UK businesses leading the field in promoting workplace cohesion

Date: 26/02/2010

The Institute of Community Cohesion has launched a new guide for employers on promoting cohesion in the workforce. The Workforce Cohesion toolkit, supported by Unison, EHRC, DCLG, BT and BiTC, will, for the first time, give organisational leaders, HR professionals, managers and trade unionists support to take simple steps to embed cohesion across the workplace.

For many, the workplace is the most diverse environment they experience in their daily lives. The case studies and practical advice, based on the experience of global brands such as BT, Eversheds the Co-op and Standard Bank, demonstrate how different approaches can make the employer more productive and the workplace a more cohesive and collaborative environment for all. This can also benefit the wider community by building stronger linkages between and understanding of different communities.

In recent years the move to a globalised economy has had real impact on the labour market. The percentage of non-UK born workers as part of the UK workforce now stands at 12%. The rise of multinational companies has enabled employers to move around the world to target localised markets and seek out competitive labour. This creates challenges for employers recruiting an increasingly diverse workforce which needs to work cohesively to deliver business goals.

Speaking at the launch in London, Shahid Malik MP, Minister at the Department for Communities and Local Government said:

'Whether it is a multinational or a small start up, it is at work that most of us meet and mix with people from different walks of life.

'Employees that get along together in the workplace are more likely to get along together outside and what happens at work therefore impacts not just on the economy but on wider society as well.

'Employers have a crucial role to play in building strong communities and they can use this guidance to check that their recruitment practices and wider employment policies are helping to break down, not reinforce community divisions.'

Ted Cantle CBE, Executive Chair of iCoCo said:

“The workplace is a ‘neutral’ space in which people have to collaborate to achieve business goals. This gives the workplace the edge in being able to influence the way people see others, if given the chance to do so. This toolkit shows how business can lead the way and build stronger workforces while increasing links between different communities.”

The toolkit is available on-line at: www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk/workforcecohesion

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For further information contact Jennifer Tankard on 07971 510085 or Ali Bushnell, External Press and Media Relations Officer, Coventry University, on 024 7688 8245.

Notes to Editor:

The Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo) was established in 2005 to provide a new approach to race, diversity and multiculturalism. Its work focuses on building positive and harmonious community relations, using applied research to constantly develop practice and to build capacity of all the agencies and individuals involved.

iCoCo represents a unique partnership of academic, statutory and non-governmental bodies, combining the experience and expertise of four Universities - Coventry, Warwick, DeMontfort and Leicester - with practitioners from a range of diverse backgrounds and professions.

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