Latest Diversity News....

• HR must address financial education for employees
• Girl with disability becomes China's Olympic heroine
• Christian group sues Google
• City's Gay prejudice
• Immigration boosting Catholic Church numbers
• Weight law for France
• Law firms under diversity pressure
• 'Credit crunch' is golden opportunity for HR to make name for itself

HR must address financial education for employees

With the UK's debt crisis becoming an all too familiar story, HR professionals - just like consumers - might be forgiven for turning a blind eye to a problem the UK has faced for some time.

But the signs of strain are now beginning to spill over into the workplace - as money sickness syndrome takes its toll - and it's high time HR professionals paid the issue some serious attention.

As one Personnel Today reader recently pointed out, employee debt can have "dire consequences" on productivity, yet "employers seem to be slow in addressing this issue".

No doubt you have been pondering the issue, but now the publication of the Thoresen report - which hints that the employer has a leading role to play in helping individuals - should give you the impetus you need to actually do something about it in your organisation.

While all this seems incredibly laudable, you might argue whether it's even fair that employers should have to foot the bill for an employee's mismanagement of their personal finances. But as reports about spiralling personal debt come thick and fast, it's going to become increasingly difficult to pass this off as a social issue employers shouldn't meddle in.

And don't be fooled into thinking that it only affects the younger generations or lower income families - it affects all classes and incomes.

It's only a matter of time before your employee financial distress has a negative effect on performance. If indeed, it is not already eating away at the bottom line.

So how far should employers go in educating and supporting their employees in financial matters? Whether you choose to a launch a full debt counselling service, offer money management courses, point employees to the Citizen's Advice Bureau or collaborate with local businesses to get loyalty discounts for employees, you can send a message that you care.

Personnel Today, March 2008

Girl with disability becomes China's Olympic heroine

China has found a national heroine to boost its fragile self-esteem after weeks of embarrassing headlines over Tibet and the Olympic torch relay. A week ago, Jin Jing was unknown except in the narrow world of wheelchair fencing, for which she used to represent the country.

But when she was filmed protecting the torch from pro-Tibet protesters amid chaotic scenes in Paris, the one-legged athlete was hailed by Chinese internet users as an "angel in a wheelchair".

Now, the state media has picked up on what it calls her bravery, transforming her into a symbol of Chinese virtue in the face of a hostile world. "Overseas Chinese students in the crowd were moved to tears," wrote Liberation Daily, the government-run newspaper in Shanghai, her home city. "They chanted, 'Girl, stick with it! Go, go, China!'"

Xinhua, the state news agency, said, in an editorial: "Chinese people are seriously disturbed and hurt by the chaotic scene in which an extremist tried to grab the torch from a weak, disabled Chinese girl. Is this the civil French government's behaviour? A slap on China's face, or a slap on France's face?" On her return to Beijing, Miss Jin, who lost her leg to cancer when she was nine, was mobbed by photographers.

In interviews, she said she knew little of politics before encountering the demonstrations in Paris, and had never heard of the pro-Tibet independence movement. In line with the many Chinese critics of Western "bias", she said the protests had strengthened her belief in the government line.

"My opinion before was that Tibet was an inseparable part of our country," she told The Daily Telegraph. "Now I hold this point more firmly than before." The flame has begun the next stage of its world tour in Buenos Aires afternoon under heavy police protection. Torch-bearers included Gabriela Sabatini, the former tennis player, but Diego Maradona, the former footballer, turned down an invitation to carry it first.

Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, became the latest public figure to say he would not attend the opening ceremony, though he said it was for "scheduling" reasons.

The Daily Telegraph - 14 April 08

Christian group sues Google

A Christian group is suing Google over the internet giant's refusal to take its anti-abortion adverts.

The Christian Institute, a "non-denominational Christian charity", wanted to pay Google so that whenever the word "abortion" was typed into the popular search engine, its link would appear on the side of the screen.

The link would have read: "UK abortion law - news and views on abortion from the Christian Institute. www.christian.org.uk." But Google refused the advert because it said it had a policy of declining sites which mixed the issue of abortion with religious views.

Its Dublin-based advertising team replied: "At this time, Google policy does not permit the advertisement of websites that contain 'abortion and religion-related content'."

Google does, however, accept adverts for abortion clinics, secular pro-abortion sites and secularist sites which attack religion. The Christian Institute has now started legal proceedings against Google on the grounds that it is infringing the Equality Act 2006 by discriminating against Christian groups.

It is seeking damages, costs and the permission to publish its advertisement.

Mike Judge, Christian Institute spokesman, said: "For many people, Google is the doorway to the internet.

"If there is to be a free exchange of ideas then Google cannot give special free speech rights to secular groups whilst censoring religious views.

"To say that religious sites with material on abortion are 'unacceptable content' (while) advertising pornography is ridiculous." The group was supported by the Christian former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe, who said: "It does seem to me to be the most appalling and blatant case of religious discrimination and also to be a very silly attempt to stifle due debate."

The institute sought to promote its online articles on abortion ahead of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill arriving in the House of Commons next month.

