New Models of High Performance Work Systems - Equality Authority

workplace policies andpractices in irish industry3.4 Diversity and Equality3.4.1 OverviewBoth at public policy level and at the levelof the enterprise, policies that promoteequality of opportunity and accommodatediversity are understood to have a key rolein mobilising an increasingly diverse labourforce. This is a particularly important issuein contemporary Ireland, where the labourforce has developed an unprecedented levelof diversity stemming from a significantincrease in the participation rate of women,as well as record levels of inward migrationfrom both non-EU states and EU Memberstates.O’Connell and Russell (2005) report that,as well as the direct benefits to employees(for example, through reduced work-relatedstress), diversity and equality policies canalso benefit the organisation in terms ofincreased job satisfaction and greater organisationalcommitment among employees.Kochan et al. (2002) and Yasbek (2004),among others, found that gender diversityhas positive effects on performance. Monks(2007) identified a range of business andemployee benefits associated with diversityand equality systems, including reducedabsenteeism and staff turnover, improvedemployee relations and workplace innovationand creativity. Importantly, Monks foundthat the success of equality and diversityinitiatives depends greatly on the extentof their integration into an organisation’sstrategy and culture, so that they shape theway in which the organisation’s business isconducted and its individual employees work.3.4.2 Measuring Diversity and EqualityFor this report, 17 survey items 15 wereselected and compiled 16 to create theDES Index, providing a single score representationof DES. The DES Index had aCronbach’s alpha reliability rating of 0.823.Table 2.3 describes these practices andtheir percentage usage in the respondingcompanies.3.4.3 Diversity and Equality(DES) FindingsOverview of Workforce ProfileAmong the sample of respondent companies,p Women account for 35.8% of theirworkforcep Employees age 50 or greater account for12.4% of their workforcep Non-Irish employees account for 17.7%of their workforce. Of the non-Irishemployees, 38.8% are from WesternEurope, 41.2% are from Eastern Europe,and 6.0% are from Asia.Further analysis of the data revealed somepotentially interesting trends. Organisationsthat reported having a diverse workforcetended to be Irish companies ratherthan multinationals, to be more recentlyestablished, and to have low rates of unionisationand employee partnership. They alsotended to operate in the financial services,building and civil engineering and retail anddistribution sectors. The companies wereunlikely to operate in the chemical industry.< 2915 Most of these practices are legislative contents of The Employment Act 1998 and 2004. Note that, when monitoring these matters,companies must ensure that monitoring is done in a manner that ensures that any information gathered cannot be used to discriminate.16 Since some items had different response scales, the DES index was calculated as the average Z-score of the 17 items.