Women in Business Toolkit: Making the Case

THE WOMEN IN BUSINESS TOOLKIT: Making the Case

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THE WOMEN IN BUSINESS TOOLKIT The Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce Women in Business Toolkit consists of numerous chapters divided into four main sections.

Please click on the links below or go the Women in Business Toolkit section of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Website: www.Birmingham-Chamber.com

Having a family and caring for dependents

Promoting Best Practice Mentoring and Sponsorship

Maternity Leave and Pay

Unconscious Bias Training

Paternity Leave and Pay

Transparency in Pay and Promotions

Adoption Leave and Pay Shared Parental Leave and Pay

Promoting Diversity Through Recruitment

The Right to Request Flexible Working

Flexible Working

Statutory Parental Leave

Diversity Policies

Your Rights in the Workplace

Making the Case

Discrimination, Informal and Formal Grievances and The Equality Act (2010)

How to Put Together a Business Case and Useful Statistics

Taking a Case to Employment Tribunal 1

INDEX: Introduction………...………………………………………………….p.3 How to Write a Business Case……………………..………….p.4 Useful Stats……………………………………………………………..p.8

Having a Family and Caring for Dependents Occupational Maternity, Paternity and Adoptive Pay……………………………..p.9 Keeping in Touch Days…………………………………....p.11 Promoting Best Practice Flexible Working……………...……………………………..p.13 Unconscious Bias Training……………………………....p.15 Mentoring…………………………………………………….….p.17 Transparency in Pay and Promotions……………………………………………….p.19 Promoting Diversity Through Recruitment………………………………………p.21 Diversity Policies and Strategies………………………………………………….p.23

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INTRODUCTION: If you have found a best practice activity that you like the look of then this is the chapter for you. Unlike the other chapters of the Women in Business Toolkit, this guide does not describe statutory Rights or best practice activities. Instead it offers simple, straightforward advice on how to write a business case, useful statistics and lines of argument for each of the best practice activities mentioned in the Women in Business Toolkit.

This guide, brought to you by the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, is part of the Women in Business Toolkit. This toolkit aims to help inform and empower women and encourage best practice in businesses, helping make the UK a forward thinking, attractive place to work.

Connecting you to opportunity...

Whilst useful and informative, it does not aim to provide encyclopaedic knowledge or in-depth legal advice about the topics in question, merely an introductory account. If you have any questions about any of the topics covered in this document please do speak to your HR department/the member of staff responsible for this area or seek professional advice The Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce features some of the UK’s oldest and largest Chambers. It has nearly 3,000 member companies that employ over 200,000 plus affiliate organisations representing 15,000 people. It offers extensive services to industry and commerce, having served the interests of business for nearly three centuries, promoting trade locally, nationally and internationally.

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BEFORE YOU BEGIN: Before you begin writing your business case talk to your employer.

Whether it’s your line manager, a member of the HR team, your MD or Chief Exec, have a chat with the relevant member of staff. It may be that this idea has been raised before or your organisation already offers it in some form. If not, and they are uncertain about whether to offer it, you may want to suggest that you will put together a business case to help your employer come to an informed decision.

WHAT TO INCLUDE: Everyone will approach writing a business case in slightly different ways.

What follows is very much an introductory, and very general, account on what to include and how to structure a case for offering a best practice activity.

A business case is a document that sets out the reasoning and evidence for following a particular course of action. Generally speaking, it should be contain the following information: 

Summary



The issues



Analysis of the Situation



Potential Solutions



The Best Practice Activity



Pros and Cons



Recommendations

Remember: Your business case does not have to be complicated. Keep it as short and to the point as possible. Use bullet points where you can and make it easy for your employer to read and understand.

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This may seem like a lot and for large scale projects it often is. But if you are putting together a business case for something simple such as why you should be able to work flexibly some of these sections may only be a few sentences or a short a paragraph or two long.

What is important to remember is that, throughout your business case you make the information relevant to your employer. Don’t waffle, use clear headings, stick to concise points and short sentences. You can also illustrate your argument with case studies and statistics relevant to your organisation and industry, but it is not essential.

