Is it Positive Action or Positive Discrimination?

Just last week, the news reported that the RAF head officer of recruitment refused to ‘prioritise women and ethnic minorities over white men’ as she claimed it was ‘unlawful’ due to positive discrimination.???

??This got me thinking all about positive discrimination and the fine line between that and positive action…?

??Positive discrimination is defined as a type of discrimination that favour someone by treating them differently in a positive way due to certain factors, such as race or gender.?

??Positive action is the steps that an employer can take to encourage people from groups with different needs or with a past track record of disadvantage or low participation to apply for jobs.

By prioritising women and ethnic minorities and taking a pause on hiring white males is, in fact, positive discrimination and is an illegal way of increasing diversity, as it goes against the Equality Act of 2010.??

In the long-term, it often causes more harm than good...

??Before we get into it...

Do you want to make a positive change??

If yes, then here is how:

So, we created a survey that aims to capture accurate and representative insights into the use of privilege.?

Whether you find the use of privilege unacceptable, harmless, or even the right of some people...we want to hear from you!

To fill out the survey and become the change, click here!

Anyway... Let's get back to it

So, here are some other examples of positive discrimination:

?Offering a promotion at work but only for women

?Hiring someone with a disability just to increase the diversity levels despite another candidate being better suited to that particular job

?The white female has proven more suitable to a job position, but the employer hires the black female to increase the diversity in this aspect.?

So, you get the picture, right????

In many cases, it would be ideal to increase diversity this way, but a part of DEI is looking into the mental, financial, and social impacts on both sides.?

This is where positive action comes into play…

Positive action is a completely legal, effective way to increase diversity and is often extremely necessary in an organisation.???

The purpose of positive action must be clearly communicated in order for it to take place.

??For example, the organisation must have at least 12 months’ worth of data indicating the need to use positive action.?

According to equalityhumanrights.com, these are six examples of positive action:?

?Placing job adverts to target particular groups, to increase the number of applicants from that group

?Including statements in job adverts to encourage applications from under-represented groups, such as ‘we welcome female applicants’

?Offering training or internships to help certain groups get opportunities or progress at work

?Offering shadowing or mentoring to groups with particular needs

?Hosting an open day specifically for under-represented groups to encourage them to get into a particular field

?Favouring the job candidate from an under-represented group, where two candidates are ‘as qualified as’ each other

There are those who criticise positive action as they argue that it is unfair to provide extra support and employment to people just because of their particular characteristic, such as race.???

However, positive action allows employers to fight against the imbalances in their organisation.??

Furthermore, employers must take positive action to help those with a particular characteristic in order to increase diversity and create sustainable positive changes.

??It can be difficult to implement positive action and steer away from the fine line between positive action and positive discrimination, which is why DEI training programmes, like Belonging Pioneers, are so important.?

At Belonging Pioneers, we coach you to reach your DEI ambitions through strategies that re-enforce positive action.?

So, take the first step by booking a free call with me today!

??Call: 0203 362 2940

??or book through Calendly?