The Bill will provide the first opportunities in 18 years for MPs to vote on the upper time limit for abortions: currently 24 weeks.

Daily Mail 9th April 2008

City's gay prejudice

The only known lesbian on the board of a top City of London company blames business leaders today for the climate of fear that forces corporate gays to keep their sexuality secret.

Ashley Steel, from the accountancy giant KPMG, believes that gay people in the Square Mile are scared that their careers will be blighted if they are open about their orientation. She admitted having lied at work about a ring given by her long-term lover, pretending that it came from her grandmother, to conceal her lesbianism from her colleagues.

“There are going to be thousands and thousands of people who will leave work this evening, go home and feel that they have had an awkward day because they have not been able to be themselves,” Dr Steel, 48, said. “That cannot be right.”

“It’s about CEOs [chief executive officers], chairmen of the UK’s biggest companies. They can’t be silent on this. They actually have to take a very active role themselves. They have to be outspoken and they have to demonstrate to their people and to customers that they are very happy about working with gay people, that gay people are welcome in their organisations.“What they can’t do is send a memo to their human resources department and say ‘Could you please put in a diversity programme?’. This is not something that chairmen and CEOs can delegate.”

The Times - April 14, 2008

Immigration boosting Catholic Church numbers in Britain

The Roman Catholic Church is having to adjust to its new vibrant congregations.  At 10am on Sunday you cannot get into Holy Redeemer Church in Oval. A sea of people block the steps, and I am squashed between a young man with a bandanna and a diamond earring holding a small girl, and an olive-skinned woman arguing with her five-year-old son. It is a typical crowd at the Mass for London’s Portuguese speakers from Madeira. About 200 attend each week. “We founded the Mass four years ago with four people,” says Manuel Eduardo Santos, 57, a sandwich-shop worker from Lisbon. When he moved to London in 1987, Portuguese speakers were scarce. Now their numbers have swelled by waves of migrants from Brazil and Madeira.
Just around the corner from Holy Redeemer is the vast, Victorian, red-brick church of St Anne’s, Vauxhall. Pushchairs line the aisles, pews are crammed with families from Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, all here for the weekly Spanish-language Mass. Their devotion is intense. “No one loves you like me,” they sing in Spanish at Communion time.

“Latin Catholicism is alive,” says the priest, Father Jesús Pérez Recio, one of the two Spanish chaplains assigned to serve London’s burgeoning Latin American community. Six Masses a weekend are provided for their 1,000 parishioners. Timing, however, is Latino rather than hora inglesa. “No one worries how long the Mass will last,” says Father Jesús. “If we start at 3pm who knows when we will end?”

When Mass draws to its close, Father Jesús gives the notices: the hours when Spanish-speaking lawyers will give free legal advice at the chaplaincy, who to contact to get your child into a London school, and of course, English classes. This is the new face of Catholicism in Britain: global, exuberant, and bringing a fresh set of pastoral challenges to the Church.
“The Church is the first port of call for many Catholic migrants, the only institution they trust,” explains Francis Davis, director of the Von Hugel Research Institute in Cambridge. Last year, the institute surveyed 1,000 Mass-going migrants in three London dioceses. “The new arrivals may be enthusiastic and their arrival is masking the freefall in Mass-going among English Catholics. But they are also poorer. Our survey found that 35 per cent of Catholics with the right to work here were being paid below the minimum wage.”

New arrivals from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, at sea in a foreign culture and language, naturally gravitate to the Church for practical help, according to Bishop Patrick Lynch, head of the English Bishops’ Conference’s office for Migrants and Refugee policy.

“Globalisation and a more mobile labour market is bringing numbers of people to our parishes. They come with many spiritual and pastoral needs,” he says. To address this, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in England and Wales last week launched “Mission of the Church to Migrants in England and Wales”, a study paper suggesting a range of strategies to equip parishes to create “a ministry of welcome” for migrant parishioners. These include leaflets in different languages detailing how to access healthcare or the admissions policies of Catholic schools, the provision of English classes or interpreters, the collection of household items to help migrants set up homes.

So what exactly is the Church’s role?

“The Church has a responsibility to accompany migrants, to create a space where they feel safe, where they can come and talk. This is rooted in scriptural tradition: Jesus was from a migrant family and in the spread of Christianity, migration goes back to the Acts of the Apostles, says Bishop Lynch.” “Advocacy and advice” are what the Church can offer today. “We can point migrants towards the services available.”

A second challenge for the Church is how to nurture the vibrant faith of new arrivals yet integrate them into the local Catholic community, explains the Bishop. “Praying in a second language is not the same as praying in your first. How do you harness the giftedness of migrant communities and their diversity yet simultaneously create unity in the Church? “

In some parishes, integration is happening already. The Bristol parish of St Nicholas of Tolontino boasts a “one world” choir that regales parishioners every Sunday with hymns from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Ghana. “God is really central to the lives of these people and they have a sense of celebration in the Mass which can be sometimes a bit lacking in our churches,” says Sister Liz Ferrie, a Daughter of Charity of St Vincent de Paul based at the parish. “They contribute a wealth of simple faith and trust in God.”