INTRODUCTION: Your introduction should summarise your key points and highlight important issues. For most business cases for best practice activities it will only need to be a paragraph or two long. It should cover, in roughly a sentence or two each; what the problem is, what you are proposing to solve it, the major considerations your employer will need to make, the resources it will involve, what the outcome will be and why your employer may want to offer it.

THE ISSUES: This section sets out very simply and clearly what the problems are in your organisation that your best practice activity would help solve. For some (very brief) examples of potential issues see the individual best practice initiatives sections later in this document.

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ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION: This section discusses the issues in more depth. Why has this become a problem for you and/or your organisation? What will happen if the problem is not addressed? The more directly relevant to your organisation, and the concerns of the member of staff making a decision on your proposal (without sounding unduly negative about your employer of course), the better.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS: Now you’ve helped your employer see what the problem is and why it is important to their organisation, you need to introduce them to your solution. Give an overview of your preferred course of action. If there are multiple courses of action that you would be happy with (e.g. different kinds of flexible working) you should explore them all, using sub-headings to make it very clear to the reader which option they are reading about.

THE BEST PRACTICE ACTIVITY: In this section you will need to go into more detail about how your preferred solution will work in your organisation. You should set out honestly and frankly you ideal timescale, what resources you think it will involve, any legal areas that will need to be considered (e.g. contract law or the Equality Act 2010) and how it will effect the day to day operation of the organisation. You may not know the specifics of each of these points.

If this is the case, and a bit of extra research doesn’t solve the issue, you can simply state that some financial or time cost will be involved or you employer may want to get a bit of legal advice. Your employer will not expect you to be an expert in this area and, if they go ahead with your proposal, they will probably seek further advice on these areas anyway.

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PROS AND CONS: In this section you will need to set out clearly all the up and downsides of your proposal. This is where you can really put forward why you think your proposal is a good idea. If you wish, you can include statistics and case studies to illustrate how your solution would benefit your organisation. For some of the key lines of argument you may want to include in your business case for best practice activities see the relevant sections later in this document. You can state your arguments and evidence in bullet points or short, sharp paragraphs.

CONCLUSION: Make a very brief statement reiterating the top reasons why your best practice activity is a good course of action. Then set out, in bullet points, what you think should happen next in terms of your employer implementing this best practice activity.

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BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS CASE: Key Arguments and Useful Statistics

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Occupational Maternity Paternity and Adoption Pay: POTENTIAL ISSUES: The following statements are purely to give you an idea of the issues that could be affecting your workplace that you may be hoping to tackle.

Remember to expand on these simple suggestions, including information relevant to your organisation. 

‘Our organisation struggles to retain staff after they go on maternity/paternity/adoption leave’



‘Our organisation struggles to attract top quality applicants for vacancies’



‘Our organisation could be doing more to support its staff’

KEY LINES OF ARGUMENT: Employers offer Occupational Maternity, Paternity or Adoption Pay, either funded by them or as part of a salary sacrifice scheme, for a wide variety of reasons.

After week 6 of maternity leave, Statutory Maternity Pay goes down to £136.78 per week for the remaining 33 weeks of SMP. Were this a permanent wage this would work out at just over £7000 per annum. The benefits of receiving OMP for employees are clear: 

New babies, whilst wonderful, are expensive. The additional income can help parents through what can be a financially tricky time.



Where new mothers’ only income is SMP they may find themselves 9

increasingly reliant on their partner’s income, to the point that it may not be financially viable for them to return to work, and divide up child caring responsibilities, after maternity leave ends.

The benefits to businesses are even clearer: 

To retain top staff. Many businesses attach return to work requirements to OMP.



To attract top talent. Additional benefits are increasingly important to today’s workforce, offering OMP can help attract the best.



To improve employee loyalty and staff-employer relationships.

Offering extra benefits to staff is a great way to promote positive relationships, contentment and loyalty to the company.



To enhance the corporate brand.

