International perspectives on positive action measures - European ...

4.4.
Outcomes and impacts
Despite strong rhetoric about the importance
of having evidence-based
strategies, it was quite clear that most
of the positive action projects based
in European countries did not have
systematic monitoring systems and
output measures in place. Only over
a third of the respondents surveyed
from the eight case-study European
countries stated that they utilised external
assessment, and almost half of
them relied on anecdotal evidence for
assessing the results/impact/effectiveness
of their positive action. Despite
this, participants were able to provide
some sort of evaluation of the success
of projects that had been implemented
and the kind of improvements they
had witnessed.
In Austria, it was felt that positive action
had heralded a modified approach
to women and disabled people, with
specific reference made to a growth
of equality policies for these groups.
More generally, societal awareness
and sensitivity to cultural differences
appeared to have heightened in a positive
sense. Furthermore, a change of
attitudes within organisations was observed,
concrete actions had led to a
greater understanding of the needs of
employees, interaction between employees
and channels of communication
within the organisations.
In the Netherlands, reflections on the
period of ethnic monitoring suggested
that this did not seem to have been effective
in improving the representation
of minority ethnic people in the
workplace. However, it was admitted
that some benefits had arisen in that
the obligation to collect data on the
ethnic background of employees had
contributed to awareness-raising on
diverse backgrounds and on the reality
of unequal representation of people
with different ethnic backgrounds
in companies, in the labour market
and in society. Furthermore, it was ar-
gued that implementing strategies to
change the recruitment rates within
a company would have been and is a
time-consuming procedure, so success
could have been assessed only
after a longer period.
In addition, the practice of positive
discrimination in the 1990s, i.e. employing
people because of their cultural
background with the aim of better
understanding the needs and interests
of that group, had not proved beneficial.
The efforts of Dutch police forces
over two decades to recruit members
of ethnic minorities led to changes in
the ethnic composition of the workforce
but also to the creation of the
Moroccan, the Turkish and the Antilles
brigade, responsible for solving
conflicts within their own communities.
Unfortunately, this did little to
change the culture of the Dutch police
service, which had been very much
shaped by white male Dutch citizens
and served to perpetuate stereotypes
and barriers within the organisation.
The subsequent high level of attrition
led to the conclusion that a better way
to promote the attractiveness of an
employer for all was to promote the
organisation as one that celebrated diversity
and equality.
Since then, the capacity to find qualified
people from groups that previous-
ly were not attracted was considered
Disability
Racial or ethnic origin
Religion or belief
Sexual orientation
4. Perceptions of positive action in the Europe Union
to be the most important and most
desirable impact of positive action for
companies and organisations in the
Netherlands. Changes in recruitment
procedures have been crucial for reducing
barriers and for creating more
equal access to employment. Culturally
biased tests, traditions to hire people
via specific students associations,
language barriers or simply prejudice
had been influencing the engagement
of personnel. Analysis of these
procedures, followed by the development
and implementation of adapted
procedures had changed the scene
completely and had led to a more heterogeneous
workforce. The creation of
networks of certain groups targeted by
positive action measures have become
independent from their founding
objectives and have developed their
own agendas, representing company
identity in diversity.
Mirroring findings from the workshops
and interviews, the survey (Figure 1)
also showed that gender, ethnicity and
disability were the most likely grounds
to be monitored. The survey also indicated
that age was being monitored by
organisations to a lesser extent but there
was little evidence of activities around
age in the workshop discussions and
interviews.
In the UK, a number of groups were
considered to have benefited from
FIGURE 1: DISCRIMINATION GROUNDS MEASURED IN DIFFERENT
Gender
Age
Other
0 10 20 30 40 50
MONITORING CATEGORIES
Equality grounds measured In which categories
Current employees
Applications
Recruitment
Training
Progression & promotion
Service user/customer pro�le
Retention
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
39