The Times - April 12, 2008

Weight law for France

Promoting extreme thinness will become a criminal offence punishable by a jail sentence under a government-backed law that was tabled yesterday in France to combat anorexia nervosa.

The world’s first use of the law to tackle eating disorders is broadly aimed at the media and fashion world, but especially at the websites and blogs of the so-called pro-ana movement. While many are support groups, others promote starvation as a “life-style choice”, with girls and young women posting their wasting images as “thinspiration” for others. Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have come under pressure in Britain and other countries recently to ban their pro-ana entries.

Last month a website that originated in France caused an outcry for encouraging children as young as 9 to embrace plastic surgery and extreme dieting in the search for the perfect figure. The Miss Bimbo site invites users to create a virtual doll, keep it “waif thin” with diet pills and buy it breast implants and facelifts. The website attracted 1.2 million players in France.

Fines of up to €30,000 (£24,000) and a two-year prison sentence will be imposed on offenders who “provoke a person to seek excessive thinness by encouraging prolonged restriction of nourishment” to the point of risking death or damage to health. The prison term is raised to three years with a €45,000 fine if the person dies.

Some experts and fashion leaders oppose the Bill, which is expected to be passed by Parliament within months. “You do not solve this kind of problem with the law but with understanding,” Jean-Paul Gaultier, the designer, said. Didier Grumbach, head of the French Couture Federation, said it was not up to the state to legislate on beauty and aesthetic criteria.

The law, modelled on legislation for abetting suicide, was tabled by Valérie Boyer, an MP from President Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement. Roselyne Bachelot, the Health Minister, gave it the Government’s blessing at the unveiling of a code for the media, advertising and fashion industry on “promoting healthy body images” and fighting anorexia.

“The pro-ana movements which spread their messages of death on the web must be the target for special attention,” Mrs Bachelot said as she presented Mrs Boyer’s draft Bill along with the voluntary code. Up to 40,000 people suffer from anorexia in France, the great majority of them girls and young women.

The 48-year-old elder daughter of Jacques Chirac, the last President, has been incapacitated for two decades with the disease.

Mrs Bachelot said that the “waif-like, diaphanous, transparent bodies on the walls of our towns, in our magazines and on our computer screens are exerting their power of harmful fascination on our society”. Anorexia was one of the most lethal of mental disorders, killing 20 per cent of long-term sufferers, she said.

Mrs Boyer, who has two teenage daughters, said that the new offence was necessary because “it was not possible to deal with the pro-ana sites under the law against provoking suicide or promoting cults”. She added: “We do not know who is hiding behind these sites, but there is real mental manipulation.” Her law was also aimed at magazines, she said.        

The Times - April 10, 2008

UK law firms under pressure on diversity

London law firms are under growing client pressure to promote more women and people from ethnic and other minorities, according to the new head of one of the largest firms. Big firms were lagging behind other sectors on diversity and needed to do better for business reasons, said Simon Davies, managing partner of Linklaters.

His remarks come as leading firms – driven by customer comments, the threat of lawsuits and worries about recruitment – are setting up initiatives aimed at attracting those who have felt unwelcome in a historically conservative profession.

Mr Davies said Linklaters, the second-largest London firm, had decided it needed to do better in part because it was receiving an increasing number of requests for diversity statistics from clients to whom it was pitching. He cited the “helpful” impetus from customers such as JPMorgan, the US bank. He said:

“If clients are pushing for things it’s more tangibly a business need.”

Mr Davies said the firm’s work would benefit from input apart from simply the “male Caucasian” view. He gave as an example the rescue of a large company, where women lawyers might “better understand” the impact on families of job losses.Linklaters was starting a programme of spotting and supporting talented people, in response to the “fair criticism” that law firms had failed to match even the limited progress on diversity made elsewhere in business.

The self-criticism echoes client accusations that the industry is still too clubbable and shows more zeal for turning large profits than in modernising. Big firms accept the starkness of diversity statistics that show women accounting for 50 per cent of trainees but rarely more than 20 per cent of partners. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer says it is trying to “improve its understanding of what practices and cultures can be changed to encourage female lawyers to stay longer”.

Rosemary Martin, general counsel for Reuters, the media group, and former deputy chair of the GC100 group of company in-house counsel, said: “Any company ... sees that diversity is a very important aspect of their success. And they expect to see that reflected in their major suppliers.” Firms are also considered too traditional and – even when they attract significant numbers of non-white lawyers – stubbornly homogenous in terms of class and privilege.

Financial Times - April 7 2008

‘Credit crunch’ is golden opportunity for HR to make name for itself

Chris Stone, chief executive at Northgate Information Solutions, which makes software for the public services and HR markets, has called on personnel practitioners to stand up and make a name for themselves in the difficult current financial climate.

Stone said: "The 'credit crunch' has created an opportunity for the HR sector to make a name for itself. HR professionals can stand up and be counted. The fundamental building block of the economy is its people and HR sits at the very heart of that."

Personnel Today, April 2008