USEFUL STATISTICS:

Families and Work Institute (2012) 2012 National Survey of Employers [Accessed 06 August 2013]

58% of employers offer Occupational Maternity Pay Families and Work Institute (2012) 2012 National Survey of Employers [Accessed 06 August 2013]

As part of a boarder family friendly policy

The top three reasons for offering Occupational Maternity Pay are...

It improves recruitment and retention

It enhances the corporate brand

IDS (2008) IDS Diversity at Work Report [Accessed 24th July 2013]

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Keeping in Touch Days:

POTENTIAL ISSUES: The following statements are purely to give you an idea of the potential issues affecting your workplace you may be hoping to tackle. Remember to expand on these simple suggestions, including information relevant to your organisation. 

‘Our staff struggle to maintain links with the workplace whilst on maternity/paternity leave’



‘Our organisation struggles to retain staff after they go on maternity/paternity/adoption leave’



‘Our organisation could be doing more to support its staff’

KEY LINES OF ARGUMENT: Keeping In Touch (KIT) Days are very simple to organise and implement.

They simply involve members of staff on Maternity Leave returning to the workplace for up to 10 shifts.

Maintaining links with the workplace whilst on maternity leave can be a challenge. This can make returning to work difficult for employees who may feel out of the loop with developments in their department and organisation. As a result KIT Days can help make the transition from maternity leave to work easier.

KIT Days can be used for: 

Training. Keeping staff up to date on new procedures, policies or training days.

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

A trial run. Trialling whether the employee is nearly ready to return to work.



Expertise. Making use of the employee on Maternity Leave’s expertise on individual projects.



Keeping up to date. Simply keeping employees up to date on the goings on in the organisation.

All in all KIT days can help make it easier for employees to return to work, a clear benefit both to the employee and employer who may otherwise have to recruit a replacement.

If you employer has never offered KIT Days before you may want to suggest a trial period of two or three KIT Days before they formally offer them across the company.

USEFUL STATISTICS: ...compared to

95%

78%

of mothers who did some work or training during maternity leave subsequently returned to the same job...

of mothers who did no work or training

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For more useful statistics on KIT days and other maternity/paternity arrangements Click Here For the Maternity and Paternity Rights and Women Returners Survey 2009/10 (DWP, 2011)

Flexible Working: POTENTIAL ISSUES: The following statements are purely to give you an idea of potential issues that could be affecting your workplace that you may be hoping to tackle. Remember to expand on these simple suggestions, including information relevant to your organisation. 

‘We risk losing valued employees with caring responsibilities due to a lack of flexible working arrangements.’



‘Our organisation could be doing more to support its staff’



‘Our organisation struggles to attract top quality applicants for vacancies’

KEY LINES OF ARGUMENT: There is a clear, strong business case for offering flexible working. Many members of staff may have care giving commitments that can make ordinary working hours a challenge. Even things as simple as needing to pick up and drop of children at school can be an awkward fit with the average working day. Some employees simply thrive better and are more productive with a flexible working schedule. Regardless of the reasons for wanting it ,numerous studies have shown that offering flexible working is good for businesses. Offering flexible working can: 

Have a positive effect on recruitment and retention of staff.



Improve employer-employee relations.



Reduce absenteeism and increase productivity.



Allow your employee to maintain strong links to the workplace and continue to develop their career and expertise in ways that may not otherwise be possible.

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CBI (2011) Navigating Choppy Waters: Employment Trends Survey

92% OFFER PART-TIME ROLES

52% OFFER FLEXITIME

OF EMPLOYERS OFFER AT LEAST ONE FORM OF FLEXIBLE WORKING...

