a morning “lost” here to diversity training will result in hundreds of man-hours gained through a happier workforce.

Discrimination rears its ugly head in so many ways that diversity training is almost a must for everyone, no matter who they work for, or where.  The whole concept of discrimination is so ingrained in British society that most of us don’t even realise we’re doing it – when we build a restaurant with steps going up to the toilet areas; when we dismiss an employee of either sex, consciously or otherwise, as unable to do a certain task; and when we tell or endorse “jokes” that might be perceived as hurtful by members of another ethic, religious or cultural background. 

All of these behaviours are routine facts of everyday British life – and they all hurt the productivity of businesses, both by causing rifts between employees and by making customers feel unwelcome or insulted.  Diversity training can counteract this all-too-prevalent illness – with financial benefits for every company involved, as well as the more obvious ethical ones.