News: Contract Law
Discrimination training: Curbing 'avoidable loss' of top talent
10 September 2008
Inflexibility and "occupational segregation" in the nation's workplaces have perpetuated discriminative practices among leaders, suggesting a significant need for management training.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission notes in a report released this week that "too many barriers" are still placed in the way of female workers' progress.
Nicola Brewer, the commission's chief executive, remarked that backward-thinking workplaces forged in an era of 'stay at home mums' and 'breadwinner dads' reinforce such barriers - "resulting in an avoidable loss of talent at the top".
"There is a bit of discrimination still going on and that still needs to be challenged," she confirmed to BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"At the commission's helpline, we still get a high proportion of calls from women at work who are pregnant who are suffering difficulties."
Workplace organisation and old-fashioned definitions of success are further management failings she identified in her analysis.
In its report, entitled 'Sex and Power', the commission claims the glass ceiling has come to resemble a barrier made from "reinforced concrete".
Greater support and development opportunities would release talent and benefit individuals "who want to work better", it adds.