52% OFFER JOB SHARING

OFFER THREE OR MORE

26% OFFER TERM-TIME ONLY WORKNG OF EMPLOYERS SAID FLEXIBLE WORKING HAD A POSITIVE EFFECT ON RECRUIITMENT AND RETENTION

FLEXIBLE WORKING IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS:

OF EMPLOYERS NOTED SOME OR SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN EMPLOYEE RELATIONS AFTER INTRODUCING FLEXIBLE WORKING DWP (2010) Flexible Working: working for families, working for business

OF SMEs REPORTED IMPROVEMENT IN PRODUCTIVITY AFTER INTRODUCING FLEXIBLE WORKING

OF EMPLOYERS REPORTED FLEXIBLE WORKING HAD A POSTIVIE EFFECT ON RECRUITMENT

AROUND THE WORLD

OF EMPLOYEES WORLDWIDE PREFER A JOB WITH LESS PAY AND MORE FLEXIBILITY OVER A HIGHER PAYING JOB WITH LESS FLEXIBILITY Cisco Systems (2010) Connected Technology World Report

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Unconscious Bias Training:

POTENTIAL ISSUES: The following statements are purely to give you an idea of the potential issues that could be affecting your workplace that you may be hoping to tackle. Remember to expand on these simple suggestions, including information relevant to your organisation. 

‘Our workforce is not reflective of the local population/pool of applicants for new positions.’



‘Individuals with similar skill sets, experiences and characteristics continue to advance within the company faster than their equally capable colleagues.’



‘Our company sees difference as a potential negative, rather than a learning opportunity.’

KEY LINES OF ARGUMENT: The presence of unchecked unconscious bias can have a highly negative effect on companies. It can: 

Damage employer-employee relations



Create workplace tensions



Cause talented employees to leave your company



Or cause your organisation to fail to recruit or promote talented potential or current employees

Unconscious bias training can help reduce these biases and offer your workforce some handy ways of recognising and countering unconscious bias in their professional activities.

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USEFUL STATISTICS:

For more useful information on the importance of diversity Click here The average recruitment cost of filling a vacancy per employee

of employers agree that staff turnover has a negative effect on organisational performance

CIPD (2007) Annual Survey Report: Recruitment, Retention and Turnover

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For ‘The Business Case for Equality and Diversity: A Survey of the Academic Literature’, BIS (2013)

Mentoring:

POTENTIAL ISSUES: The following statements are purely to give you an idea of the potential issues that could be affecting your workplace that you may be hoping to tackle. Remember to expand on these simple suggestions, including information relevant to your organisation. 

‘We often lose talented junior employees to competitors.’



‘New employees can feel unsupported and disconnected from the company.’



‘Many employees are failing to live up to their leadership potential.’

KEY LINES OF ARGUMENT: Depending on the kind of mentoring you are creating the case for, you may want to include some of the lines of argument below.

Mentoring can be beneficial for employees by giving them access to a more senior or experienced colleague/professional who can advise them on: 

Career development.



Boosting their professional networks.



Professional and personal development.

Mentoring also offers some clear benefits to businesses. These include: 

Helping get the best out of your staff by giving them access to 17

advice and support from someone with more experience. 

Retain staff who may be facing short-term challenges and are in need of advice and guidance.



Improve relationships and synergy between junior staff and their senior colleagues.

USEFUL STATISTICS:

WHEN ASKED WHAT COULD BE PUT IN PLACE TO PROMOTE GENDER EQAULITY...

1. 50% OF

OF BUSINESSES FAVOUR BUSINESS LED CHANGE OVER GOVERNMENT LEGISLATION

1.

BUSINESSES RECOMMENDED MORE JOBSHARE AND FELXIBLE WORKING OPTIONS

3.

2. 46% OF OF BUSINESSES BELIEVE MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO ENCOURAGE GREATER ENDER EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE

2.

BUSINESSES RECOMMENDED INTRODUCING MENTORING SCHEMES

3. 43% OF BUSINESSES RECOMMENDED BEING MORE PUBLICLY TRANSPARENT IN RELATIVE LEVELS OF PAY

Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group (2013) Women in Business: The Greater Birmingham Picture Survey and Report

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Transparency in Pay and Promotions: POTENTIAL ISSUES: The following statements are purely to give you an idea of the potential issues that could be affecting your workplace that you may be hoping to tackle. Remember to expand on these simple suggestions, including information relevant to your organisation. 

