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Adams and Harte 1999

Executive summary

Although there has been a long standing legal commitment to equal opportunities in employment, dating back to legislation in respect of disabled employees from 1944 onwards, there has been very little research on corporate reporting of equal opportunities. What research there has been has appeared to concentrate on describing practice, rather than seeking to understand developments. This study examines equal opportunities reporting practice at a time when firms appear to be recognising its importance to their operations. Our study describes corporate reporting practices, and offers an explanation of practice, before proposing further developments in reporting.

Despite both legal and corporate commitments to equal opportunities in employment, discrimination in employment is still considered to be a serious social problem (Real World Coalition, 1996). Yet we know relatively little about individual corporate performance. The first stage of our study involves an examination of the reporting practices of the top 100 British firms for the years ending 1991-1995. This reveals a very low level of voluntary reporting on equal opportunities, with disclosure of policy, not practice, at most and relatively little change over the period. In addition our detailed study of practice in 1991 reveals that 34 companies have not complied fully with the legal requirement to report on their policy towards the employment of disabled workers. We conclude that, although non-disclosure could be seen as an oversight, it appears more likely that, given the poor equal opportunities performance of firms in general and continued discrimination in British society, non-disclosure is a conscious decision to withhold information that reflects badly on corporate performance.

The second stage of our research involves a longitudinal study of ten clearing banks and eight non-food retailers over the period 1935-1993, examining disclosure on women's employment in the light of political, social and economic changes of the period. Our study focuses on women since firms appear to report more in respect of this 'minority' group than any other. Our research reveals that corporate disclosure (and non-disclosure) can be seen at various stages in the period to reflect both patriarchal and capitalist attitudes. The story of women's employment in banking and retail told by corporate annual reports and interpreted in the light of the social, political and economic developments in the period, suggests the continuing importance of patriarchy.

The final stage of our empirical research involves three case studies. Overall this stage illustrates the difficulties of constructing an alternative account of equal opportunities reporting from that provided by firms in the annual report and accounts. Through a relevant trade union we discovered examples of detailed internal reporting on equal opportunities matters that is not reflected in external reporting. We also discovered the difficulties of obtaining details of industrial tribunal cases and the extent to which non-statutory bodies monitoring firms rely on management responses to questionnaires for their information. Finally, an examination of the firms' disclosures in their most recents annual report and accounts also reveals that equal opportunities reporting is even less detailed than had been the case previously and does not include any critical information. This stage of our work clearly highlights the limited corporate accountability on equal opportunities (EO) performance.

In conclusion, the nature and form of corporate reporting a firm practices is a social choice, which affects different parties in different ways. Firms can choose both whether to report on equal opportunities performance and how to do so. In general, firms choose not to report on equal opportunities performance, but instead they may report on policy. In some cases this is not done, even where there is a legal requirement. In response we have proposed that:

1. Firms publish details of their equal opportunities policies
2. Firms report on their achievement of policies
3. Firms report quantified equal opportunities targets and the results of their monitoring
4. Firms publish details of equal opportunities investigations conducted and complaints made in respect of their equal opportunities performance
5. Equal opportunities information systems should be designed and implemented with the assistance of both workers and statutory equal opportunities organisations.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 2

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Article 7

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Article 23

1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone, without discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself (sic) and his (sic) family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his (sic) interests.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The United Nations, 1948

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