Equality in a changing workplace
The economy and our workplaces have faced upheaval during the pandemic. Changes to the nature of work, including a sudden move to home working for many, and increasing automation, have created challenges for people in relation to conditions, pay and progression in the workplace.
Our work
Preventing sexual harassment in the hospitality sector
In 2022, we partnered with UK Hospitality to produce a practical resource outlining steps employers can take to stop the harassment of hospitality staff being seen as ‘just part of the job’. Although it was designed for the hospitality sector, its principles can be applied to other sectors.
Gender pay gap reporting compliance
In July 2022, we named those organisations that were yet to report their gender pay gap, or report themselves out of scope. Following this, all of those organisations that we wrote to after the deadlines reported their pay gap information.
McDonald's legal agreement
In early 2023, we signed a legal agreement with McDonald’s Restaurants Limited in response to concerns about the handling of sexual harassment complaints made by staff in its UK restaurants.
IKEA UK legal agreement
In March 2023, we entered into a legal agreement with IKEA UK, to improve its policies and practices in relation to sexual harassment.
Judgment on Ms M Glover v Lacoste
In February 2023, Melissa Glover was successful in her appeal against her former employer which was funded by the EHRC. Her case follows a flexible working request she made while on maternity leave, which was refused by her employer, Lacoste, on the grounds that managerial staff must work full-time and be fully flexible.
Sainsbury's legal agreement
In April 2022, we concluded our legal agreement with Sainsbury's to take all reasonable steps to prevent its employees from committing harassment. We monitored Sainsbury’s compliance with the action plan to ensure the agreed steps were completed.
National Highways legal agreement
In April 2022, we concluded our legal agreement with National Highways to ensure they had taken the necessary steps to prevent sexual harassment occurring in the future. We monitored National Highways compliance with the action plan to ensure the agreed steps were completed.
Business plan 2023/24
This business plan describes what we will do under the Equality in a changing workplace priority from April 2023 to March 2024.
Tackle discrimination, harassment, victimisation and breaches of human rights in the workplace
Our long-term goal:
Ensuring that workers and prospective workers can work free from discrimination, victimisation and harassment because employers know how to prevent and tackle it.
How we will do it:
We will evidence the issues by:
- supporting research about workplace pregnancy and maternity discrimination
We will influence standard setting by:
- working with employers and regulators to further understand discrimination and breaches of rights in uniformed services
- providing advice to parliament and government on longstanding commitments to address sexual harassment in the workplace
- providing advice during the passage of the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill. This will increase protections against unfair redundancy decisions for pregnant women and new parents
- producing material to improve understanding of, and responses to, menopause in the workplace
We will ensure compliance with standards by:
- continuing to disseminate our sexual harassment prevention checklist and evaluating its impact
We will enforce the law by:
- taking legal action where appropriate to protect workers and prospective workers from discrimination, victimisation and harassment
Act on gaps in employment rates and pay for different protected characteristic groups
Our long-term goal:
Reducing pay and employment gaps for women, ethnic minority, and disabled workers.
How we will do it:
We will evidence the issues by:
- evaluating the effectiveness of pay gap reporting in reducing pay gaps. We will further develop our methodology to identify and tackle suspect data
We will influence standard setting by:
- advising governments across Britain about opportunities to address pay and employment gaps
- supporting the Government Equalities Hub on the pay transparency pilot in England. This encourages employers to include, where possible, salary information on all job adverts
- advising about the passage of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill through Parliament. This will increase access to flexible working for employees. We will advise about measures to promote flexible working
We will ensure compliance with standards by:
- working with employers to ensure they meet gender pay gap reporting requirements and that they identify ways to reduce their gender pay gap
We will enforce the law by:
- using our levers and powers to ensure that employers comply with gender pay gap reporting
Advise on measures to rebuild economies after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to improve equality of opportunity for disadvantaged groups
Our long-term goal:
Enabling future workplaces that are fair and inclusive and ensuring that all workers are treated fairly.
How we will do it:
We will influence standard setting by:
- advising the Welsh Government about the development and implementation of the Social Partnerships and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill
- advising the Welsh Government about human rights and equalities as they deliver against recommendations from the Fair Work Wales report
We will ensure compliance with standards by:
- monitoring the recommendations from our inquiry into low paid ethnic minority staff in health and social care across England, Scotland and Wales
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