‘Employees in our organisation feel that pay levels are not set fairly’



‘The current system of setting pay has led to similarly experienced individuals doing the same level and quality of work but being paid significantly different amounts’



‘Employees in our organisation do not trust that promotions are always awarded on merit alone’

KEY LINES OF ARGUMENT: When making the case for your organisation being transparent in levels of pay and/or why promotions are awarded you can cover two types of argument: emphasising the benefits to the organisation of transparency and warning of the risks of employment tribunal claims for perceived unequal pay and discrimination.

Benefits to the organisation: 

Offering this level of transparency will benefit the business by doing away with suspicion and secrecy and bringing what can otherwise be awkward topics out in to the open.



It can offer learning opportunities as staff are able to ask what they need to do to earn higher levels of pay or gain promotions in the future.

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

It can offer employers an opportunity to reassess their own systems and ways of working that could, if unchecked, lead to highly costly and time consuming legal challenges in the future.

USEFUL STATISTICS: There were...

Female graduates entering the labour market earn ...

Claims accepted by employment tribunals between April 2011 and March 2012 concerning EQUAL PAY

On average than their equally qualified male peers

Ministry of Justice (2012) Employment Tribunal Statistics 20l1-2012

HECSU (2013) Future Track

In 2012 CMI found that male managers were awarded bonuses

Over their lifetime, the average female executive will earn

than a male counterpart following an identical career path ExpertHR (2013) National Salary Survey [Online] Accessed 09 October 2013

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as their female counterparts ExpertHR (2012) National Salary Survey [Online] Accessed 09 October 2013

Promoting Diversity Through Recruitment:

POTENTIAL ISSUES: The following statements are purely to give you an idea of the potential issues that could be affecting your workplace that you may be hoping to tackle. Remember to expand on these simple suggestions, including information relevant to your organisation. 

‘Our current recruitment practices are failing to draw in enough applicants with the right skills and attitude’



‘Our current recruitment practices are not drawing in a diverse enough range of applicants’

KEY LINES OF ARGUMENT: The UK is home to an incredibly diverse population. Actively improving your approach to fostering diversity through recruitment could be highly beneficial. Key benefits include: 

Ensuring that you gain a wider range of applicants, allowing you to choose the best candidates from across the population, not just a small proportion of it.



Able to appeal to a wider customer base and make use of the knowledge and networks of employees from different backgrounds/ groups.



Able to make use of a diverse range of talents, expertise and prior experience to foster greater innovation, creativity and growth.

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USEFUL STATISTICS: Of 321 companies with a revenue of more than $500 MILLION surveyed by Forbes..

There are approximately...

DISABLED ADULTS of working age in the UK DWP (2011) Disability Prevalence Estimates

WOMEN make up...

Agreed or strongly agreed that DIVERSITY is key to driving INNOVATION IN THE WORKPLACE Forbes Insights (2011) Global Diversity and Inclusion: Fostering Innovation Through a Diverse Workforce

The median AGE of the population in England and Wales is...

Of residents of England and Wales were born OUTSIDE OF THE UK

Of the population of England and Wales ONS (2012) 2011 Census Data

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Diversity Policies and Strategies:

POTENTIAL ISSUES: The following statements are purely to give you an idea of the potential issues that could be affecting your workplace that you may be hoping to tackle. Remember to expand on these simple suggestions, including information relevant to your organisation. 

‘Our organisation lacks an overall, joined up approach to promoting diversity’



‘Members of staff do not know what the company policy on equality and diversity is and what they can do to support it’

KEY LINES OF ARGUMENT: Having a clear commitment to, and actively implementing strategies for improving, equality and diversity can be good for business. It can encourage a diverse range of applicants for positions. Diverse views and ideas can lead to greater creativity and innovation. Having a diverse workforce can also encourage a diverse client base as people who are aware of the needs of customers from different backgrounds/with different characteristics can bring their knowledge to the table.

Having a clear diversity policy and strategy can also have a direct positive impact on partnerships as other organisations see yours as dedicated to best practice. The same is true of clients who value purchasing goods and services from ethical providers.

