Managing conflicting protected beliefs in and out of the workplace

HR teams have a lot on their plate, but a key priority for 2024 is undoubtedly protecting the employee brand proposition. Our 2024 online programme is focused on supporting HR teams to do just this, equipping them with the tools they need to protect the employee brand proposition of the organisations they work for.

Our latest webinar focused on what organisations need to do to manage conflicting protected beliefs. The key takeaway points are set out below:

Top tips for preventing discrimination and improving DE&I

• Clearly set out expectations in terms of behaviours, rights and responsibilities in your polices and ensure these are kept up to date.
• Make sure the workforce understands what is in the policies through regular communication and train managers on how to apply them appropriately.
• Work with staff and managers to help identify their assumptions and beliefs and challenge their perceptions of others.
• Encourage staff to challenge and report any inappropriate behaviour and provide a suitable mechanism for them to do so.

Balancing differing protected characteristics

• There is no hierarchy of protected characteristics, so each is treated equally.
• However, different protected characteristics can conflict, most noticeably between religious / philosophical beliefs and sexual orientations / gender reassignment as recent case law has shown. This is because protected beliefs include those on a wide range of issues including gender critical beliefs. A belief can be protected even where it is controversial, offensive or unpopular.
• Employers need to balance an employee’s right to freedom of expression and to manifest their religion or belief with the duty to protect staff from discrimination or harassment.
• Fostering an inclusive workplace will mean being inclusive to everyone, even if that means tolerating views you do not agree with. However, that does not mean employers should permit unrestricted speech in the workplace.
• Key to achieving the balance will be having clear policies setting out expected behaviours along with regular and repeated training on those policies, as well as training managers on how to recognise and resolve conflict.

Understanding when to act on discriminatory conduct outside of work

• Employers need to establish whether they could be liable for an employee’s discriminatory conduct outside of work and whether the conduct impacts on the employee’s continued employment.
• Key to this will be understanding whether the conduct takes place in the course of employment and whether it relates to the employment relationship.
• A common area where this arises is with the use of social media. Key is having a clear social media policy providing guidance on sharing views on social media and clarifying that social media may be monitored.