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Overall a strong diversity policy and strategy can take an organisation form simply meaning well to doing well, bring clarity and direction to employees’ actions in this field and give extra security and support to employees.

USEFUL STATISTICS: Just over

Just over

Workplaces have a DIVERSITY STRATEGY in place

Workplaces are covered by a formal DIVERSITY POLICY

Amongst workplaces with a written diversity or equal opportunities policy:

Referred to DISABILITY

Referred to GENDER or RACE

Referred to SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Referred to RELIGION OR BELIEF

Referred to AGE

Vanrooy, Bewley, Bryson et al (2011) The 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study

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Useful Links: EHRC http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/ The Equality and Human Rights Commission website contains advice and guidance on a wide array of legal Rights and best practice activities in the workplace.

ACAS http://www.acas.org.uk/ As well as toolkits and resources, the ACAS website offers access to additional advice and support in areas such as mediation.

UK Government Website https://www.gov.uk/ For lots of information on legal Rights in the workplace use the search function on the UK Government’s website.

Opportunity Now http://opportunitynow.bitc.org.uk/ Opportunity now explicitly campaign for greater gender diversity. Their website offers research into and information on a wide variety of activities, Rights and best practice initiatives.

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THE WOMEN IN BUSINESS TOOLKIT: WE NEED YOU

We want to make sure that the Women in Business Toolkit stays as up to date and relevant as possible. To do this we need your support: Are there any chapters that you think are missing?

Do you have experience of any of the topics included in the toolkit?

Could you offer a case study?

If the answer is yes to any of the above please get in touch using the contact details on the back of this document. We look forward to hearing from you.

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The Women in Business Toolkit was Developed in Partnership with:

ABOUT EUROPE DIRECT: The Europe Direct Information Centres network is one of the main tools of the European Union (EU) to inform European citizens about the EU, and in particular about the rights of EU citizens and the EU’s priorities (notably the Europe 2020 Growth Strategy) and to promote participatory citizenship at local and regional level. The overall aim of the call is that citizens have easy access to information and the opportunity to make known and exchange their views, in all the fields of the EU’s activities, in particular, of those having an impact upon people's daily lives.

The centres' mission is two-fold: 1. To inform European citizens at local and regional level.

They are a key partner of the "one-stop-shop" concept as a first entry point to the European Union for citizens, providing information about the EU, referring them to Your Europe or to specialised information sources and signposting to other services and networks. They give information, advice, assistance and answers to questions about the EU, and in particular about the rights of EU citizens, the EU’s priorities (notably the Europe 2020 Growth strategy), legislation, policies, 27

programmes and funding opportunities.

2. To promote participatory citizenship This is achieved through various communication tools (website, social media, publications, etc.) and by interacting with local and regional stakeholders, multipliers and media. They stimulate debate through the organisation of conferences and events and channel citizens' feedback to the EU. The EDIC will provide a grassroots service tailored to local and regional needs, which will enable the public to obtain information, advice, assistance and answers to questions about the EU, and in particular about the rights of EU citizens, the EU’s priorities (notably the Europe 2020 Growth strategy), legislation, policies, programmes and funding opportunities.

ABOUT EUROPE DIRECT BIRMINGHAM: Europe Direct Birmingham, part of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce’s international trade team is a network that extends across the twenty-eight member states and is designed to be the authoritative source of information on Europe and EU initiatives from the citizen’s perspective. So rather than deal with Trade and Single Market issues, Europe Direct Birmingham is a mine of information regarding rights, opportunities, freedom of movement and employment, language, culture and all the bits and pieces that make up the individual countries under the European umbrella.

Europe Direct has access to a considerable number of publications – hard and soft copies – with particular emphasis on schools, young people and mobility and we encourage and support events and initiatives that engage in Europe-themed activity.

For more information call Amerdeep Mangat on 0121 607 0105

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FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Henrietta Brealey, Policy Advisor Chamber House 75 Harborne Road Birmingham B15 3DH H.Brealey@Birmingham-Chamber.com 0121 607 1786

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